The Birth of The Hero

I rub my eyes tiredly as I take a break from reviewing the files Alley had given me yesterday. The Voice through the laptop had also provided additional material for me to study. Surveillance photos, confidential reports, historical documents, recorded telephone conversations, you name it, The Voice dug it up. As to what I was studying, it was the circumstances of the Hero and the Heroines. I suspected that by the time I was through with all the material in front of me, I would know the Hero and Heroines better than they knew themselves.

Oh yes, Heroines. The Hero was being given the choice of multiple paths here. But lets leave them aside for the moment and deal with the man of the hour first.

The Hero, or as he is better known, Tensei von Amsterg, was born during the Millennium War. His father was Abe von Amsterg, the mother, most interestingly, was an angel by the name of Julianne Etoil. At this stage of the war, the Legion was losing badly and had been pushed by the Host back to their European stronghold in Berlin. Abe von Amsterg was the second brother of the House of von Amsterg and as a demon of noble birth, it was his duty to defend his family's holdings on earth.

What's that you ask? Family holdings? Oh yes. It gets more complicated. Strap in.

Unlike home, world war 2 did not happen in this dimension. What happened in its place was the Iron Octopus Crisis, an incident where a group of German cultists, the Order of the Iron Octopus, through some form of dark ritual, made contact with demons and entered into a conspiracy with them to conquer the world. Eventually the Iron Octopus managed to rip open a portal to hell and the demons began sending reinforcements to aid in this venture. With these reinforcements came what would become the von Amsterg family.

Originally foot soldiers sent to assist the Iron Octopus, the von Amstergs through merits earned in battle rose in prominence. After the Iron Octopus took over Germany, the von Amstergs were rewarded with noble rank, heraldry and land. The von Amstergs in return took a human family name instead of calling themselves N'bshahtgl or whatever and pretty much went native. When the fortunes of the Iron Octopus waned, the von Amstergs quickly threw their support, and their house army, behind the emerging civilian German government. With their help, a new government was formed and the von Amstergs were forgiven of any past indiscretions. The House then settled into a peaceful existence, not making waves.

Until the Millennium War of course. With the arrival of the Legion, the von Amstergs were quickly back in the thick of things. Leadership of the House was in the hands of the two brothers, the elder Gustav and the younger Abe. The Legion quickly recognized them as infernal nobility, conferring on them the rank of general and helping to expand their armies. Gustav and Abe, recognizing this as a chance to rise further in the world, went along.

Several years later, the war had gone sour, leaving Gustav and Abe fighting to defend the lands that their patriarch had left to them. The Host was pressing them hard, and one of the officers in the Host army was an angel named Julianne Etoil. From the histories I have in front of me, she was supposed to be a peerless beauty among an already beautiful race. That beauty was to be her ruin.

In the clash between Host and Legion forces that day, Abe mounted a daring counterattack, successfully pushing back the Host. Most histories attribute the Legion's continued existence in Europe to Abe's victory. In the chaotic rout of the Host army, Abe swept through them, killing and most importantly for this tale, taking spoils of war, one of which was Julianne.

Abe proceeded to happily despoil the spoils of war but that pleasant man was subsequently killed during the massive Legion counterattack that pushed the Host out of large swaths of Europe. His brother took full control of House von Amsterg and a decision was made to get rid of Julianne, who the House saw as dead weight.

What changed everything though, was the discovery that Julianne was pregnant with Tensei. Abe never married and had no children. Despite the unsavory circumstances of his birth, Tensei was the closest thing to an heir Abe had. The blood of House von Amsterg flowed in his veins and he had a legitimate claim as the successor of his father. So from the moment of his conception, the Hero had already saved someone's life, his mother's.

Gustav was unhappy at this discovery, but chose to respect the blood connection he shared with Tensei. He put Julianne under house arrest and after Tensei was born, raised Tensei in the style of a distant relative. This caused conflict within Gustav's own family, as they feared that House von Amsterg would once again be split into two lines, but this time, one of the lines being polluted with angel blood.

House von Amsterg had by this time become a big deal. When the truce was signed after the nuclear strikes, Gustav was in control of a large chunk of Europe. The Legion allowed House von Amsterg to rule these territories in their name and Gustav was conferred the rank of Prince. It was little wonder that Tensei had become something of a hot potato in the family.

Tensei also drew the attention of the UN P5. Seeking to weaken Legion rule over Europe through a successor that they could control, the P5 made contact with Julianne who was still languishing under house arrest. A plot was hatched where Julianne would convince Tensei to flee with her and the P5's agents would spirit them away. Convincing Tensei was easy, he was already unhappy with the treatment that he was receiving from the rest of the family, excepting Gustav, but eluding the pursuers sent after them was a different matter. Julianne was killed in a botched attempt by the Legion at getting Tensei back before they could reach P5 territory.

With no parents, the P5 arranged for him to be taken into the household of Archmage Naiberg where he stayed in more or less peaceful circumstances. Gustav occasionally tried reaching out to Tensei and getting him to return to the von Amstergs, if only for the sake of his inheritance and keeping the P5 out of Legion territory, but Tensei has refused all such offers. He stayed with the Naibergs until he was of age to enroll in the Academy.

And so we come to the first of the Heroines, Sera Naiberg, or as I call her, Magic Police Girl.