Re: Zero a New Crusade

Disclaimer: I do not own Re:Zero or its characters, they are all the properties of their respective owners. I only own my OC.

Leaving the Holy Land

Jerusalem, 1187:

The air was tense as he looked out from atop the defensive walls of Jerusalem, his left hand resting on his sword. He, like so many other soldiers and knights, had had a restless night, and given what he saw out in the distance it was no mystery why. But who was he? To most, he was introduced as Sir Ulric, but to his fellow knights and soldiers he simply preferred Ulric. Like many of his fellow knights, he was adorned with chain mail armor, a helmet under his arm with a pointed tip and small slits for the eyes, and of course what marked him as a crusader, a large, brown and blue fabric, sleeveless over shirt with two cross symbols and two copies of a bear's head, his family crest, on the front.

What set him apart from many of the other knights and soldiers was his short, dark hair and piercing grey eyes, as well as skin which had gotten a bit of sun from his years of fighting in this land. He also sported a diagonal scar on his left cheek that he'd actually received from an enemy assassin trying to kill one of their generals. But most of all was the fact that he was a boy of nineteen, who'd been promoted to knighthood early because they needed the men.

Another thing he currently had in common with his fellow knights, was a certain fatigue. Like many other knights, he'd ventured to Jerusalem as a crusader in hopes of defending the holy city against men like their current enemy Saladin. But keeping it had proved to be monstrously difficult, especially with a massive army of Muslim soldiers laying siege to it. Each day they fought and each day more and more knights fell to the massive army before they were pushed back. It was a painful, repetitive process where any moment threatened to be their last.

Ulric let out a breath as he began walking along the wall, peering out at the countless torches that marked their enemies. 'Not long now,' he thought to himself as he glanced eastward towards the horizon. Each day without fail, as soon as the sun rose their enemies would attack the walls with everything they had, throwing away countless lives if it meant killing a few more of them. It looked bleaker every day, but Ulric still had faith that something, anything, would occur to shift the odds in their favor once again.

'We've come so far,' he thought to himself as he glimpsed the rising of the sun in the distance, 'We can't fail now.' Taking a calming breath, Ulric donned his helmet and made his way back to his position. Not long after that, the sun rose on another day filled to the brim with steel and blood.

October 2, 1187: Jerusalem

The sounds of clashing metal, arrows flying, and soldiers screaming in either rage or pain filled the air as Ulric ran along the wall, crossbow in hand. A number of enemy soldiers were trying to get around to a part of the wall which had begun to fall in its defense. Ulric spotted some of the enemy approaching the wall carrying a long ladder. Taking aim, Ulric fired a bolt at the lead man, managing to hit him in the side as he fell over, slowing the advance of the other soldiers who now had to carry the ladder around their wounded comrade.

Ulric barely had enough time to reset the crossbow and load another bolt before several arrows began raining down near his position. Ignoring the sharp projectiles, he looked over the wall and fired another bolt, managing to hit another enemy in the chest. "There's more on this side!" Yelled one of his comrades, drawing Ulric's attention. Another group of soldiers within the mass of enemies below had brought another ladder to scale the wall.

"They've got no shortage of ladders today," Ulric couldn't help but say as he loaded another bolt in the crossbow. But the rain of arrows shifted over to his position, forcing him back from the wall's edge as he held his weapon up to ward off any stray shots. As it turned out, that was all the time the enemy needed to raise a couple of the ladders upward and brace them against the wall. Ulric waited for a lull in the volley of arrows before rushing forward and grabbing hold of the ladder. He glimpsed the surprised face of one of an adversary before shoving the ladder backwards, causing several of the enemy soldiers to fall backwards off of it.

Ulric smirked to himself for a moment, but he didn't have time to pat himself on the back as more soldiers came climbing up from the other ladder. Grabbing his crossbow again, he took aim and fired just as the first enemy made it onto the wall, hitting them in the chest. As the first one toppled over in pain, grabbing at the projectile in his chest, a second soldier leapt over him with an ax held above their head.

Having no time to load another bolt, Argus reacted by rushing forward and cracking the soldier across the face with the crossbow. The mechanism broke upon impact, breaking his enemy's nose and toppling him over as yet another soldier advanced to replace his fallen comrade. Argus dropped the crossbow and quickly drew his sword, parrying the new adversary's attack before slashing him across the stomach. The man sank to his knees as he clutched at his blood-soaked chest before collapsing the rest of the way to the ground.

Taking the initiative this time, Ulric raced forward and shoved the latest soldier from the ladder off the wall, eliciting a manic cry as he fell. He then proceeded to behead the next unfortunate soul who poked his head up from the ladder before also shoving this one away from the wall. 'That's two down,' he thought to himself as the remaining knights and soldiers at their part of the wall regrouped. "This is not looking good," Said one of his comrades, Sir Rodrick, as he lifted the plate on his own personal helmet, revealing a large, grey mustache. "They've figured out this part of the wall is more lightly defended, they've managed to get soldiers up on either side of us."

"Any chance of reinforcement on this side?" Questioned Ulric as he noticed several more enemy soldiers were heading for them along the wall.

"Maybe if they can break through the wall of enemies first," Answered Rodrick, "Otherwise I haven't got the slightest idea."

"Well at least we can cut down a good number of them," Said Ulric as they faced their charging enemies with the rest of their comrades.

"That's the most optimistic thing you've said all day," Replied Rodrick as they clashed with several enemy soldiers. Ulric slashed through the first couple of enemies before kicking another back, then slicing a mace wielder by the throat. He was forced to block the slashes of a rather zealous soldier before countering with a blow to his leg. The soldier went down on one leg as Ulric finished him off by jabbing his blade into his heart.

Rodrick was faring about as well as he hacked his way through one soldier after another. Despite their skill, however, they were also losing men and the enemy outnumbered them. At one point, just as Ulric dispatched another foe, the next soldier immediately after managed to bash him on the side of his helmet with an ax. The blow managed to dent his helmet inward a bit, obscuring his vision as he fell backwards. Ulric kicked out blindly, managing to trip up his opponent as Rodrick came in with a clean decapitating blow.

"On your feet sir knight," Said Rodrick as he helped him to his feet, "You can't defend the wall from the ground."

"And here I was hoping for a short break," replied Ulric as he tore his dented helmet off of his head. With his vision cleared, he noticed something strange, the enemy soldiers were moving away. That was when he noticed something else in the distance on the wall. An enemy commander was signaling towards the army down below, where even more archers had set up, as well as a few catapults.

"Incoming!" Ulric yelled as another mass volley of arrows and a couple of stones from catapults hit their position. The wall next to him exploded in a shower of stone, some of which cut into the skin on his face and another larger stone hit him in his side. He was also cut by several arrows, one of which struck him in the upper left arm while another caught him in the back of his right shoulder. Ulric cringed in pain as he reached over and yanked the arrow out of his left arm.

Thanks to the chainmail the arrow didn't get too deep, but it was still enough to make it painful. "Are you still alive Ulric," asked Rodrick as they both staggered to their feet.

"Well I'm not totally dead anyway," answered Ulric, "Could you do something about that arrow in my shoulder real quick?" Rodrick complied as he pulled the other arrow out of his shoulder, getting a quick hiss of pain from him as he did so. A few other soldiers and knights were staggering to their feet as well, but it was only a quarter of the ones who'd been there. Those who hadn't been killed by arrows or debris from the catapults were either too injured to stand or would soon be dead anyway. That wasn't the worst news, however.

The catapult impacts had created quite a large amount of dust, but it was clearing quickly and it revealed the severity of their situation. More enemies had managed to scale the wall and were massing in front of them. A number of enemies were also behind them, though they were engaged with several of their allies who were trying desperately to get to their side of the wall. "We can't turn our backs here," Said Rodrick, "The larger number of enemies will cut us down from behind before we can fight through to get to our allies."

"So forward it is then," Said Ulric as he gripped his sword, fear and determination coursing through his veins at the same time. "If it's our time, let's take down ten for every one of us that falls!"

"If it is our time, then Deus Vult," answered Rodrick as he made to charge. The remaining knights did so as well as the enemy began rushing towards them.

"DEUS VULT!" Roared Ulric as he charged forward, his cry joined by several others as they raced towards their enemies. As the two forces clashed, Ulric cut through one adversary after another, dodging and ducking around enemy weapons with a speed born of battle rage and desperation. But the farther they went, the more enemies there were and the harder it became to push through. Ulric didn't keep count of the enemies who fell and tried not to pay attention when an ally went down. For the moment, he only had one goal, the enemy commander.

The only person who was ahead of him was Rodrick, and he managed to reach the enemy commander just before him. The young knight had a different problem, however, as the soldiers who'd been guarding the commander went for him. Ulric was forced back as he contended with a pair of sword wielders and a mace wielder. The first few attacks were vicious, but he managed to block and turn against one of the strikes, causing the first sword wielder to move past him as he ducked another strike and swung low.

A cry of pain rang out from the enemy as he fell back, clutching the massive cut on his upper leg. But the fight wasn't over as Ulric just barely managed to avoid the mace wielder before receiving a cut on his side from the other sword wielder. Reacting quickly, he kicked the soldier in the chest, knocking him off balance before slashing open his throat at the line right underneath his helmet. This left him undefended on his side as the mace wielder came in for another strike at his head.

Ulric raised his left arm just in time, yelping in pain as the mace impacted against him. The mace wielder struck his arm a couple more times, causing the bones in his arm to crack a bit as he was knocked to the ground. As his enemy raised his mace for a finishing blow, Ulric struck out with his sword in a desperate maneuver. His gamble paid off this time, fortunately, as he managed to stab the mace wielder in the gut, causing him to drop his mace in shock.

The young knight shoved his sword even further into his enemy's intestines as he struggled to rise. Blood spouted out of the soldier's mouth as he grabbed the sword in his gut and tried to remove it. Ulric was more than happy to help out as he got the rest of the way to his feet and yanked his weapon out, causing the mace wielder to fall to the ground in a quickly forming puddle of his own blood. The exhausted knight then took the temporary reprieve to test his left arm, finding that he could barely move it without causing a stinging pain. That wasn't the worst issue, he found as he took in his chaotic surroundings.

The remaining knights around him were falling, slowly but surely and even worse, Rodrick was struggling against the commander. 'This is turning into a massacre,' he realized, 'I'm barely in fighting condition anymore and if something isn't done, Rodrick might die.' Ulric glanced at the sword in his hand as he saw Rodrick being knocked to the ground, just barely fending off his enemy's attacks. Clenching his fist, the young knight made his decision.

Charging forward, Ulric went for the commander's blind spot with a straight jab of his blade. The commander turned around too late as Ulric barreled into him, shoving his sword through his enemy's side as he slammed him against the wall. But the commander wasn't done quite yet as he pulled out a dagger and swung it towards Ulric's head. On reflex, the young knight managed to raise his left arm just enough to block his enemy's wrist while moving his head to the side.

This didn't stop the blade from sticking into his right shoulder, however, as the commander also grabbed onto his right arm where the sword was embedded. "Get away from the wall Ulric!" Yelled Rodrick as he struggled to get up, due to a wounded leg. The young knight took one last look at his friend as he felt his life ebbing away from blood loss.

"Deus Vult, Rodrick," Ulric finally said, "Deus Vult." With one final effort, Ulric shoved them both off of the wall. The last thing he heard before everything went black was the sound of the air rushing by him, the chaos of battle, and his old friend's final cry of anguish. That day, according to the records of the crusades, Sir Ulric died. But in truth, fate's plans for the young crusader were just beginning. For the next time he opened his eyes, he would be in a land unlike anything he'd ever imagined, the kingdom of Lugnica.

And so it begins, my newest story on fanfiction. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and my new character Ulric, who was suggested to me by a fellow reader (couldn't find the message with the suggestion) and voted as best character by the rest of you. As with all of my other stories, if you have any critiques or ideas, just let me know and I'll see what I can do better or incorporate. Hope you all enjoy the ride as we tackle the violent, magic-filled world of Re:Zero with a knight in place of Subaru. Swing by next times as Ulric awakes to a new world of pain and possibilities. 'Til next time.