| “ | A bracer's duty is to protect civilians. You, meanwhile, are a member of an illegal group and a wanted criminal. You can't honestly expect we would feel obliged to protect you.
— Joshua Bright
|
” |
Joshua Bright is a high-ranking Bracer active in the continent of Zemuria. Born in the small town of Hamel in the Erebonian Empire as Joshua Astray, the young boy spend his days playing with his sister, Karin, and her boyfriend/fiancee, Leonhardt. When he was six, the Erebonian nobility hired a group of mercenaries, arming them with Liberlian weapons to massacre the village as a pretext for war. The only survivors were Joshua and Leonhardt, the former being forced to kill a soldier who had murdered his sister.
The two boys would then be taken in and trained by Ouroboros. The secret society would then promote them to the ranks of its its elite combatants known as Enforcers, where Joshua would be known as the Black Fang. One of the leaders of the group, known as an Anguis, sent them to eliminate a lodge of the D∴G cult. Their target, known as Paradise, was a child brothel; they would there find and rescue Renne, a young girl who would also join the ranks of the Enforcers and looked up to the pair as older brothers.
Joshua, now their assassination specialist, was then sent to kill Cassius Bright. He failed, and found himself adopted by his target instead, and his memories of Ouroboros erased. While he was initially resistant to the efforts of Estelle Bright, his adoptive sister, to cheer him up, she eventually won him over. He quickly fell in love with her.
The pair take the Junior Bracer exam, and pass it. They then travel travel around Liberl, aiming to get recommendations from each branch of the guild so they can be promoted to Senior Bracers. They meet a variety of allies on their travels, and get sucked into the movements of the army's new Intelligence Division. They find that the Intelligence Division is planning a coup, and take steps to foil them.
They are ultimately successful, though there are indications that the leader of the Intelligence Division, Colonel Alan Richard, was manipulated into doing so. This gives them enough achievements to be promoted to Senior Bracers. Joshua is then confronted by Georg Weissmann, who restores his memory of his time in Ouroboros. Joshua then shares his past with Estelle, realizing that it had caught up to him. He then leaves, telling Estelle that he loves her.
He works alongside the Caupa Family, a trio of minor sky pirates, while he tracks down Ouroboros from the shadows. He works to stymie their operations until learning that Estelle had been kidnapped by the organization. He then infiltrates the organization's airship, reuniting with Estelle as she was getting cornered by Leonhardt. He helps Estelle escape, and then resolves to be by her side from then on as both siblings and lovers.
In order to make sure he can stay by her side, he asks Kevin Graham to assist him in breaking the hold Weissmann has on his mind. Knowing the sadistic Anguis would try to force him to kill Estelle, Kevin helps him create a hole in the magic that would remove it altogether should that order be given.
When Ouroboros puts its plans in motion, Estelle, Joshua, and their friends do their best to stop it. They are ultimately unsuccessful, and a massive flying city known as the Liber Ark manifests above Valleria Lake, a massive body of water in the center of Liberl. The Liber Ark shuts down all Orbal technology in Liberl, effectively grinding the entire country to a halt and making most of its ranged weaponry worthless.
He and his friends fight their way through the Liber Ark and the Ouroboros forces within. They face five Enforcers, the society's top combatants, and defeat them in combat. Joshua is instrumental in convincing Leonhardt and Renne to abandon Ouroboros, though it leads to the former's death. Joshua's preparations with Kevin also pay off, as Weissmann attempts to force him to kill Estelle.
After being promoted to a B-Rank Bracer, the third highest rank in the organization, Joshua and Estelle leave the country to travel around Zemuria, seeking Renne to adopt the girl as their younger sister. After several trials and tribulations, they finally track her to the city-state of Crossbell. They would then be pulled into Phantasma when Kevin accidentally activated an ancient artifact, and are temporarily reunited with their friends. They help the crew fight they way out and return to the real world. After assisting the Special Support Section of the local police in arresting a cult leader that took a lot of drugs and turned into a demon, they finally catch Renne and she accepts the adoption.
Battle vs Alphen & Shionne Imeris alongside Estelle Bright (by Leolab)[]
In the frigid mountains of Cyslodia, a pair huddles around a campfire. Alphen stirs the pot over it, a pungent smell wafting over him and Shionne as they get as close as they can without actually touching. The woman casts a slightly dissatisfied glance first at her companion, and then at the pot of stew. Assuming it could be called that, with the mountain of spices used as a thickener.
The crunching of snow underfoot causes both to start, with Alphen rising and putting a hand on his sword. Another pair melts out of the night, huddling together. The girl carries a long staff, while the slender boy has a pair of short swords sheathed at his waist.
“We’re not enemies,” Joshua says, “Just travelers.”
“Unless you’re bandits or something. Then we’d have to thwack you,” Estelle continues as Alphen relaxes his sword arm, “but you don’t look like those.”
“Not like some tomboy and her pet twink could beat us, anyway,” Shionne says, and the frigid air grows even colder.
“Shionne?” Alphen asks, voice cracking.
“What? It’s true.”
“All right, buster,” Estell says, unlimbering her bo staff, “If you want to throw down, let’s throw the Gehenna down.”
“Wait, please, she doesn’t mean it, she’s just mad because she’s hungry and…”
“Estelle, I appreciate you defending my honor but…”
“Yeah, listen to your boytoy, you skinny, stupid little…” Shionne mutters, only to stop as she realizes both Brights are glaring daggers at her. The rasp of steel echoes as Joshua draws his twin swords, chill forgotten as the anger running through their bodies warms them from within.
She rises, summoning her gun from its extradimensional pocket as Alphen sighs, resigned to having some pre-meal sparring. He draws his own blade, before motioning to a small clearing a bit away from the fire. There, at least, their scuffle wouldn’t knock over the food, which might send Shionne into hysterics. The Brights nod, and the tension continues to build as the four of them silently make their way towards it.
They take their battle positions; Alphen in front with Shionne behind, while Estelle and Joshua stand shoulder-to-shoulder. The branch of a nearby tree bows under the weight of the piled snow, and the stillness snaps with it as the four burst into motion. Estelle and Joshua exchange glances before splitting up, Joshua practically appearing before Alphen, striking with a quick flurry as Estelle twirls her staff, scattering the barrage of lasers from Shionne.
She ducks under another shot as Joshua forces Alphen away, weaving between the beams as her foe struggles to hit her. She leaps in the air, bringing her bo down as Shionne leaps back, firing a laser in an arc before her. Estelle rolls out of the way, hand on her Orbment as she casts Soul Blur. Shionne flinches as the discs of energy find their mark.
She throws out a magic grenade, forcing her foe to dodge again while she casts Freeze Lancer. As she nears completion of the spell, Estelle runs in and spins, lashing out with her staff. It makes contact, causing Shionne to spit blood as she falls to the floor with her magic cut off. She throws another grenade, which Estelle is too close to avoid. The Bracer stands her ground, however, taking the brunt of the blast as she continues to close in on the fleeing
A blow from Joshua skitters off Alphen’s armor, not hurting him but also preventing him from helping Shionne. He strikes back, but Joshua weaves around it and lands another glancing blow on his armor. Alphen tries again, but his foe vanishes entirely from his sight. He flips his sword, stabbing behind him. The sound of steel on steel reaches his ears as Joshua is forced to parry the blow. A spinning slash into a flurry of strikes is similarly evaded.
Alphen leaps into the air, sheathing his normal blade and drawing the red, almost rocklike one beside it. He stabs into the ground as Joshua darts out, only for the Bracer’s eyes to widen and leap farther back as a massive tornado of flame erupts around Alphen. Joshua grimaces as the tornado grazes him, only to start hurriedly casting a spell as he sees the Blazing Sword flare up again.
“Estelle!” he shouts, casting Clock Up.
“Shionne!” Alphen yells, using Incineration Wave.
Estelle receives a magic burst of speed as Alphen raises his sword, sending a massive gout of flame towards her. She steps back, narrowly evading it and spinning her staff to knock aside a grenade from Shionne. The other girl fires her gun, the beam knocking Joshua’s sword away from Alphen’s neck as she tosses another grenade at Estelle. Joshua rides the momentum, spinning and moving faster than the eye can see to slice it in half as Estelle and Shionne ready spells. They both cast healing magic, restoring themselves and their partners as Estelle and Joshua stand back-to-back.
“Can I get a swing in?” Joshua asks.
“Sure,” Estelle says, and the two pivot, now facing different foes. Joshua vanishes, getting close to Shionne as Estelle leaps in to engage Alphen.
“Hey, slowpoke, I hit your girlfriend pretty hard,” she taunts, getting Alphen’s attention with a swing, “I’ll give you matching bruises.”
“What? Why would you do that?”
“We’re in a fight. I have a very large stick, which I hit people with. How is that hard to understand?”
“Are you calling me dumb?”
“Yes!”
The taunting worked, as Joshua was free to dart in to fight Shionne unhindered as Alphen defends his honor, though failing to repudiate the questioning of his intelligence. He swings, testing her defenses, and is caught off guard as the spinning staff smoothly redirects the blow while striking him in the knee. He staggers, barely managing to lean back as the weighted end of the staff whistles past his face. He makes a wild swing to get her away, and she spins out of reach. A desperate step back takes him away from her follow-up, which came from a completely unexpected angle.
He narrows his focus, blocking everything out other than his foe, who was glowing slightly. He swerves as a geyser erupts from under him, throwing up his arm to block a swing. He grimaces as the staff hits him in the chest from the other direction, Estelle spinning it as she moves. Shionne would have to fend for herself for a bit; he needed to get a grasp on his foe.
Shionne, for her part, stays in the glowing Healing Circle she repeatedly conjures, occasionally firing blasts at the youth harrying her. He vanishes as she throws a grenade at him, not reappearing as she sends a beam scything to the other side, jumping slightly into the blast radius of her own spell. She jumps back as he reappears above her, falling down and grazing her side. The injuries heal with the next pulse of Healing Circle, while she leaps to the side, sending a barrage of beams her foe’s way.
He vanishes again, leaving behind only footsteps in the snow, causing her to growl in anger as a magic circle appears beneath her. He reappears at a distance, darting in to strike before retreating. Another pulse of magic knits her wounds back together as she forces the magic back on course, some property of his strikes delaying its completion. The circle is replaced by a tornado of fire, which rages around her as she swivels, trying to find the moment her foe would get caught by the blast.
He dashes in, grimacing as the fire burns him and lifts him into the air. Shionne fires, only for him to vanish again, reappearing as three in the air above her. A grenade hits all of them and they fade, Joshua appearing behind her, getting another hit in that’s quickly healed. As Healing Circle fades, the light is swiftly replaced as Shionne casts it again, knowing that it’s what’s keeping her alive.
On the other side of the field, Alphen steps back, finally able to dodge a swipe from Estelle. He swaps to the Blazing Sword, stepping in with a slice. Estelle spins her staff, knocking the blow aside as she spins out of the way of the backswing. This is repeated on the following slice, and the one after that. They return to rest, Alphen still holding his fiery blade, looking at where Joshua and Shionne were fighting. His foe generally started with a clockwise spin, which would only speed up Incineration Wave by knocking the sword up faster.
“Shionne!” He shouts, charging the Blazing Sword with energy and swinging it upwards, only for Estelle to spin in the opposite direction, knocking it down and sending the wave of fire down into the earth. His eyes widen, and her smirk tells him he just got outplayed.
“Try to keep up,” she says, taking a leap back, flourishing her staff. She leaps back in, spinning fast enough to create a gust of wind. She lands in front of him, lashing out with her staff as she runs in a tight circle around him. Moving fast enough to seem a blur and creating a cyclone of energy in her wake, Estelle runs and strikes. Alphen is unable to evade the blows that come seemingly at random from within the maelstrom. The strikes drive him to his knees before the energy collapses inward, making a massive tower as it implodes.
“Alphen!” Shionne yells, as he collapses, the ground below him now bereft of snow. She gathers Astral Energy, intending to cast Resurrection, but Joshua puts his hand on his orbment, glowing briefly. He casts Anti-Sept, causing the magic to fade as Shionne is inflicted with Mute. At the same time, a pulse of orbal energy radiates outward from Estelle, curing her wounds as well as Joshua’s.
Shionne looks between the two Brights in fear as they approach, brandishing their weapons. They dash in, and a few flurries of the staff and blades later and she joins Alphen, out cold in the snow.
Some time later, Alphen and Shionne regain consciousness near the fire, where they see Estelle dumping a bunch of ingredients into the pot.
“Well, now that we’ve got that out of our system, let’s make this soup edible,” she says, shooting the other couple a smile as if the previous sparring session hadn’t happened. Or at least had been less heated. Joshua shrugs, smiling sheepishly at the pair, and Alphen gets up, extending a hand to Shionne. She takes it, pulling herself up while he tries not to react to her Curse of Thorns sending a current through his body.
“You’re pretty tough, to be able to take that,” Joshua says.
“Thank you. Shionne, anything to say?” Alphen says.
Shionne just stares at him, and he raises his eyebrows and gestures at the pair currently cooking their dinner.
“I apologize,” Shionne says, bowing her head, “I was rude earlier.”
“She just gets a little… testy when she gets hungry,” Alphen says, “Which is most of the time,” he mutters, not quite under his breath.
“Well, that and…” Shionee starts, before blushing and breaking off.
“And what?” Alphen asks, genuinely confused.
“Probably ‘and you weren’t cuddling her while making the soup because you were afraid the weird electric shock stuff would make you mess up’” Estelle says, causing Shionne’s blush to deepen.
“Estelle, come on…” Joshua says
“Hey, if he’s not paying enough attention to her she needs to tell him,” she replies, tasting the soup, “Okay, now that we can eat this, we can get started! Maybe make her less grumpy.”
Expert’s Opinion[]
What ultimately won this for Estelle and Joshua was that they were equally skilled working in tandem as they were working alone. This, along with the tactical thinking that comes with being a Bracer – basically a professional JRPG protagonist – allowed them to find Alphen and Shionne’s weakness. Namely that they were overly dependent on their teamwork, leading to a divide-and-conquer strategy.