Parallelograms [CRUEL KING PHIGHTING! ISEKAI]

by Vee_Vex

Summary:

Cruel King, after having trained a hero and ruled kindly for the large majority of his life, was given the opportunity to reincarnate in another world after his soul finally passes on fully.

Now in the inpherno as an inphernal, he unravels the mysteries none had thought to look too close on- and searches for a way to restore a kind and just government to Blackrock after hearing of the government's wrongs in Playground.

Notes:

This has been rotting in my drafts for MONTHS and I finally finished it today I'm too tired to correct any spelling mistakes right now I just wanna get this out

Chapter 1: Frigid Cold and Kindess

Tap, tap, tap.

The king did not quite know of what to do, tapping his iced-over claw on his throne in nirvana.

Tap, tap, tap.

Player didn't quite call on him often- his training had helped them grow into a strong warrior. He's proud of them; but also quite worried, as they have mentioned the voices of the swords piercing into their head.

Tap, tap, tick.

Icedagger, Venomshank, Ghostwalker, Firebrand. They should be after the Windforce now. Each of the Swords, deadly as they are, served a purpose. he could only hope that they are able to handle a feat even Telamon couldn't do. Knowing that they were from the future… he had hope. Hope that the future was somewhat bright- that at the very least, the Blackrock kingdom will have a legacy.

Tap, tick, tock.

He only truly wished to be able to try again- if only he hadn't picked up that accursed sword… he should have heeded Telamon's warnings. He shouldn't have listened to those voices. His only regret, was not treating his people well. His kingdom was his pride- his joy, he ruled justly with kindness and listened to the pleas of the people when something was wrong.

Tick, tock, tick.

The ticking of a clock snapped him out of his deliberation, when he looked up he was not on his throne- but sitting in an office chair, seated in front of a strange, obscured figure.

"My apologies- often you wouldn't have to wait as long as you have in order for your soul to get fully processed into the afterlife- but due to timeline issues, this had do be delayed. I do hope your waiting room- nirvana as it's called in your world, right? I hope it was sufficient to your tastes."

"… Processed?"

"Yes- often, because of how many deaths there are happening at one time, there can be a congestion of many souls at once- and in special cases, like you, souls need to be processed and atone for certain things before moving on to the next life."

"Ah, that makes sense. I suppose it's finally time for me to fully leave this world, correct?"

"Yes… it is. Your legacy is set in stone."

"Good… I am glad I was at least a kind and just ruler before I took that cursed sword."

"You will be sent off to live another life in another world- It says here in this file that this is because of your kind just rulership for the large majority of your life, and you will retain your memories and be given one wish for the same reason."

"I understand. Can you please tell me any other stipulations?"

"The world you will go to has another species as its predominant intelligent life, so you will be reincarnated as this species. Along with that, you will be placed somewhere random- no magically convenient place to live, but you will be given necessities. You will also be able to speak, read, write, and understand any language there and be given a substantial chunk of money to start your new life with. Finally, you will be reincarnated at around 21 years old- and will have a lengthened lifespan compared to others."

"Then, I suppose… I wish for power, so if I am ever needed to rule a kingdom or take up the responsibility of leadership anywhere, I'll be able to protect my people from disaster."

"… a noble wish. Consider it granted. It will take a moment for you to awaken in the new world that you are being sent to- so you will first dream. Good luck out there!"

The King felt his soul fade and fizzle, as he accepted his new life in full- whatever his new life has to offer, he's prepared for anything. He will help others as much as he can, of course, but he never truly did get to appreciate his youth in his last life… he wonders if he will in this new one.

—

The former King awoke in a ruined, old castle in a mountainous area, the place being covered in snow and ice- though he didn't feel cold at all. In fact- he felt a normal amount of warm- a perfectly fine temperature. He looked around a bit, noticing that he had a fluffy fur-lined cloak draped over him; he was certain someone gave him it, for some reason, as it had some sort of spell on it that protected him from the snow and other elements. How nice… he wondered who did such a thing. It was even snowflake patterned, and quite long to cover and wrap around his whole body- with his favorite color as well as the main composition- it even had a nice button to fasten it with a beautiful crystal embedded within.

He got up from the little shelter he had "respawned" within, noting that he had ended up in a sort of old king's quarters- clearly an old castle that had been abandoned for years and years on end. How fitting, he was a former king… looking through the blizzard, he could see that he was on a high mountainous forest of some sort. Plenty of food to hunt, and water to find. He pulled out the bag he had came with- it seemed to have plenty of essentials to last him for a long time: hunting equipment, another few outfits, a water flask, a map of the area, and a note.

He picked out the note, reading it. It seemed to be a guide of sorts on where he is.

"You are in a place called 'the inphinity', specifically 'the inpherno'. The predominant species here is 'inphernals' but is more commonly referred to as 'gear demons', or more simply just demons. Demons are named after their gears, which they are spawned with and are able to summon at will. As you have been reborn as a gear demon, your gear is called "Scepter of Everlasting Blizzards" and can be shortened however you like for convenience (demons do that, anyways). It is a fusion of multiple gears, but as this is typically an incredibly rare mutation, you should not tell a soul of that for the sake of your own safety."

Hm. He'll keep that in mind. He looked at his outfit- other than the cloak, it looked more simple, as he typically wore simple clothing anyways he wasn't quite complaining. Putting his hand towards his head, two sets of horns made themselves known, as well as a layer of fur before his hand meets his crown. He took off his crown, observing that it looked quite different than how it used to look- seeing that it had a more icicle-esque theming than it once had. He put it in his bag, seeing as such an item would essentially make him a walking target for bad actors.

He decided to go on a hunt for food, and a water source nearby. Better to establish these things early, than to be starving later on.

—

It had been a few months since he had arrived in this world, and he has established a few things. Firstly, it seemed he had delicate moth-like wings- made from ice and snow, mostly, as the wings were actually a lot smaller and more durable than they seemed at first glance. He had quite a few scares from almost ripping them before realizing that!

Secondly, he had decided to shorten his gear's name to "Blizzard" in case he encounters someone else while on a hunt or otherwise. It doesn't seem like anyone goes into this forest, and that's fine with him, he's honestly enjoying not having to suffer with old bones while hunting- he's quite glad to be young again. He sang to himself an old Blackrock hmyn every once in a while to keep himself busy.

Thirdly, someone else was here in the mountains with him- but they seemed to be incredibly shy, only really communicating through giving gifts to him and occasionally short letters written in a very nice glittery ink. He makes sure to leave portions of his hunt for them- which they always take and leave a small thank you letter for him.

Today, he was bleeding out a deer that he just hunted- he's gotten used to using his new gear not only for hunting via summoning icicles, but for preserving meat via a refrigeration-like spell. He had found some parchment, and began to prepare a letter for if he ever leaves and/or is picked up by a few inphernals that happened to yearn for exploration. He doesn't want to worry the mysterious friend he had gained, after all.

When the deer had fully bled out from the fresh hunt, he butchered it and saved the best parts for his mysterious friend- they had done quite a lot for him, so he decided doing such a thing would be a good way to repay them as he cast a refrigeration spell to preserve it for them to pick up. He cooked the parts of the meat he left for himself, eating them along with some roasted potatoes he had harvested from his little farm.

He was actually quite glad for this quiet start- it let him get his bearings on his new body and new youth. For some reason, he had a feeling about tonight- a feeling a particularly strong blizzard might come along, so he packed all of his things into his strange, pocket-dimension of a bag and got into as best of a shelter as he could before falling asleep that night. Conveniently, the letter that he wrote just in case had happened to slip out around where he had fallen asleep…

—

The next thing Blizzard knew, he had woken up in a bed within an unfamiliar area, hearing two demons talking in another room.

"Coil- dude- you can't just be telling me that you somehow just… FOUND a demon that had been living in a restricted Flippin DEAD ZONE and not have me asking questions."

"I'M TELLING YOU SKATE!!! They were just… curled up in some ruins asleep and clearly almost freezing to death in those clothes! I don't even know how they're not DIRTY!!! It looked like they had been holed up there for a long time!"

"It's just- you PROMISED not to do anything stupid this time- for all we know that demon could be a war criminal- or an assassin that wants to kill us!"

He listened in on the conversation as he internally regrets taking his cozy cloak off before going to sleep. That was dumb of him. Now he feels sick- probably the result of him almost getting hypothermia from his dumb decision fueld by awful sleep habits. And loneliness.

He's thankful that he was at least found before his own dumb thought claimed his bones. He doesn't quite blame himself though, as he supposes that dumb decisions are what young people make- and he was indeed young again. He still remembers the 'poet law' that he put in place to make all the knights in the kingdom talk like Shakespeare. That was dumb.

Right now, he was more concerned with how comfortable the bedding he currently was in was- and damn, it was miles better than the stuff in that broken-down castle. It probably wouldn't compare to the bedding he had back when he was a King, but it's the principle of the matter. He tried to get up, moving slowly as not to not end up hurting himself, but he lowers himself back down on the bed after realizing he can't really move his legs.

One of the two inphernals he heard from outside opened the door- they had two differently colored horns, one gold and one green, with the gold one having a crystal stabbed into it. They also seemed to be in an incredibly punk-looking outfit.

"Oh- hey, they’re awake!"

Blizzard weakly waved at them. He really didn't feel like talking right now…

"Can you… talk?"

He shook his head, doing a so-so gesture with his hand.

"Okay, you can talk but just don't want to right now- good to know- can you write?"

He nodded.

"Alright- let me just…" They ruffled around in their pockets, pulling out a pen and a note pad. Good, they were prepared. "Here, use these. Oh- I'm Coil by the way, he/him."

Blizzard wrote his name and pronouns down.

"Woah- rad name! Hold on-" Coil went to the door and yelled out "SKATE!!! THE DEMON I FOUND'S AWAKE!!" before another demon- with wide, red horns, one having a Crack in it and one having a band with a checkerboard pattern, along with a helmet with that same pattern on it- came in.

Blizzard waved at the new demon- assuming that their name was Skate. He wrote down a greeting and showed it to the demon.

"Oh- Yo, I'm Skateboard, friends call me Skate. He/him."

He kept that in mind.

"Dude- how long had you been living out there? It looked like you'd been holed up in there for a long while…" Coil sounded concerned.

Blizzard recalled the amount of days he had been there- and he wrote it down on the notepad.

"A YEAR?! You lived in a DEAD ZONE for a YEAR?!"

He… felt a little dumb as he used the notepad to ask what that was. He decided to act as an amnesiac, just in case someone asks about his past. Coil and Skate looked at eachother and then looked at Blizzard with a look of 'oh this guy must have the worst amnesia or might be lying to us'.

"Do you… even know where you were?"

He wrote that he had been in those ruins for about as long as he can remember. He wasn't lying about that too, he had been in those ruins the entirety of his second life so far. Skate and Coil's jaw hung open a bit, Skateboard was completely dumbfounded.

"Okay- okay- let's just… ask you what you remember-"

—

This questionnaire had been very informative for Blizzard. First, he had learned of the factions- although they were similar in name scheme as the crossroads he once knew, they were different in terms of government and structure. Very different. Currently, he was in Playground- but he was apparently in a Blackrock "dead zone" before, a dead zone being a place where a disaster had happened that wiped inphernal life out in that area and most inphernals aren't allowed to go in for safety's sake, though the one he was in was so old that the reason it was abandoned was lost to time.

Secondly, he learned that the Blackrock here is a disgrace to the name of his former kingdom. No regard for ethics, all they care about is money and a one-sided "war" that is only really petty at best, and a false sense of "progress" that laid on the corpses of countless inphernals to simply boost the ones up top. Now that, that got Blizzard pissed off- for such a faction to share the name of his former kingdom left a bitter taste in his mouth, though he didn't show it.

Lastly, according to legends he had heard from Skate and Coil, the Sword Fight on the Heights swords were deities in this world. This made complete sense- such blades held an incredible amount of importance in robloxia already, it would only make sense for them to be held to high importance here. Though, he did find it strange they did not mention Icedagger when speaking of the swords- perhaps it was a taboo or they simply did not know of the blade…

He decided it might be the best course of action to simply let himself be cared for by these two until he gains enough strength to go on and find out more of this strange world he had found himself in. And so, he began to drift off into a deep slumber, reminiscing on the day as he processed everything in his mind.

Chapter 2: A Similar Rarity and Learning

Summary:

Blizzard begins to adjust, learning of the similarities and differences of his new body to his former one.

Blizzard also has a burger too big for him for the first time.

Notes:

I am so sleepy rn

Blizzard yawned sleepily when the next morning came. He certainly felt quite a lot better now that he's warmed up and actually able to stand now- he looked around in the room he had been placed in and found his bag, digging around and finding his journal he wrote down a new entry logging the events that lead to learning of this new world more and info that he needed to know.

He had made a habit of this, ever since he was a King, because of his terrible memory due to simply knowing so many things about his kingdom and his responsibilities that it could be hard to recall simple things in the moment. In fact, the first few pages of this journal were a record of his old life so he would not forget his mistakes and repeat them again, because younger people tend to have greater memory than an old man like he was.

It was… still strange being so young now. He had quite a bit more energy than before- almost too much. He's not used to feeling like he needs to run around constantly! Along with that, it seems his new youth had certainly changed his decision making to be far more spontaneous.

Nevermind that- he had heard the ones that took him in waking up a little earlier than he had gotten up. He supposed that he felt incredibly comfy in the netted bedding that he had laid in bed for about another hour before getting up- he's still not quite fully used to… being able to sleep in, due to ascending the throne quite young. Old habits die hard, he supposed.

He heard one of them knock on the door to the room and opened it, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Oh- hey, you're up? I thought you would have needed some more rest…" Skate had been the one knocking on the door.

"Mmm… Playground… warm…" Blizzard weakly spoke- he hadn't used his voice to talk for a while, so it sounded rough and tired.

Skateboard was startled a bit by Blizzard speaking, "Woah- dude, your voice sounds ROUGH-"

"Haven't… talked… in a… long… time… sorry…" Blizzard coughed a bit from his voice's disuse, "better… after… water… probably…"

"You should get some breakfast- it might help get your strength back."

Blizzard nodded in agreement, with Skate leading him to the dining being filled with the smell of eggs, bacon, toast, and freshly-brewed coffee. Coil had cooked breakfast- though Blizzard noticed Coil's once-green horn was now blue. He didn't bother to ask at the moment though, being too hungry to think about anything else but food now.

He stared at the food before him at the table for about… five seconds before grabbing his utensils and devouring it like a starved animal. Blizzard does not really blame himself for this decision to abandon manners- he has been out in the wilderness for a whole year, he can't exactly do much about his want to pack in as many nutrients as possible- especially after he asks for seconds… and thirds. Coil got a little concerned about that.

"Dude- when was the last time you ate? You're acting like this is the first meal you've ate in weeks…"

"Ate… before you… found me… but… haven't had… food like this… before…" it was true; BLIZZARD hadn't had eggs and bacon before. The former King had eggs and bacon before of course, but not in this life- and it tasted quite different with his new taste buds.

"Dang. Guess it makes sense, you have a bad memory from what it seems so it's probably like you're eating eggs and bacon for the first time ever-"

"What… is that… dark liquid…?" He pointed at the coffee pot.

"Oh- that's coffee! You wanna give it a try? It can be bitter, just warning you." Skate poured a cup of coffee for Blizzard.

Now, the former King absolutely loved black coffee in his previous life. It was often the bitterness that got him through a day of mountains of paperwork- but now, due to his new taste buds as an inphernal, he noticed things tasted differently for him now. Turns out that was the same for his taste of coffee.

Blizzard's face scrunched up like a prune as he tried to get the awful taste out of his mouth. Skate chuckled and Coil sighed as he added some milk and sugar to Blizzard's cup.

"Told you it would be bitter!" Skate chuckled at the funny face that Blizzard made. "It should taste a bit better with the milk and sugar now- but next time heed the warning on the bitterness!"

Blizzard made a pouting face as he took a sip of the coffee with added milk and sugar- noting that it was now a more smooth and pleasant bitter-sweet flavor. He hummed a bit, chugging down the coffee now that he could bare it.

"Taste better?"

"Better…"

"Alright- since you seem to be able to talk now, we can see if you remember anything at all!" Skate enthusiastically gave him fingerguns.

"Okay…"

—

A few hours of learning later, both Coil and Skate had their heads in their hands after realizing that Blizzard not only doesn't know some very basic things, but also has NO clue about anything at all around him other than the place he was before. Internally, Cruel King felt embarrassed by this, but he did essentially get unceremoniously plopped in an abandoned castle, so it made sense in his mind to simply ask basic questions.

He watched as Skate and Coil fiddled with their TV in fascination- seeing as he has not seen any technology beyond the 2010s Era, it was quite interesting to watch them look for an educational channel on a video sharing website connected directly to the TV itself. He sat on the couch as Coil wrote down a list of videos for him to watch as he learned about the world. Blizzard looked at the list and fiddled with the TV remote as he looked each up, getting cozy on the couch as he watched quite a few videos on various topics.

By far the most interesting ones were on gears and their mechanics, even in his past life the former King had an interest in the mechanics behind gears- that's what drove his curiosity towards the icedagger in the first place- but the gears that inphernals have had even more interesting properties! He stared at the TV and noted down all the most interesting parts about gears in his head, before hearing a section about fused gears.

Apparently, it was an uncommon mutation at spawn that multiple gears in the same category or series could fuse- and even rarer to have unrelated gears fuse together as well. The trade off to this is often the inphernals that have these mutations are weaker at spawn, and have lower stamina than most, often leading to them dying early deaths. Blizzard thought this might explain why he got exhausted easily when he first got here.

Coil came in and sat on the chair near the sofa, seeing the part of the video on gear fusion as a mutation coil spoke up.

"Oh- Yeah, I have that mutation- I'm technically a regen, gravity, and speed coil all at once- so I kinda found a way to switch between those modes since I was little. I usually just default to my gravity mode, though."

Blizzard's eyes widened with curiosity.

"You're like me…?"

"Huh? Whad'ya mean by that Blizz?"

"My full name… is Scepter of Everlasting Blizzards… I have a fusion gear too…!"

"Damn, the fact you survived this long must mean you were probably like… way tough before loosing your memories-"

Blizzard just shrugged, continuing to watch the educational videos that Coil and Skate put on the TV. Perhaps he should hang around these two, solidarity for similar rarities has always been hard to find- he would know, as a former king he didn't have time to form bonds like that once he ascended the throne. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he was so lonely.

—

After a day or two of learning things about inphernals, he decided to take a shower before going out for the first time. He grabbed his spare clothes from his bag, went to the washroom area, and grabbed a few towels. But… first, he took a look at himself in the mirror before getting into the shower itself.

He looked quite young- actually, he looked quite a bit younger than he actually was, guess even in this reincarnation he's a late bloomer with chronic baby-face. Ah, the genetics curse. His horns were almost ornate, looking similar to icicles on his head. Notably, he also had antennae similar to a moth, how fascinating.

When he took his shirt off though- he was met with a surprise.

He had the markers of incisions all over his body, markings that almost looked like those… high-tech sci-fi movies that he watched on occasion. Most notably, in-between where his wings were, was a magic geode crystal.

Now- in Blackrock, the one he knew, these crystals were not quite rare or potent unless refined by a master wizard or a scientist, as they are known to have explosive properties if not handled with care. In fact, that was the property used in subspace tripmines, he recalls. But, to modify one's body with one would require an immense amount of training to keep someone from freezing over due to their magical potency- a training he was required to take as royalty, but never quite used.

But to not only see a magic geode this large and not in the tripmine cut, and inserted into his back, it could only mean that he had been enhanced with another cut for a reason. Perhaps he did have memories in this world, a backstory of sorts, it couldn't be quite ruled out.

He took a shower while ruminating on these thoughts, making sure to do horn care and the such. He learned the hard way how itchy and flaky horns can get if he doesn't do so.

Once he was dry, he changed into his spare clothes- being sure to hide his wings, just in case- and yawned. Skateboard and Coil were in the living room, chatting about nothing in particular, but they perked up when they saw Blizzard got out of the shower.

"Yo, you ready to hit the town?" Skate questioned.

"Yes- I feel… refreshed, now that I have taken a shower."

"Cool! Now, let's get you some drip, no offense but you look pretty plain in that outfit."

"How so?"

"In the… gentlest way possible, you look like a medieval peasant and almost all of the clothes you seem to have are also torn up and ragged." Coil stated.

"…" Blizzard did not have a rebuttal. Perhaps a new outfit would make a nice experience anyways, as a former king he was used to many decisions like the clothes he wore being made for him due to how busy he was. "… Sure, I could use something different."

"Alright! Let's go then!"

—

Well, that was fun! In fact, that was the most fun he has had in years- finding all sorts of styles he could try, and finally landing on something that he liked that happened to pair nicely with his cloak. Blizzard fastened the fluffy cloak to his neck, burying his face into the fluff it produced- even if the weather was blazing hot or freezing cold, it seemed to be enchanted so he's always just the right temperature.

Finally, the highlight of the day he was excited for: dinner. One of the very few things the former King had never been able to try in his previous life was, embarrassingly enough, fast food. He was always treated to delicacies and expensive foods, yes, but he never knew the simple pleasures of a burger that the knights he trained spoke of.

And also, while he absolutely loved Kitchen Wizard's cooking, he did kind of get tired about fine delicacies after the fiftieth or so grand ball. He had never tried any truly junk-y junk food.

Blizzard stared at the burger, fries, and soda that he had been served and poked at the burger a bit- noticing the wrapper, he used it to pick up and take a bite. It took him a moment to process the flavors, but he will say… it was a certainly unique and tasty food. It was also quite filling- after finishing the fries, he was practically stuffed… or perhaps he ordered too big of a burger.

As soon as they all got home, blizzard practically crashed into bed falling asleep like a baby from how full he felt. The land of dreams treated Blizzard to dreams of hunting, of being one with the snow and journeying far and wide…

And so, he slept.

And so, he was at peace.

This was quite different than from when he was a King.

And he was okay with that.

Notes:

I finished this at 3:33 am LOL
Should I draw blizzard?

 

Oops I dropped my foreshadowing

Notes:

Btw, the mysterious friend that Blizzard has is Icedagger. He just doesn't know :3

Also I PROMISE I'm working on my other works too I've just been having MASSIVE writers block!!!!