I'm doing this in response to the Wimblegurk Brigade Challenge, looking up the source material I found that this really need a rework and dark fansty kind is what I love to do.
Note : I have changed how some of the character's look because their armor is all stupid so for most of the changes will be described in the story while other should just be self explained. Female knights now wear their normal armor design you saw in the animation but with clothes underneath and long coats.
Kuroinu War
1
The Wayfarer
"To be preach freedom but truly be free are to very different things."
He awoke deep in the night, the sound of the waves crashing against one another, flowing onto the sandy beach. He just couldn't sleep, the things he saw since his arrival on this continent were few, but what he had seen on his way here was far worse in nature. He rose out of his leather knapsack and gathered his gear; he threw on his clothes and armor, slipping his twin swords and long sword into their sheaths, and strapping his flintlock to his waist and rifle to his back. He walked out his tent and looked up at the night sky, he gave a long sigh and smile before walking over to his stead. He took the reins in his hands as he hopped onto it's back. "Time for some late night exploring" he said as he rode out for inland.
/
Somewhere upon a harsh dry burning plain, a battle was full underway. Humans knights and mercenaries clashed with hellish creatures. The humans stood their ground against the beast as they continued to advance with no signs of backing down. In the center of the hellfire were two young girls, each one holding their own against the orcs and demons. One with fiery red hair, dawned two sabers in each hand as her long tattered leather coat blew in the blazing winds; the other was a blonde who wore normal knights armor with tail coat attached to her waist, brandishing a saber as she cut the leg of an orc clean of before striking it through it's skull.
"What's the matter Arcturus, can't keep up?" asked the red head as slide by and cut two orcs down, flipping back up to slit their throats, "If you want you could go back to your little appliance and go back to drink tea."
"No deal Maia!" Arcturus called out as she cut down a goblion that went for Maia's throat, "But if you and your merc friends want to sit out then I am all but alright with dealing with the rest of these filths."
The two shared a glance before turning their rage onto the enemy, staining the grass with their disgusting blood that only added a vomit inducing smell into the air it touched flame. As the two fought, a women dawn a long white coat and armor rode across the battlefield on a warhorse, decampting an greenskin that tried to get in her way. She finally stopped as she reached her two bickering allies, pulling the helm of her helmet upward to reveal her face.
"Alicia!" she called out to the blonde, "A faction of them as splintered off and are heading to the nearby village." The women cut down a charging orc before having her stead smash it's skull underneath it's hoof.
"On it Claudia!" Alicia called out as she called for her horse, limping on to her steady as she rushed down the hilltop down to the village below. Maia gave a groan as she did the same and chased after her ally, reaching the village to see her friend in a state of somewhat shock.
"What's the matter, orc got your….fuck" Maia told her as she looked at the village, dead corpses littered the streets and the orcs were partaking of the women they had captured, violating them to their heart's content.
Mia was the first to leap of her horse, unsheathing both her swords she dashed forward, piercing an orc right in the back as it violated a young village girl. The orcs took notice and branished their weapons once more charging her. Alicia was quick to respond as rode past them and slit their throats. She had her horse kick another to the ground as she herself cut a orc's head in half. She rushed to Maia's side, but she was stopped by an orc chieftain, as it picked up her horse and ripped it in two; throwing her off her horse into the ground. She tried to reach out for her sword but felt the chieftain crush her arm underneath it's heel, crushing bone.
The chieftain looked down at its prey with bloodlust as it rose it's weapon high above its head, ready to land the killing blow. Maia tried to rush to her friends side, but was cut off by the other orcs. Alicia struggled and cried, trying to pry herself free from the orc's hold, but to no result. But as the axe came flying down at her, she heard a sudden loud boom and a crash. She held her eyes shut, expecting to see the afterlife. But she still felt tired, she still felt sweaty, and her arm was still in a lot of pain. She opened her eyes to see the axe was just inches away from the side of her face. And when she felt drops touching her face, she looked up to see the chieftain had a large hole in it's head.
Everyone, even the orcs looked in shock as the chieftain fell over to the ground dead. They heard a strange sound and the large was heard again, this time with multiple orcs receiving holes in their skulls and falling over. They traced the sound to a burning burn and rushed inside, ignoring Maia and Alicia, Mia took this chance to run to her friend, throwing her arm over her shoulder to get her out of here. But they were stopped as an orc came flying out of the barn, landing right next to them. It's face was smashed to a pupil. They looked over at the barn a figure came bursting through the walls, the orcs close behind. The figure wore all blacked, expect for silver armor on it's arm, legs, and chest plate. It's long black coat flowed like a shadow as the figure roared through it's helmet. He brandished two swords as he cut the orc's down one by one. Kneeing one in the face he quickly jammed his blade into the orc's kneecap before jamming his other sword up the orc's mouth.
The figure turned around in a faster then the two girls could process, reaching for another weapon as he blew a few more shots into the other orc's head. He drew his other blades from the dead orc's body and sheathed them. Loading a few more balls into the device before loading it back into his hollister. He looked over to see Maia and Alicia staring him down. He responded by throwing a knife at the two. The two gasped and flinched as the blade never came, they looked behind them to see an orc on the ground with a blade through its eye. The warrior reached for it's back and took out a long sword, his left arm was armored and expanded into a shield. He walked over to the girls, they could sense malice in his aura as he approached them. Maia was quick to draw her blade but found the warrior stopped a few feet away.
"Get her out of the village, now" he told them bluntly; turning away from them as he rushed into another incoming band of orc's cutting them all down and bashing their skulls with his shield.
Maia took a second to admire the warrior before calling her horse back and retreating from the village. They looked back only once to watch as the horde surrounded the man, the village being swallowed up by the flames.
/
Alicia flinched and groaned as the healer contoied to apply magic to her arm, Maia watched from across the tent, eating an apple with a knife. The two rose to their feet when Claudia entered the tent, giving her a salute as the healer excused herself and left the tent. The two looked at Claudia, awaiting the news.
"37 dead, and 19 badly wounded, both physically and mentally" she told them as walked over and sat down on a wooden stool in the tent, generating the others to do the same. "Thankfully though, we managed to evacuate all other nearby villages before the orcs even reached them, not that they even appeared. We went to the village and found most if not all of them dead."
"So were you able to find out anything about that mystery warrior?" Maia asked her as she took another bite of her apple. "Someone like would be a great help to our cause.
"I actually did find out a little bit of information on the individual, but nothing that can give us any solid evidence of his allengices." Claudia explained, "The villages says he's a foreigner, landed and made camp on the beach nearby. He keeps to himself and rarely does he come off the beach".
"Well if that's the case then we should visit him," Maia suggested to the two, receiving a shocked look from the two, "Hear me out, we need strong fighters and he is one, I know a merc when I see one."
"While I would like to disagree with you on this, I'm afraid she's right, we do need more fighters. Especially one's of that person's calibur." Alicia explained with calm tone. "You two should go find him and give him the offer should you find he is worth our time, I'll remain and prepare the troops to return to Ken."
The three noded as Maia and Claudia left the tent, riding off to the shore line.
/
They arrived at the beach late in the evening, tying there horses to a nearby tree as they continued on to the beach on foot. When they arrived at the camp, they found it was quite large for one man. A large tent made of animal skins, a small crate of fish and meat could be found near the campfire, even a fishing rod was stuck in the sand with bomber still in the water.
"What a dump!" Mia called out as she kicked around an empty crate, shocked when a large bird swooped down in front of her. "Hey look an eagle."
She went to go pet it but was scared off as the bird flew off, flying back into inland. Maia gave the bird the finger and continued to examine the item's on the beach. Claudia walked inside the tent, it was quite organized for a rogue warrior. She looked around and found weapons of all variety, manuscripts of information she couldn't make sense of.
"Who ever this guy is, at least he's educated" Claudia began to say as she walked out of tent with a manuscript in hand. But upon leaving the tent she found Maia with her hands to the air and a device placed to the back of her head as tall shirtless young man stood behind her. She was about to reach for her sword when the eagle flew in and ripped the manuscript out of her hands, before flying back over to the man.
"You know, I would have killed you both should I have not already have saved this one's life, and the mess would be to much to clean up" he told them bluntly and coldy as he holstered his gun and reached over to the allow the eagle onto his bracer.
"Why you insolent brute I should just!" Claudia was about to shout out and even attacked the young man before Maia rose her hand in protest and turned to face the young man.
"We didn't mean you any harm, you just kind of saved the day and disappeared on us" she told him with a sly smile as she extended her hand out to him, "Guess I just wanted to give you my thanks is all."
He looked at her and then back at Claudia who still had her weapon drawn, letting out a sigh as he took Maia's hand and gestured for them to sit. He threw some meat on the fire and began to prepare a meal for the two, offering them a drink which was much to winning Maia's favor. The two girls sipped from their drinks and watched the man tend to the meat. His skin was light caramel color and his hair was raven black, his eyes shined like silver through his oil black locks that stretched around his face. But what really drew his attention was the amount of scars he had all over his body, he was well toned and built, but the scars drew away the women's few from his bodies other features.
"So why have you come to my home," he asked as he turned to look at Claudia with a cold glare, fighting her at first, "I saw that you have a problem with those beast and decided to help that was all."
Claudia struggled a bit to look into his eyes, that looked like they managed to look into your soul. "I'm gonna be honest with you, if it wasn't for you, a lot more people would have died last night. I know you're a foreigner and may not know this, but we our at war. A war that must end if we are ever to have peace again in this land. Our queen, the Goddess incarte Lucullus Celestine has a plan to end this war. But we required a powerful warrior who was not affiliated with any other faction in Eostia. So I'm here on the information with what was provided to be by both Maia and Alicia, offering you the chance of doing some good."
The man looked at her and then into the flames, staring at them for a long time before letting out a big sigh once more, "And what will happen should I refuse?"
"I'll arrest you for threatening one of the Seven Shields" she told him bluntly. The two looked at each other for awhile, Maia was certain they'd kill each other at this point. The man let out a small chuckle before standing up, his eagle flying over to his arm.
"Very well ladies, I Cyrus Raynor am at your service" he told them with stoic tone as he let the eagle fly back into the skys. "Just let me pack up camp and we can head out" he told them as he walked in the direction of his tent. After he entered his tent to pack up his things, he left Maia and Claudia to wonder what they had just done.
"Can he come back to Ken shirtless?" Maia asked Claudia with a smile.
"Maia!"
/
They had rejoined the main force in the march back to Ken, Alicia was surprised that her allies managed to convince the warrior to fight by their side. But unlike before had a hard time keeping their eyes on the man due to the sense of malice and death he carried around him. As they rode back, most of the males tried to avoid the guy, still wondering who he was as he rode right next to three of the Seven Shields. The women however gossiped and made gestures with their hands to get his attention in away. It wasn't until a young female knight rode up right next to him that everyone became silent and began to listen.
"Hi, my names Julia" she told him with a smile as rode up right next to him. Everyone was a bit taken back when he let a small smile form on his face, even if it was fake, it still surprised most. "A pleasure to meet you, you may call me Cyrus" he told her as returned his gaze forward. The girl was glad he talked to her and invited her friends over, each of them began flirting with young man, trying to get his attention. That was until the air around them got thin and the man looked quite irritated, forcing Claudia to order the knights back into formation.
It was a very long march to Ken
/
Upon arriving at Ken, Cyrus was surprised by the beauty of the city, it's large walls keep it safe from attack. He choose not to wear his amoro as he was to meet with what the people called a goddess, prefering to wear a more formal verse of his wear with a long coat and scarf tie to compliment his dress shirt and vest. As the girls guided him thru the streets on horseback, the people began to murmur and whisper as the stranger rode along the three shields. He shot them glares and force them to turn their gaze down to the street below their feet.
They stopped at the Grand Palace, which was completely white, towering over all other buildings in the city. They each got off their horse and continued on foot, up the steps to the main entrance. Along the way they saw a large man brandishing great sword on his back walking down the steps.
"Maia, glad to see you made it back ok" the man called out to her, maia insitiantly rushed to his side. "And I'm glad to see you won your battle as well, I bet you gave them hell right Maia."
Maia gave a huge smile as the man's attention now turned to face Cyrus, who was already glaring at the man. "This is Cyrus, he's a new merc who will be serving the shields, he's kind of the reason we were able to save those villages out west" she told the man, "Cyrus this is Vault, one of the greatest mercenaries in the land".
Vault walked over and stood over the Cyrus, practically towering over him by a few inches. A huge smile formed on his face as he gave Cyrus a huge slap on the back, "Welcome aboard lad, we could always use more men like yourself, as long as my pay isn't being cut that is. See you around Maia."
Vault walked down the steps waving back at them before heading into town. Cyrus looked over to see the expressions on the girls faces, Alicia's and Claudia's were of disgust, but Maia's, her's seemed to be that of admiration towards that man.
They continued their walk thru the Palace and up to the meeting room, where to guards stood ready to open the doors for the shields and their guest. The room was quite large with an enormous table in the center of it. Inside was four other women; the first was very short in leather armor and huge axe resting next to her seat, the second had bright pink hair and dress that made her seem to Cyrus like a porcelain doll, the forth was stoic girl with eastern clothing, and tallest of the bunch was an elf with long flowing blonde hair. Cyrus assumed she was the goddess, he just didn't assume she be showing so much, skin.
Cyrus gave a glance around him to see he was the only one standing and that all the others had taken their seats, all eyes were on him now.
"So this is the warrior who will undertake the mission, no disrespect Claudia, but I thought you didn't like mercenaries?" the stoc girl asked her.
"While that is true Kaguya, both Maia and Alicia saw him take on the entire horde of the demon army and live" Claudia replied, making most of the room mummers.
"He better be or else he's gonna become menace meat for Olga to experiment on" said the small one with the axe. "Not that I'm supporting this crazy plan anyway, but he has more chances of dying a more gruesome death any other way then what your asking of me.
"Ruu Ruu, you can't talk to someone like that" said the pink haired girl softly, "You should learn to treat people with more respect, this is his first time meeting all of us so we should all being setting a good example."
Before Ruu Ruu could snap back at the girl, Celestine rose her hand and looked over at both of them, "Prim is right Ruu Ruu, we should treat a guest to our country with the most hospitly that we have available" she said in a kind voice. "Now Cyrus Raynor is it, how much do you know of our country and why have you come here?"
He looked at her blakely, making a cold sweat even run down her back, but he meloded his look and replied to her question; "while I'd rather keep why I've come here to myself, what I do know about your country is you are at war with a demon army, one that seems to not care about raping and killing along the way in it's conquest of this content."
Celestine nodded, waving her hand over the table as what looked like an image came out from the jewel in the center of the table, "This is Olga Discordia, a former friend of mine turned enemy, head of the demon army." Celestine stopped for a second to look up at the image, Cyrus noted a hint of regret in here eyes. "She resides here in the Dark Fortress in the center of the badlands. We have hire Vault and his Kuroinu to assault the Dark Fortress and capture it and Olga, to which she is to be then brought to Ken for trail."
Cyrus took a long look at the fortress, highly fulfilled within a dangerous environment, for any poor soul it would be down right suicide. "Judging by the scepter in her hands she can also use magic like you which is why you want another powerful warrior their to take her down, am I right?"
"Correct" she replied as she snapped her fingers and let the images fade away. Looking across the table at the warrior in front of her. "Your mission is simple, retrieve Olga Discordia and bring her back to Ken, as for your reward you will receive enough gold to live off for the rest of your life and the title of" she was about to continue but was stopped when Cyrus rose his hand.
"The gold is just fine, I'm not one much for titles if you don't mind" he told her, earning him a curious look from all the girls in the room.
"Very well then, you'll need this" she told him as crystal floated over into his hands, "This is a communication crystel, please keep me updated with the results of your mission as you progress."
He gave her a smile as he pocket the crystal, returning back to his stoic face to grant her a bow before leaving the room. "Upon my return I shall be with Olga Discordia in company my Goddess" he told her as he left the room.
/
Cyrus exited the castle, walking down the white steps to hear someone calling out to him, it was actually Maia. She rushed over to his side, much to his annoyance as he wanted to be alone right now with his own thoughts.
"So want to get a drink with me Cyrus?" she asked as she dragged him by the arm to the nearby bar. As they drank she told him all her stories of adventures until he she passed out, forcing him to call a group of guards over to escort her back. He was really surprised she was allowed to be a shield. Either way he was in no position to question the leadership of this country. He walked around the city until he found what seemed like the cities slums, prostitutes and thugs as far as the eye could see.
"Yo, Cyrus right, come join us for a drink" Vault called out to him as they seems to be at the cities brothel. "This guy here is Hick my right hand man and this is Kin my contracted mage." Cyrus looked at both man, no caring about them and keep his eyes on vault as he had a women sitting in his lap.
A amid came a brought Cyrus a drink, to which Hick gave her a spank to her rear end, getting him a nice slap to the face as she stormed off back into the brothel. "Damn women in this country don't know their place" Hick said as he got Cyrus's attention. "It should be the powerful who rule the weak, the men do all the work in this country and yet those damn Seven Shields get all the credit for work we do. I wish we could go back in time when it was the those who were strong got whatever they wanted." Hick seemed like he wanted to keep on talking but was stopped when received a glare from Vault, forcing the man to bite his tongue and return to his ale.
/
That night he rested in the room that Lady Celestine offered him, he was provided a room with a balcony as he covered the entire city, his eagle perched by his side. "Out of war and into the other eh Evie?" he asked her as he scratched the eagles head.
"Can't sleep I see" said a voice in his room, turning around he saw Celestine. She walked over and stood by his side, looking over the city with him. "Your a foreigner right, what was your country like?"
He took a pause and pondered her question, thinking back to what seemed like the events of so long ago. "My country was beautiful and peaceful, that is how I left it and that is how I will choose to remember it. With lovely flowers growing in the garden of every house in the spring and firework shows every night a the lanterns shined from the ships in the port."
"Wow, that sounds nice, I bet Olga would love to see it" she mumbled under her breath, "Hey Cyrus, can I ask you something?" With no answer she decided to keep talking, "Do you think it is right for me to want to save Olga, despite all the pain she's cause my people?"
"I can give you to answers to that question and so I shall give you two answers," he told her as he turned and looked her in the eyes. "In truth it is selfish for you to want to save your friend, even after everything she did, it makes you a selfish leader," he told her, noticing the sad look on her face. "But even if your a goddess I can still sense you have feelings, and that you care strongly for both your people and your friends, and that will always be feature that should be highly commendable in a leader."
Celestine looked stood up straight and looked down at Cyrus with tears forming in her eyes, she was quick to pull the stoic merc into a hug, much to his annoyance as he couldn't breath in her large bosom. He managed to pry himself free and give her a small smile. "Chin up my Queen, for soon this war will end, and you will be reunited with your friend, this I promise you," he told as he knelt down before her and extend his right hand to her, keeping his eyes closed as his head faced the ground. She was taken aback by his actions, but was happy to see his commitment to her request. She pulled him up to her feet and planted a kiss onto his forehead. The two stood there in silence, staring into each other's eyes as the the moon as the only other witness to what had been spoken tonight. Celestine excused herself as she left the room as Cyrus reached up and touched his forehead.
He sighed, because despite his best of efforts, he managed to find himself wrapped up in another war, and this time he was to far from home, fighting for a cause that wasn't even his own. But if he knew anything, he would have drawn anyway, especially after what he saw in the village a few days ago. He would never stand aside and watch the innocent just be slaughtered the way those people were. He have the sky and the moon one final look before he went to bed, and he found that for the first time in months, he was able to sleep without a single nightmare.
/
The next few days were filled with preparations as the Kuroinu prepared for war, gathering up weapons and supplies, with very few of them actually training for combat. All expect for cyrus who trained every day, deciding on what weapons he'd be taking with him into battle. He found that every day as he went out into the training yards, he would always have an audience. With the female knights ogling him and offering him water and food when ever he finished to the guys who watched and asked for lessons on how to do that move. He found that he that some of the shield members would come and see him train, and even Vault come by and see what the new recruit had to offer, always leaving without saying a word to him, but always leaving with that huge grin on his face.
Cyrus carried nothing for the audience as he decided he would take his main set he's be using so far since his arrival. His armor is what drew everyone's attention, especially Ruu Ruu who was wondering how the face mask and shield operated, at times he find her trying to shoot him with his own gun to test it out. The past week was an interesting one for him, but he had a strong feeling that the worst was yet to come.
The day finally came for everyone to mount up and ride out of the city, for their destination awaited them, the Dark Fortress. And Cyrus knew that no matter what happened, he was going to keep his promises this time, this time he would not lose to fate. As everyone mouted their horse they paraded out of the city, with many cheering them off, some even chanting bolts name as he passed by.
At the gate, the Shields wished the mercenaries lucked as they rode out the city. Celestine waving a Cyrus in particular as maiai even shot him a wink to him as he rode by.
"You seem to have the goddess's favor, perhaps this victory will be an easy one" Vault laughed out as he rode up right next to Cyrus. "Anywho it's could to have another powerful warrior join the crew, pleasure to have you on board."
"I'm not stay," Cyrus bluntly stated, earning him a strong confused look from Vault, "My misin is to capture Olga, once that is done then I will be leaving, I have no desire of being apart of any groups while I'm here in this country."
Cyrus rode out in front of the march and lead the way, with Vault close behind him. They rode over plains and mountains until they reached the badlands. And just as he had read, it was an afoul place; the sky was a blood red, the clouds pitch black, the earth was scorched and deprived of all life, and in the distance they could see the Dark Fortress that belong to Olga Discordia.
Vault rode out in front of the army, eyeing every man as he had a large smirk on his face. "Listen up lads, that dark elf bitch is in there, waiting for us to kick her doors down. She's taken a lot of lives of our comrades and costed us a lot more than you know. But if we defeat her today we will not only be heroes, but we will all be hailed as kings!"
Cyrus looked and saw that Vault's little speech riled up the men, "What did he mean by kings?" he wondered as Vault gave the single to advance. Cyrus had no time to be pondering the man's words as he had a mission to do, and was hellbent on getting the job done. He pulled his horse and reins and looked up at the sky to see Evie was swearing above him. He could already see the demon army in front of them. He drew his saber and placed his face mask on, staring down the beast whose blood would soon stain the earth they once stood upon. He would kill anyone and everything that got in his way today.
Be they beast, or man.