Shin Megami Tensei IV, Savior

Staying Silent

I enter the void. "What is your name?" A voice beckons. I remain silent.

"You defy God's gift?" The voice continues, "So be it!"

God's gift? That basically proves God can't reset, otherwise, he'd stop giving me his gift and just kill me. That, or this is bigger than I know. Wouldn't be surprised either way.

I wake up at Lake Mikado. "Oh, you're awake," greets Issachar.

"We're late," I reply, "We gotta go!" We go into town, reaching the gauntlet rite. Issachar steps forward. A moment of silence passes, and Issachar returns, a smile beaming across his face.

"I did it, Flynn!" He exclaims, "I'm a samurai!"

"Great job, man," I reply, "I'll be right behind you." I go to take the gauntlet rite. The gauntlet doesn't respond. As I leave, Navarre stops me.

"What did you do?" He asks.

"A lot," I reply, "Be more specific with what you're asking me."

"Last time," Navarre replies.

"Oh, about that," I begin to explain, "The first time I did all of this, I destroyed the Yamato Reactor. It gave me the power to reset the world to earlier today. Now you can, too. I was hoping that together we could save everyone."

"What's the catch?" Navarre demands.

"Do you remember a void?"

"No, why?"

"Nothing. Listen, go through with your plan, pretend to go crazy, and we'll go over the details. Meet me in the forest, but in case one of us resets, basically, I'm given a choice of not getting a gauntlet, but for now, just pretend nothing has changed. I'll explain later."

I go home to my farm. I live alone on a small farm on the outskirts of the forest. I tend to my chores and then wait. The Black Samurai is coming, and I have an idea to stop her.

A few days later, I wait at the town gate, tonight the Black Samurai would arrive. There she is! I hold my hand up, glowing with magic at her, threatening before she can enter town.

"Listen Lilith," I demand "you have two choices, go back to the hell hole from whence you came, or die."

"Now now," she replies, taking off her helmet, a malicious grin on her face, "I offer you a gift, the gift of knowledge." She takes out a book. "Take a look," she smirks. I burn it with magic.

Lilith growls, "Fine then," Her body begins to morph. She becomes taller, more twisted. "If you won't let me share my gift, mortal, I'll kill you!"

"I may not have my friends to help me," I reply, "But I can handle you by myself. Die." I cast Antichion. The flash of holy light harms Lilith, but she regains her composure quickly. Lilith lunges at me, I dodge. I cast Antichion again.

Lilith casts an unfamiliar electrical spell, I fused Lilith once, but never summoned her from my stock. Panic washes over me, I completely lose control. The plants surrounding me are completely fried by the shock.

I manage to collect my thoughts enough to cast Cold World, the large blast of subzero magic misses, freezing only Lilith's arm. She swipes at me with her long, sharp claws, I block and cast Antichion once more. She falls, dead, and dissolving in the magical light. I burn the books, charred pages fly through the air, I keep burning them until there is nothing but ash.

Hope rides on horseback towards me. "What happened here?" He demands, "My gauntlet warned me of a powerful demon. Where is it?"

"Dead," I reply hoisting up Lilith's head, "I killed it."

"How?" Hope demands.

"She wasn't that tough," I reply, "Nothing a good sword to the gut couldn't fix."

"Wait," Hope replies, "I know you. What are you doing here samurai? Where is your gauntlet?"

"The gauntlet didn't respond to me," I reply, "You've got the wrong guy."

"Impossible," Hope replies, "I saw you, you won the trials in Naraku, and saved Navarre."

This reminds me of when Walter and Jonathan both claimed I helped them no matter who I sided with. How am I in two places at once? It still doesn't add up. What was going on?

Well, I saved Issachar, so I'm done here. Maybe I can save from Tokyo, too.

"Sorry," I reply "I'll head back." I go back, hiding the arm I normally wear my gauntlet on. I go to sleep, I awaken in the middle of the night, someone is shaking me. He looks like... Me?

"What are you doing here?" He demands, "Oh well, better do what my master told me to do with you."

He stabs me multiple times. Dying, I reset again, confused. This goes deeper than I ever thought. Although this explains how I was in two places at once. I don't recall any signs of his existence before destroying the Reactor, but afterwards there were the occasional oddities, little things mostly, up until now.

I reset again and do everything the same, explaining my plan to Navarre. He seems annoyed, but agrees to fake it again. That night, I wait for my other self and tackle him.

"Who are you?" I demand.

"I'm you," he replies, "Or, I'm supposed to be, I'm you in God's image, made to kill you. Now that you know..." He whispers as if he's afraid God will hear him, "I'm not going to stop you, I'm only here to keep God off our back and prevent a paradox. Things will get more complicated as you go deeper down the rabbit hole, but I can't interfere, I'll always be trying to get things to go normally, working in the shadows, but don't give up. I've said too much, speak your name this time, or I'll have to kill you again. Speak your name, and I can buy you more time. I have to reset." He resets.

I awake in the void once more Still, I remain silent...

Hello! It's me, gen3king. Quick shout out to C0damaster for helping with this chapter with some mild editing and proofreading. He's going to help me with the rest of this story. You should check out some of his.