“It would seem,” Said a voice that sounded much like tortured metal tearing itself apart. “That I arrived rather late…or perhaps just in the nick of time.”
Shirou Zelretch Schweinorg turned so fast he suffered from whiplash.
Or he would have, had he not hurt his ankle and was holding on to Guts, who was in just as sorry a state for balance.
In front of them was a man riding a skeletal horse. He was covered entirely by ornamental plate armor resembling the ribcage of a man coated in white steel. Atop his shoulders rested thick pauldrons adorned with spikes. Each piece of armor looked like muscle and bone forged of metal and ornamented with horns. His helmet took the form of a human skull with metal spikes protruding from its brow in a parody of a crown, a golden glow emanating from the helm’s empty eye sockets.
“You.” Said Guts. “How did you get here?”
Ignoring the swordsman, the Skull Knight directed its gaze at Shirou.“Son of the Kaleidoscope. Your presence was superfluous and almost threw a carefully wrought plan to ruins. Yet the laws of casualty demanded your attendance.
“A true shame that you were only able to destroy her vessel. Had you been given access to the core of her being, you might have been able to annihilate it.”
Shirou remained quiet as the knight spoke. When it seemed that it was finished, Shirou became unsure if he had been insulted or praised. “You have me at a disadvantage Mr…?”
“Unimportant.”
“Bwoh?”
Guts chuckled. “He tends to be like that.” Turning, he addressed the mounted knight. “Hey you! What the hell is going on?”
The Skull Knight directed his gaze around the writhing cavern. “This is the result of the banishment you performed. Her advent and subsequent demise has brought life and death in this area to boil, without a guiding hand, it has formed chaos.
“At this rate the growth will be compressed in the cave, growing in pressure until it explodes and swallows a few acres of the forest.”
Shirou tightened his one working hand into a fist. “How do we stop it?”
The golden glow that was the knight’s gaze settled on the slider. “We do not.”
“What!?”
“Say what!?”
The Skull Knight raised a hand to ward off the questions of the two men. “We do not. Another party will handle the seal of this cavern. What we must do is provide the force gathered here with a path of least resistance.”
Guts looked lost while Shirou thought furiously. “We need to open a rift.” Said the slider. “If we open a dimensional rift, the growth would spread to whatever place we connect it to. The problem is that it would spill there instead. Not to mention that if we open it to a place deadly enough to deal with this, we would die too.”
“Will the two of you start making sense?” Muttered Guts as he stared around the cavern, the open space in which they stood shrinking by the second.
He was promptly ignored.
“I could try and make a dimensional rift…but I do not have nearly enough Od to pull it off, and if I draw enough mana I’ll die from the pollution.” Muttered Shirou as he tried to think of a plan.
“Your sacrifice, while it would be appreciated, will not be necessary, Son of the Kaleidoscope.” His statement made, the horseman brought the point of his sword to his helm. The teeth of the helm parted to allow him to swallow the blade to the hilt.
“This is something I did not wish to unveil.” Said the horseman, the sword down his throat not giving the slightest impediment to his speech. “Until I could use it to throw those beings head first into the Vortex.”
Shirou Zelretch Schweinorg felt a hot chill crawling up his spine. His sensitivity to mystical workings was just as high as any of his counterparts. However, what he felt coming from the horseman was something different. He could feel a resonance within him, his kaleidoscopic origin reacting to the horseman’s works.
“This isn’t the time for magi-!” Guts’ tirade was interrupted when Shirou tightened his hand upon the man’s shoulder. His gaze locked upon the Skull Knight as the latter looked to him with what he thought was amusement.
“I had a feeling you would be able to feel this, Kaleidoscope.” With that, it drew his blade, as the sword left the confines of his body, it had been enclosed entirely in blood-red flesh. A multitude of eyes, noses, and mouths covered its entire length, cruel brambles twisting their way halfway up the blade.
Shirou felt his knees grow weak. The Kaleidoscope was something natural, an event that simply happened, a force of nature. Its complexity able to drive those of weak mental fortitude to madness. But for all the titles one gave it, the Kaleidoscope was, at its core,natural.
What was in front of Shirou caused the Kaleidoscope within him to shudder in agony, reality itself shrunk back from it in disgust. Whatever it was, it would rend, tear, and rape until it achieved what it was forged to do.
To deposit all into an empty abyss.
Only the fact that his stomach was empty kept him from vomiting.
“T-That is…” Whispered Guts with a note of awe in his voice.
“This.” Said the Skull Knight. “Is the Blade of Resonance. Forged from the Beherits taken from Apostles.” His explanation given, he made a slash at the floor, a palpable…something, emanating from the blade’s arc in a shockwave.
The barest trace of its power washed over Shirou and cancelled the Prism-Trace.
“What in the nine fucking hells was that!?” Screamed OS with a note of genuine pain in his voice.
The moment the prismatic weapon made his query, a vacuum began to suck Guts and Shirou toward the center of the cavern where the horseman had rent the ground.
Wordlessly, the horseman rushed past them, absently grabbing Shirou by the coat and pulling him to the saddle. Shirou’s deathgrip on Guts’ arm allowed the swordsman to climb unto the saddle behind him.
The ground from which had been springing forth the melted forms of countless trolls and ogres began to disappear into the widening rift, the malformed creatures swallowed with an agonized scream.
Guts turned back, and his face paled. “T-That’s…!”
Behind them as they galloped away, an enormous vortex screamed its hunger. It wanted blood, it craved flesh, it would not be satiated until it consumed all. Man, woman, or child. Living and dead. Construct or component. It would all be swallowed by its chaotic swirl.
“Hey boss?” Said OS.
“Yeah?”
“I’m scared.”
Shirou was about to answer when he saw something that threw him so far into panic he was pushed past its event horizon, leaving him with a cold calm.
Long chains emerged from the vortex, writhing as if alive, striking toward them with lightning speed. Closer inspection showed that those things were not chains, but people. Emaciated souls screaming in unified hatred as they sought to make anything and everything share in their torment.
“They’re catching up!” Screamed Guts whilst Shirou’s mind stood frozen.
As souls of the damned rushed forth to claim their prize, the horseman raised his blade once more.
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“What the hell are you doing!? Its collapsing!” Screamed Isidro as the cavern they’d run out of began to sink into the ground.
“I-I can’t…I can’t hold it.” Whispered Schierke with heavy strain in her voice.
Signum looked to the form of the straining girl and bit her lip. A moment later she stiffened and tilted her head.
“It’s alright.” Called the knight. “You can let it collapse.”
“B-But Guts and Shirou-”
“Are both here already.” Interrupted Signum calmly.
The surprise caused the small witch to lose concentration and fall to the ground. The portal she’d been straining to hold open finally collapsed and the cave was swallowed completely into the ground.
“You’re not making any sense again.” Said Guts with annoyance coloring his tone. “Just tell me why you were here in the first pl-…dammit I hate it when he does that.” Muttered the swordsman as he saw that the knight he addressed was no longer present.
“Hey Guts how did you get behind us?” Called Isidro.
Signum saw the sorry state that Shirou and Guts were in and decided to give the two a little space. Instead she walked to the panting Schierke. “Hey, are you well?”
Schierke looked up to the older woman, sweat running in rivulets down her face, and nodded weakly. “Yes…I am fine.”
The knight knelt next to the girl and placed a hand on her shaking shoulder. “Are you sure?”
Schierke was about to answer when she felt a slight disturbance, a loud pained moan emanating from Shirou’s throat at the same time. Signum immediately started to stand before pausing, becoming conscious of her decision to go to the redhead. She hesitated and guiltily looked at Schierke.
The younger girl smiled and shook her head. “Go, I swear I am fine.”
With a tight nod Signum made her way to the slider.
Schierke closed her eyes and expanded her senses, feeling the warmth of the sun vanishing away the cold darkness they had trekked through. “Qliphoth…It’s been sealed. It can’t be…was it that knight?”
As the women and children of the village broke out into cheers. Signum approached the blood covered slider, and with a smirk that did a good job of hiding her worry said two words. “You stink.”
Shirou took a deep breath, almost choking on the stench emanating from his clothes. “I don’t wanna hear it. Not. A. Word.”
Guts sighed and slowly deposited Shirou on the ground, before standing up and stretching. “Signum. I leave your man in your care.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!”
“I’m not her boyfriend!”
“Yeah yeah, whatever you two say.” Said the Black Swordsman as he turned and walked to Farneze to get his wounds looked at.
Shirou and Signum stood still for a moment, before the pink haired knight knelt next to the slider. “How bad?”
“Twisted ankle, and a dislocated shoulder.” Answered Shirou in a tight voice, pain making itself known the moment he had time enough to relax.
Signum nodded and took hold of his arm, gently palpating his shoulder and completely ignoring the fact the slider was covered in foul smelling blood. Her tender touch caused Shirou to wince. “Are you sure? It could be broken.”
Shirou shook his head. “I’ve had a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder, and a broken dislocated shoulder. Definitely dislocated.”
“Would you like me to pop it back in?”
“It would be greatly appreciated.”
Signum nodded. “On three.”
Shirou closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Ok.”
“One.” Said Signum as she firmly tugged on the redhead’s arm, the joint sliding back into place with an audible ‘pop’.
Shirou gave an agonized grunt as his vision momentarily turned white. Once he could speak, he glared glumly at the rosette and wheezed out his complaint between pants. “What happened…to two and three?”
Signum smirked. “They went for a hike. Besides, if I actually counted to three you’d have tensed, making this harder.”
Shirou grumbled under his breath and waited for the two fairies to finish with Guts.
The slider and the knight spent the trip back to the village in comfortable silence.
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Flora sighed as she finished inscribing one final intricate seal into a black backplate.
“And with that, it’s done. It turned into a pretty large job…In all honesty it makes me feel somewhat nostalgic. I never would have thought I’d have to bring this out again.”
“Have you any idea how dangerous this is?” Said the Skull Knight as he stepped forward out of the shadows, his steel clad form towering over the ancient woman.
“Indeed I do.” Answered Flora. “It is why I locked it away and watched over it. But for all its danger, it is a necessity for those children.” With a grunt she stood, and gave the armor one light caress.
An almost imperceptible shudder afflicted the enormous knight.
“Casualty dictates-”
“No my old friend, I do not believe so.” Interrupted the old woman as she walked to another table, lightly touching another intricate circle circle. Within it rested twenty-one precious stones of multiple colors, a light pulsing forth from them with the rhythmic beat of a heart.
“The presence of the Son of the Kaleidoscope all but proves-”
“It may seem, that the errors of the past will be repeated.” Interrupted flora once more. “But by no means is casualty a perfect circle. Why, the young wanderer all but proves it to be a spiral. You heard him say he wishes only to return to his home. He will not influence the fates of those children any more than he absolutely has to.”
The Skull Knight stood pensive for a few moments before speaking again. “True…It may be that I’ve-” The knight cut off his speech and tensed, turning his glowing gaze to the outside of the forest surrounding the mansion.
“It would seem they’ve come.” Said Flora tonelessly before giving a bitter laugh. “To think my spiritual energy has been this greatly weakened, that my barrier would be so easily broken. Well, you best be on your wa-”
For the first time, the Skull Knight interrupted the witch as he rushed past her with the swiftness of a black wind. Jumping off the balcony and landing upon his horse.
“You…You’d fight for me?” Said Flora with no small wonder coloring her voice. “B-But either way I will-”
“In that case, it will be peaceful.” Declared the horseman with a tone of finality in his voice.
Flora remained quiet for a few moments before her handsome face broke out into a warm smile. “Thank you. I will never forget your devotion old friend.”
Rather than answer, the Skull Knight kicked his horse into a trot, advancing to the edge of the forest as golems of earth rose from the ground around him.
From the edge of the forest he could see the bulky shapes of malformed men. Their bodies crudely altered with great slabs of mutated muscle.
The teeth of his helm gave off the loud noise of tortured metal as his jaw tightened.
‘Let them come.’ Thought the Skull Knight.
He’d make them pay in blood for each step they took.
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“So.” Said Signum as she walked beside the now-clean Shirou on their way back to Flora’s mansion. “How bad was it in there?”
Shirou looked at her, then shuddered. “I…You…You honestly don’t want to know.”
Signum raised one single eyebrow. “What? Do you think I’m too delicate to know?”
“I’m saying that first chance I get I am going to research a way to burn that particular memory out of my head.” Answered Shirou succinctly, surprising Signum with the dead tone to his voice. “And after that, if I still remember what happened in there, I am going to do it again, and repeat the process until that particular memory is no more.”
“Was…Was it really that bad?”
“Signum…have you noticed something weird?” Asked Shirou slowly.
Signum thought for a while before answering. “No…I cannot say I have.”
The slider nodded. “OS has not spoken for the last four hours.”
Signum’s mind froze. Since four days before when she had piggybacked into the dimensional transfer with Shirou, OS had not been quiet for a period longer than fifteen minutes. Save for when they slept, the jeweled weapon was a chatterbox.
“No…No he hasn’t.” Said Signum slowly, trying to digest the information she had been given.
“Indeed…what we saw in there…it was enough to shake OS. And I gotta tell you, he is not easy to shake up. He’s a weapon, he sees the world different from you and I. Maybe he is closer to how my alternates view the world.
“What we saw in that cave…it scared him. It scared him so much that he’s directed all of his attention into processing what we saw, into gaining an understanding of it in order to lose his fear of it. The last time he was scared, he memorized all available information that he could by looking into alternate dimensions. He was quiet for one hour.
“What went on in there…I…I don’t think it can be understood. Or maybe…maybe I just don’t want to understand it. Worse comes to worse, he’ll purge the memory of it from his systems. Please believe me when I tell you…you honestly do not want to know what we saw in that cave.”
Signum stared long and hard at the slider before finally nodding. She opened her mouth to change the subject, when Shirou darted forward, startling her.
Shirou immediately got in front of Guts, who fell forward into his arms.
The two of them proceeded to drop to the ground like a stone.
“Oomph!” Said Shirou as the full weight of Guts and the Dragonslayer fell unto him.
“Guts!” Screamed Isidro as he ran to the fallen swordsman and attempted to turn him over. A feat that was only managed with the combined efforts of Signum, Serpico, and Farneze.
“Hot damn, the guy weighs a ton.” Muttered Shirou as he palmed his chest. He was promptly ignored.
“I thought his injuries had been treated back at the village temple?” Said Serpico as he searched for what had caused the giant of a man to collapse.
“Yeah see? Wounds are all healed.” Said Isidro, pointing to the newest set of scars on Guts’ chest, medals which marked the place he had been ravaged by Slan.
“No.” Said Schierke as she lightly traced a finger over a horizontal scar that ran the entire length of Guts’ chest. “The lacerations of his flesh have been healed. But whatever this was, it caused a wound to his ethereal body. Guts by all rights you should not be even able to breathe. Quick, we need to carry him to the manor, Mistress should have some medicine t-”
“Woopsie daisies.” Said Guts as he pushed himself to his feet with seemingly little effort. “Just got a little light headed for a sec is all. Let’s keep moving.”
“Bu-!”
“No buts.” Interrupted Guts with a tone of finality as he began to stride forward once more.
“Uggh, Men!” Exclaimed Schierke petulantly as she stomped on the ground and resumed their trek forward.
Signum looked pointedly at Shirou, who extricated himself from the ground and rubbed his ribs. When he noticed her looking Shirou started, before glancing to the side and began to whistle innocently.
“You did not get hurt again by any chance did you?” Said the rosette suspiciously as she began to stride forward.
“What me?” answered the slider. “No, of course not. Not even a scratch.”
“So how often do you have four hundred pounds of weight dropped on you?”
“Four hundred? I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Shirou.”
“Hey look we are getting left behind we should probably catch up.”
“Shirou.”
“No honest I’m ok.”
“Would the two of you lovebirds just get a room already?” Called an annoyed voice from Shirou’s belt. “I swear you act like a married couple!”
“Shut up OS.”
“Shut it OS.”
“Geez.” Muttered the jeweled sword. “Some people are feeling a little sensitive right now aren’t they? It’s all that tension you two should find some way to relieve…some way to relieve.”
The duo remained quiet, not rising to the bait.
“I’m talking about sex.” OS’ declaration caused Farneze and Schierke to stumble forward, their faces coloring to a bright red.
The slider and the knight simply chuckled.
“Glad to have you back OS.”
“Glad to be back boss.”
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The group walked without incident all the way until sundown. Bar the occasional heavy breath and more sweat than usual, one would think that Guts was at the peak of health.
Shirou stopped once he reached the edge of what he remembered to be the perimeter of the barrier to the mansion. Reaching out with his hand, he tried to figure out what had alarmed him.
Signum noticed the slider’s pause. “What’s wrong?”
“The barrier.” Answered the slider slowly. “I…I think it’s been-.”
“Farneze! Caska! Wait here!” Ordered Guts as he strode forward his right hand reaching up to grasp the hilt of his weapon, a small stream of blood falling from the brand on his neck.
“What’s wrong Guts?” Asked Puck from his throne on Isidro’s head. “More trolls?”
“Much worse than trolls.” Answered Guts. “The old lady’s in trouble.”
The group finally approached the break of the trees, the mansion coming into view.
It was almost completely engulfed in flames.
“M-Mistress?” Whispered Schierke as she stared at the hungry flames, before rushing forward with a wail, running to the burning mansion without a thought to her safety.
“H-Hey, hey wait up that’s dangerous!” Screamed Isidro as he took off after her, Serpico following close on the boy’s heels.
Guts directed his gaze to the other side of the mansion, in the direction the fire was the thickest.
A large crowd of men in armor styled after different animals stood watching the conflagration.
Guts clenched his teeth, and took off running in the direction of the crowd.
“Guts!” Screamed Shirou as he took after the larger man, Signum ran behind the slider, activating her barrier jacket on the way.
What surprised Shirou the most about Guts’ enraged charge, was how quiet the man was.
One moment he had been across the field. The next, he sunk his blade into one of his enemies. The sound of a large body cutting through the air the only warning his enemy received before a slab of dull iron rent its way through his armor and delivered what by all rights was a lethal blow.
“Y-You son of a whore.” Said the man who had the black blade embedded into his body. “Where did you slither out of you worthless cockroach!” His declaration made, he took hold of the Dragonslayer by the blade, his hand mutating and enlarging until it was a parody of a human limb. He then ripped the weapon out of his body and offhandedly threw Guts a full six feet across the ground. Shirou and Signum skidded to a halt beside him.
The crowd of strangely armored men chuckled. “How’d humans get here?”
“Hehe look at that!” Called another. “Two idiots and a woman! And look at her! We’re gonna have some fun tonight boys!”
Shirou tightened his jaw in anger as the crowd broke out into jeers, his right hand closing around OS’ hilt, while his left dug into one of his many pockets.
The man Guts had stabbed stood with one mutated arm for a moment, before he rippled, as if something below his skin sought release. Moments later he expanded, growing to a height of nine feet and becoming more than that wide, his skin hardening and his features changing until it looked like a strange mix of a crab and a man.
“Friends of the witch? You worthless fools will serve as our dinner!” Yelled the creature as it rushed forward, swinging a massive pincer at Guts who tried to struggle to his feet.
Signum tensed to intercept the blow.
She needn’t have bothered. A black wind rushed in front of Guts and cut the strange creature to pieces.
“The horseman.” Whispered Signum, recognizing the man that had rushed past her in the troll cave.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Panted Guts, looking around he saw the broken bodies of dozens of monsters.
“My Fate is deeply intertwined with that of the owner of the manor.”Answered the Skull Knight succinctly. “I will not allow a single one of these apostles to lay even a finger on the ground she walks upon.”
Shirou pulled out four jewels. “OS…we’re gonna need this boost, but we're running short. We're going to have to make it count.” Said the slider as he emptied the contents of the four jewels into the prismatic weapon. “Downloading memory.” Muttered the young man slowly, being careful to enunciate every word with exquisite care. Signum took up a position where she could cover for him.
“Wait I recognize them!” Called one of the Apostles. “When the master was born, at the eclipse, the horseman that appeared on that ground was you! And that man! He was a sacrifice! One of the two that remained alive! The Black Swordsman that’s slaughtered countless Apostles!”
“Sacrifice?” The awed whisper was taken up among the ranks of the armored Apostles, the murmurs stilled as a voice that resembled a growl more than anything reverberated through the clearing.
“To think I would meet the two of you here.” Said an enormous man, easily nine feet in height, dressed in what looked like pelts. “Perhaps it is fate?”
“Zodd! Why are you here!?” Screamed Guts with a slight note of fear coloring his voice. “Don’t tell me your master is…!?”
“You should know already, Black Swordsman. There is only one in this world I would serve.” Answered Zodd with a hungry smirk.
“Orchestrating expertise.” Intoned Shirou, his eyes settling upon the leonine man, his hand tightening a little further upon OS’ handle.
“Milord Zodd.” Rumbled a bass that resonated on the stomachs of all present. “I would appreciate it if you’d allow me to be the opponent of the Black Swordsman.” Said a man that towered chest and shoulders over even Zodd’s enormous form. He was covered entirely in plate armor styled after a dragon. A titanic shield, large enough to cover even his enormous body from neck to knee was carried in his left arm. It had the form of the scaled head of a reptile.
Zodd grunted. “Very well Grunbeld.”
“I thank you.” Rumbled the giant, who then turned and addressed Guts. “Rumors of you have reached my ears Black Swordsman. A man able to hunt Apostles as if they were animals. Having but a human body, you survived the Eclipse. It is far from honorable to use so many troops to attack one old woman. Even so, I asked permission to join such a distasteful mission to prove my loyalty to the Master.”
He slowly drew an enormous war-hammer as he approached Guts, who slowly stepped away from his allies. “With the appearance of a warrior such as you, I might have a chance at honorable battle. I Grunbeld, as a soldier of the band of the hawk, hereby challenge you, the Black Swordsman to a one-on-one duel.
“En Garde.” His declaration made, Grunbeld swung his war-hammer in a motion both swift and ponderous. His one attack sending Guts flying a full nine feet before he hit the ground with a roll. Grunbeld delivered several more titanic strikes, tossing Guts around with the ease of a rag doll.
“Master Fire Dragon really likes his duels don’t he?” Said one of the smaller apostles. “But we gotta do our jobs, go get me the witch’s hea-”
The rest of his sentence was cut off as his head rolled away from his shoulders.
“You are not allowed.” Declared the horseman.
“Bastard!” Said one of the apostles as his bones made snapping sounds, preparing to cast away his charade of humanity.
“Move.” Demanded Zodd as he stepped forward with ponderous steps, his body transforming, becoming something demonic in every classical sense of the word. A hulking beast with the face of a lion and the body of a monstrous furred bull stretched into humanoid shape. Thick cords of muscle bulged beneath his flesh. Towering over human and beast as he stood like a man. His hands and feet adorned with claws that make armor into little more than parchment. Sprouting from his forehead was a single massive horn, twisted and thick, overgrowing the ruin of what was once a second horn. A long and densely muscled tail sweeps behind him, easily carrying the power to crush stone, wood, and metal. “I will be his opponent. Now go! Bring me the witch’s head!” At his order the apostles scrambled.
“Failed Knight, Engage!” Screamed Shirou before the horseman and the demon engaged in battle, his belligerent baritone reverberating through the clearing.
With a quick multicolored flash of light, Shirou’s clothing morphed. Becoming a simple set of dirtied and tattered plate armor like that which any knight might wear, marred by countless scars where a weapon had slipped past his defense, deeper dents and cracks on its plates giving testament to the countless times it turned aside a titanic strike. The majority of its surface had been scorched black by a hellish heat, small errant flames rising from its blackened plates at the steady tempo of a calm heart. On his back rested a long black bow, two quivers filled to the bring with arrows resting on his hips, one quiver held arrows blackened as if by soot, the other held shafts with bright red fletching. On his left arm resided an enormous kite shield, tall enough to cover him from the shins to the neck, its black surface adorned with the likeness of a snarling direwolf. In his right hand he clutched a thick longsword, its grip making it apparent that it was meant to be wielded by two hands. The razor-sharp edge giving off a palpable feeling of thirst even while the air around it danced in a captivating mirage, as if the blade was white hot. By all the strain he showed as he held it, it might as well have been a feather.
Shirou stood, proud as a castle wall, clad in steel and flame.
When he spoke, his voice had deepened to a bass that would belong on a barrel-chested brute rather than a whipcord young man.
“Go horseman, we will deal with this beast.” Declared the young man with absolute confidence in his voice.
The Skullknight regarded him but for a moment before slightly dipping his helm in a respectful nod. He then rushed forward, evading one of Zodd’s enormous paws by a hair’s breadth and absently killing one of the slower apostles without breaking stride.
Zodd roared in rage. “You would chase a woman’s ass during battle!?” He then prepared to give chase, only to be stopped when he felt an impact against the side of his leg. The attack held just enough power to fold his limb under him, dropping him to one knee.
A moment after that, a scorching heat so powerful it caused an agonizing chill imbedded itself into his side, causing him to roar in agony and swipe at the knight who’d attacked him.
The slider dodged the attack with contemptuous ease, settling back into his stance. “I said I would be your enemy, demon.”
Zodd rushed to the slider, a belligerent roar flying from his throat. Shirou stood his ground and planted his shield, ready to meet Zodd in a contest of strength. Zodd’s enormous fist connected, forcing Shirou back a full four feet, his planted feet and shield digging three long furrows into the ground. A white blur slipped around him into the opening created in Zodd’s guard as he overextended his arm. Levatein’s blade was engulfed in dancing flames the moment before impact, cauterizing a large gash on Zodd’s side, eliciting another pained roar from the demon.
The two warriors began to circle the large monster, forcing him to pick which of the two to keep in his field of view, presenting the other with his open back.
Several coughing growls emanated from the beast’s massive throat. After a few moments, Shirou and Signum realized he was laughing. “This.” Said Zodd with an infinite glee in his voice. “This is truly a most auspicious night. Finding not only an opponent capable of withstanding my might, but two warriors able to cut my flesh and escape unscathed! Truly I am a warrior with great fortune!”
His declaration made he rushed Signum, a never-ending rain of attacks coming from his limbs, jaws, and horn, resembling an advancing avalanche more than a large creature. His paws moved like a whirlwind as he sought to cut her apart. Signum dodged each and every one of his strikes by such a small margin that she could feel the coarse hair of his limbs brushing against her skin and jacket. A moment later, Zodd stumbled, slowing enough for her to cut a long gash into his arm in retaliation before jumping back to create space between herself and the demon.
Zodd turned with an agility a creature of his size should not have, his jaws making a loud report as they snapped at the empty space Shirou had occupied but a moment before. The young man rolled back, avoiding the bite with surprising grace for a man dressed entirely in armor. He absently rolled his left arm, attempting to regain feeling in it after he used his body to barrel into the back of the monster’s legs, the strike of Zodd’s tail unable to bend the bulwark that was Shirou’s shield.
Zodd bared his teeth in a savage grin. “Truly, truly wonderful! A truly great fortune has been bestowed upon me this night!”
“The only thing you will find this night.” Said Signum in a tone devoid of mercy. “Is death. Not even your ash will remain.”
Zodd’s grin grew. “Perhaps rather than kill you, I will force you to submit to me. I’ll do you the favor of becoming my slave. It would be a true waste to kill one such as you.”
Signum’s fury mounted, the flame surrounding Levatein growing until the heat it gave off was enough to scorch the grass at her feet.
“Be silent you foul beast.” Said Shirou in a dead tone of voice, delivering his speech with a cold finality. “A lamb led to slaughter has no need to speak.” What Shirou said was neither bravado nor a threat. He simply stated a basic truth, an announcement as simple and obvious as saying that the sun would rise in the morning.
Zodd laughed once more. “Come then! LET US SEE WHICH OF US IS THE GREATEST!”
Battle was joined. Zodd’s bass bellow was loud enough to shake the ground. Signum’s belligerent soprano valiantly attempting to overcome the demon’s roar.
Shirou remained quiet, joining battle while remaining coldly composed. His strikes were delivered with concise and vicious precision, neither anger nor fear ever once touching his mind.
He was a man with a job of work to do.
Nothing more.
2012-09-04, 05:13
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