Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Crimson Hell
Beta read by Shigiya, Fluffy Slayer and DOOMRAIDER.
I'll probably won't be updating next week as I'll be reworking a past chapter. The where Archer had to deal with those thugs back in Maia's kingdom, it felt off and is just bad.
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-Geofu-
Where did it all go wrong...
He couldn't fathom it. Everything was flawless, the planning, the coordination between the mercs and knights… even the location was perfect. It was supposed to be a quick victory with him indulging in the screams of the outlander as he hacked off his limbs one by one. Watching him plead for his life and calling out for Maia and that other bitch to save him.
Yes, that was how it was supposed to go, but everything went to shit the moment they sprung the trap. Not only was Archer's magic unaffected, but he also summoned and used swords better than any mage he had ever seen! He was both strong as Vault and nimble like Maia.
To end up pushed to the edge of the barrier, soaked in blood and cuts as well as the unexpected loss of his hand—Hicks snapped and cried out to Kin for help.
'Yet that traitor abandoned me!'
But things got, even more, worse by the second.
A new threat jumped out of the woods, covered in snow-white fur and blood stains. It had a large monstrous body that dwarfed him and even Archer. Carrying a greatsword on its back resembling that of Vault's. The bloodlust emanating from the beast was suffocating.
A Lycan.
How the hell did one get here of all places? This was a deserted but secure area near the border of Geofu and Ken. There was nothing but abandoned mines surrounding the area and all previous settlements had been abandoned ages ago.
Despite that, here he was, standing face to face with a fearsome beast armed to the teeth.
Scrusht!
A single swipe was all he saw, followed by this blinding white light that obscured his vision. But it didn't matter because everything went pitch black within seconds, forever shutting his sight.
"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!"
The pain was immeasurable as if someone had poured molten lava on the right side of his face. He tried to touch it, but even his touch felt like needles stabbing his nerves. Worst of all, it felt slimy, wet, and warm.
Hicks' brain couldn't catch up with everything that happened. He grabbed something sliding down his cheeks, opening his palms to find a black pupil and part of his own brown-colored iris staring back at it. A gel-like substance mixed in with his own blood.
"Haha…"
A single drop of tear fell from his still intact eye, the pain and disarray of his mental state intensifying towards insanity.
"Hahahaha!"
Maybe it was a reaction erupting from his subconsciousness, or maybe he wanted to have the last laugh before dying.
Memories of the past started flashing before his eyes
He remembered the day he used to play on the streets with the other kids whose names he can't recall. It was the first time he met that young redheaded girl, with nothing but skin and bones on top of that hollowed face. All pale white, begging on the streets with her legs near her chest while her cupped hands were left open for anyone offering alms.
'She's going to die.'
Flies hovered around her, attracted by the pus festering on her wounds. Needless to say, even the rodents were looking at her as their next meal.
Every passerby ignored her, not a single person found it in their heart to spare anything for the street rat.
Hicks remembered being overwhelmed with pity and an unending amount of anger at that moment. Why did they have to suffer such a fate while the rich nobles hoarded enough food to feed a whole village for weeks? What was the point of all this chivalrous bullshit where the nobles protected the weak and vulnerable while dozens of his own friends died every day?
One day… he swore that he would turn the tables on them. To use every single blue-blooded individual as a tool to further his desires. To break down the rich and powerful till they become whores.
"Here, you can have it."
Those were his first words to Maia, as he dropped a half-eaten apple into her palms. It was supposed to be his main meal of the day, but he could survive another day—unlike her.
At first, the young Maia just stared at him, confused and wary by this turn of events. After all, the notion of kindness was still a foreign concept to her. Hicks ignored her questioning gaze and dragged Maia to his group, where the others bathed, and fed—giving the little girl what little food they still had left.
He, along with the others guided and taught her the means to survive in the city, that was to say thievery and close-quarter combat. A glimpse of this memory triggered other long-forgotten ones as well. Such as that time when the kind elf barmaid, Celine, gave them free booze whenever they helped out. Remarking that it was good for the young ones to drink a bit, as she had in her youth.
Or the period he joined the mercenary guild and made enough money to finally eat his first real meal.
It got better when they took on quests like eliminating missions like capturing and killing local bandits or standing watch at the gates. This led to them being introduced to richer clients as they took on jobs as dancers and entertainers.
'Fun times', Hicks soon remarked.
And then he met Vault, a regular foot soldier at that time. They hit off immediately, sharing the same ambitions and hatred of those in power, so they sought to create their own haven.
It was at that moment that the Kuroinu formed.
He invited Maia, expecting for them to end up as partners and face the world together.
But alas that didn't happen. Instead, she fell hard for Vault on her first day, and from then on invested all her effort into quests to charm him. Indirectly this caught Claudia's attention and led to her becoming a full fledged Princess Knight with a Kingdom to rule over. But worst of all, he was forgotten, left behind like an old toy. Hicks hated that, 'weren't they supposed to be childhood friends? Why did she fall in love with Vault and not him? He was the one who took her away from the streets! He saved her yet she paid him back with this!?'
Hicks lamented this turn of events, everything went downhill the moment the Kuroinu was created.
If things had gone differently…
If he and Maia stayed on as regular mercenaries…
Would his life have been more joyful?
Maia might have taken him as her lover…
Despite his epiphany, he would never discover what could have been...
As these memories played out incessantly, Hicks gazed lifelessly at the Lycan and Archer, the latter glaring at the beast… They were talking about something. He couldn't hear them, his ears were ringing incessantly from a blurry noise.
Yet one scene did bring a smile to his face.
He saw a look of panic and… fear? Emerging on Archer's previously stoic face. It might not have been deliberate, but Hicks enjoyed it nonetheless. Panic soon transformed into pure anger as Archer vanished from his view with a loud bang, Creating a miniature crater where he once used to stand.
So fast.
He basically teleported to Hicks.
Was that man even human?
"Please… come… back…" he tried to call out to him, but what escaped his lips was a silent whisper.
The situation was dire and he knew it. Death was smiling at him and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. Hicks' desire for revenge against the aristocrats still burned inside his heart. He wanted to see Alicia grovel on the floor as he fucked her from behind, watching her enjoy it like the bitch she was. He also planned the same for Claudia, taking her in front of her husband as he watched… to show the world the true faces of these nobles.
"K-Kin…,"
Hicks' senses dulled further, his remaining vision turning red from the blood seeping onto his face. His veins went cold, easing the pain just enough to make him somewhat comfortable. He didn't feel the need to care anymore, he just wanted… to close his eyes and rest.
But he couldn't accept it, for he knew that there was no coming back once that happened.
"A-Archer… Archer! Maia! COME BAC—Crunch
His plea was silenced as a large paw smashed his skull into a paste.
Hicks' body twitched a bit before going limp.
And thus the second in command of the Kuroinu Mercenary group—came to an end.
Grrrrrrrr!
Crusher growled, "Too loud."
'Stone Splitter better kill the Princess instead of playing with her body.', he remarked, sighing at the thought of his partner in this joint attack. The orc may be a commander, but he sure as hell ain't a reliable one.
He could break boulders with his bare hands, so crushing a Princess Knight shouldn't pose a challenge for him.
Turning his attention to the barrier, swiping his claws across it proved ineffective. Even trying to dig underneath it proved to be a waste of time as the barrier extended even under the soil to encapsulate those within.
"Hm?"
The sword embedded in the middle of the glyphs started buzzing. Its blade glowing brighter and brighter by the second. Crusher's eyes squinted in suspicion as he slowly backed up from whatever it was going to do. His ears twitched, hearing the sound of cracks emanating from the blade as it continued to glow brighter. His nose immediately got assaulted by a large amount of mana concentrating inside the sword.
"—!"
The cracks spread all over the blade, setting off his instincts of an imminent threat nearby. The sword was reaching its boiling point, causing the barrier to flash a blinding white light as all of the accumulated mana was released in a single burst.
"Damn humans!"
Boom!
An explosion lit up as the barrier broke into a million shards that were sent flying through the air followed by an inferno of fire. Hicks' dead body turned into a bloody mess before being vaporized into a red fog, leaving behind his damaged weapons and torn clothes.
{Break}
"The red Shield will die."
Those were the words the Lycan mentioned to Archer. The latter didn't ask him for his identity nor the reason for the attack, for he already associated the beast with Olga. No, he didn't want to waste any precious seconds here questioning or killing the lycan. —His priority was to find both Maia and Brynn before it was too late.
He pushed his body to its limit, pumping every bit of Magical Energy into his reinforcement spell. The world around him turned into a blur of green and brown from all of the trees. To any human, traveling accurately at such speeds was nigh impossible. But Archer's own eyes were capable of seeing through the terrain with unmatched accuracy.
The clearing soon opened up to a large valley with the road Maia and the rest must have been taken. It was a complete massacre, half-eaten bodies of Knights and Mercenaries lying on the ground surrounded by the corpses of monsters.
"Ahhh!"
He heard the cries of one of the girls coming from the woods.
A foreboding feeling crept up his spine.
He rushed over, jumping over the mountains of corpses, locking on the source of the cry. Archer found more corpses along the way, the fear inside his heart growing ever more as he found no traces of the brunette or redhead anywhere.
There were countless Orcs, goblins, ogres, trolls, and even more Lycans—though they weren't as big or fearsome as the white wolf—festering every corner of the forest. Some creatures like the imps and goblins fell from a single swipe of his sword, but a never ending stream of these demons kept popping out endlessly like a flood. Just like during the invasion in Grünes Bergdorf, most of them wore nothing leaving their junk angling out in the open at half hardness while those that wore anything wore little more than tattered rags as loincloths covering their genitals.
That was when he reached the source of the scream from earlier.
"No!!!!" The woman let out a shrill cry as the surrounding monsters laughed.
It was a sight that made Archer wish he could look away, standing in the front of the clearing was a single Orc surrounded by the other demons.
He was just as disgusting and hideous as the other Orcs, albeit a bit taller than him. In his hand was a massive wooden club the size of a person's torso. He was wearing what looked to be crude yet effective chainmail and leather armor over his upper arms, legs, and chest and a white wolf insignia painted on his back.
But it was his front that made Archer's hair stand on end, for hanging off of the Orc's armored chest was a woman—the same one who was plotting with Hicks to isolate Archer from Maia. The woman was completely naked with a broken expression on her face filled with tears. Her arms and legs looked mangled, bending in odd directions although her sword was still held tightly in her hands. Yet she couldn't move, probably not having the strength and ability to do so, as the Orc held her in place over the top of his erect and enormous dick. She was speared on it, her large belly already filled with the monster's seed. She looked at him with a broken gaze, pleading at him for something he was all too familiar with.
The desire to die.
"Trace, on!"
In that instant Archer allowed a vast amount of Mana to enter his body, his circuits warming up to the point of heating his body. Every single monster within a dozen meters was pierced through the head with unnamed swords he traced.
Roar!
The Orc let out a large roar of pain when two spears propelled straight into his kneecaps, anchoring the monster to the ground, and immobilizing him from moving or falling.
Previous sources from the books Archer read mentioned countless times how the demons of Eostia kidnapped and raped women to use as breeding stock, but truthfully he had paid this information very little attention with the Kuroinu at the forefront of his thoughts. As they were monsters in their own right as well, holding firm control over the seven kingdoms and the ruling class. They posed a larger threat to everyone and were the main target of his mission overall.
He had seen tragedies in the past.
Witnessed disgusting acts of evil countless times…
But that never meant he ignored or accustomed himself to them.
Initially, he hadn't a need to care for much of this world outside of his mission, yet here he felt the very core of his being vibrate with duress. EMIYA had no heart, he was a monster with the killings of countless people under his tenure as a Counter Guardian, but it seemed that did not fully override his morality and ideals. He was judged evil due to his ideals, his own dream having caused more harm than good. Nevertheless, in his blind pursuit, the existence known as EMIYA was created, made to suffer for eternity as nothing but a glorified cleaner. Yet being evil was another matter entirely, and what happened to the girl was beyond evil, it was a blatant act of heinous cruelty.
She fell as the Orc released her, but was caught just in time by Archer before she could hit the floor.
"P-Please…," she whispered in a broken voice. "K-Kill m-m-me, before… before they capture me again…"
In her state, the woman was under the impression that the demons were going to capture and rape her again. Yet she failed to notice that every demon surrounding them had already been obliterated.
He wasn't going to follow her request.
"I refuse," he said with a voice barely hiding his anger.
He cast a quick sleeping spell on her, which normally wouldn't have worked with her blessing and his weak talent in enchantment magic l, but in her current state, it worked perfectly and put the woman to sleep.
She might have been a possible threat, seeing how she plotted with the others to help Hicks, yet even Archer wouldn't wish such a fate on his worst enemies.
"There are too many…"
The urgency of the situation forced Archer to neglect the limits regarding his usage of Tracing. Every single monster he encountered would be immediately pierced by dozens of swords. A succession of weapons appeared on the battlefield, from the likes of axes, spears, and arrows, to shields.
Whenever he killed one demon, ten more would appear, and in turn, eliminating those 10 brought forth a hundred more to replace them. How such a ridiculously large army managed to travel to Geofu was a mystery he did not bother to dwell on. Must have been some secret passageway somewhere in the mines that Olga managed to connect to her territory.
He discovered more men and women, saving them from the horde. Yet the chains keeping his anger grounded and his mind calm kept breaking with each girl he found raped by the monsters.
"I need something better." Archer never relied on a single pair of swords for all of his fights, he had a diverse armory holding a versatile set of weapons.
And in a battle like this, where he was faced with enemies he could not just blow up with Caladbolg, it required something more precise and deadly.
Those who survived and helped him in fighting the demonic forces soon froze in terror, sensing a far greater danger coming into existence in their world.
It was the dawning of a true demon.
Archer had not been standing idle.
Maia and Brynn were yet to be found, and the Knights were on borrowed time against the onslaught of demons around them. Worse, many girls were in a state of disarray and shock, broken from the torture they endured. Thus, he had to come up with a permanent solution.
They would all die, including Maia and Brynn if he didn't act fast… or at least they suffer a fate worse than death.
He could never allow that to happen. It was a notion that upset him greatly and it would mean failing Rin—the promise he made to her to try his best.
"Archer,"
One of Maia's personal Knights, Charlotte, called out to him, having stubbornly hobbled her way next to him at the front of the group. Even after nearly being raped by a group of imps, she kept her will unbroken and took the lead for the rest.
"I-I can help!"
Yeah, right. She couldn't even hide the tremors in her voice.
"No. No, you can't," he admonished her.
She pursed her lips before knitting her brows. "And what do you expect to do alone? I know from Maia-sama that you are a capable fighter and mage, but without Kin-sama helping you as well, you will die."
She glanced at the object in his hand, just standing near it made her skin crawl with trepidation.
"I don't care what magic you wield, dark magic or something else… but you are our only hope of saving our leader and getting us away from here alive. Let us help you, I will gladly lay down my life and act as your shield and in return, you can bring everyone away from here."
In ordinary circumstances, there'd be nothing wrong with Charlotte's assessment, one could even judge it as being both valiant and noble to unhesitatingly put her life on the line; however, she couldn't understand the capabilities of a Noble Phantasm. They were weapons of pure destruction, capable of killing the likes of gods when used by the proper being.
"You, listen to me," She perked up at his voice, watching intently as he brandished the red spear in his grip.
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"I do not take orders from you."
Archer lowered his stance, his magic circuits thrumming with far more Mana than usual. He probably hadn't used so much of his Magical Energy since that time in Grünes.
"I may be alone in this battle, my capabilities may still be limited as I'm no god or one of your Princess Knights. But as an idiot who once wished to become a hero and save everyone, I powered through every deadly obstacle thrown at me with nothing but stubbornness and these weapons."
With a will forged in flames, polished through the passage of time. Defeating countless enemies yet emerging more hollow every time, he let his fury take hold of him.
"Let me show you the might of the Hound of Ulster."
A crimson aura burst forth from the red spear in his arms with such intensity that air currents began to rapidly flow. The vein-like patterns crawling across the spear's surface pulsed as if alive. The sight brought more fear and apprehension from the people around him.
"Get everyone away from here," he said to the dazed Charlotte.
"It truly is dark magic." One of the people commented, too tired and injured to care whether he was a heretical enemy or an ally.
Charlotte followed Archer's order and hastily brought everyone away.
Bloodlust permeated around him, enshrouding him in an aura of savagery, his presence impossible to ignore—almost suffocating to some.
It screamed of murder and death, the crimson spear flooded with Magical Energy, to the point that even the demons were visibly stiffened. Many had even begun to falter and back-peddle in fear, much to the shock of everyone. They were creatures who were sensitive to such magic, they could see the evil and battle-hungry spirit living inside the spear—wanting nothing more than to eat them all up.
It frightened them.
They could not understand it.
Demons like Orcs and Ogres were not known to display fear. They were creatures of instinct, concerned with nothing more than sex and hunger. With a single goal of raping any female and eating any male they encountered.
Panic, fear, anxiety, disorder, and despair settled in.
"You can all burn in hell." These words escaped Archer's mouth.
The crimson spear hummed with the sound of a thousand crows, representative of the watchers of the Gates of Dunscaith, the Land of Shadows. Yet to some, it sounded like true demons behind the gates of the Underworld.
He leaned forward, the image of a feral hound manifesting in the aura that surrounded him.
Bam!
He dashed forward, his form blurring.
The monolithic gears of an unlimited armory once more began to churn from within him. A wasteland bereft of life and whose sole purpose was to fulfill the selfish desire of a boy who only wanted to experience the happiness found within a smile. A dream he both despised yet couldn't ignore, it was the cornerstone of the entity known as EMIYA.
Magical energy surged through his body like a storm, creating a physical manifestation around him in the form of a blue flame-like aura.
When he delivered a kick, it sent Goblins flying. When he slashed, the ground shattered in his wake. The spear gave the impression of a red line piercing through the army of demons like a beam—which was just his speed rather than the spear's ability. Nothing could escape him, Archer would hunt everything down no matter how fast they tried to run away. Attacking was useless as they were too slow, their bodies eviscerated by the time they moved even a muscle.
He may no longer have his full capabilities as a Heroic Spirit, but that didn't make him weak in any sense. To him, it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
Within the blink of an eye, he cleared away the demons surrounding the forest, not letting a single imp escape as he continued to rain down sword after sword from the vast sky.
"W-What kind of mage is that?" Charlotte felt her mouth drying, but no one answered her, rather, they shivered.
The way that they were looking at him, it was like they were looking at a murderer. A dark mage who now dwarfed the fear of even Olga in their hearts.
This… thing wasn't human.
Some even chuckled while recalling their previous intentions to take him out, finally realizing that even killing a Princess Knight seemed more plausible than getting anywhere near this beast.
Whereas Archer was mostly oblivious to what the others were thinking about him, or possibly just not caring the least in the first place. His focus was solely on the enemies ahead.
He was beginning to sweat, panting as a result of his body overheating considerably.
Planting the butt of his spear on the ground as support to relieve some of the stress on his body, he continued to kill every demon in the air with his projected swords. Not a single one of them was allowed to leave this place alive.
Too much energy was being drained. Even with the slight support from Alaya, it wasn't the same infinite reserves he was granted during his time as a Counter Guardian. He wasn't someone like Rin, Sakura, and even Illya who all possessed a far greater amount of Mana and circuits. And he couldn't use the spear's effect for days like Cu Chullain, even if he pushed himself to the max.
He wasn't a Servant who could rely on a master to supply him with more energy.
Things had to end now
Under the rapt attention of Charlotte and the others, he braced his legs and took a forward stance. One hand held his spear, while the other was placed over in front of him. A maddening air enveloped him, cloaking him in a layer of sheer magical power.
'It's now or never, I can't risk any one of them escaping… I won't allow it.'
The spear in his hand trembled violently, eagerly.
Like a certain blue battle-hungry lancer who would always seek more. A true battle maniac.
It was a Cursed Spear of Barbed Death whose properties screamed for the annihilation of the demons before it. Heck, it would easily kill even the humans around him, but Archer suppressed that urge, having dealt with it many times in the past.
If a regular human were to use it, then madness would end up corrupting their mind and turning them into a psychopathic possessed killer.
He was flying, his legs having pushed him up precariously into the air. The energy that suffused the spear in his hand resembled a violent flame as his arm cocked it back. A pregnant pause descended, eerily spreading out across the land now bathed in the crimson hue and a heaving scent of iron.
The Gate of DunScaith, Land of the Dead.
There would be no escaping what was about to happen next. It was an inevitable fate they brought upon themselves from their disgusting actions.
His muscles and veins bulged.
Nearly tearing from the huge strains put upon them.
Every breath felt like fire.
The desire to kill showing itself inside the weapon.
The spear was thrown.
"Gae Bolg!"
It happened in an instant, if before Archer moved like a red light across the field, now he vanished completely like a ghost before reappearing on the ground, kneeling and breathing heavily.
Had it failed?
That was the thought going through everyone's mind.
Were they done for?
No, they soon found out how wrong they were the next moment.
Every demon erupted in an explosion of blood, each and every one of them having lost half of their chest before they could even register their doom.
Without a single roar or cry of pain, every Orc, Goblin, imp, and Lycan fell to the ground. Dying with their faces filled with both confusion and horror.
But he couldn't rest yet, as he still hadn't found Maia and Brynn yet.
"Where are they?" he asked in between his breaths, his glaring silver eyes making everyone tense up in fear.
"Maia ran up to the north!" One of the men who lost his arm informed Archer after the latter killed the ogre that was about to make him his meal. "I'll take care of the injured here and bring them away somewhere safe with Charlotte, just make sure she's safe!"
Archer didn't wait, he pushed his body despite the strain towards the mountain.
His heart beating loudly, the thought of something horrifying happening to them further pushing him to speed up across the forest.
Finally, he reached the top where he saw a sight that made him stop breathing.
A giant Orc, twice as big as the regular ones he faced before. Covered in gold armor on his upper body while completely naked on the lower half.
A beaten-up Maia lying in a pool of her blood.
And worst of all, the monster was holding a half-awake Brynn by her left arm while she was missing her right one. Her armor was stripped away by the Orc as he was about to impale her with his dick. A lustful grin on his face.
Brynn's eyes landed on Archer.
A small smile formed on her face, a smile that conveyed many things. The next few words made him lose all sense of rationality.
"Sorry… master…, I wasn't a good… apprentice."
Archer snapped.
And all hell broke loose.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 2 Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword having 3 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post monthly commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise and Snafu.
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