Creed Of Heaven

Chapter 2: Mario

'Assassin's Creed'—one of Ubisoft's flagship games. Lu Xiao had been playing 'Odyssey' at home not long ago. The series had churned out a bunch of titles. Just spotting a medieval castle wasn't enough to pin down which timeline he'd landed in. After all, even in modern times, Europe still had plenty of well-preserved castles kicking around. He couldn't rule out being dumped into a present-day version of this world.

The system wasn't about to spill the details on when he'd arrived. After dropping the world mission, it clammed up completely—no hints, no nothing. Lu Xiao was on his own to figure this place out. He half-expected the system to chime in with a smug "Good luck, Host," but it stayed silent. Typical. For all its multiverse-hopping flair, it sure loved leaving him in the dark.

As the sun climbed higher, the summer heat started creeping in, nagging at him while he stood in the wheat field like an idiot. Lucky for him, this random plain full of wheat had a steady breeze rolling through. Heading toward the distant castle didn't turn into a total sweaty nightmare. It was almost pleasant, if he ignored the whole "stranded in another world" part.

The closer he got to the small castle on the hill, the more its tall walls blocked the sunlight. The dirt road underfoot started showing signs of life—scattered travelers here and there. These folks were clearly farmers, dressed in grubby, patched-up clothes. Their outfits didn't scream any specific era, though. No help there.

But from the jabbering he overheard and the wide-eyed, wary looks they shot his way, Lu Xiao pieced together some basics.

'Latin-based… Italian, maybe? And that 'never seen an Asian guy' reaction, plus this muddy, beat-up dirt road… Yep, definitely not modern.'

Italy clicked in his head, giving him a rough guess at which 'Assassin's Creed' timeline this might be. These people gawked at him like he'd dropped from the sky, which, fair enough, he kind of had. But that brought up a very real problem.

'How the hell am I supposed to talk to these people?'

Lu Xiao didn't stew on it long. A small squad of knights came charging down the road, kicking up dust as their horses thundered closer. The handful of travelers scrambled to the sides, bowing their heads like it was second nature. The ground trembled under the hooves, and Lu Xiao froze, caught in the open as the riders bore down.

"Whoa there!" The horses whinnied, snapping Lu Xiao out of his thoughts. Five knights, decked out in mismatched gear, reined in around him. They gripped their weapons tight, eyeing him like he might be trouble.

Lu Xiao's mouth twitched as he sized up these burly, unfriendly types. He gave it a shot with the only foreign language he'd picked up in the 25 years of his life: "Uh… Hello?" His shaky English echoed in the tense silence, sounding absurdly out of place. The knights blinked, exchanged confused grunts, and leveled their weapons a little closer.

***

Half an hour later, Lu Xiao was trudging through the castle gates, flanked by the five knights who couldn't understand a word he said. 

"Hello" wasn't the universal icebreaker he'd hoped. The knights had jabbered at him in rapid Italian, gesturing wildly, until they'd just shrugged and marched him along like a stray dog.

The little castle wasn't bustling—judging by the houses, maybe a thousand people lived here, tops. As they hit the main road, Lu Xiao's Clairvoyance kicked in, sharpening his view. At the far end, up a set of steps, sat a rundown manor. The town itself was a tight cluster of stone buildings, their red-tiled roofs baking in the sun. Laundry swayed on lines strung between windows, and the faint clatter of a blacksmith's hammer rang out from a side street.

It wasn't the manor itself that caught his eye, though. It was the small fountain out front, decked with carved decorations. The craftsmanship tried to pretty it up, but Lu Xiao saw through it in a second—his gamer brain already had a hunch. Water trickled from a cracked basin, and moss clung to the edges, but the carvings stood out.

The carving hid an uneven triangle—sharp at the top, rounded at the bottom. The Assassin's symbol.

'Knew it. This is Assassin's Creed II. Monteriggioni, the Auditore family's turf.'

The manor up the steps looked rough—walls choked with green ivy, a little weathered and lonely. Still, its shape was unmistakable. This was the Auditore estate from his memory. He could almost hear the game's soundtrack in his head.

A sharp clang of metal rang out from above the steps. A sturdy middle-aged guy in old-school European noble clothes was sparring in the manor's front plaza, taking on a handful of armed opponents. His tunic was a muted blue, edged with faded gold thread, and a leather belt cinched it at the waist.

The five knights hauled Lu Xiao to the plaza's edge just as the noble guy held his own against the group. No sweat.

'Clang!' His longsword parried a wide axe swing. With a flick of his wrist, he redirected the force, then angled the blade toward the attacker's exposed neck—sneaky and fast. The sword stopped an inch from the guy's throat. The axe-wielder grunted, knowing he was done, and stepped out of the fight. 

The noble kept moving, dodging and striking with a calm kind of menace. In minutes, he'd knocked out every last opponent. Sweat glistened on his brow, but his stance stayed steady, exuding a quiet confidence that screamed experience.

"Whew." The guy sheathed his sword, catching his breath in the middle of the plaza.

Finally, the lead knight got a chance to speak. He rattled off something in Italian to the panting noble—Lu Xiao didn't catch a word of it. The knight's tone was clipped, respectful, gesturing toward Lu Xiao with a meaty hand. Whatever he said, it sounded like a report—or maybe a complaint.

When the noble turned, Lu Xiao got a good look at him. Built like a tank, with a square, stern face. His left eye was a dead, milky blank, sliced through by a jagged scar that ran top to bottom. The right eye still burned with life.

That scar was a dead giveaway. Lu Xiao's mind locked it in. 'Mario Auditore—Giovanni's brother, Ezio's uncle, current head of the Italian Assassin Brotherhood.'

In the 'Assassin's Creed' world, the whole thing revolved around the Assassins versus the Templars—two groups locked in a feud that stretched across centuries. Lu Xiao's mission was to nab Pieces of Eden, and most of those—or at least the intel on them—sat with either the Brotherhood or the Templars.

To get those pieces, he'd need their networks. The only question was which side to pick.

In the games, you usually played as an Assassin. Tons of fans rooted for them, while the Templars got pegged as the bad guys. But Lu Xiao saw it differently. To him, Assassins and Templars were just clashing over how to steer humanity—two sides of a coin, neither flat-out better or worse. He'd spent hours debating this with friends over late-night sessions, picking apart the gray areas.

Assassins pushed for freedom, letting people's wills spark new ideas and creativity. Templars wanted order, ruling to guide and "enlighten" humanity into a perfect, controlled utopia. Chaos versus structure—both had their merits, both had their flaws.

Freedom versus order. No compromise possible. Since way back when, they'd been at each other's throats—right up to the modern day in this world's lore.

From where Lu Xiao stood, neither side was pure right or wrong. Letting either win outright would screw over human progress. Total freedom or total control—both sounded like recipes for stagnation. Their shadowy tug-of-war actually kept things moving, shaking up history. That balance was probably the best setup for the world.

But in Assassin's Creed II, the Templars were a mess. Their Grand Master had gone off the rails, drunk on power, twisting their original ideals into something rotten. That ruled them out. He remembered Rodrigo Borgia's sneering face from the game—corrupt, ruthless, and way too full of himself. No thanks.

So, the Assassins were his best bet. And lucky him—the one-eyed noble standing there was the Brotherhood's leader in Italy. Convince Mario, and Lu Xiao could tap into their intel network, tracking down those scattered Pieces of Eden. 

'Problem is, how do I convince Mario when I can't even speak his language?'

Mario sized Lu Xiao up with his good eye for a long moment. Then he jabbed a finger at his chest and barked something in Italian, sounding halfway between curious and suspicious.

"Huh?" Lu Xiao, clueless, followed Mario's point and looked down. His jaw dropped. Hanging around his neck was a silver necklace, its pendant carved into the bold, unmistakable Assassin Brotherhood symbol. The metal glinted in the sunlight, cool against his skin, and the triangle's sharp edges caught his eye like a neon sign.

'Uh…' His brain short-circuited for a second before it clicked. He remembered the system's earlier hint.

'Oh, right. So this is that one-time newbie perk it was talking about.' He ran his fingers over the pendant, half-expecting it to vanish like some gacha glitch. It didn't. This was his ticket in. 

Lu Xiao swallowed hard. Time to wing it.