Prologue – Off to a New Start

It has been a good ten years later now after the Southern continent, or the free nation of Leanbox, was finally able to thwart the threat known as the Arfoire Syndicate of International Crime or ASIC, successors of the group known only as the Legion, from their plans to spread chaos and revive the vile goddess known as Arfoire, the corrupt sibling of the pure goddess Celestia.

ASIC, formed after the corrupt followers of Arfoire known as the Legion was defeated by the hands of the very first Patron Unit of Celestia or now commonly known as CPU, planned to continue the thwarted goals of the Legion to spread chaos so as to revive the evil goddess. Lead by the new chosen successor of the spirit of the Legion's leader, a woman who only named herself Magic, ASIC continued to wreck havoc. After getting driven away from Leanbox, the remainder who formed ASIC has spread their influence and terror at the poorest region of Gamindustri, the Western continent.

While at the poor continent, Magic has managed to influence westerners to put their faith on their vile goddess. And those who resisted were faced with death. What made matters worse, she was able to get hold of three divine weapons known as Furies and corrupted them using the dark powers bestowed upon Magic by the Legion's leader, giving birth to three mechanical looking monstrosities. And together they got known as the Four Felons of ASIC, where they used all in their power to spread terror to those who refuses to ally with them.

ASIC's plan was short-lived however when the CPU of Leanbox known as Green Heart, who also goes by the name of Vert Gheytz, gathered all of Leanbox's forces and attempted to completely wipe the evil forces off the world by pursuing ASIC at the Western continent and eliminate them once and for all.

"And so, a raging battle ensued on the Western continent, huh…." Muttered a young boy about the age of twelve years old while reading on some sort of book about the history of how the battle of the goddesses fueled the war between good and evil. The boy has pale white skin, a bit thin built body, messy shoulder length jet black hair, and bright crimson eyes. He wears only simple clothing like a dark gray t-shirt, shorts colored black with deep blue highlights on the seams and on his feet are a pair of black sandals. "Lead by Green Heart, the forces of Leanbox went ahead and immediately attacked the forces of ASIC upon arrival while the expecting enemy forces were waiting along the shoreline."

"There you are again, sitting on the same tree by Zelwinds park, all alone but instead of just sitting there staring at the grass underneath where your feet lies, you're reading a book about history. At least something changed huh…..Hmhm."

When the young boy looked up to see who spoke before him, he immediately looked down and blushed in embarrassment.

"L-lady Marianna…." Mumbled the young boy.

"Hmhm. A pleasant afternoon to you…, Kuroe." Marianna replied to the young boy. "Why don't you play with the other children playing around the park? They seem to be having fun." She added after looking at the number of children playing around the park with their own ways of having fun.

"I just… don't feel like playing with them." Kuroe replied to Marianna before going back to reading the book in his hand.

"Hmm…. Could it be that you don't actually have friends from the children of the orphanage?" Marianna teasingly said to him. With that though, Kuroe got taken aback as a reaction and got flustered.

"I-I do have friends…!" Kuroe stated in defense while being all embarrassed.

"Who~? The children more younger than you are? But those are just toddlers, Kuroe. You need friends of the same age as you." Marianna teased to Kuroe even further.

"Th-that's not what I'm referring to…!" Kuroe defended once more while getting embarrassed more. "Jeez…."

"Then who are you referring to… ~?" Marianna muttered with a little grain as she looked up at the tall tree where Kuroe decided to settle in. "Hm? Oh, I guess you are referring to that child, huh."

"Child…?" Kuroe repeated in confusion before what Marianna said finally occurred to him. "O-oh… that kid who has a Fencer for a guardian. N-not really my friend but…."

"But?" Marianna repeated.

"N-nothing…." Kuroe replied while a bit flustered before perusing the book in his hand once again.

"You know, Kuroe, you should take opportunity to make more friends especially during the times when the orphanage is giving some of the children time to play outside. Isn't that right, Marianna?"

When both Kuroe and Marianna looked at who talked, they saw Sherman approaching with his usual calm demeanor.

"That's what I was trying to say to him." Muttered Marianna to her fellow Fencer.

"Then let me ask you, Kuroe…" Sherman started. "… what is your goal in life? What do you dream for your future life?"

"W-well, lord Sherman…" Kuroe started to say. "… I really want to become a great leader someday…. A leader that can provide my people with all their needs and give them to a better way of living."

"How ironic…." Mumbled Marianna with a tinge of sarcasm.

"Come now, Marianna, let's not discourage his dreams. Haha…." Sherman said to her with a smile of someone feeling awkward. "But how do you plan on starting, then?"

"Well…I will start by travel around, I guess." Kuroe answered. "I think…by exploring around, I can learn a lot. For me to achieve greatness, I need to learn many things if I want to achieve my dreams of becoming a great leader."

"And so greatness awaits the brave Kuroe Kuterogi as he plans his adventures outside of the East continent…." Marianna said with another tinge of sarcasm. "But you need to make friends first, in my opinion."

"Gh…." Sighed Kuroe out.

"Anyway, we need to be on our way now, Marianna. The general awaits our attendance." Sherman told his fellow Fencer.

"I see. Let us go, then." Marianna replied before turning around to leave. "See you soon, Kuroe."

"Uh…y-yes, ma'am." Kuroe said shyly.

"Yeah, see you soon and…" Sherman then looked at the tree again before giving his usual calm smile. "… be careful now." He said before following Marianna.

"Uh…thanks, I guess?" Said Kuroe in confusion. "But why do I need to be careful, anyways…? I'm only sitting on the foot of this tree. It's not like something will fall on this tree-"

*Crack!*

*Rustling and breaking sounds of branches from the tree*

"Waaaaaaah~! Move, move, mooooooove!"

"What the-?!"

*BLAM!*

"Ouchies…~" moaned a young girl in pain as she rubs her sore back. The girl in question has short lilac or light purple hair with bangs that reach down to her collar bone and purple eyes. Around her neck is a choker that has a light blue directional pads symbol on it. She wears a mostly white hoodie dress that has a light purple hood, strings that look like controller plugs, and two huge purple and white pockets with purple directional pad symbols on them. The zipper emblem and the back of the hoodie has a purple directional pad symbols on them as well. She wears light blue and white striped thigh high socks with frills at the tops and her shoes are purple and blue. "Man, I knew that last branch was on the crunchy side already~. Good thing that I landed on a pretty soft spot~. Hehehe~."

"That's…because you landed on me, idiot!" Yelled Kuroe as he groans in pain after the aforementioned girl landed on top of him.

"Eh~?"

When the young girl, who looks about the same age as Kuroe, turned around to look at him… "Oh~! Well if it ain't Cutey-rogi~.

"D-don't call me that, you idiot…!" Yelled Kuroe more as the girl still remained on top of him.

"Bah…. Cutey-rogi is anything but cute now….~ Lame~." Teased the young girl. "No wonder you don't have any friends."

"Just…get off me, Yuu!"

"Gaaaah! Okay, okay…!" Muttered the girl named Yuu as she hurriedly gets off Kuroe. "Jeez. As grouchy as ever, Kuroe."

"Tch…let's see what your reaction will be if a person suddenly falls over you…!" Grumbled Kuroe as he stands up. "What were you doing up this tree, anyway?"

"Uh…" Started Yuu with a deep thought. "… spying… on you?" She kinda answered before sticking her tongue out.

"And why were spying on me, Yuu?" Kuroe wondered out of irritability.

"Hehe~. No reason~." Yuu cheerfully answered.

"Jeez…." Sighed Kuroe. "You're randomness really is beyond what I can imagine…. Anyway, I need to return this book back to the library. So, if you have no more business with me I shall be-"

"Wait~!" Yuu interrupted after grabbing Kuroe's free hand. "Come with me."

"H-huh? Where to?" Asked a flustered and bewildered Kuroe.

"To the hillside~!" Yuu answered cheerfully. "Let's eat some sweet pudding while sitting at the hillside and waiting for the sun to set~! And then do some stargazing as well~! I wanna see my favorite star again~!"

"Wh-why would I come with you now all of a sudden…?" Asked a still flustered and bewildered Kuroe. "Besides I still need to-"

"Come on, buddy….~" Pleaded Yuu to the boy while attempting to make a pitiful face at him.

"Hmm….f-fine…." Mumbled Kuroe after giving in to the girl's request. "But the puddings are on you, get it?"

"Sure thing~!" Said Yuu cheerfully. "Woohoo~!" She then cheered on while spinning in a cheerful manner.

"Jeez…, why are so cheerful today, anyway?" Asked Kuroe.

"Because…" Yuu started before turning to her friend. "…I am always cheerful. Hehehe~"

And so begins a new story…..

Writer's Note: Greetings to readers! I hope you enjoyed reading the sequel of my first HDN Arc series. There's still more to come after this so expect consistent updates on this. Liking it so far? Any inconsistencies in the story? Share your thoughts as any will be very much appreciated. So good day and cheers!