Prologue

There was once a goddess by the name of Morrighan. Her domains were that of War, Vengeance, and Crows, and was also a patron goddess of the Tuatha de Dananns, a clan of humans descended from the Partholon, another human clan. In her adolescence, she discovered a hole in the skies between Erinn, the land of paradise, and the city of Falias, home to the gods. Tapping into her divine powers she expanded this hole and found there was more beyond it. Resting in what could only be described as a 'kaleidoscopic gap' was a white bridge that led beyond the stars. Ignoring the counsel of her one-time friend Cichol—god of the Fomorians—Morrighan kept this bridge open to Erinn and later named it the Soul Stream once she had discovered its function.

The function of the Soul Stream was simple, it occasionally touched worlds across the gap in search of souls free of their bodies but have yet to be claimed by the local Aspect of Death. Once it found said souls, the Soul Stream would pull them towards itself and then funnel them in the direction of Erinn proper, where they could once again enjoy life. This race of souls pulled from other worlds came to be called Milletians—people descended from the stars—and they were a special breed. For one, their bodies were temporary shells that could be reshaped to their desires. If they died, their souls would return to the Soul Stream, allowing them to recreate their bodies, making them immortal in a sense. They also had a strange ability to perceive time at a faster rate, which turned them into quick learners.

Milletians were a rare occurrence in Erinn, only coming into prominence sometime after several catastrophic conflicts between the Fomor and the Tuatha de Danann forced Morrighan to descend unto the continent of Uladh. There she sacrificed the remnants of her strength to seal away the Fomorians and stop them from invading Erinn—all at the cost of being imprisoned in stone. The goddess was not passive during her internment. Using trickles of divinity available to her, she visited the dreams of warriors, hoping to convince them to find her in the land of Tir Na Nog—an apparent paradise.

She found a semblance of hope in a young warrior named Ruairi. Together with a mage named Tarlach and an archer named Mari, they ventured deep into the dungeons of Uladh, seeking a way into Tir Na Nog. Though they fought hard they eventually were felled by Cichol's forces. Ruairi was spirited away by the Dark Lord Morgant, Tarlach lost his magic and was forced to hide away in Sidhe Sneachta, living half of his life as a bear due to a curse. Then there was Mari, the young girl who wanted to become more. Of the three she was the only one to die due to wounds, in spite of this, her story did not end at the hands of the Fomor.

Using an artifact known as Lia Fail, Morrighan took Mari's soul and merged it with a goddess whose domain was that of Gates. The reborn Mari, renamed Nao, was made guardian of the Soul Stream and was given the duty of guiding unclaimed souls to Erinn in large numbers. If the Tuatha de Dananns could not save their goddess, then it would be the Milletians to do so.

Four years had passed since Nao's rebirth and in that time hundreds of Milletians came to be on Erinn's soul. However, none of them had enough potential to save Morrighan. Nao refused to give in to despair and continued to search for the right person. And then she did. She found three across three separate worlds.

The first was a young woman known as Lisa Wolf. An explorer that sailed across the stars in her land. Lisa was one of many who braved the abyss of space in order to search for new habitable lands. She catalogued hundreds of worlds before her untimely demise when her ship failed to decelerate during re-entry. Nonetheless she was remembered as one of the greatest pioneers of her time.

The second was a soldier by the name of Charles Wilken. He fought for the freedom of his people in a war-torn planet, one bullet at a time. Over a twenty-yearlong campaign he killed more than any other and was feared by the enemy as a demon incarnate. Charles' body eventually gave in to the damage it accumulated over the years and was eventually caught and beheaded in public.

The third was far more ordinary than the first two, but his soul shined just as brightly. He was a teenaged orphan named Daichi Takahashi. He lived in a world filled to the brim with supernatural beings and yet he, and most of the human population, remained ignorant of that fact. Daichi suffered from abject isolation and abuse from his peers. Feeling he had no escape, Daichi took his own life by hanging himself.

Three disparate souls who were all freed from their bodies at exactly the same time. It was unusual for Nao, but she guided them into Erinn's Soul Stream regardless. Taking a soul from one world into another, even with the assistance of the Soul Stream itself, was incredibly taxing on the soul. On occasion the souls that Nao guided to the Soul Stream would shatter, the fragments of potential fading into nothingness with no way of restoring them. Unfortunately for the young goddess, the three souls did shatter. Then, before she could anguish over the shards of what could have been, something… unheard of occurred.

The shards coalesced into one.

A soul unlike any other, born from the sacrifice of three. And born from this very unique soul was a very special Milletian.

This Milletian was the one who went on to save the goddess Morrighan, freeing her from her stone prison.

This Milletian went on to become a true Paladin, entering a contract with a noble spirit to enforce justice in the name of Morrighan.

This Milletian, slighted by Morrighan's lies in a confrontation between her and the Fomorian King Cichol, walked away from the Paladin's path and embraced the Dark Knight's corruption to find one's own justice.

This Milletian sailed across the seas to the continent of Iria, learning about the Elves, Giants, and the war between them.

This Milletian traveled to Zardine, a volcanic hell-spot in the northern reaches of Iria, to slay a Dragon who rebelled against its rightful imprisonment.

This Milletian, upon returning to Uladh, learned about the art of Alchemy, the resurgence of the Fomorians in the absence of their king, and the peculiar Shadow Realm.

This Milletian ascended as a demigod through the sacrifice of Elatha, the Shadow Walker and the son of Neamhain, goddess of Light.

This Milletian inherited the Caliburn, the artifact used by the creator god Aton Cimeni to create Erinn.

This Milletian, in a reluctant alliance with Morrighan, fought off the revived Nuadha Airgetlam, King of the Gods.

This Milletian learned of the closed off realm of Avon and encountered the very first Milletian to have ever existed.

This Milletian became embroiled in a war between the Tuatha de Dananns and an army of undead, the conclusion of which saw the retreat of the gods from Erinn.

This Milletian suffered under the corruption of the Soul Stream as the result of a plot by an older Tarlach and Ruairi to rid Erinn of the gods and the Soul Stream, forever. Ultimately, their plotting resulted in the revival of Macha, Goddess of War and Destruction.

In the past Macha, had fallen in love with a mortal man and had given up her divinity to be with him. However, she was betrayed when the man married another woman. In her sorrows, she denounced the worth of mortal love and before drowning herself in a lake vowed that should she ever return, she would destroy the entirety of Erinn. And shortly after her resurrection, she did exactly that. Only to be stopped by the Milletian at every turn.

The two divines tirelessly fought above the skies of Erinn, the world below shuddering against the excess of their blows. Their duel continued for days, eventually ending where it began: Renes Volcano off the coast of Zardine. Macha was decapitated by Caliburn's blade, but not before she drove a fist concentrated with a destructive curse into the Milletian's heart.

Unlike Macha, the Milletian would not be truly claimed by death. It needs to be said, though, that slowly dying to a particularly nasty curse while paralyzed in the remnants of an active volcano was not a very great way to die.

"A long time ago, I thought that being reborn into another world that I thought was just a game while having two other people occupy my mind was the craziest thing of my life. Several decades later, here we are, slowly dissolving into ash because we had to defend the world against a crazy goddess hellbent on killing us and then the world! How did we ever get involved in this mess?"

"We uh… What was it again… Had a dream about a different goddess who asked us to save her and then things escalated."

"Daichi."

"Yes?"

"It was a rhetorical question."

"And I gave a rhetorical answer."

"Boys, boys! Don't even start arguing. It's not making this 'dissolving' business any more pleasant."

"Lysanna is right, but still, isn't it crazy how we're still coherent without a heart? How does that even make sense?"

"About as much as everything else, really. And I'm of the opinion that the more you lose major organs, the more you just adapt to it. It's what? The sixth time we've been without a heart before we died? Could be worse."

"Yeah. Like getting decapitated or something."

"Really Daichi? It's way too soon to be making any beheading jokes."

"Ignore Charles, Daichi! I need some more humor to deal with all this freakin' pain!"

"That's all I got. Sorry."

"Ugh… The worst part about this curse is that it's keeping us alive as it works its way through our body. Any other time and we'd already be dead! Okay, okay. I have an idea. You know how you guys take control over the Doppelgangers I make?"

"Yep."

"Mhm… Oh! I know what you want to do."

"Great, then you get to do the honors, Charles… Do you have control of the Doppelganger?"

"Sure do… Gotta say, we do not look good right now."

"Get on with it man!"

"Right, on three then. Three, two, one—!"

A/N: Next update is whenever. And probably in smaller chunks because that's less intimidating. Somehow. Old chapters before rewrite (not like there's that many...) will be relabeled as EXTRA, for comparison purposes and what not.

This story was always meant to be a Mabinogi/HS DxD crossover, but I'm about as good as planning as a wheel of cheese.