PFK Omake - Bard Class (Patreon)

A/N: So we were memeing in my discord server about Jaune using a different class than Paladin (other than the usual Wizard, obviously) and the Tom Cardy joke pretty much wrote itself.
As for the rest... :)

If you enjoy this omake, feel free to join the server at https://discord.gg/H6V854Fvbg

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"You've come a long way, pawn of Ozma," Salem pronounced, sitting on her throne and leaning on the arm, looking down at me imperiously. "You rallied quite a following, travelling the Kingdoms and giving speeches like that. I was almost convinced myself to take up arms against the evil Witch-Queen. But now that you're here, alas... the entertainment must come to a close." She smirked and gestured with her other hand. "Tyrian, deal with him."

"As you command, my goddess!" the serial killer giggled, bounding forward eagerly.

Now, I knew he was dangerous, but compared to everyone else in Salem's circle... Watts, Rainart, and Salem herself were all over six feet tall. Next to them, Tyrian just wasn't that intimidating.

That gives me an idea...

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When I found myself isekai'd to Remnant with a Semblance obviously based off The Gamer, I was equal parts hype and terrified. Remnant was a death world, no doubt about it... but The Gamer power — even slightly nerfed like mine seemed to be — was a hell of a trump card.

The difference from The Gamer webtoon was obvious from the start. I didn't have the party system the Jee-Han relied on, and I didn't have any luck creating evocation-type spells or elemental summons. I also didn't have a LUK stat, but CHA instead. I even had a bonus to CHA from the [Outsider] skill, probably due to the force of personality that came from remembering being an independent adult.

In comparison to most teenagers, that couldn't be called anything but charismatic.

Overall, my Semblance wasn't nearly as cracked as the Natural Ability in the webtoon, nor as the Semblance depicted in The Games We Play, but that didn't make it weak.

Still, the fact that this was a dangerous place, and I wasn't any more trained in combat than Jaune was before I transmigrated. I could develop in any direction I chose... but seeing as I didn't know the first thing about fighting other than 'don't get hit', I decided to hang back and specialize in buffs and crowd control. While I couldn't throw a fireball without Dust, I didn't have any difficulty creating skills that could buff myself, and a bit of experimentation showed it wasn't difficult to buff others either... as long as I used a medium other than the Game interface.

The presence of CHA in my [Stats] page was what made me think of D&D classes, and what I'd been picturing was... a bard.

Yeah, okay, I couldn't sing for shit, and the only instrument I'd ever learned how to play was the piano, which wasn't exactly portable, but why should that stop me? I had The Gamer, I could do anything with enough time and practice!

Skipping the entire plot at Beacon, I had started busking in Vale, securing gigs in dive bars at first before Junior Xiong came by and offered me 10,000 Lien a night if I would play at his club.

It wasn't easy impressing him after that, though; I didn't bring in as many people as he expected that first night night, and he ordered the twins to 'train' me the following morning. That hadn't been fun, but it turned out they both thought I was cute and at least didn't aim for my face.

When I'd gained an [Evasion] skill after dodging away from Melanie's kick for the dozenth time, I realized I was looking at things the wrong way — this was a chance to train!

Yeah I spent weeks upon weeks getting my ass kicked, dodging questions from my sisters about whether I was still getting bullied... and eventually my grinding paid off.

By the time the Vytal Festival rolled around, my [Singing] and [Performing] skills were maxed out. I had respectable STR, WIS, and CON, and above average INT and DEX... but my CHA always got the most focus and was now godly.

I could probably have taken over the underworld at that point, but that was never really my style. Instead, I convinced Junior and Roman to arrange a meeting with Adam Taurus, and in turn convinced him to flip on Cinder before heading to Mantle where he could do some more good.

Mercury, likewise, came around to my point of view after a chat and a spar, and both he and Neo took his former teammates by surprise when they joined the fight on my side.

After that, it was a simple matter of raising the funds to go on a 'tour' of the Kingdoms, heading off the problems I knew would be coming before the butterflies I'd triggered had time to change the future...

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All of that ran through my head in the time it took Tyrian to arm his weapons. In the meantime, I reached into my [Inventory] and produced... a flute.

Blowing a jaunty tune before he could react, I seized the initiative and made the opening move.

I cast [Vicious Mockery].

I drew a deep breath, stabbing a finger toward Tyrian, and sang. "You're a short motherfucker and nobody likes you!"

Tyrian actually stumbled from the psychic damage as I went back to playing. "What!?"

"SHORT!" I repeated before starting a new verse. "Everybody says 'Look how fuckin' short that guy is!' and that stops you from forming meaningful relationships."

Seething through what must have by now been a splitting headache, Tyrian lunged at me, his pincer-shaped blades scissoring toward my neck. That forced me to drop my flute back in my [Inventory] and draw Crocea Mors, now reforged into a dueling saber with a speaker built into the hilt. It was connected to my Scroll, which was in turn controlled by my Semblance, meaning I could play music without needing a hand free. It could even play instrumental-only versions of every single song for me to sing over instead.

I called it Crocea Morse, because lol. Lmao, even.

Parrying both of them without much difficulty, I kept singing. "When you were born, everybody thought that you were just a head, but then the doctor said, 'Wait! This stupid motherfuckin' tiny short-ass baby's got a tiny little itty bitty body, and I hate it!'"

Tyrian staggered again as the psychic damage redoubled again, and I leaned casually to the side as his tail whipped forward and tried to stab me in the chest. I caught it under my left arm just behind the stinger, and I brought the music-blaring hilt of Crocea Morse's down on his head several times in rapid succession, eventually cracking through his Aura.

Dazed, Tyrian nevertheless kept struggling, so I inverted the blade and stabbed him in the kneecap, driving him onto the ground. Letting go of the hilt, I took hold of his tail with both hands twisted it downward, and stabbed it into his own abdomen.

He let out a pitiful wheeze, but I ignored him as I stood back up and retrieved my sword, twirling it idly as I started to stride toward Salem's throne.

By this point, Mercury had engaged Watts, while Mel and Miltia were double-teaming Hazel. All three of them had come a long way; while I couldn't share my insane growth with them, I could absolutely share buffs and inspiration. Those buffs were permanently active for anyone allied to me who was able to see me or hear my music, and both fights were clearly going our way.

Salem rose from her throne and descended the few steps as I approached, watching me with mild interest.

"Your end goal is to die, is it not?" I asked, mentally scrolling through my library for the right song to play during the final battle. "I have an ability that I think will do the trick... although it certainly won't work while you're at full strength."

Salem's eyebrows rose. "You're a clever child. Not even Ozma ever suspected that. You are correct. And you've done more to stymy my plans than he has managed in millennia," she allowed. "So I shall grant you the opportunity to try to kill me directly. If you should succeed, the Grimm's intelligence will be shattered. Fail, and I shall step over your corpse to begin again."

"So it's do or die time," I mused. "Well, if this is to be my swan song... I know exactly what to play."

Cueing the song to start playing from Crocea Morse via my Semblance, I started gathering my MP for [Power Word: Kill].

Unlike D&D, it wasn't instantaneous action — it had to be channelled for the duration of an entire song, which I had to sing every note of perfectly, and even then if the target's HP was too high at the end, it would only give the lesser effect of massive psychic damage instead of instant death.

But hey, like the man said... "Empty spaces, what are we living for? Abandoned places... I guess we know the score. On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for?"

Salem's red eyes widened, and she flung a fireball at me, but I dove to the side in a somersault and sprang back to my feet without missing a beat.

"Another hero, another mindless crime behind the curtain in the pantomime. Hold the line! Does anybody want to take it anymore?"

The chorus arrived just as I reached Salem, and Crocea Morse glittered as it lashed out at her neck. She conjured a shield of magic that looked a bit like a Schnee glyph, but I cleaved through it without slowing and slashed her throat, dealing a critical hit and lowering her HP.

"The show must go on! The show must go on~! Inside my heart is breaking, my makeup may be flaking, but my smile still stays on!"

It immediately started refilling as her throat mended, only slightly slower than mine would with [Gamer's Body], but by that point I was already dodging away from a flurry of razor-sharp hailstones.

"Whatever happens, I'll leave it all to chance. Another heartache, another failed romance. On and on, does anybody know what we are living for?"

Circling Salem as she backed away cautiously, I caught sight of Melanie's sweep kick slashing out Hazel's Achilles tendon. He didn't feel it due to his Semblance, but his leg folded all the same, and Miltiades' claws drove up under his chin and pierced his brain, killing the big lug instantly.

"I guess I'm learning, I must be warmer now. I'll soon be turning 'round the corner now. Outside the dawn is breaking, but inside in the dark I'm aching to be free~!"

Noticing I was too nimble to be caught by small-scale attacks, Salem started throwing out wider spells; a massive sheet of flames spreading from her hands forced me to tap the huge quantity of Freeze Dust I had been stockpiling in my [Inventory] for this final push.

"The show must go on! The show must go onnn! Inside my heart is breaking, my makeup may be flaking, but my smile still stays on!"

I didn't stop singing, and as the flames died out I vaulted over the mostly-melted ice wall. On the other side of the hall, Mercury had already killed Watts and was casually running his pockets.

"My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies. Fairy tales of yesterday will grow but never die. I can fly my friends!"

Salem's instinct to shield herself with magic betrayed her again as I cut through it and her repeatedly, removing her hands and slashing her throat again.

"The show must go on! The show must go onnn~! I'll face it with a grin; I'm never giving in! On with the show!"

Sure enough, I was grinning as I carved Salem's HP down, forcing her back up the steps until she collapsed unwillingly back into her throne.

"I'll top the bill, I'll overkill; I have to find the will to carry on with the show..."

With a final lunge, I sank Crocea Morse directly through Salem's heart and pinning her to the seat, critting yet again and belting out the final line.

"ON WITH THE SHOW~!"

My magic peaked as the final notes swelled, draining a solid 90% of my MP as the spell actualized.

The remainder of her HP vanished all at once, and her body slumped, lifeless. The final line of the song echoed through the now-silent castle.

"The show must go on, go on, go on, go on, go on~"