Battle Harem of the Heavenly Sword

Hiro, who just got information of vital importance felt like he choked on something. "What? What do you mean by rewriting memories and personalities? Such a thing should not be possible!"

The goat head turned to Hiro as it spoke arrogantly. "Clearly you know very little of the battle harem system. Its current use is nothing but a perversion of what it should have been. Dominator is not a simple title given for sport or pleasantries.

"Dominators are meant to be absolute rulers capable of leading armies into battle. The system granted them the domination link. The link makes it possible to erase a person's deepest fears and most horrible trauma. They bring courage to the fearful, guidance to the lost, and justice to the oppressed.

"Such leaders granted love, hope, and faith to their harems. Who in turn would nurture an even greater number of people. Alas! Such noble intentions became lost due to greed and corruption. Despite its grand purpose, it became naught more than a tool to manipulate the weak.

"Erasing memories or forging new ones. Removing facets of a personality or completely making another. These are but paltry acts to a knowledgeable dominator."

The transmigrator felt like he ate too much ice cream and had his brain frozen. Was today mind-fuck the trash swordsman day? First the system now Patches, Hiro learned secrets of the world in bulk just from this one outing.

"BULLSHIT! MY MEMORIES ARE MY OWN! RHYNE-SAMA SAVED ME AND GAVE ME A PLACE TO BELONG TO! I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO SLANDER HER!"

"RHYNE-SAMA IS THE ONLY GOOD THING THAT HAPPENED IN MY LIFE! MY FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND EVEN MY LOVER BETRAYED ME! I HAVE ONLY HER!"

Seeing the near-fanatical responses from the two, Hiro felt he stumbled over a fundamental truth. If one's memories were tampered with, wouldn't personalities be easy to warp as one wished?

'Hell, even affection, gratitude, and reverence required memories to anchor them. If you could command what a person remembered, you would control not only his body but inevitably his mind and soul.'

This doubt caused Hiro to question just how much of what Starfall's devoted remembered was the truth. Patches had no reason to lie. In fact, he could have just stayed silent as sharing these gave him absolutely no benefit.

"Mitsurugi, we are leaving! The Venator is approaching! We cannot delay any longer. Follow me!"

Hiro who heard him asked in reply. "But what about the warriors of Dragonblood? We cannot just leave them!"

The goat head then rebuked him in earnest. "What are you talking about? They are already dead! Do you mean to bring their corpses or something? Didn't you kill some of them too?"

Hiro then looked around and only now noticed the deathly silence in the cavern. No matter where he searched Hiro no longer found any reptile still moving, instead, he found blood-drenched men slowly walking toward him.

The snake tail suddenly wrapped around Hiro's waist and hoisted him up, placing him behind the goat head. The transmigrator saddled the giant manticore like a horse.

Upon securing him, Patches bolted at top speed. Even though Hiro moved together with Patches, the monster's speed was too much for him.

Hiro could neither open his eyes nor mouth as the winds assaulted his face. He held his breath so as to not lose too much oxygen. At such extreme speeds, even breathing became a challenge.

His body didn't fair much better, the man had little on except his weapon. When Hiro got back up the first thing he did was shrink his weapon and secured it on his back.

He made the makeshift sheath from cloth. The original one dissolved in acid earlier, luckily the weather could no longer affect a system user's body past Level 20 thus so Hiro had no issues despite being almost nude.

Hiro lost what little armor he originally had and now looked like a vagrant due to the remains of his shirt and pants being shabby, dirty, and full of holes. Regardless of how the elements battered him, Hiro had more pressing matters such as surviving Starfall's assassination.

'Mitsurugi can you hear me? I believe at your level my speed would barely allow you to speak.'

'Patches! Yes! I can hear you loud and clear! Thank you for earlier and I apologize for killing your forces.'

'Their sacrifice is not in vain, I see that you already are an [Initiate] and are one level short of being an [Adept]. They were the last of the army entrusted to me. They were not even a decade old. It seems the day of my death has arrived.'

'WHAT THE HELL! What are you talking about? We are going to survive this and you will tell me all you know about the system.'

Patches ran franticly without stopping. He and Hiro eventually reached a vast desert that stretched as far as the eye could see. Suddenly Patches slowed down until he came to a stop.

"As much as I would like to trade stories Mitsurugi, I cannot. I have lived for several millennia but my life's purpose has always been the same. It is to ensure you do not die today and to return what was originally yours."

A black fingerless glove suddenly manifested in front of Hiro suspended in a magic bubble. The glove lacked any opulent designs but looked cool and extremely durable. On the side opposite the palm, it had three gems on it. A ruby, sapphire, and an emerald.

Upon seeing the item, Hiro felt extreme loneliness in his heart. It was like the pain of loss from missing a friend. The transmigrator could not understand it. This moment should be the first time he saw the glove. Yet his body, mind, and soul all screamed otherwise.

Patches nodded in satisfaction, and the lion's head licked its lips as he started to speak. Hiro took the glove but had yet to put it on.

"I am sure you have many questions, ask them now. We have been locked in an isolated dimension. We can no longer run, fighting to the death is the only recourse."

Understanding the importance of the time remaining Hiro asked the most pressing questions on his mind.

"Are the Saviors all preparing for war? Where are all of them? What is coming?"

All three of Patches' head's looked at Hiro as they spoke one after another.

"How interesting, I had assumed no one deduced the truth. Yes, the battle from 5000 years ago still has not yet finished." Explained the lion.

The goat lamented, "I do not know where each Savior has headed, I am but a servant after all."

"As for what is coming I have no idea either, all I know is that everything they did was necessary for the coming battle." Hissed the snake.