Chapter 1: Arrival (1)

"Through here!"

Matching actions to words Su Jinglei lashed her right arm outwards, smashing the rusted and chained door wide open as the rest of the group was hot on her heels, Cayman looking down at Caren as he carried her in his arms, asking, "Any updates?"

No sooner did he pose the question than a brief wince appeared on the Exorcist's features, a portion of her arm bulging and splitting apart as writhing tendrils grew from the ruined muscle-

"Twilight Healing!"

And an emerald glow emanated from the hands of Asia as she held tight onto Cayman's back, Sacred Gear healing Caren's injury even as the yellow-eyed woman calmly announced, "Two hallways to our left, approaching fast."

"Seriously?! They just keep coming!"

Yukikaze didn't hesitate despite her aggravated words, raising her two pistols as they raced past the specified hallways and letting loose with her lightning powers, two miniature thunderclaps illuminating the hallway with a split-second of illumination and revealing to the group a hulking brute that vaguely resembled a humanoid, snarling face gazing at them with unbridled ferocity-

-at least until it was turned into a flaming, burnt out corpse courtesy of the Taimanin's lightning ninja art.

"What is that, the fifth one?!"

"Sixth. Has crisis gone and made a simpleton of you, Cayman? How tragic and embarrassing."

Giving the girl he was carrying a narrowed glare he grumbled, "I will drop you, Caren."

"Instead of flirting how about you find us a way out of here?!"

"Do I look like I have a map of this place?!"

"C-can you two stop fighting, please?"

Asia's timid request in response to Cayman and Jinglei's argument went largely unheeded, their head butting only coming to a close as a voice emanated from the occasional stereo mounted into the walls, drolly commenting, "As agents intending to put a stop to my designs you have failed rather miserably. As a comedy troupe, however? You hold promise."

No sooner did their target's self-assured words cease than a fresh batch of demonic entities appeared on their heels, twisted and mutilated dogs, cats and humans that were grossly over muscled and malformed charging after them.

"Well, that makes pack number four. See, Caren? I can count."

"Salutations, you have the mental aptitude of a three year old."

"But unfortunately I have grander designs than mere low brow humor. Your bodies will make excellent incubators for the grand projects that remain unfulfilled."

The ceiling of the basement they were sprinting through cracked, bits of concrete flaking and falling as before any of them could react Caren hissed in pain, her body's instinctive reaction to demons causing her flesh to crawl and split-

-all while a mess of tentacles descended from on high, wrapping around Yukikaze's limbs before she could train her guns on the monster, a pained cry leaving her as she was hoisted high into the air, muscled tendrils pulling her legs and arms wide with brutal strength that would quickly lever them out of their sockets, enhanced strength be damned.

"You Taimanin have quite durable bodies...I think you can endure a little bit of rough treatment, yes?"

"Oh for-I THOUGHT I WAS CARRYING THESE TWO BECAUSE I WAS THE WEAK LINK IN A DIRECT FIGHT?!"

Despite his furious internal monologue Cayman didn't hesitate to manifest his weapon in his right hand, adjusting Caren to his left as Asia healed her while the gleaming steel spear slapped comfortably into his palm.

"[Galeforce!]"

Wind tinged with emerald light shot forth from the weapon's tip as he thrusted it forward, slicing through about half of the tentacles and allowing Yukikaze to turn her freed pistol onto the main body of the creature, firing off a bolt of electricity that caused the monster to shriek in agony and completely free her from its grasp, the ceiling overhead shaking as a result of the creature's agony.

Leaping back to his side Yukikaze shouted, "T-thanks!"

"Don't mention it-SHIT, INCOMING!"

While brief their distraction had allowed the rest of the pursuing monsters to catch up with them, one Daemon-enhanced black dog leaping at him with its two heads gaping wide, aiming for both Caren and Asia as they were otherwise helpless in this situation, the blonde busy healing Caren while the Exorcist was stuck in a loop of having her body ripped to shreds by the presence of so many Daemons, no matter how weak they may be.

"The things I do for survival. Or maybe that's a strange complaint to make?"

Dematerializing the steel spear he shifted Caren to his now free limb, altering his body profile and keeping her out of danger as he threw his other arm in front of Asia, covering her from the final head's assault-

-and with a wet CRUNCH his limb was bitten clean off, a pained roar leaving his throat as he backpedaled, letting Su Jinglei ram her gauntlet into its body and snapping the things spine like an old twig as he panted for air, barely hearing Asia's concerned shouts or Yukikaze and Jinglei's worried glances, usual animosity and verbal sniping set aside as their backs were up against it.

"Isn't the fucking Gamer system suppose to dull pain? This shit HURTS!"

But even with the two Taimanin at his sides and Asia beginning to heal his arm things looked dire, the monsters closing in as the ceiling yet again began to shake and tremble, Cayman exasperatedly shouting, "Can we just get a fucking timeout here?!"

Waking up to a wheeling starfield of indeterminate distance and expansiveness wasn't how Cayman thought he would be greeting the new day.

"...Lucid dream?"

[Not quite.]

The starfield abruptly gained a center to its eternity, a swirling focus that emitted a glow like St. Elmo's fire burning at the nexus, two metallic and reflective hoops swirling around the flickering core.

"Bad PCP trip then."

[Also not quite.]

"Then quite frankly I'm at a loss as to what the fuck is happening here then."

[You, young man, are being offered a deal.]

The man in question chewed his lip that felt equal parts tangible and intangible - which made close to zero sense - before asking, "Setting that aside...where the hell is this?"

[It wouldn't be a poor description to call this the universal waiting room, a focal point where souls may have their purpose and weight examined and judged.]

"...So, like, Limbo."

[Again, close enough to the truth.]

Letting loose a troubled breath Cayman mumbled, "Oh, so...dead. Right...okay then?"

[An excellent mindset to have. Now, as for the content of this deal...how would you like to risk great pain and agony for the chance at achieving pleasure and power comparable to that of a god, despite being human?]

Cayman blinked several times in quick succession.

"I would be equal parts terrified, curious and attentive."

[Sensible. Would you prefer further explanation?]

Blinking at the unexpected option Cayman fervently nodded, asking, "So...do all dead people get this offer or is it just me?"

[Those with knowledge or traits convenient to our currently desired goals are given such offers. Otherwise their souls are recycled without pause.]

Swallowing at that admission - and inwardly wondering if he was being used as the test subject of some hyper fucked up drug - the male responded, "Okay, so...what do you need my knowledge for? My life wasn't terribly remarkable or super special until the final two decades or so and I'm not sure why you would need that kind of persona on hand."

[But that is the case nonetheless. And in this new existence - should you accept - the knowledge you hold will prove useful. To provide context, until you reached the age of twenty-six and began 'going steady' you were something of a chronic masturbator and collector of various eroge, yes?]

Cayman reflected there was something existentially ball busting by some otherworldly ruling sentience telling you that your waifu addiction was unhealthy.

"I...I…"

Feeling like a chastised three year old he mumbled, "Yeah, that's pretty much spot on…"

[Of course it is. Now, back to the original point, that knowledge is now of use to your possible circumstances.]

"...How?"

Feeling a weird sense of both optimism, curiosity and trepidation the man inquired further, the odd ball of something explaining, [Realities tend to remain separate, are supposed to remain separate. Sometimes they cross over into each other and an agent or representative is dispatched to ensure this occasional happening does not continue to propagate outwards into uncontrollable consequences...in this case, you.]

Cayman blinked, slowly clarifying, "So my knowledge of porn is going to be useful and several planes of existence are overlapping each other?"

He blinked again.

"Not how I thought Tuesday was going to go."

[Do you accept?]

Blinking at the offer and honestly still unsure if he was in some kind of psycho hallucination or not...all Cayman could do was shrug his shoulders.

"Sure, why not?"

The way the man figured if this deal he was opting into turned out to be some kind of wackass dream he'd simply wake up later and if it was real?

Well, in the event it was super fucked up and horrific he could always just off himself...or maybe thrive in that kind of environment, he'd always been perfectly aware that a few of his vices were outside the norm.

[Then in the spirit of how you attained your knowledge for this task, take your pick of enforcement abilities and be on your way.]

And just like that the ethereal orb vanished, leaving only the starfield behind and a steadily approaching figure garbed in red, features hidden beneath the crimson robes.

"...Hold the fucking phone a second. Are you-"

A wave of the figure's hand brought to life a myriad of screens and menus that left Cayman sighing heavily, face dropping into his hands.

"The Counter Guardian itself is showing off a Gamer system. And that was Alaya I was tripping balls over. Yup, definitely seen it all."

The cloaked being stood off to the side, patiently and wordlessly awaiting his decisions as the young man ran a hand through his hair.

"Okay, well...let's get to it."

"Alright, that should just about be everything."

Gazing upon his choices Cayman nodded in satisfaction, figuring that he'd done the best he could with the limited information provided.

And info had indeed been limited. While each of the three separate classes had some sort of description attached to them it was fairly barebones, only a brief summary of what it did, starting benefits and could potentially end up becoming.

The first slots had been largely dedicated to what his 'character' would play like, boosts to how he would interact with the people in this new world. Considering that he was apparently going to a multi-hentai land he'd decided that, after a fair bit of examination, Sybaritic Initiate was the way to go.

While the class didn't have much to offer in the way of fighting power it had caught his eye by way of its flavor text.

{As an individual predisposed towards lust, pursuit of pleasure and sensory experience a Sybaritic Initiate derives their power and motivation from the presence of others. REP increases are boosted while REP decreases are reduced. Various skills and abilities that boost one's talent with receiving and giving pleasure are learned at higher levels. Combat skills are restricted and not a focus of the Sybaritic Initiate.}

Other than that it had just sported a basic affinity chart, with a medium bonus to his health and minor boost to other stats, which consisted of an interesting blend, to say the least.

Health, Mana, Stamina, Strength, Agility, Defense, Magic, Magic Defense and something titled Reign.

That last one was definitely a stat of the non-standard variety but unfortunately there wasn't any kind of description to go off of in regards to what it did...he'd just have to figure that out as he went along.

And as for why he chose that class in particular?

Well if he was being summoned into the world of anime tiddies and hentai logic then it probably wouldn't hurt to have a skill heavily related to such topics, now would it? Besides, the other two classes he'd picked had far more blatant combat connotations.

The first 'Magic' class had contained quite the multitude of disciplines. Elemental control, dominion over things like light and shadow, illusion and mental control...but in the end he had chosen the one that spoke most to his personal taste.

{The Novice Summoner is a newcomer to the complicated and varied art of manifesting man and monster as their servants, only having access and authority over a limited selection of summonable beings. Higher levels afford increasingly powerful summons that may be commanded.}

While having almost no offensive spells the class was loaded down with enough support options to choke a bull, aided by an extensive array of stat bonuses based around his mana, magic and magic defense. A class that fit into his usual desired gaming role as tank or support, when he'd had the time to indulge.

Last on the list had been a weapon class, sporting a variety of melee and olden time instruments of death from swords to bows, daggers to halberds.

In his previous life he hadn't really dabbled with close combat outside of a few martial arts classes that hadn't gone anywhere beyond the intermediate level, so the weapon choice was honestly kind of arbitrary. With that thought in mind he went with something that would compliment his other main means of offense.

{The Trainee Magic Spearman has just begun their long road to mastery over the mystic art of combining both esoteric and exoteric disciplines into a complete, lethal union. Eschewing the usage of physical force in favor of the magic arts their weapon is used as a catalyst for all manner of spellcraft that will leave their foes at the mercy of supernatural phenomena at an arm's length.}

The way he saw it instead of trying to catch up on physical combat he could leave that to his summons, instead taking advantage of how vastly increased magic reserves and power - courtesy of additional increases to his health, mana, magic and agility due to his final class - would also allow him to provide offensive options in a pinch.

So all in all he would be a weak physical fighter with middling durability but a shit ton of magic potential that could both support and DPS...besides, while swords and bows were cool and all Caymen felt there was something fittingly appropriate about the spear. Sure, the other two were well renowned tools that had been unanimously designed by almost every halfway advanced civilization on earth...but before any of that fancy shit had occurred Gorg and Rok were sharpening sticks and throwing them at prehistoric caribou.

The spear was and always would be humanity's first weapon of choice.

…

And that was only because there was no rock class for him to take, which would have been fucking hilarious.

"Alright, I'm set. Any last things I should be aware of events I need to look out-"

"-for?"

Blinking as he was suddenly no longer in whatever space he'd previously occupied and was instead standing in some kind of alleyway Caymen took a second to blink the surprise out of his brain, inwardly musing, "Well...so far the dream seems to be holding together. Right, best be acting as if this is real."

Stepping forward with a slight sense of unreality the man took a look around his surroundings, noting that it must have been a city in Japan somewhere...while it had been a while since he'd seen had to read the language his obsession with all kinds of eroge earlier in his life had ensured that he was pretty fluent with the writing.

But now the question remained, what city in particular was he in and was it even a 'real' one that he was familiar with?

Halting as he felt a reassuring weight in his pocket Cayman quickly took out his phone, wondering if it was going to be as easy as simply firing it up...and too his immense relief and surprise the device worked just as well as it had before he'd presumably died, navigation app opening up without protest as he realized he was currently standing in none other than Tokyo itself, near Kabuki.

"Well that begs the question of how my phone is working then...hell, what year is it even?"

Before he could ponder those questions further a sudden chiming noise echoed within his skull, eyes flicking towards a perfectly contrasted bit of text that floated in the center of his vision.

[Welcoming Mat!]

[Details: Make your way to your place of residence and take up residence there.]

[Rewards: Apartment Room, Starting Money, Identification Papers.]

"...Okay then, video game status achieved. But what the hell, no EXP rewards?"

Shaking his head Cayman nonetheless decided to figure out just where this 'apartment' of his was, rooting through his largely empty pockets aside his phone and finding only two things within, a plain key and piece of paper with an address written down on it, a quick entering of that information onto his phone revealing that the location was maybe an hour's walk away.

"Well if that's the apartment then maybe an EXP reward would have been overkill, since it's literally just walking…"

Shrugging to himself Cayman performed one last critical check of his person, snapping a photo of himself and blinking at the image that presented itself. It was still him, still with tanned skin, blonde hair and sharp green eyes with a carefully maintained and cared for set of handsome features that had been a part of his livelihood...except instead of a tastefully aged man seeming to be in his forties he looked fresh out of college, the Gamer raising an eyebrow at that.

"Was it really such a big deal that I looked older? I liked having a hint of gray to my sideburns, gave me a refined look and all that."

Eventually shrugging his shoulders the man began his stroll, keeping an eye out for any kind of hints as to the time period or universe he'd been dropped into.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to immediately go off of. There was still a thousand and one businesses crammed into the busy streets, billboards and advertisements cluttered the available areas and the more residential areas were jammed with unique bits of personality, from a hundred individual car models to the flags, plants and patio furniture...although he didn't recognize a fair few of the flags displayed, or the car models.

Which wasn't really enough to go draw any conclusions on its own, since he hadn't known all of them back home anyways. With that thought in mind he eventually meandered to a rise in the cityscape, a clearing in the buildings allowing him an unobstructed view of Tokyo bay...and he came to a stop, blinking at the sight that greeted him. While expanses of water were still there, freight shipping coming and going what was absolutely not normal was the veritable city connected to Tokyo proper by way of a single heavily guarded and armored bridge.

"...Huh. Well that wasn't there before."

A quick scan of his phone revealed the name of the place, Tokyo Kingdom City.

"No way, is that...okay, let's not go jumping to conclusions yet, the day is still young."

Continuing on his way Cayman nonetheless paid a closer eye to the city, noting a few strange bits and pieces as he did so that had at first escaped his notice.

A few cybernetic additions to the police - who in all were more heavily armored and armed - alongside what he had mistaken as foreign products were instead outright different food products and such that would have never found their way to Earth under normal circumstances.

Feeling a growing sense of certainty settle into his gut Cayman eventually arrived at the listed apartment, a simple but expansive complex with what looked like eight apartments set atop of garages and smaller storehouses, all of it in decent shape with only a few signs of wear and tear to be found.

It was pretty close to the edge of what he was informed was the red light district of Kabuki-chō, a place that had a fairly rough and tumble reputation even back on Earth. It seemed even wilder in this strange new reality, what with a few signs and advertisements showcasing attractions that were definitely not among the more 'standard' crowd pleasers.

He was pretty sure he saw some kind of poster for a bestiality show - totally legal, as the advertisement claimed - with 'hot XXX ninja girls' front and center for those aforementioned oddities.

Tabling that thought for what felt like the thousandth time today he instead slipped the key into his labeled room - 06 - after a failed search for any kind of landlord and walked inside, taking in the surprisingly decent sized flat. While lacking any furniture or amenities aside from the usual kitchen fare of fridge, microwave, oven and dishwasher it was fairly spacious, the kitchen set a bit aside from the common room while a bathroom that wasn't closet-sized was tucked close to a pair of modestly-sized bedrooms.

"Jesus, in a city like Tokyo this must cost a small fortune."

Shaking his head at that errant thought Cayman approached the counter, spotting some kind of folder atop of it. Inside was a bunch of yen notes that came to a grand total of one million while a laminated ID card came with a plain but reliable wallet of durable leather.

[Welcome Mat Complete! Further quests will be issued at a later date or as events are encountered.]

"Well, that was fairly simple...alright, time to get down to brass tacks."

Focusing on what he hoped would be a command for his menu to manifest he wasn't disappointed as a floating screen that stayed perfectly centered and contrasted to whatever he was looking at popped into view, displaying his stats front and center.

Cayman Lute, LVL 1

HP: 100

MP: 500

STA: 100

STR: 20

DEF: 30

MAG: 80

MAG DEF: 80

REIGN: 0

EXP: 0/100

"Well that's...I actually don't have anything to compare against, so maybe that's really good? Certainly geared towards magic just like intended."

Frowning as he realized there was still a lot of things he needed to take care of Cayman sighed, taking momentary solace in the fact that at least his first and last name hadn't been changed, that would have been one alteration too many to accept and keep his wits about him.

And with no real direction or quest currently provided the male decided to do the most productive thing and go shopping.

After all, his apartment and fridge weren't going to fill themselves.

"Gotta say, inventory is a pretty handy skill to have around."

Pulling his groceries and basic amenities from the void-like space floating obediently at his right side the male began the domestic but necessary task of ensuring he had a place to sleep and wouldn't starve for the foreseeable future, as well as pondering the implications of his new skill.

A warning had popped up when he'd tried to shove an entire car into his inventory out of curiosity and it had been explained that his personal hammerspace could hold up to ten times his strength stat in kilograms, so in this case roughly 440 pounds.

"Maybe I should have tried it on a bike or something to start. Oh well, forewarned is forearmed."

Slipping his purchases of food, bedding, toiletries and simple silverware into his inventory when no one was watching had been simple and the walk back even more so...although the male couldn't help but wonder what he was supposed to do.

Sure, the game or whatever he was connected to had said that quests and the like would be given out or that he could go looking for them but inbetween the still dream-like reality of being kicked across universes and a lack of clear direction, well...having a goal would have helped. He guessed Alaya - because what else was that rotating mess of light and metal supposed to be - wasn't into hand holding.

Huffing out a sigh he elected to put the matter out of mind and plug his phone into an outlet, letting it charge as he went about creating his dinner, a simple chicken alfredo that was just intensive enough to keep his mind occupied...but even that came to an end, the male listlessly slipping the dishes into the washer and leftovers into the fridge as he decided to go for a walk outside the apartment in a bid to clear his head.

"Shit, I'm going to need to buy some clothes as well...can't settle for jeans, t-shirt and sweatshirt the entire time."

Shaking his head as he locked his front door and set off into the now neon-lit blackness of the city Cayman tried to decide which direction he should head in-

"I can't believe you didn't make dinner! It was your turn, remember?!"

"You were in charge of buying ingredients, I was working all day, remember?!"

"Well now what are we going to do, we don't have any food!"

"Stop making such a big deal out of it, we'll just have to go out and order, now won't we?"

"Oh, so it's not a big deal if you forget, isn't it?"

-and turned around, staring in unabashed curiosity as apartment 08 let loose a long and intense sounding argument, the door slamming open and letting loose two figures that caused Cayman's jaw to unlatch, actually recognizing the duo.

One had light brown skin and long, dark brunette hair flowing down her back and purple-red eyes that glared at the girl's companion, a dark pink-haired woman sporting piercing yellow eyes and austere features set in a scowl. Both were slight of height and bust but had trim, highly athletic bodies that more than made up for any perceived lacking in the chest department...and it certainly wasn't as if they were flat.

No, what had Caymen's attention was that he was staring at none other than Yukikaze Mizuki and Su Jinglei, characters from the Taimanin series...which was apparently somehow connected to the Fate series if his encounter with the Counter Force and Alaya were any indicator.

For the span of barely a second a feral gleam shone in his eyes, predator's smile peeling lips back from teeth.

"Oh boy, this is going to be one wild ride...I hope everyone else is ready for it."

Okay, so recently I started getting on a Taimanin universe kick and, much like with DxD, I found myself pretty fascinated with the world and setting. The 'plot' is just a nice bonus to hook idiots like me who spend time away from their partners because life is cruel that way and need horny outlets. Except what is a porno meal without the appetizer that is the knowledge that 'hot college xxx girl' can't pay her plumber the repair bill because tuition is expensive as fuck and job opportunities kinda slim with no work experience?

Thank christ I only ever fell into half of that particular trap. Is this getting a little too real? It's getting a little too real, back to make believe.

TLDR I wanted to flex my world-building muscles and smash three of my currently favorited franchises together and see what raunchiness with unironic plot results. And why not do a simple bit of gaming while we're at it, since Taimanin is technically a game.