The following is a fan-based story. Akame ga Kill! is owned by White Fox, Square Enix, Sentai Filmworks, Tetsuya Tashiro and Takahiro. While Fate/Stay Night is owned by Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyopop, Hanabee, Aniplex of America, MVM Films, Ufotable, and Type-Moon. Please support the official release.

Chapter 1: Save the Damned

Imperial Year 1024

On a road in the countryside, with the Imperial Capital visible far off in the distance, a single horse was pulling a small merchant's wagon along, with two men sitting at the front, one of whom was holding the reins.

A short distance in front of the wagon, part of the road began to crack and bulge outward as something underneath struggled to emerge. Now, one might think that people would notice something so obvious as a bump spontaneously appearing in the middle of the road, especially when it was happening right in front of them. But the simple fact was that these men had been on the road without seeing anyone else aside from each other, their horse, and the occasional bird or squirrel.

Long story short: these men were bored out of their skulls, and as a result they were ignoring their surroundings to the point that they'd completely missed what would have been obvious to anyone paying attention to what was going on right in front of them.

Little did these two merchants realize though, their day was about to get a lot more exciting. And that excitement was in the form of a Class-1 Danger Beast bursting out of the ground.

"A-A-An earth dragon!" the driver stuttered, too terrified to even notice his horse breaking out of its harness and running away as fast as it could.

"What's one doing so close to the highway?!" his friend wondered, both of them staring up at the massive creature, frozen in fear. It was only when the Danger Beast let out a monstrous roar that they snapped out of their stupor.

"Run!" the driver screamed, but it was pointless; even if they'd started running the instant the Danger Beast had appeared, it was impossible for either of these men to outrun it. There was nothing either of them could do to change their fate as the earth dragon lunged at the two merchants, intent on devouring them both.

However just because these two men couldn't do anything about their situation, that didn't necessarily mean that no one could…

When the monster's howl was suddenly cut off, and shortly followed by a thundering crash, the merchants, confused as to why they weren't being eaten, chanced a look behind them, and were met with the sight of the earth dragon having fallen backward, dead.

"What… just happened?"

The other man shook his head. "I have absolutely no idea."

They both took a quick look around to see if some sort of saviour was responsible, but all they could see were each other, their wagon, a dead earth dragon, and a bunch of trees.

"You think maybe it had a… heart attack? Or a brain aneurism?" the driver wondered.

His friend scoffed. "Since when have you ever heard of a Danger Beast having a fucking brain aneurism?"

"Well pardon me for taking an educated guess," the first man snapped. "And just how do you know those monsters don't get aneurisms or heart attacks, Mr. Danger Beast Expert?"

"I don't," the second man freely admitted. "But you don't see me just jumping to random conclusions as to why that thing just suddenly keeled over like that. Oh and by the way, educated? Seriously?"

"Okay then smart guy, how do you think it died?"

The second merchant shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe taking a closer look at the body will tell us." He then started walking toward it, speaking to his friend over his shoulder as he did so. "I'll see what I can find out from ugly over there. In the meantime, see if you can find our horse. I'd rather not have to push our goods by hand until we can buy a new one. In fact I don't wanna have to buy a new horse at all."

"Yeah, yeah," the first merchant muttered, turning around and calling out for their beast of burden. He kept this up for a little over a minute before he realized something. Wait a minute, that jerk gave me the harder job!

Said jerk was currently walking around the earth dragon's colossal corpse, keeping an eye out for anything that might give him a clue as to what had killed it. It was only when he came around to its head that he finally came across something: a large puddle of blood pooling on the ground around its head.

With one part of the mystery solved, the man then scrambled onto the Danger Beast's arm, and slowly clambered his way up the corpse until he was standing atop the creature's face, whereupon he found another part of the answer.

There was a hole in its forehead.

"You lazy son of a bitch!" Confused, he turned to see his partner marching toward him, who looked rather pissed for some reason. "Leaving me to look for our horse by myself while you go play coroner! Well nice try, but we can do that after you help me find that mare."

Oh, that was why.

"Dude, chill out. I think I found out what killed this thing."

The driver blinked at that, his curiosity winning over his frustration. "Oh yeah? Well don't keep me in suspense, man, spit it out."

"Looks like someone shot it in the head, probably with some kind of high powered rifle, or something with enough punch behind it to pierce this guy's thick skull. And from how the blood's pooling from beneath, I'm guessing that the bullet was able to penetrate all the way through and out the other side."

That earned a whistle from the man still on the ground. "Damn."

"Yep," his partner nodded as he jumped back down. "I'd say something like a bullet to the brain would definitely be enough to ruin this big boy's day."

"Yeah, well, that's interesting and all, but right now we need to go find our horse and then get the hell out of here. After this little bit of excitement, I'd personally like to get to the nearest town as soon as possible."

"That seems like a good idea to me."

And so with that being said, the two merchants began to look for their missing mare. But the entire time they did so, there was a question on both their minds, a question that would continue to gnaw away at them both every time they would remember this incident.

Who had saved them?

The Imperial Capital

Several hours later, as it was getting dark, a man who had yet to reach his twentieth year, covered in a white cloak with a supply bag slung over his shoulder, stepped through the gates of the Capital for the first time in his life. He felt rather good about today; he'd saved a pair of men traveling on the road from being eaten by an earth dragon, and after that, he gave some of the coin he had on him to a church run by the Path of Peace that ran an orphanage in a town just a short ways outside the city's walls, as well as cooked a lavish dinner for all the children as well as the priest and two nuns who looked after said orphanage. The man himself wasn't a follower of the new religion that was making waves throughout the Empire; in fact he'd never really been all that big on faith in general. But that didn't stop him from appreciating the good that churches such as the one he'd just visited did, so he was glad to help.

The priest at the church had been insistent on doing something to repay him for his generosity, so he'd taken the opportunity to have a bath and get himself cleaned up, as well as allow them to give him some dried food in addition to refilling his waterskin. When they'd asked him for his name, his answer had been the same as it had been every other time he'd been asked that sort of question over the last seven years.

"Just a simple archer."

As the archer began trekking through the Capital's streets, he made sure to keep his guard up, as he always did. Big cities such as this were notorious for being dangerous at night, and in the Capital that rule applied tenfold; so unsurprisingly people in this city rarely ventured out when it was dark unless they were armed or in groups. Preferably both.

In fact, the only other people that the traveller could see were the occasional guards, always with at least one partner to watch their backs. He had to give the captain of the Imperial Guard at least a little credit for being smart enough to assign all his men a partner. However the dozen or so guards he'd seen so far were far too amateurish in their behaviour for his liking. Sure they were all careful to always keep one of their comrades in their line of sight, which was good, but they seemed to be paying more attention to each other than their surroundings. It was as if these so-called soldiers were afraid that if they took their eyes off their partner for one second, they would disappear, leaving them alone to be swallowed up by the darkness.

Furthermore, none of the guards ever strayed more than a few meters from any of the street lamps, guaranteeing that none of them would have very good night vision for the duration of their watch. Of course the archer fully realized that the dark could be terrifying, especially to the inexperienced, but honestly, that was why soldiers went through training!

After several more minutes of walking, he noticed a couple of armed shady-looking characters hanging around the corner of an alley, the skinnier one grinning maliciously when he caught sight of the hooded wanderer, thinking he couldn't see them. The young archer didn't even bother stopping to deal with the muggers, instead he merely shifted his cloak as he passed them, giving the pair of thugs a glimpse at his well-muscled frame and the weapons he carried, along with giving them a brief yet intense glare out of the corner of his eye. He was rewarded with the fat member of the pair actually flinching and warily taking a step back before he and his friend slunk back into the shadows.

As he continued walking, the archer noticed that many of the buildings around him had become shops and restaurants – all closed now of course – so it seemed that he'd found his way to one of the city's commercial districts. That worked out well for him, as that meant there had to be an inn somewhere nearby as well, but he stopped as he remembered how little money he actually had. Should he use it to spend the night in a warm bed, or just tough it out as he had for so long and save the coin for something important?

Before the nomadic archer could come to a decision, his sharp hearing picked up the sound of a horse pulling a wagon.

However he was no threat to the wagon, and as a result didn't consider them a threat to him, and quickly returned to deciding whether he'd spend the night in a bed or not. Going over how much food and water he had again in his mind, the traveller figured that his current supplies should last him for another five days – a week if it was rationed properly – so he was reasonably certain that he could afford to spend at least one night sleeping on something soft. Plus it would be a shame to get his clothes dirtied from sleeping on the ground again right after they had been cleaned.

As he started walking again, he noticed the wagon he'd heard earlier round the corner, and saw that it was actually a carriage – one that looked like it belonged to a noble. Well, that would certainly explain the fact that both the driver and navigator were well armed and armoured. Not wanting to risk getting caught up in an unnecessary confrontation with some conceited highborn, the archer politely stepped out of the carriage's way. As he passed it though, a young voice rang out.

"Stop!"

Both the horse and the archer halted in their tracks, the latter turning to face the stagecoach, where he saw the one guard who was without a full-face helmet glancing back at him while he spoke to the young noble inside.

"Are we really doing this again, milady?" the guard asked, looking at the archer with his voice and eyes both filled with exasperation as well as a hint of… pity?

"You know I can't help it!" the noble girl inside responded, slightly indignant at being questioned by her own bodyguard as the other one opened the door for her. "This is simply the way I am." She then exited her carriage, allowing the nomadic archer to get a clear look at her.

As her voice indicated, she was young, probably thirteen or fourteen at most, and seemed like she would grow up into a real beauty. This privileged girl also had flowing blonde hair that reached just past her shoulders, as well as bright blue round eyes that shone with the eagerness often seen in youth when they were happy or excited. As for clothing, she had a white shirt underneath a light blue dress with a black midsection, expensive boots made from white leather, all topped off by a bow around her neck and a fluffy hair accessory, both of them the same colour as her dress.

The girl gave a small smile as she skipped over to the hooded stranger she'd just encountered. "Umm, excuse me," she said while giving the man a soft smile. "I don't usually see a lot of people outside this late at night, plus you look like you're not from the Capital. Would I be correct in assuming that you don't have a place to stay tonight?"

The cloaked man nodded in confirmation, wearing a courteous smile as he did so, though the hood concealed the top half of his face. "I admit, I arrived in the Capital less than an hour ago, and was in the process of searching for an inn before you came along."

"Well in that case," the girl said, visibly perking up, "why don't you come and spend the night at my place?"

The young archer considered her words briefly before saying "Before I accept, young lady, you should know that it is highly unlikely that I will be able to give you proper recompense for your hospitality."

The young lady giggled at his words. "Oh please, that's hardly an issue."

At that moment, the guard whose face was visible chose to step forward to add his two coppers to the conversation. "Lady Aria has a bit of a weakness for helping those in need." he explained.

"You really should accept her generosity." his helmeted partner called out.

"Pretty please?" the girl now identified as Aria said, blinking up at the wanderer with those big blue eyes of hers.

Allowing his face to relax, the travelling archer brought up his left hand to comb it back through his hair into his preferred style, removing his hood in the process and revealing his handsome face to the girl. Said handsome face was further decorated by tanned skin, hair that was pure white, and eyes seemingly made of steel. All this served to give the nineteen year old male a very exotic look as he offered Aria a disarming smile.

"Well, far be it for me to reject the kindness of a lovely young lady such as yourself." He then figured that since the girl was a noble, it wouldn't hurt to add on a bit of theatrics, and so brought his right hand up against his heart with his left arm splayed out to the side, and bowed at the waist. "I will be in your care, Lady Aria."

He made sure to keep his head bowed, but he still easily caught a glance of the girl's cheeks blushing before she quickly shook her head. "Ah- yes! Wonderful!" Turning around, she skipped back to her carriage, she hurriedly added "Come on! I want to get home quick so I can introduce you to my parents!"

The ride back to Aria's home was both pleasant and uneventful, with the young lady happily chatting with the handsome stranger she'd just met. She was so excited that by the time they made it through the gate leading to her family's mansion, she was practically jumping up and down in her seat, and she barely even waited for the guards to open the door for her. The young man followed closely behind, his long legs allowing him to easily keep up with her quick pace.

"Now listen, my dad's an earl," Aria warned her guest as they made their way to the main living room. "So no matter what, remember to be on your best behaviour!"

As the pair arrived at their destination, the archer was greeted by the pleasant feeling of a warm fire, along with the sight of a beautiful blonde haired woman wearing a delicate white dress who seemed to be the spitting image of Aria, only in her early thirties, who had been preoccupied with reading a book until they entered the room. To her left was a rather portly man with a full head of grey hair accompanied by a moustache, who was nursing an expensive-looking pipe.

The man, no doubt Aria's father, glanced in their direction as the doors opened, a smile coming to his lips as his daughter walked in, though when the archer entered his field of view his eyes lit up in surprise.

"Oh, now what's this?" he asked. "Has my dear little Aria brought home another guest?"

"My my, how many does that make now?" her mother added with a smile. "What a habit our daughter has."

"Ahem," the girl cleared her throat so as to distract her parents from their banter. "Mom, Dad, I'd like to introduce my guest. This is… ehm…" The girl began to blush furiously as she realized she had no idea what her guest's name was, so eager had she been to invite him into her home.

Fortunately for her, the man in question stepped forward. "A pleasure to meet you sir, madam. I just arrived in the Capital and your daughter was kind enough to offer me a place to rest my head for the time being."

The father chuckled. "Well that certainly sounds like my Aria. My name is Maxwell Kalrenn and this lovely lady is my wife Valria. Now then, what should I call you? It seems that my daughter was so eager to have you over that she forgot to even ask you your name." His teasing earned him a pout from Aria.

"I'm afraid I don't really have a name to give you," the guest replied, causing the family to blink in surprise. "But if you wish to call me something, I suppose 'Archer' will suffice, seeing as that word is the best summarization of what I am."

"Wait," Aria said, eyes slowly widening. "You don't mean the Archer, do you? The famous Danger Beast slayer and bounty hunter?"

"Hmm?" This time it was Archer's turn to be surprised. "I knew I had a bit of a reputation, but I didn't think it had reached the ears of the nobility in the Capital."

"Are you kidding?!" Aria nearly screamed. "People all over the Empire talk about the Archer! They say he's killed ten thousand Danger Beasts by himself, including a dozen Super class ones! That was all you?!"

"Aria, please, where are your manners?" her father interjected. "Let our guest at least have a seat before you interrogate him."

Archer sat himself at the chair across from Earl Kalrenn, while Aria sat beside her mother, at which point the head of the household spoke again. "Now that we're all comfortable, please continue, Archer. I must admit, I'm rather interested myself. Did you really do all those things that the people say you did?"

Archer put on what could be called a half-smile. "Well, I'm not sure exactly how many of those monsters I've killed, seeing as I don't really keep track. If I had to guess though, I'd say my kill count has been greatly exaggerated. After all, I certainly haven't slain a dozen Super class ones." Aria seemed disappointed at that admission, and would have voiced it had he not continued. "I've only killed two. Danger Beasts of that calibre are rather rare and difficult to come by, thankfully."

"Even if the number was exaggerated, for anyone to have slain even one Super class Danger Beasts, let alone multiple ones, by themselves is quite impressive." Valria commented. "I've heard that those creatures have been capable of single-handedly decimating entire fortresses and small armies. Now tell me, what brings you to the Capital? Have you come to compete in the Tournament of the Archer?"

"The what?"

"You don't know?" Valria said, surprised. "The occasion consists of competitions in various martial arts with the main event being a bracket-system tournament. Varying amounts of prize money are offered to all the winners and some of the runner-ups. It attracts warriors from across the Empire and even some from beyond its borders, and those who perform well are sometimes offered a place in the military. Supposedly though, the whole thing began when some of the Empire's generals took notice of your accomplishments, and wished to have you serve the Empire in a more official capacity. But when they failed to track you down, they set up the tournament hoping it would attract you to them instead. This coming tournament will be the third one in as many years that they've been searching for you, Archer. I hear that there's quite the reward waiting for you if you even show up to the tournament to thank you for your brave contributions to the Empire, provided of course that you can prove you really are the Archer."

"I see," the bowman muttered as he placed his elbows on the armrest. "Well, thank you for telling me about the tournament, Lady Kalrenn. I'll be sure to be out of the Capital while that's going on."

When that statement earned him looks of confusion, he elaborated. "I've never particularly enjoyed crowds, and I enjoy being the centre of attention even less. So if at all possible, I think I'll avoid the event entirely. If those in your government wish to meet with me, I'll see if I can manage something. Though in the interest of avoiding the public's eye as much as possible, I'll probably wait until after the tournament is finished."

Maxwell blinked twice before letting out a lighthearted chuckle. "Well this is certainly turning out to be a surprising evening. My daughter brings home something of a legend in the making, and I find out he's unexpectedly modest in addition to being polite."

"Before I became Archer, I grew up in a rather prominent family." the bowman explained. "I may have been young when I left my home, but I was still old enough to have learned proper courtesy."

"Huh?" Aria gaped at him. "But if you had a good life, why would you leave it? Was your family mean to you or something?"

"I have nothing but good memories of the time I spent with my old family," Archer replied. "It simply wasn't the life for me. The person you see before you now… that is who I truly am."

Valria smiled, "Well it's certainly nice to meet such a forthright person like yourself, Archer. Please, feel free to stay here for as long as you are comfortable."

"Indeed," her husband added. "But it's getting late now, and my wife and daughter need their beauty sleep. Archer, one of my guards will escort you to one of the guest rooms. Please make yourself comfortable, and know that you are welcome to remain here for as long as you wish."

Archer graciously lowered his head. "You honour me with your generosity, Earl Kalrenn. Rest assured though, once I'm well rested I will be on my way. As much as I enjoy your company, I'm afraid I do have business elsewhere. Besides, I'm sure you have your hands full with all your other guests, let alone your actual responsibilities as an earl."

Aria had a puzzled look at Archer's words. "What do you mean, Archer? We don't have any guests here aside from you."

"…Ah. My mistake, Lady Aria," said the bowman after a brief hesitation. "From what your parents said, it was my understanding that you have brought many others with no place to call home into your family's mansion, and thus assumed that you were hosting a fair number of guests."

"It's fine, it's fine," Maxwell said, waving a hand assuredly. "Anyone could've made the same mistake. I have to say though, I'm a little surprised that the thought of others being here even crossed your mind, Archer." the earl admitted. "Most people that Aria invites over don't even spare a moment's thought to who else we might be hosting."

"When you spend your life hunting monsters and chasing down dangerous criminals, you typically don't last very long if you have no idea how to mind your surroundings." the Danger Beast slayer explained. "Now with your permission, I believe I'll take my leave for the night in that guest room you mentioned, Earl Kalrenn. I've been on the road for longer than I care to admit, and I must confess, I'm looking forward to resting my head on something soft again."

"Of course Archer. We're more than happy to host such a reputable guest like yourself. Please have a pleasant night's rest." the earl replied.

This place simply didn't feel right to Archer.

The family certainly seemed hospitable enough. In fact they were polite and welcoming to the point where Archer was tempted to say their manners were unmatched.

Nonetheless, he couldn't shake off the feeling that it was all merely an act designed to make him lower his guard. To add to that, just because the family may have been good actors, didn't mean their guards were, and the wandering hero hadn't forgotten the look of pity that Aria's carriage driver had given him on the road earlier that night. Combine that with the fact that he was the Kalrenns' only guest in spite of the fact that they apparently took in people without a bed of their own to rest in all the time in the Imperial Capital of all places, where Archer knew there was no shortage of poverty and strife, and something was definitely off.

He had long heard that the worst monsters in the Empire were the ones that resided within the walls of the Capital. Time to see if the Kalrenns were among them.

Carefully prying open the window so as to not alert the guards, Archer easily hopped down to the grounds below and landed with barely a sound. He quickly found a small flat stone and etched two runes onto it with the purpose of locating death, and sent the rock off to do just that.

Archer didn't have to wait long before his search bore fruit.

Less than thirty seconds after sending out the stone, he felt the magic filling the runes dissipate, their purpose fulfilled, as the rock impacted against the wall of a storehouse located at the back of the Kalrenns' property, concealed from the rest of the city behind tall stone walls.

These obstructing walls presented a stark contrast to the warm, open and welcoming feeling that the frontal view of their mansion provided.

Not wanting to break the doors down as doing so would undoubtedly attract attention, Archer used his Structural Analysis on the lock to the storehouse; and with that information in mind he Traced a small piece of iron before using Alteration to reshape it into a key that would grant him entry.

What he found inside, was a scene taken right out of a nightmare.

Blood, bodies, body parts, filth, and all kinds of instruments of torture could be spotted everywhere the bowman set his hawk-like gaze. There were those who'd had parts of their bodies gouged out hanging from hooks the same way butchers hung cow carcasses. He spotted spiked chairs, torture racks, iron maidens, and breaking wheels, all with decaying corpses still strapped to them, and it was obvious that the victims had died screaming; their agony was etched onto their faces even long after their deaths. The knives and cleavers that had been used to eviscerate, lacerate, dismember, disembowel, or even flay these people all still had blood on them, and Archer even spotted an ice pick that had a rotting eyeball still impaled on the blade.

The worst part of it all for the bowman was the fact that his nature as a Faker – one that created weapons at that – and an Incarnation of the concept sword, forced him to know everything about these devices, from how they were forged to what they had been used for before they'd been left hanging on these racks. If it could be defined as a blade, then Archer understood everything about it to the point that a part of him felt like he had been the one doing all of this. Such was the wretched insight that his abilities granted him in scenarios such as this.

And there was even more to this nightmare than the stories told by the blades – varying amounts of human excrement were smothered over every one of the bodies in this disgusting place. The victims had all been left to fester in their own shit both leading up to their excruciating deaths and even after they had been left to decompose. And even that was assuming that they hadn't already had filth deliberately rubbed into their wounds, either to induce disease or simply to add insult to agony before they were granted the release of death.

Archer then caught movement off to the side, and his head snapped over to see that there were a few poor souls who had still managed to cling to life, held in steel cages. But to the bowman's sorrow, the people in those cages were beyond the point of help. Some cowered in the farthest corner, growling at him, the same way a beaten-down dog whimpers and snarls at the sight of its abusive master. Others simply sat or stood in the same position they had held before he entered, their blank eyes staring at nothing. Dead in every way that mattered. And one woman could even be seen gnawing on one of the feces-coated bones that were left of her cell's previous occupant, muttering something to herself about a glorious feast.

There was no saving these people.

Had Archer been a normal person, the mere sight of this horror would have likely made him throw up, but the insight granted to him by his comprehension of the blades in this torture chamber made him feel, for an instant, as though he had been the one who had wielded them and inflicted all of this meaningless pain. And that instant was powerful enough that Archer briefly considered the idea of throwing himself onto his own blade.

But for better or worse, Archer's past duties as an Enforcer for the Mage's Association and a Counter Guardian for Alaya had long since acclimatized him to this sort of such pointless suffering. And it was for that reason that he gave no physical indication at all of how the sight of this place or the history of its blades affected him.

However, he did make sure to cast those very blades off to the farthest, darkest depths of his inner world, far beyond where even his eyes could see from atop the Hill of Swords, to join the rest of their kind.

He would never call upon those disgusting wastes of steel. Weapons whose only purpose was to be used for something so utterly meaningless.

That was truly the only word that the former Guardian could use to describe what had been done here: meaningless.

There was absolutely no doubt in Archer's mind that the Kalrenns were guilty. He had seen in the way that the knives in this place had been used when he had instinctively sympathized with the experiences of their growth and reproduced the accumulated years – not only were they directly used by the Earl and his family, but their only excuse for all of this was that they enjoyed it. It served no purpose, proved no point, and made no sense. The family of this land simply enjoyed tormenting those less fortunate than themselves.

This family was even worse than the Danger Beasts he regularly hunted. Aggressive as the creatures were, at least when they killed it was either either for food or to protect their territory.

But the Kalrenns? They were just monsters.

"Wh-who…?"

Archer's head snapped over to the left, where he saw a prisoner of this hellhole who, despite all odds, had somehow managed to hold onto his sanity and even still had the strength to stand.

He must have not been in here for very long.

Archer ran to the side of the cage, wanting to assess the condition of the boy who seemed like he was at least a few years younger than even Archer was. But as soon as he came near him, the boy backed up fearfully.

Archer instantly realized what the boy was thinking, and quickly took a couple steps back. "Relax," he told him. "I'm not one of the people who hurt you. I want to help you."

As the kid stared back with a mixture of fear, scepticism, and hope, Archer raked his eyes over the prisoner. He'd obviously endured extensive torture and was covered in filth like all the others, but there was still hope for him. It wouldn't be easy, but if Archer could get him to a doctor soon, the kid might just have a chance of surviving.

"I didn't fully trust the people here when they invited me in, and decided to investigate to see if they were hiding anything nefarious." Archer explained. "Of course, this is far worse than anything I expected."

After a few seconds, the boy seemed to accept that Archer was telling him the truth. His shoulders began to tremble, and then it was followed by laughter.

…At least, until the kid started coughing up blood.

When the boy collapsed on the floor, Archer darted forward and Reinforced his muscles, tearing the door to the cage off its hinges and tossing it aside; not caring for the noise it made when there was an innocent life on the line.

"Hey, stay with me!" Archer told the kid, taking him into his arms. "Just hold on a little longer and I'll get you to a doctor." Not for the first time in this new life of his, the former Guardian cursed his lack of talents in the healing arts.

"…Sorry," the kid whispered. "No… good. These people… they infected me… Diseases… they're incurable."

Archer felt his fingers clench, then had to force them to relax again to avoid causing further pain for the poor kid.

"…Tell me," Archer eventually said, "what is your name?"

"…Ieyasu." came the response. "My name's, Ieyasu."

"Alright then Ieyasu, do you have… any last requests?"

"My friend," with a shaking hand, Ieyasu slowly pointed at the flayed corpse of a young girl with long straight black hair hanging from the ceiling by a pair of meat hooks imbedded deep into her back.

"She never gave in, no matter what," Ieyasu was forced to stop as he coughed up blood again, but he never stopped grinning, "that little bitch… did to her. No matter… how bad it got. So cool…" He then returned his gaze to Archer. "Bury us… somewhere, far away from this place. Sayo and me… together."

Archer's gaze was unflinching. "I will, Ieyasu. I promise."

He then watched as Ieyasu's cheeky grin morphed into a full-fledged smile. Tears of gratitude spilling from his closed eyes.

"Thank you."

Gritting his teeth at the boy's expression, Archer wordlessly Projected a plain dagger. He knew that there was nothing more he could do to help Ieyasu beyond what he'd already done for him; and that at this point prolonging his life merely meant prolonging his suffering, as the disease plaguing him would eventually take its course.

With a quick jab, Archer plunged the dagger in between Ieyasu's ribs and into his heart.

The kid barely felt a thing.

Archer then rested Ieyasu's cooling body flat on the ground, then removed his deceased friend from where she was hanging and placed her body next to his.

"I'll come back for the two of you and fulfill my promise to you soon." Archer swore.

"But as much as I'd like to do that now," he said, his cherished blades Kanshou and Bakuya appearing in his hands as he began walking towards the entrance of the torture shed, where a group of guards who had heard him tear open the door to Ieyasu's cage was assembled on the other side waiting for him to come out.

"There's another bit of business that I have to take care of first."