I do not own Dark Souls or Kuroinu: Kedakaki Seijo wa Hakudaku ni Somaru

Ok this chapter might have a few more mistakes than usual, sorry for that it was kinda rushed at the end and the site was freaking out every time I hit the damn space bar. So yeah it'll look a bit sloppier than usual, again sorry about that.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Dark Character Speech"

'Dark Character thoughts'

Chapter 4: Ready to Fight

The house was quiet for what felt like hours before the two warriors sprung into action while the ogres and mercenaries saw them as small threats.

Rami still having an arrow ready launched it with expert marksmanship into the eye socket of the ogre holding onto the father.

The beast now having a tremendous amount of pain suddenly assaulting every nerve ending it had, dropped the man and began to thrash about in pain and rage. It quickly though began running towards the two girls with hate and lust still prevalent in its remaining eye. Rami and Helga now knowing that the at least one member of the family was safe ran towards the ogre to meet it head on.

The sword wielding Helga went low while Rami notched two arrows into her short bow and let both fly at once nailing the same ogre in the lung and the second one holding the boy in the arm.

Shouting in pain the ogre drops the boy and picks up his war axe and charges into the fray with the three dogs still just watching with the leader still holding the mother down with one hand groping the woman's breast.

"Gets you excited don't it? A good dose of violence and blood always makes the fucking to come so much more memorable." He says before licking the woman's cheek with a sadistic grin.

The two girls met the first charging monster and thanks to the arrows lodged in both its chest and eye it made Helga's job a lot easier.

She went low and with practiced ease slashed at the monster's heel brining it down to its hands and knees giving her the chance to plunge her blade into the monster's throat, before she ripped it out of him and brought his jugular vein with it.

The monster sat there for a moment grasping at its open and bare throat as it desperately clung to whatever blood it could hold as it began to quickly slip into shock and eventually drop close his eye and never move again.

"One down." Rami says as the last monster and two of the three Dogs began to circle them with the woman still being held hostage by the last one and apparent leader of the group.

"How do you want to break them apart my dear little archer?" Helga says looking over the three of them with a small bead of nervous sweat rolling down her neck. They both received the brutal borderline torture that Maia called her training regiment, they'd been drilled to not hesitate in the face of any monster or any danger, and they've already killed one.

But that couldn't hide the fact that they were rookies, highly trained ones but no matter what levels of training one receives there is always that special sense and that determination to win, to kill, to survive that one can only get in real combat. Something they've yet to obtain.

True the first ogre went smoothly and without either of them really breaking a sweat that was a mixture of teamwork and muscle memory kicking into the two of them. Now at this point they've had time to somewhat analyze and think about the situation, and therefore draw doubts and over think the simple things.

So when the other ogre and two Dogs rushed them, they hesitated ever so slightly.

Helga was therefore put quickly on the defensive against the two members of the Dogs group and found herself using her shield far more often than she would've liked.

She found herself being pushed closer to wall and knew that if this kept up she was dangerously close to getting disarmed and thus face defeat.

So after blocking another strike to her torso from one's sword she began to shift her position more lateral and tried to hug the outlines of the fight but the second Dog wasn't going to have it and rushed her side.

With twin daggers he was able to make it past the defense of her shield and with his partner there to back him up he was able to get past the girl's guard and land a hard knee to her gut.

But before he could slash at her with his own weapons he was forced to dodge an arrow that would've lodged into his lungs and turned to the still furious and ready archer of the group.

He motions his head and one of the Dogs breaks away to rush her with the sole remaining ogre right behind him with an axe poised to strike.

Rami seeing them charge makes a decision to get into a much wider area and leaps out the window behind her and lands with a roll in the soaking wet and cold mud that had been produced by the thunderstorm that had been raging on.

Getting up and wiping the mud from her eyes she sees the Dog had jumped out the window to follow her and the ogre had went around through the door and was now on her flank.

She reaches for her quiver and grabs hold of two arrows before notching both into her bow and holding it sideways. She watched as the Dog came running after her directly from the front, an easy maneuver.

She runs to meet him and drops to the ground at the last moment and slides next to his left side as the man was holding his weapon in his right hand and lets both arrows fly into his sides, slicing through tissue, veins, organs, and thus he began to drown in his own blood as every breath began to feel heavier and more difficult to bring into his body.

She stands up to finish him off but has to dodge the lumbering swing of the ogre who had caught up to them and was only now joining the fight.

She tries to dodge but the dark-skinned archer was a tad too slow and the monster was able to catch hold of her bow and rip it from her hands.

Landing in the mud and water Rami looks up from her dirty grim cover locks with red eyes full of hate. She then reaches to her hips and pulls out a single edged hunting knife with a small hook towards the tip of the blade.

A sadistic smile comes onto her face as she rises to meet the gaze of the monster and she twirls the knife into a reverse grip, "I usually am able to keep my composure in these kinds of situations, but I tend to make an exception when the other girls aren't here. Wouldn't want Maia to know just how much I enjoy carving out pieces of you inhumane bastards."

She then circles the ogre like a cat looking at a rat. And when she reaches a point where the ogre was using his bad arm from the arrow wound she left in it she charged.

The ogre not ready was slow to get his working arm up with his axe, but by then the woman had already entered his guard and had stuck him twice in the side, but she was much shorter than the ogre so all of his most vital organs were still intact. The same couldn't be said about his intestines though.

Rami thought she might just leave him to die with his own blood and shit inside him. But that would take too long.

So she came in again, but this time the ogre was ready and almost caught her with a huge backhand from his good hand. And though the woman was able to dodge, she was forced to abandon her attack and try for his back.

And for her efforts she was rewarded with one huge laceration along the left side of his back. She smiles as the monster howls in pain, but that small moment of enjoyment left her open for a kick from the enraged ogre.

She felt the wind leave her as she was thrown into the side of the house her knife landing close to her side.

She looks up to see the still bleeding ogre towering over her, a demented look in its eyes. The ogre put down its axe and grabbed her by the throat and raised her from the ground.

"I can still fuck the corpse, not as fun. But you hurt me bad. So now I get to hurt you back." It says in a low and gravely voice. Rami then felt her throat begin to close up as the monster began to squeeze and she felt as if her head was about to pop.

But just when she began to see black the ogre loosened his grip. She then felt her body drop into the mud as the ogre laughed a bit at her almost defenseless form.

"I changed my mind. I'm just going to fuck you to death instead." He says leaning down to the point of hovering over her form.

Rami hearing this felt a surge of adrenaline course through her body and before she knew what she was doing she had found the fallen knife and had buried it into the monster's groin and pulled upwards, using the small hook to tear the whole thing open.

And despite the disgusting fact that she was now covered in blood from that place, she knew she was in a good position to end this and get back to Helga.

The monster dropped to his knees screaming in pain and holding the place where his favorite organ used to be as Rami scrambled to her feet and looked the ogre in the eyes. He goes to open his mouth but the rage and adrenaline still flowing through her didn't give the monster enough to even open his mouth as she buried the blade into his temple.

She ripped it out and smiled as small pieces of pink were caught on the hook, before she tackled him and stabbed again, and again, and again.

She lost count but after she was done the monster looked like a piece of hammered clay, just with blood and spinal fluid leaking from every wound and orifice.

Finally standing up she quickly goes over to discarded bow and reaches for her arrows only to find that there were barely any left in her quiver, most of them had fallen out during her fight with the ogre.

She runs around the entrance of the house and finds Helga with one Dog dead at her feet, and virtually no damage on her person.

"Seems as if your fight went a lot smoother." Rami says in a small joking manner to her friend who just smiles at her.

"Much smoother than yours by the looks of it. What would Maia say?" She says before they turned to the last remaining opponent in the home.

Their eyes were trying to burn holes in his head as he smirked at them. When he was finished staring at them and eyeing them up and down, he finally decided to let the mother of the house go and stand up to face them.

He had this cocky look in his eyes as he looked them up and down and then slowly began to draw his sword.

"You should be honored, to either die to this blade or to be blessed with my children, after this whole debacle is over." He says with an expression of pure confidence.

The two warriors narrow their eyes at the craftsmanship on the sword, it looked as if either this guy had killed a noble or was one himself, and if they had to take a guess it was probably the second option.

"So what's a noble doing with the likes of the monsters and Black Dogs?" Helga asks the former Lord.

"Oh you know simply looking for the pleasures of life that simple coin and a birthright can't offer. It's so much more enjoyable to take what you want. I see a man with a beautiful woman; I kill him and take her. It's as simple as that; they all learn eventually that I'm better than their husbands or lovers ever were."

Both women feel their blood boil at the words coming out of his mouth and Helga feels her hands shake in rage.

"You are a despicable excuse for a noble, you are no batter than a common orc!" She shouts in rage as the man shrugs his shoulders.

"I find myself thinking more like them anyway, so I'll take that as a compliment." He says before twirling his sword around and points it at them.

"So who's first?" He asks the two in front of him.

"Me."

He looks confused as a third much deeper voice answered his question and before he can express his surprise an ax came falling from a dark corner to his side and removed his outstretched sword man from the middle of the forearm.

The former noble falls to the ground and screams as he looks up to his assailant, and feels his blood run cold.

It was the father of the family home they were in. And he was reminded as to why he had an ogre hold the man down.

The man was big, full of burly working type muscles, with a full beard, and look of pure hate in his eyes.

"You come into my house! Attack my family! And touch my wife! You die here tonight scum!" He says calmly as he raises his ax and prepares to swing.

"Wait!" The noble shouts in fear only for the father to ignore him as he swings downward and shatters the man's ribs and gets straight into his torso with a mighty swing. He then rips it out of the man's chest and goes to swing again this time landing on the man's neck crushing bone and tearing into the muscle and veins. He then rips it out for one final swing again into the man's chest right where the heart was, and on the third swing he simply leaves his weapon in place and goes to hold his wife and children who were all still crying after going through the most terrifying night of their lives.

The two warriors of Maia's company looked for with sorrow expressions as the family cried and once again holding each other, and they felt terrible for ruining the moment.

"I'm sorry but it's not safe here anymore. We have to get you to a safer place." Helga says politely to the to the father of the group.

He stands and looks to them and nods, "We know, but if monsters and Dogs were here then that means the town is also in danger, and who knows how many there are?" He says in a grave tone still holding onto his family.

It was then that the daughter Cynthia spoke up, "What about Eygon? He's strong, he kills monsters, and maybe he could help the town?"

The father looks down at her, "Who?"

The daughter looks to the two woman warriors in the house, "You two saw him, really big knight with a hammer the size of a cow and that scary looking head. He killed the tribe of orcs in the mountains this morning."

This made the father and mother widen their eyes at the news, "Are you sure about that?" The father asks seriously.

She nods back to him.

"Just how many monsters were hiding in the mountains?" Rami ask the obvious question that's been on her mind since Cynthia was talking to them on the way here.

The father looks to them and smiles a bit, "No one knows for sure but somewhere around thirty to forty of the bastards were scattered around the mountains.

"And that means…."

"Yeah whoever this Eygon is, is a killing machine. And our best bet at making it thought the night." He says with a deadly serious expression.

Earlier in the Town

Maia made her way up the stairs of the inn with a confidence in her steps and a seductive natural sway in her hips. As she made her way to the room she knew belonged to that massive hulk of a knight. She's asked the front desk first what room he'd bought for the night just to be sure.

'All right Maia this is it the chance to get a new ally in the area and maybe some information on the Dogs. And all I have to do is not freeze and just win them over with a little bit of charm. Shouldn't be too hard.' She thought to herself confidently as she finally found the room and knocked a few times.

She then stood back and waited for the man to come out and smiled as she waited for him to be stunned by her beauty. She knew she looked good and was not above using it for her advantage.

So when the door opened she smiled expecting a stunned man on the other side, but that smile quickly became replaced with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

The man standing before her towered over any other she'd ever seen in her life, even Vault and most orcs were not as tall or as muscular as the man before her.

His hair was a beautiful ocean blue color that even though it was short and somewhat wild seemed to just flow in a special way atop his head. His eyes were like dark glowing pools of gold shining in the dimly lit hallway staring into her very soul and sending a shiver down her spine. His jaw was strong with signs of stubble and faint traces of scars around his cheeks His skin looked smooth despite the small amount of scars that could be seen around his head and the rough appearance he seemed to be giving off.

Couple that with the fact that even inside his armor Maia had a hard time telling who had the bigger chest between the two of them and that his arms looked more like iron bars inside that armor of his and Maia found herself completely and totally head over heels for a man she'd never even said a word to.

"Well? What do you want woman?" He says somewhat annoyed that the woman had just been staring at him gawking for almost three solid minutes. He knew that he was intimidating, but if the woman took this long to recover than she was probably more hopeless than the child he'd had bothering him all day earlier.

The sound of his rough and deep voice seemed to knock Maia out of her trance and she had to physically shake her head to compose herself in front of the knight.

"S-Sorry about that sir." She said with a stutter she hadn't heard since she first met Vault.

'You're blowing it!' The little voice inside her head screamed at her.

"Well I'm waiting. You'd better tell me why you're bothering me or you'd best just walk away and leave me be." He says crossing his arms and now looking all the more impatient.

"Oh alright then, straight to business. My name is Maia, I'm sure you've heard of me…." She goes to continue but Eygon shook his head.

"Never heard of you before." He says bluntly making the woman cringe on the inside at the news.

'IDIOT!' Her inner voice screams.

"Oh well then I suppose introductions are in order, I am Maia Queen of the Mercenaries and one of the Seven Shield Princess to the goddess reborn herself." She says with a smile on her face waiting for the reaction he was sure to have.

However all he did and raise a brow at the news of who she was, "One of the Seven huh, haven't run into one of you in some time. Is that Halfling still as annoying as ever? Last I saw her was when the wench tried to test my hammer against her own. Left that place in pieces after we were done."

He finishes with a dry laugh at the memory.

Maia though just recomposes herself not really used to being brushed off like this before "Well it seems as if you're acquainted with Luu-Luu then you know how the Alliance operates?" She says hopeful that she can recover from her first impression.

He nods, "Yeah she tried to get me to help and her people, I simply gave them something I no longer had any use for. She seemed happy enough and left me in peace." He then leans in closer making the woman blush a bit more at the fact that she could smell the traces of some kind of herb on him.

"So that leaves me wondering why another member of the Alliance is so eager to seek me out?" He asks with a slightly more hostile tone to the woman.

She shakes her head; "Well things have changed, very recently in fact and the Alliance is looking into people that can handle themselves in battle. Truthfully I didn't know someone of your…. stature existed until I saw you earlier tonight down at the bar with that little girl."

He leans back and sighs, "So the war's changed, figures. Damn monsters always making my life all the more difficult. Very well then, suppose I should introduce myself then. I am Eygon, last knight of Carim and Paladin of the Way of White." He says with small nod of the head.

"Well then Sir Eygon may I come in? It's a bit weird to keep a lady outside like this. Especially when we've such important things to discuss." She says with her mischievous side coming out, as she grew more comfortable around him.

The knight grumbles something before moving out of the way allowing the woman into the room. When she walked past she was quickly able to spot his weapon, shield, and helm all laying next to the bed or in the helm's case sitting on the table beside it.

"So then, you're here to convince me to help the Alliance in the war? Tell me why I should care; you have the Dogs to do most of the fighting for you. I'd imagine you're wining at this point, what with that victory at the boarder and all." He says trying to remember the last major news about the war with the Dark Queen.

Maia sighs and looks away for a moment, "Yeah…about that. Well good news is the Alliance was victorious against the Dark Queen, as the Black Dogs lead an attack on her fortress. Bad news maybe that the Dogs have betrayed the Alliance, but we don't know for certain." She says dreading the reaction she'll see when he realizes the amount of shit the Alliance military would have to be dealing with now.

Eygon shakes his head, "So the Dogs weren't happy with the bones they were given? Figures, that Vault was always too greedy for his own good. Anyone could tell that just by hearing of him, always wanting the spotlight, always wanting more blood, gold, or fame. Only a matter of time if you ask me."

Maia raises a brow at the tone Eygon was talking in when he mentioned Vault, "You talk as if you know him?"

He shakes his head, "Never met him myself, but I know people who have, and I've been through parts where he's been. Not a tavern untouched, not a coin left to be spent, and no whore left standing. Him and his whole band, they're more like a swam of locusts rather than men. It's no surprise to me that someone like him wouldn't be comfortable with what's been given. His type are always the ones to want more."

Maia goes to open her mouth but in the matter of just a few sentences Eygon had broken down Vault's character flaws, flaws that she looked past out of admiration or maybe blind love.

"Well then, what would you do if you had the chance to fight men like him, and of course plenty of monsters along the way?" She says with a small fire in her eyes at the thought of battle.

The much larger warrior looks to the woman in front of him and thinks for only a moment.

"I'd crush the life out of him, and anyone who got in my way." He says without flinching.

Maia grins, "Well then let me be the first to welcome you to…"

"For a price." He says cutting her off.

She stops in his tracks and stares at the knight, "What?"

He nods, "I may be a knight but even I grow tired and hungry. Besides with the Dogs gone your queen can afford to pay me easily."

Maia though still just stares at him weirdly, "Of course, it's just I don't recall knights demanding payments up front so abruptly."

"I'm a knight yes, but I'm the last knight of my home for a reason. A reason I don't plan to fall victim to. So do we have a deal?" He says going over to his equipment.

The redhead nods, "I suppose we can work out the details when we get back to Ken. But I must say that may not be for sometime. The Dogs are rumored to have betrayed, and the goddess does not want to go to war over rumors, no matter how likely they are." She says wanting focus on why she was here in the first place.

Eygon shakes his head, "You're a stubborn one, here I'm telling you it's already happened and you still don't see it. Very well then, guess you're the type that still wants to believe in heroes."

She recoils at that, "What do you mean?"

He looks her dead in the eyes, "I can see in your face, every time I insulted Vault or his merry band of degenerates you flinched or had a sour little frown. You don't want to believe it because you're too damned foolish to see that the man is more of a monster than you know. I've seen his type before, masquerading as the noble hero; those are the types that leave a knife in your back, and they leave it where it hurts the most."

Maia looked to the towering knight as he seemed to get more and more angry as he spoke, maybe this was something he'd dealt with before, maybe that's he was the last one? She didn't know but as much as she wanted to believe him and her gut, her heart still wanted to find some doubt, that Vault hadn't done anything.

She goes to retort but a sound interrupts her.

It started small, but then it began to grow louder the longer the two listened. A roar could be heard off in the dark, and it sounded like it belonged to rather large monster. Looks like this wasn't going to be an easy or peaceful night.

"Seems as if you're going to get your answer." Eygon says putting on his helm and hold of his hammer and shield.

Maia rolls her eyes and follows him out the door as they make their way into the tavern section of a bar.

Eygon didn't so much as stop and just walked out the door. While Maia had to gather her group, "Calypso, Ann, Pan, Mai we've got work to do!"

Immediately the four stopped what they were doing and got up to follow their leader out the door.

Ann and Pan were right beside her each with a dagger and sword in separate hands. Calypso held a beautifully crafted curved sword in her right hand with a shield in her off hand. And while Mai held no weapons in her hands, small amounts of blue glow could be seen occasionally glowing on her hands.

They all nodded and shed their thick raincoats despite the still constant downpour of water, revealing the clothes they wore underneath.

The twins wore matching black and skintight leather combat suits with small patches of leather armor over their thighs and torso, leaving most of their body exposed, but maintain a high level of flexibility and speed. They also wore leather fingerless gloves and shin high black-heeled boots giving them a few extra inches in height.

Calypso wore a form-fitting suit of bronze armor from her home tribe with engravings of the sea, snakes, and the winds adorning the breastplate and back. Her leggings and gauntlets were both solid in color with simple contours running along the sides of the them and small snake heads forming just before the knuckles on her hands.

And Mai wore what would be common of a priestess in the Eastern regions of Eostia with long pristine robes, now slightly ruined from the mud, all in a royal purple color with white sashes and touches of gold around the wrists and feet. She unlike the others wore tradition sandals rather than boots or armor.

Finally Maia wore her traditional combat attire of a skintight orange leotard that was split partly down the middle allowing her more than generous chest room to breath. Her neck and wrists along the edges of the leotard had fur lining them to protect her from the rain and cold to a certain degree. Below that she wore leather trousers with a brown leather belt over her waist as a kind of division between them and the leotard with a second belt going somewhat slanted along her stomach that held her two swords. Finally she had on almost knee length brown leather boots.

They all walked towards the town center just as the alarm bells started to go off. And in no time at the entire whole town began to move.

People came running out of their homes and closed shops to the center of town where they assumed the town's militia was waiting and people were already either getting ready to completely leave or bunker down.

"What about Rami and Helga?" Calypso asks concerned about the missing two from their group.

Maia shook her head, "They know what to do, and they can handle themselves. We need to help these people for now. Mai think you can communicate with anyone nearby for help? Also see what we're up against."

The mage of the group looked a bit nervous on the spot but nodded, "I will try."

She closes her eyes and raises her left, which had begun to glow an ethereal blue. She began to concentrate for a moment and then snapped her eyes open.

"There is a small traveling garrison to the north, I sent word to their mage that we need help. And I couldn't sense the full extent of the monsters, but there is something incredibly powerful in the town with us." She sounded quite scared when she mentioned that part to the group making them raise a brow as to why this thing hadn't attacked yet.

They made it to the center of town and found a small group of men and some women all armed with crude tools and some weapons.

So the militia wasn't going to be much help, they didn't know how many monsters they were going up against, and there was something in the town with them already.

The town's people that were willing to fight saw the small group of fighters that had approached and some of them visibly relaxed at the thought of the Alliance sending people to help them.

"So who's in charge of this place?" Maia says casually resting her hands on her swords as she scanned the crowd.

"The mayor usually runs things, but we've never had to call the militia into action like this. Do you know how many monsters are out there?" A man from the crowd asks with concern.

"Well I can say this, we're facing an uphill battle in terms of numbers. Not trying to scare you, just letting you all know what you're in for. On the more positive side, we sent word to a garrison to the north and they've agreed to come help us. But until then we're on our own so until then we need to…"

What ever she was going to say was silenced by a thunderous boom that had gone off towards the edge of town. Everyone quickly turns and waits for something else to happen, but all they got was another resounding boom from the same area.

All was quite for sometime before the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard even over the rain as a figure began to make its way out of the dark.

Everyone held their breath, the small number of archers ready with arrows in that direction.

Then they finally saw it, a tall, imposing, and blood soaked figure walking towards them with his hammer and shield still clenched in his hands.

Everyone there stood in awe as Eygon slowly walked into the mayors office completely oblivious to the scared and stunned looked the people were giving him, especially as he casually kicked the doors off their hinges.

"Where are you hiding you bastard?" He asks a seemingly empty room.

Maia and the other members of her group quickly rushed into the building after him with Calypso ready and willing to put him down with her curved blade if need be.

They walk up to see the man casually kick a table and imbed it into the wall, "I know you're in here. Just come out already, save us both the trouble. Or else I'm going to start getting angry." He says once again before placing his shield on his back.

"Enough of this!" Calypso shouts at him as goes to throw another piece of furniture.

The towering knight looks to the dark skinned warrior before him with Maia standing beside her, but quickly turns back and ignores them.

"Shouldn't you out there, trying to save these poor folks? At least act like a hero when you're doing your job." He says with a snarky tone to her as he begins to knock on some of the wall panels with his unused hand.

"You will give Lady Maia the respect she is deserved cur!" Calypso shouts back at the knight before a sideways glance from Maia tells her to drop it for now.

Eygon still knocking stops when he hears what sounds like hollow space. Smiling beneath his helm the man pulls back his fist and brings it crashing down onto the wall destroying the entire section from the strength behind the blow.

"Found you." He says to himself before walking through the new hole he had just made.

The two behind him just balked a bit from the impressive feat they had just witnessed, but Maia now very interested as to why Eygon had been so adamant about the mayor followed behind him.

"Calypso go back to the others, have them and the militia fortify as best you can. Who knows what those bastards are going to throw at us?" She tells her second in command.

But rather than doing as she was told Calypso held her ground, "I have to say this is a stupid idea Maia. We don't know him, and I won't allow you to walk into danger by yourself. We need you here."

Maia knew she was right that this was in fact a huge risk following Eygon, especially with an attack so close. But his being here raised a few questions to her, and she wanted them answered.

"Eygon!" She calls out to him just as form began to fade into the dark.

"What?" He calls back.

"Why did you come here? Why is the mayor so important to you?" She asks.

"You want to find out for yourself follow me. Just be sure to keep up, I'm not waiting for you." He said before they heard his heavy footsteps once again.

"Well that answered nothing…" Maia says deadpan to her right hand as they looked from the hole to the crowd outside with the other members of their group.

"I still do not want you going in after him. You are the best strategist out of all of us, if you go we will be weakened. And who knows when those monsters will attack. These people need us more than he does. Besides we're still missing Rami and Helga, so we're not even at full strength." Calypso says to her leader, who simply sighs, as she knew that she was right.

Calypso then looks to her leader, "If you want someone to go after him, then I will take your place. I can protect myself, and you will be much more needed here."

She then charges into the hole after Eygon, not even giving Maia time to respond as she just stood there trying to piece together what was going through her second in command head sometimes.

"For someone who kept complaining about getting these people ready she was eager to take my place going down there. I swear when they get back…" She trails off as she begins to mutter cruses to herself as she walks back out to get the town ready.

With Eygon and Calypso

For someone of Eygon's size the man could move surprisingly fast, something Calypso was learning the hard way as she trekked through the mayor's secret tunnel. The tunnel itself was much longer than she had thought, and by now she thought they should already be outside the town. So when she began to see what she thought was an end to tunnel she knew she was about to catch that metal-coated bastard.

Then she saw him, that tall, imposing, and mysterious figure that she had been chasing.

She goes closer to him with her sword and shield already drawn just in case he proved to be hostile to her. But before she could get too close he simply raised his hand, motioning her to stop. Not that she was going to yield to him, so she ran towards him trying to see what was so important.

However before she could bring herself to move past him he turns around with alarming speed and grabs her by the wrist and the mouth.

Now immobilized by a steel-like grip the woman feels her body lock up as he stares into the empty eye sockets of the helm and for the fist time since she became a warrior she had no clue what to do.

She could feel him bring her close, she almost hears his deep and slow breathing underneath his helm, and she could feel the strength in his body. And she could feel her own cheeks heating up.

He then leans down and much too close to her as she tries to ready herself for either death or worse whatever kind of humiliating things he may do to her.

"Be quiet." He says in her ear making the woman lock up and shiver from the hoarseness in his voice and warmth that she felt against her skin from the closeness.

But when he pulls away and points to the small dimly lit end of the tunnel, then back to her she understood what it was that he wanted.

She slowly got to the end and found a small peek hole that let her look outside the tunnel, and to say she was surprised to see what she saw was an understatement.

Groups of orcs were standing guard just outside the door. Even more surprising was that it sounded like someone was shouting commands at them and others behind them.

She got up a bit closer to peek and when she got a clearer look her blood ran cold.

A Black Dog captain could be seen being escorted by a platoon of Dogs and small hordes of orcs, imps, ogres, and even a troll surrounded them, all armed and they looked to be readying themselves for something.

"This had better good! My men are ready and you're stopping them from having the time of their lives! So you'd better start talking!" The Captain says to no one. But the two secret watchers then saw a fat little man also known as the town had as a mayor walk out from the crowd of monsters.

"Apologies, but there seems to be some complications to the plan." He says with that greasy, annoying, and rat like voice of his.

The Captain leans in, "And just what is this problem that's so fucking important?"

The mayor wipes a bit of spit that had come off on his face, "In the past few days a few notable characters have come through the town. Some of which I think you and your superiors should know of." The Captain and the other Dogs lean in a bit closer.

"Go on then."

The mayor smiles, "Seems as if rumors of your group's betrayal have reached Ken, seeing as they've sent a seven person party with none other than the Queen of the Mercenaries herself as the leader."

This sent a few of the men recoiling, knowing just how strong the woman was and that anyone trained to selected by here might be more than a handful if they were to fight them.

The Captain nods and smiles, "Looks like we're about to rich then. Vault put a bounty on all the Princess Knights and the Dark Queen and her Knight. Tell the men and monsters to keep any decent looking woman alive. We'll sort them out and anyone not Maia, then they're free game. Just don't forget to share boys." He says to a resounding praise from the orcs and men surrounding him.

"There's one more you should know about." The mayor says to the Captain who waves his hand to silence the cheering hordes.

"And just who else is in this little town of yours?" He says smiling at the shorter man.

"The Knight that Vault put a bounty on."

This made everyone there dead silent.

The thought alone of fighting that black demon of a knight that they'd all heard about sent shivers running through all of their spines.

Calypso could then hear the men whispering to themselves. All of the things they were saying sent images in her head of a true and terrifying monster.

"I heard he ripped men in half just for the hell of it."

"I heard he turned an entire horde of ogres into bloody stains on the ground and laughed the whole time he did it."

"Vault said he'll give the man who kills him a night with both the Dark Queen and her little elf pet."

"Yeah but is that worth getting split from your balls to your brain. I think the fuck not."

The Captain again quiets them with a wave, "How do you know it's him? How can we be certain of him being there?" He says not wanting his men to know how scared he was of fighting the thing they said was an unstoppable force. Or as they nicknamed him 'The King under the Keep' since they found him chained under the Dark Keep.

"He came in not too long ago with the crown of the orc tribe that lived in the mountains. Claims he did it all in a day, and he carries around a hammer that looks more like he ripped a stone column from a cathedral. Impossible to miss, the bastard's taller than some of the orcs here."

The Captain looked at him strangely, "That's not him, the knight Vault put a bounty on used a giant iron and jagged sword, not a hammer. And here I thought we were going to be Kings for killing him. Still I'm sure these orcs want the chance to avenge their brothers."

Hearing this the green skins roar with agreement.

"So then we have a deal? You get still be mayor of your town, when we're done with it of course. And if we find that pretty little thing redhead we all know and want we get to live like kings." Another uproar of praise sounded off with the mayor smiling a sleazy little smile the whole time.

Meanwhile Calypso could barley hold in her rage as she heard more and more of the group. It got to the point where she was gripping her sword hard enough to draw a small amount of blood.

All the while Eygon just stood there like an unmoving and unfeeling sentinel.

"I'm going to skin them alive." Calypso says to herself glaring at all the traitors and their new monster allies.

Eygon though just stood and waited, he knew something she didn't. Something that should've been very obvious from the very beginning, the tunnel they were standing in was very, very tall. Tall enough for even a troll.

He knew where they were going to attack from and he knew how they were casually going to slip by the towns and now Maia's defenses.

He reached to grab Calypso so they could make their way back and wait for a good number of them to enter the tunnels, and then crush them under it. But the green haired beauty jerked away from him in her anger towards the monsters outside and her suspicions of him.

And in doing so tapped her sword against the wall.

It was dead silent for a moment before Calypso and Eygon looked towards the door that they had been listening to for sometime. They heard shuffling and then the question that made a cold sweat run down the woman's back.

"I thought you said no one would find the tunnel? Looks like you're not as smart as you like to think. Kill them." The Captain orders the orcs closest to the door.

The first green skin opens the door with a toothy grin, only to get a razor sharp edge right between his eyes.

A roar was heard from the other side as orcs began to run towards the tunnel now that one of their brothers had been killed.

Calypso though showed no fear as she cleanly sliced through another one's throat and parried another club before slashing him across the gut, spilling him onto the floor.

She backed up to take a stance, but Eygon suddenly grabbed her by the waist and threw her on top of his shoulder and began to take off down the tunnel.

"Let go of me you coward! I will face my enemies with pride and dignity! So I demand you let me down so that I may fight and make my ancestors proud!" She shouts at him while kicking in frustration.

"Or you can be quiet let them file in so that I can deal with them." He says back before throwing her forward in the tunnel and letting her land in the dirt.

"Ass." She says brushing the dirt from her armor and picking up her sword and shield.

She turns to face the monster and the Dogs that had began to chase them down the tunnel and to her surprise she found Eygon just standing there with his shield on his back, and holding his hammer in front of him with two hands slightly placing it on the ground.

"You might want to keep running. If you plan to survive at any rate." He says with a small dark chuckle making the woman glare before she decided to just take his advice remembering what his plan was.

Eygon said nothing as the woman run and simply stood there unmoving as the horde kept coming closer and closer to him.

He then raised his hammer and smiled under his helm, "And so it begins."

With Calypso

The dark skinned beauty was just making her way back to the mayor's secret entrance when she heard what could only be described as thunder coming from deep beneath the tunnel entrance.

From there a huge wave of wind and dust came racing out of the entrance causing her to close her eyes and look away.

She then heard the sound of crashing rubble and saw that the walls of the tunnel were shaking to their very core, before the entire thing came crashing down in a resounding boom.

Calypso then saw the very building she was in begin to shake and quickly sprinted out of the structure and watch as it to began to crash to the ground.

She looked around to see the town's people in shock as Maia and surprisingly Rami came running up to her.

"Calypso what the hell just happened?" Maia asks the green haired warrior who shakes her head.

"Sir Eygon stayed behind to close the tunnel onto the monsters and the…Black Dogs that were with them." She says sadly. Though she didn't really like him in the very short time that she had known him, for Eygon to sacrifice himself like that he truly was a knight of virtue.

Maia nodded to her, "I know about the Dogs, Helga and Rami came back with a family that had been attacked not too long ago. Looks like those rumors weren't just rumors after all and now we have much bigger problems on our hands. What was that bit about Eygon though, he closed the tunnel on them?"

The other woman nods.

"I see, damn that's one more set of hands we could've used. Well Mai has been monitoring the position of the reinforcements that we called, they're on the way but it will take time. But at least with that tunnel closed then we won't have to worry about them hitting us from the center of town." Maia says running a hand through her hair. If Eygon really brought a whole tunnel down on top of them, then that had to seriously hurt their numbers.

They then saw Mai running up to the small group with a look of concern on her face, "Maia that power I sensed earlier it's getting closer fast!"

This got everyone on guard immediately. "Alright then, Rami get up on the rooftops lead the archers. Calypso regroup with Helga, Ann, and Pan fortify the forward barriers and make sure everyone is where they need to be. I'll take Mai and head towards the east to check those barricades as well. Get ready because I think whatever they're throwing at us is going to be the toughest thing they've got."

Everyone nods to Maia as they prepare to leave, but a rumbling from the mayor's office makes them all turn to look. The ruins began to shake slightly before a small amount of light could be seen shining through the rubble.

Then the office exploded in a shining light and massive force.

The warriors of Maia's party then turn to see what caused the explosion, and there standing tall and proud was Eygon in all of his black armored glory holding his hammer on his shoulder and his shield still on his back.

Calypso looked borderline star struck as Eygon began to walk towards the group with Mai, Rami, and Maia not holding up any better as they all looked at the juggernaut before them. Capable of surviving a cave in from that massive tunnel, and then casually smashing his way out, oh he apparently can use magic.

Everything he did just raised more questions as to who or what Eygon even was.

"Hope you're all ready to fight. Because those vermin are still coming." He says before walking past them and removing his shield.

"And it would best if you got this circus of a town ready. Lest they all die tonight." He said looking around at all the people with melee weapons or bows and arrows on the rooftops.

Mai then holds up a very shaky finger towards the knight and tries to stutter out a sentence, "I-It's you! Y-Y-You're the power I've b-been sensing! W-W-What are you!?" She shouts in a mixture of fear and amazement.

The knight turns to look at her and scuffs at the shaking mage of the group, "I already told your leader, but I guess I need to say it again. My name is Eygon, the last knight of Carim."

And with that simple introduction he walked off ready to fight, ready to kill.

Gods know he'll be doing a lot of that tonight.

And Done!

It has been awhile since I've been able to upload. I apologize, but it's going to be another long break coming up, till March 10th at least.

Reason for such long breaks from writing, and why this one also ends with another cliffhanger is because since August I've been a soldier in the US Army.

I left in August finished BCT in October and now I'm in AIT, only reason I was able to even get this out is because I'm on Holiday Block Leave. So I've got to go back and finish AIT, which I graduate in March.

So I just wanted to put this at the end as both an explanation as to why it's been so long, and an apology since it's going to be while again.

But after AIT I've got a long period of leave before I go to Airborne school so at least there's that and I'll probably be able to put out about two or three chapters in that time since it'll be a little over a month.

Yeah didn't have that much to do this one since it's been Christmas and New Years.

But if y'all could please Read and Review it always helps in the long run.

Stay Cool