Side Chapter 13: The Paths of The Rejects And Heroes Part 2: Licking Wounds And A Surprise Awaits

Within the royal capital of the Cornelia Empire, the royal family and all of those associated with them had one thing in common: they were having nightmares of a hellish future. A future where humanity has united together with monsters, demons and demihumans. A future of great prosperity and advancement built upon the ruins, ashes, bones and blood of the Great Empire of Man. A nightmare that caused ceaseless anxiety and stress within the clergymen of the Bolcross Church. For one individual his nightmares were of a different nature, his were filled with the screams of the spy he saw off. The torture that man went through was grotesquely detailed even for a dream, he could smell the blood, feel sweat dripping from his pores and he even pinched himself to wake himself from the nightmare yet could not wake up. Shade suffered thoroughly and without any kind of relief from his torment, and all Argon could do was watch as the devil covered in murky slime like shadow tortured him. It turns its gaze to him and smirks, stretching its mouth filled arm towards him with an abysmal laughter surrounding him.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH?!!!!!!!”

“Master?!”

“My Lord!”

He screamed so loudly he alerted the knights standing outside of his room who rushed inside to see what was going on. He was drenched in sweat and had spoiled his bed, immediately looking in the direction where the attack came from that day. The knights left the room after reading the air requesting aid from the maids on his behalf, he gets up and touches his forehead.

“These nightmares are getting worse”

Argon says as he removes his wet clothes and stares at the full moon. The maids come to escort him to the bath house within the royal palace and remove the spoiled bedding replacing it with a new one. Throughout the entire walk Argon’s thoughts were muddied and displaced, one moment he was in the hallways of the royal palace, the next he was in royal bath house being cleaned by maids and next he was within the bath itself staring at the water.

“It seems I am not the only one having the night frights”

“Your Majesty….”

“You can call me by my name Argon, there is none here but us”

Joseph sat down in the bath with his old friend, he tried to relax but he was still very tense from what he had seen in his own nightmare.

“Joseph I….”

“It is not your fault Argie, none could have foreseen the strength of that dark elf. We must tread carefully where we walk now.”

“My nightmares are getting worse”

“As are mine. Whatever demon is responsible for this I would like to have its head offered up to me in a mythril platter. Then perhaps hold it high above my head and say I AM THE SAVIOR OF YOUR DREAMS MY PEOPLE!”

“Hahahahahahahahahaha!”

Argon laughed at the emperor’s response, a joke helped ease them both. The water started to seep into their very bones, these two men who were old friends from since they were children began to talk once more in a leisurely way.

“Must we visit the oracle who is said to be closer to the gods than Pope Philipe?”

“Yes. The old coot might tell us a thing or two about what we are up against. We’ll keep this a secret of course”

“Naturally, wouldn’t want the Pope finding out that we visited an oracle other than him from the gods”

“He would throw a temper tantrum and demand more tithes from us.”

Joseph stared at the maid who was standing in the room and clicked his fingers, she served as both a maid and his personal guard. After delivering the instructions to her she vanished from view and another maid replaced her within an instant.

“I hear you’ve sent off the heroes to go strength themselves”

“Yes. After seeing the strength of the students who were under the tutelage of the dark elf it had to be done, whatever is being planned by such a monster must be stopped otherwise it will spell the end of your great Empire.”

Argon responded quickly and with a voice filled with urgent anxiety.

“What of our assassins?”

“They will be arriving in the dark elven queen’s capital soon. We will be hearing results in a couple of days from now.”

“We are not even certain if the dark elven queen is the same person that was shown in the tournament feed”

“Worry not Joseph, I am sure that the assassin heroes will deal with it. They have trained under the guidance of the spirits given to us by our gods, they will dispose of her”

“I will believe in you Argie, now it is time for us to leave for the oracle. Best act under the guidance of the moonlight rather in the broadness of day”

“Wise words Your Majesty. Very wise indeed”

The two men got out of the bath and walked out after being dried and dressed in casual wear as well as magical items that disguised them as ordinary men.  

☆

The oracle’s location wasn’t too far from the royal capital, it was an hour walking there and a thirty minute ride on horseback. In the outskirts of the royal capital’s territory was a cave guarded by knights disguised in the form of trees. They passed through after giving the password to them and walked down into the depths of the cave. It was filled with candles which made the men uneasy for a while, the collective chanting and slow clapping of that thing and its comrades made it so much worse. An act of desperation and uncertainty had lead them to come to this god forsaken place, there was no turning back just because it was a little creepy and scary. Finally after what was twelve minutes of walking they reached the base of the cave where they were greeted by eyes, a stab of actual fear hit their chests as these things turned their heads in a 180 degree angle.

“Ah 🎶, if it isn’t little Joseph what a good surprise. Though if you are one of us that is hardly a thing anymore.”

The one who spoke was a tall lanky demon with a humanoid body covered in feathers stopping at the black sharp hands and feet, he wore a tribal crown as he stopped his clansmen from chanting and clapping for a moment. Collectively these demons lived next to the royal capital, known as Striga. Owl demons who could transform into humans and read the future and receive oracles from the goddess Sophia. They had a better accuracy than the Pope and had helped save the Empire from certain doom many times before. But they were used as a last resort because of how much the human emperors of the Cornelia Empire hated them. The leader transforms into a beautiful woman with black long hair which she ties into a ponytail, her eyes are drowned in a jet black color, of course because of her transformation she was naked with only wings covering her important parts and had a sexy body to boot but that didn’t matter to these men. She sat down on her throne staring at them with a smile on her face.

“I know what you came here for, this time it is not a question and answer but affirmation. Will the Empire survive?”

“It seems you know what we were about to say then”

“Of course I do, that is the only question you human kings and emperors ever ask us Striga.”

“Then give us the answer we seek!”

“Calm down Argon”

“Allow me to say this, my answer will spell the end of my people. I know this much but if it brings us closer to our goddess then so be it. We will reincarnate to be close to the one who has awoken her in this world.”

Argon did not like the reaction she gave after he shouted at her, something unpleasant was about to be said and he could feel his heart beating like a war drum. Joseph was also tense but had a composed approach about it.

“The Empire of Cornelia has gone through many trials and tribulations. From its infancy as the kingdom of Cornea to its adulthood as the Empire of Cornelia it succeeded to unite humanity.”

Words like these would inspire any citizen of the human centric nations but the following lines of speech would immediately make them angry, terrified and saddened.

“The dark elf you fear is also blessed by Goddess who resides within countless worlds, Sophia.”

“………….What do you mean?”

“It is as I have said”

Traces of fear could be heard in Joseph’s voice, what nonsense was this monster saying? How could that filthy thing be given blessings by a great goddess like Sophia. Sophia whose rank even exceeded the head god of this world, not many knew about her except the royal family and a select few. She existed within skills and was the voice that spoke to those who wanted information in the Appraisal skill.

“Because of this very fact, humanity shall fall. For the very first time in this world’s history humanity shall suffer one of the greatest humiliating defeats that it shall never recover from. You wanted my answer right? The answer is No. The Kingdoms and Empires of Man shall be razed to the ground. Even if you order my death for being a monster who is filled with wrongful bias that will not change the results of fate. The flame of Man will be snuffed out and the darkness of the demihumans, demons, monsters and those who ally themselves with them shall envelop the world.”

The choking laughter and eerie chanting of the Striga grew louder and louder as these words were uttered by their leader. Joseph and Argon were speechless, to be honest they did not expect such an answer neither did they want to believe in it. A certain quality of despair had written over in their hearts, their hands shook from fear of what was going to be their future. Joseph was the first to react as he breaks the flask which is located near his waist by throwing it to the ground. Immediately the cave is filled with the knights who were outside.

“You will die for misguiding us and spouting lies.”

“Lies is it? I would like you to know we have also been the ones causing your nightmares. Did you like them? The visions of the future that is without the Empire?”

“SUCH BLASPHEMY!”

“I thought as much, they were not my idea but rather the one who came to us the other day. One of pure unbridled darkness.”

“You were conspiring with the enemy?! YOU DAMNED MONSTERS WE SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE”

Argon shouted in surprise followed by resounding anger, the leader of the Striga shrugged with a smile on her face. The knights had already pulled out their swords to kill them all and were awaiting the king’s orders.

“What are your final words monster?”

“I have none. I will still live.”

“What do you-?!”

The darkness inside of the cave had increased amassing itself in the center of the room, the leader of the Striga and her comrades all laughed maniacally as the king and his knights watched in horror as an oozing substance was born in their midst. An orb floats dead center of the room, Argon is shaking uncontrollably as he knows exactly what this thing is. He is about to scream from the sheer amount of despair he has in his heart. The orb opens up to reveal a white that is soon revealed to be a crimson eye that stares back at them with malice that is enough to kill, a massive wind takes them by surprise as the eye ball forms its body. What Argon saw that day is recreated in its full horrifying glory. It is holding a sword upside down with its gaze cast down before revealing its mono-eyed abyss face.

“KILL THEM ALL!”

“Not by my watch.”

Its scratchy voice says with a tinge of anger inside as it snaps its fingers causing all of the Striga but their leader to vanish. It taps its sword on its shoulder with a smirk that makes Argon wet himself.

“It seems we meet again Argon-dono, I Muramasa must thank you because I have been elevated by your primal fears. Now then let the festival of death and despair begin.”

Its evil filled voice says with glee as the eye it has shines in delight followed by a loud laughter. The Order of The Forest was consisted of 20 knights all under the direct command of the king, they had survived many a trial together from the foundation of their order until now. But all of that generational experience was rendered useless as Muramasa sundered in half the knight captain with ease before using his body’s blood as a catalyst to use for the bone bullets that rain from the corpse. Several knights including the Emperor and Argon move out of the way, those who had reacted in time were saved by the skin of their teeth as the tip of its sword touches the ground and explodes into mass of thorns and spikes.

“HYAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAA?!”

One of the knights scream as his legs is pierced by a black spike which quickly overwhelms his body with more. He falls over to the ground dead after they simultaneously stab him, similar things happen to the knights who were caught inside of this little trap of Muramasa.

“This is seriously fun! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! C’MON LAUGH A LITTLE!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

As if the last remnants of their sanity had broken from its madness inducing laughter they began to laugh just like it as they lunged at it with a reckless abandon. With a playful gaze in its eyes Muramasa teleports to the nearest knight cutting his sword arm within seconds before using that very arm to stab him with his own sword, kicking him to the ground before dodging the swing done by the following two. The pair are stabbed by several shadow swords which explode from the inside of their bodies, their heads drop to the ground as Muramasa slashes their heads with ease surrounding itself with a circle of spinning swords that launch themselves into the leaping knights who falling to the ground helplessly. Only a handful of knights are left by the time it ends, Muramasa claps her hands as a mass of arms appear from the very shadows preparing to grab the knights to the depths of the underworld itself. They cut off several but are unable to escape the clutches of the hands and sink into the ground screaming as they drown in the darkness.

“My days in the shadows will continue, I would like to thank you for allowing us to live for so long. Please Lady Muramasa take us to Her Majesty.”

“I would love to be your escort Lady Nyl. Now then I believe it would be against the Empress’ wishes for you to remember any of this and do any good preparations that might spoil the big surprise. I am going to wipe your memories of the event and the fangs of trauma will still be there luckily enough”

Muramasa smirks evilly at them as she stretches her mouth filled arms at them with her insanity filled laughter enveloping them once more.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH?!!!!!!!”

“Master?!”

“My Lord!”

Argon had screamed so loudly that he had alerted the knights outside, and stared outside as if something had taken place that should have. He touches his forehead but this time in relief he could not recall a single detail about the nightmare he dreamt, at least if a holy woman sang to him he might actually go to bed in peace.

☆

An order had been made on the now infamous criminal Masayuki Mochizuki, otherwise known as Ruine, bring him in dead or alive, his bounty was in the millions. His actions against nobility was both awe-spiring and bewildering. He was previously a very successful adventurer before the tournament, from then on he continued to commit crimes such as stealing money from nobility, kidnapping middle rank nobility, releasing experimented versions of those people, terrorist acts against their fiefdoms. But when one looked at it closely it didn’t seem evil at all, he redistributed the money back to the people, kidnapped those who kidnapped others, experimented on those who experimented on others, terrorized those who employed bandits to place pressure on the regular man to pay even more taxes and sell their children or themselves if they couldn’t. These could be considered a different brand of heroism, a villainous kind of heroics. Adventurers did not express disappointment or a sense of loss but utter respect.

If being hated by all of the nobles in the world was the only way to save the common man then so be it, he will become a villain. This earned the respect of all of those who came from such poor backgrounds and hate from those in well off positions. “Ruine and his band of good guy criminal men”. These words soured Asagi’s mood easily each and every time because she was assigned to dealing with him. And once a day she would fight some kind of monster which was the collection of the people’s resentment or something fluffy like that. Her first day as a girl was not easy, it was a lot to take in but luckily the girl side of the heroes sympathized with her and she was eased into it. The amount of paperwork piling up was already depressing without even looking at them.

“Someone help me, I am drowning.”

“You have to help with the issues Lord Ruine is raising up Asagi-sama, this is also a part of your heroic duties.”

“Rel I do not see the other heroes doing this much paperwork! They are off getting stronger in dungeons and monster territories!”

“There, there. Your strength is increasing too”

Relamare Avila Branford was assigned to her by the Cornelia Empire to be a help to her mental condition. She had quite the mouth and freely did as she wished. There was truth to her words though, Asagi was growing stronger and stronger as time passed. This could be attributed to the power of the people that magical girls spoke of so frequently in those Sunday morning anime that her little sister watched. She could understand that her little cute poses, her cuteness as well as overall power was inspiring people and that was giving her strength to face even tougher enemies. There were even more forms in her arsenal.

“At least provide me with some booze”

“Minors shouldn’t drink”

“But I am an adult in this case”

“Not in your current form you’re not”

“Please help me out over here”

“Fine then I will prepare something that will make you drunk. Please do not do something that will make the people lose faith in you”

“Thank you Rel”

Rel left to make something as Asagi was left alone for the first time in a while. That complaint was actually a lie, she manages to write all of the documents using magic and looks outside with a tired expression on her face. 

“I never understood what they thought, what they experienced and this must be my punishment for being so ignorant. Being a hero never felt so pressuring.”

The thoughts of being a hero meant that one had to be righteous no matter what but sometimes things were not black or white. They were gray lines to things that she thought were rather straightforward and she had to deal with those scenarios appropriately. She had learnt a lot during this period of growth that she was going through. Asagi sighed that it had to be like this though, Rel came back and showed the first sign of emotion when she found she was done with the paperwork. And her little trap had done its job, all that was left was for Masayuki to trigger it and she would teleport to his location to see if they could deal with him on their own.

☆

☆

A loud crash is heard as a single figure is found within the vault of the Marquis’ wealth, the knights and guards enter with magic spears that could shoot out fire balls consecutively. The figure was rather well known, he was a criminal who had made a name for himself as of late.

“It is I, Ruine. The wealth of the nobility belongs to me alone! I am taking what is rightfully mine!”

Ruine proudly declares making all of the treasures and magic items that the Duke of Vengard had collected up until that point vanish into a single bag that he levitates with magic, this immediate action prompts them all to fire at him which he evades by leaping into the air and crashing right in the center of them scattering them away from himself.

“Come ! My merry henchmen of villainy!”

A proud shout is heard from above as masked individuals enter from the hole to deal with the knights who are just surprised to see them. Sounds of fighting is heard as they serve as a distraction for Ruine to escape, the elite knights notice this and communicate to stop him at the entrance. His loud footsteps are heard as he sprints with the bag in his right hand hunched over on his speeding back, it was rather easy to spot who Ruine was.

“STOP YOU CRIMINAL SCUM!”

“NEVER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

He laughs as he punches the young knight who is filled with justice in the face grabbing his cape and throwing him out of the window in which he makes his entrance. He is surrounded by knights, perhaps the entire army on the premise. This was planned down to the letter, was there a rat in his loyal men or was this just the work of a genius detective hot on his trail specifically Asagi? He didn’t care because with these odds stacked against him, Ruine seemed to shine the most.

“SURRENDER NOW!! WE WILL SPARE YOUR LIFE IN ORDER FOR THE COURT OF THE HIGH GODS TO JUDGE YOU!”

He smiled beneath his steel mask and hoodie, his henchmen had finished defeating the knights from within only to witness this hopeless situation. They awaited the next move of their leader, he signaled they wait. He could see Asagi’s figure in the distance, and nodded as he knew exactly what he wanted to say.

“I give you credit, it was a splendid scheme to make this happen. You all deserve medals for your efforts. However today is not the day I get caught, I am sure Magical Girl Asagi-chan knows that only she can deal with me at this point. Allow me to show you why I am a villain! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

With the snap of a finger the henchmen leap out of the mansion as it immediately explodes, the servants of the household and the remaining knights were teleported to the outside of the capital. With weapons that only Asagi knew from their world the henchmen began to spray bullets from their rifles shooting at the knights who began to drop like flies, the roaring noises could be heard from a distance as the knights were sent flying into the air. It was obvious what it was from Asagi’s viewpoint, a ridiculous looking car coming out straight from a comic book. She sighs as she sees this and touches her forehead. He jumps into the car laughing as he rides out of the premises at fast speeds, the only thing that could catch up to him were the Slepnirs that the elite knights of the royal army had. There was truth to his words none could deal with his shenanigans other than Asagi who had made an agreement that if they couldn’t catch him then she wouldn’t even attempt to chase him.

“Try as you will! My horse power is better than yours! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

He switching gears to ride even faster as the capital’s streets are filled with screams, car screeches and horse hooves. He breaks through the wall after passing through the slums and throwing gold coins everywhere and boosts out of sight in such a speed that even the Sleipnir couldn’t catch up.

“God fucking damn it, and my plan was so perfect too. Mochizuki you asshat why don’t you get caught already? I know my true self is getting tipsy but this is gonna be a I will drink myself to death kinda thing.”

Asagi sighs as this is definitely a daily thing, he rides out into the sunset with his henchmen following behind scattering the wealth in such a way that it was impossible to recover it from the people who were obviously going to use his international black market. It was a headache through and through, stopping one market another would take its place. The Ruine Black Market had devoured the primitive black market that criminal organizations had in place for centuries and it made it difficult to punt into the ground. Imagine a world without Ruine maintaining the status quo of the underworld, that was scary to see.

“Well time to go back home. I failed again, this is depressing I hope someone is not drawing this kind of stuff and selling them to kids world wide. Now that would be very sad for me that is. I should stop talking to myself.”

Asagi made their way back home after fixing the damage Ruine made with his antics. Of course she could not return the wealth of the Duke, that was long gone.

☆

“W-What is this?”

“What the fuck”

“Have we made a mistake and ended up back home?”

“Nonononononono this isn’t possible we are still in this world!”

The four assassin heroes had laid their eyes on the royal capital of the dark elven queen, it was futuristic. More than what they had anticipated, had someone told them they had stepped on a magic circle that sent them back to their world they would have believed it but the fact both elven races, demons, demihumans and a bunch of humans were walking in the urban streets. Where they had expected horses and carriages their gazes met actual cars, where they expected typical fantasy advertisement of shouting out your products they saw posters and screens displaying that instead. Similar genres of music was being played in a distance, this was so disjointed that it shook the foundations of their beliefs. But it had fused so well with magic that they were unable to tell which was which, where science was supposed to be applied magic took over, where magic was supposed to function science improved. This pseudo-fantasy science city of the dark elven queen was leagues beyond what the Cornelia Empire had developed with their ancient magic.

“This is bad. I can tell, whoever this dark elven queen is she must be someone from a similar world as our own.”

W says with a concerned voice meanwhile for T this only reaffirmed her beliefs that she needed to switch allegiances before things went out of hand.

“But man, just what kind of cheat is this dark elven queen that she made this happen without the Empire knowing about it?”

Z sighs beneath his breath as he jumps over the roofs, one could see his excitement as this was exactly what he wanted to do when he was younger.

“YO BRO LOOK OVER THERE THEY HAVE- THEY HAVE!”

“What?”

“Dude what the fuck”

“You men are disgusting”

V saw what the guys were gushing over and immediately drew herself closer to T who was more than happy to see the one she held dear to her get even closer to her. It was printed porn mags being sold in a vending machine, they were teenage boys after all and could not engage in such activities until they were a certain age. In this world they were held under the same restrictions as they were in their previous worlds.

“Remember we are still on a mission you will have plenty of time to buy whatever you wish to buy when we have assassinated the dark elven queen”

“Y-You’re right. My apologies”

“S-Same here.”

“I tend to forget you are women and think you’re just dudes who are not interested in that kind of thing”

“Hey! That’s an insult that I will not overlook!”

“Hush V now is not the time”

“But!”

“Shuuuuuush. We are being observed.”

T had noticed it thus saying the latter half of that sentence in quietly enough for V to hear.

“What do we do?”

“I will make a plan, just act normal. If those idiots realize we are being watched they might do something reckless”

“Roger”

V moves on forward smiling as if she had already forgiven whilst T takes out a pen and paper and writes something down. The contents were along the lines of her and V surrendering and intending to become a part of the dark elven queen’s strength by giving her even more information about the Empire and its weak points. She drops it and waits. From her shadow a hand appears and takes the note with a single eye staring at her.

“The queen accepts you. Welcome to the Elven Federation Totsuka Nomura”

A voice is heard within her mind and she smiles as her plan had succeeded, all she needed to do was act and prevent V from making a bad decision.

“So? What happened?”

“They responded, we have to quickly take action”

“I see under time constraints already. Well I might as well put on a show for that dark elven queen.”

“Hey! We have spotted the palace”

“It is pretty obvious after all”

Z and W shouted out to the pair of them who were still behind. Whatever was going to take place within that palace would spell doom for others and life for her and V. She would not allow herself to die because of a group of old men who didn’t understand that the winds of change were quickly rising and were going to take the world by storm.