Y/n's pov

Fitoria and I continued to hold onto each other for a while until we were both calmed down enough. Once we were both relaxed we stopped hugging, but we still held onto each other's hands. I stared at her, noticing the dark circles under her eyes. "you didn't get any sleep while I was gone?" She looked at me and shook her head "I couldn't..." I sighed a bit and nodded "then you need to get some sleep now." She nodded "Don't let go of my hand... and tell me a bedtime story." I stared at her blankly "I won't let go of your hand, but do you really need a bedtime story?" She glared at me and gripped my hand tightly "Bedtime story. Now" I nodded "alright, alright. I think I have a story that I can tell you." She nodded and moved into a laying position, using my lap as a pillow. "Start story now" I just kept on staring at her "Shouldn't you lay on the bed instead?" She closed her eyes "No. This is comfy" I sighed and nodded again "Okay, I guess I'll start the story then... but it's not a happy story."

Once there was a young boy, barely the age to begin forming long-term memories. This boy was summoned to a foreign world by a council of wise men that decided their world needed a hero before anything bad could even happen to their world. The boy was confused, alone, and afraid. Whisked away from what he had developed, and given a weapon that would grant him the power of a hero. The wise men did not care for the feelings of the boy and began training him to become the hero they wanted. They taught him that he must not show weakness, become the strength of the people, and carry the burden of expectations and responsibility. They trained him in etiquette so he would be proper in public. They had him train under many different masters to fight any adversary. They gave him trials to test him and prepare him for anything that may come. When the boy had finished his training, he seemed to be the very image of a hero. He unified all the nations of the world, acted as a mediator between conflict, performed feats of strength and courage to help villages and cities, and brought an era of peace and prosperity to those the wise men deemed worthy of it.

When the calamity began, he fought alone to preserve the peace that was created in his name. Despite his strength and training, he couldn't fight everything off perfectly. Because of the peace, he brought upon the world, there was barely anyone strong enough to fight anything that had been missed by the hero. Many lives were lost due to the lack of experienced fighters, and the hero was blamed for all the losses. The hero believed that he was responsible for all of it and that it was his fault everyone became too used to not having to fight. He figured that he wouldn't be able to fight on his own, yet the wise men said that there should not be a need for any more heroes. The Hero decided to take matters into his own hands, and he trained many people into warriors to help protect the people. The wise men were angry at the hero's choice but allowed it to continue as long as anyone trained as a warrior would follow the orders of the council. The Hero did not mind this as long as the people had proper protection in case he wasn't enough.

Throughout the waves of calamity, the hero had to fight alone, and the wise men only allowed a few warriors to go protect the people. The hero continued to do his best, and the warriors seemed to be enough to pick off any remaining monsters. Until one day, the hero reached his max potential. The waves continued to get harder, yet the hero had reached the end of his growth. Soon the warriors were no longer enough and the creatures spawned from calamity began destroying villages each time the waves came. The hero begged the wise men to summon more heroes or to allow him to train people to fight with him, yet the wise men refused. It was his duty and his alone to fight the waves and protect the world. Despite his achievements, his words held no power in the political world, he was just a symbol to them. The hero was angry, but he decided not to take it out on the people he swore to protect. He decided to fight how they wanted him to, ignoring the needs of the people in order to protect the world.

The council of wise men was happy at first, the hero stopped asking them to provide help to him. However, they soon felt the backlash of the hero's actions. The hero no longer accepted the blame for any losses that happened while he fought the calamity. He informed the people of the duty that the wise men gave him, he was to protect the world, no matter what losses happened. The people began blaming the wise men and demanding them take action to prevent future losses. The wise men did not know what to do, so they in turn demanded that the hero do his job better. In response, the hero told them what they told him. The wise men were angry and yelled at him for using their words against them. The hero only said that he did not care for their feelings, they summoned him to protect the world. He left at that and spoke one last thing. If they wanted a hero to protect the people, then they should summon or train one.

The hero continued to fight the waves alone, no longer training warriors to protect people. The hero was remorseful for each place destroyed, yet he didn't do anything to prevent it. Despite the many villages and cities that were lost, the wise men still did not summon or train another hero. The hero began separating himself from the counsel of wise men, no longer listening to any of their wishes. The hero kept fighting to protect the world, not caring about a single other creature until he met a survivor of one of the waves, a small cat with 2 tails. The cat was the last of its species, a divine beast that could become much stronger than the hero due to there not being a level cap for its kind. The Hero took in the young beast and began teaching it. Unlike how he was taught, the hero cared deeply for the divine beast. He raised her like she was his own daughter. He didn't rush her to learn, made sure she was comfortable whenever possible, protected her until she could protect herself, and trained her gradually so that she never felt pressured. When she was finally strong enough, he took added her to his party and began fighting alongside her.

The two of them were able to handle the waves much better together, and the divine beast grew stronger each time. However, one day, the hero discovered the true nature behind the calamity. The hero told the divine beast to stay behind while he deals with the waves once and for all. The divine beast said that she would, but she didn't listen to the hero. When the hero went to end the calamity, the Divine beast attempted to fight the wave alone. Before the hero could end the calamity, the divine beast was cornered by the monsters of the wave and released a final resort move, that petrified her and the monsters. With no heroes left in the world, the calamity claimed the world as defeated and unleashed all its monsters to destroy all remaining traces of life left. leaving nothing but a dead world.

After finishing the story, I looked down to see Fitoria asleep. She looked comfortable but sad. I reached down with my free hand and gently pet her "I'm sorry that I told you such a sad story... I felt like I needed to tell someone, even if they didn't hear all of it... thank you for being that someone Fitoria" I continued to gently pet her, brushing her hair away from her face. I smiled a bit as her expression seemed to change to happy and relaxed. I took a blanket out of my inventory and laid it over her carefully. Other than the petting, I stayed as still as I could while she got her sleep, not wanting to disturb her in any way. After a few hours, she woke up but didn't get up. We just sat there staring at each other for a while. I slowly moved my hand away from her head, but she glared at me so I put it back and continued petting. The room was silent as she stared at me while I pet her until she decided to speak. "you smell like ashes and a filthy cat." I stared at her blankly for a moment "I understand the ashes smell, but I haven't touched any cats" She glared at me again "Don't lie to me. I can smell it strongly from you, a dirty female cat. were you having a demi-human girl over here while I was sleeping?" I shook my head "no way, you're the only girl I've been around."

She gripped my hand tight, definitely breaking a bone or five. "If that was true, then I wouldn't be smelling cat right now." A voice echoed from behind me "hmm, maybe she's smelling me?" Fitoria sat up quickly and glared in the direction of the voice "Who are you. why are you in our room" I turned to see as well, only to find a transparent cat sitting on the floor? The cat blinked its eyes before shouting out "Wait, You can see me now!?" Fitoria continued to glare "you have 10 seconds to get out of my sight before I destroy you, cat." The cat stood up and had an almost smug expression "Jokes on you, overgrown poultry dish, I'm already dead" Fitoria growled "I'll just have to exorcise you." The cat flicked its tails "That only works for evil spirits dummy" Fitoria huffed and grabbed onto the cat, pulling on its ears. The cat hissed and scratched at her. I frowned and spoke up "Fi, stop it" both Fitoria and the cat spoke up at the same time "Not until I put her in her place" I stared at them as they continued fighting, frowning. After a moment, I grabbed onto the scruff of the cat and pushed Fitoria back a bit "Enough, both of you" Fitoria looked at me "What? I'm dealing with this pest" I looked at her and sighed "Fitoria, just relax for a moment, I need to confirm something." Fitoria huffs and crossed her arms "Fine..." I smiled a bit at her before turning to look at the cat.

The cat stared at me "Can you put me down now? I don't like being held like this" I frowned, staring over her before speaking "Filana?" The cat blinked "yes master?" I set her down slowly "How are you here?" She stretched a bit "Well, my soul was trapped in the world after calamity destroyed everything, but when you appeared again and absorbed everything, I was able to follow you." Fitoria spoke up "Y/n, Who is that pest." I frowned a bit and spoke up "Fitoria, this is Filana... She's-" Filana cut me off "I'm Master's number one disciple and adopted daughter" Fitoria stared at me "Daughter?" I sighed "I didn't actually adopt her, I just took her in and raised her after her species had been nearly wiped out by the calamity." Filana jumped up onto my shoulder "yup. I'm a divine beast, well, now a divine spirit." Fitoria glared at her "Get off him" Filana stuck her tongue out "I've known him longer, I have more of a claim" I frowned "I'm not something that can be claimed" Both glared at me "Stay out of this. You've interrupted enough" I sighed and just sat there as they fought over me.

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a/n;

Surprise, a new addition to the story. This chapter is pretty short compared to others, but I figured it would be a good idea to include this. Now we have enough tropes in the main character's life to be a typical fantasy anime cast.