A Sword Between Twilight
Chapter 1
Future Forest
An old fortress ruin located in a lost region of an ancient magical forest is perhaps a cliché location for a fantasy story, but here fast forwarded a bit into the future is where our story begins. This old place is still intact yet most of it no longer has a ceiling, the northern/southern walls separating it from the outside world have mostly collapsed, only a few bricks remain of the buildings in between, and most importantly two figures are fighting valiantly in an open courtyard in order to hold the line against what would be a small army from their perspective.
"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" one of the two figures screamed, specifically a blond haired young woman clad in armor as she drove a sword deep into the dirt floor.
The opposing army consisted of lightly armored elves, what appear to be dark elves at least in appearance, and manipulated denizens of the forest such as snakes/wolves/etc. Before any of these figures could take a step or a slither forward more snakes burst out of the ground, but they're different from the rest as these snakes are only made from fire itself. These flame snakes consume several of the humanoid henchmen and guard dogs, however a few elves slip through in order to target the creator of this disaster.
"You bitch, you'll pay for what you've done!" one of the elves screamed as they nocked an arrow on their bow.
"We must hurry before their friends interrupt the leader's ritual!" another elf screamed as they did the same.
"Koroyuki, any time now!" the blond haired girl yelled as she couldn't move from her position due to the nature of her ability.
"As you wish Illlandria the Gray." Koroyuki said in a stoic yet snarky tone, "Though we may have to edit out that line in post for copyright reasons."
"We're not making move here!" Illandria yelled as she didn't appreciate that not-so-subtle attempt at humor.
This Koroyuki had brown hair with white highlights, dog ears if you can believe that and a tail as she maneuvered between these flame snakes towards the elf who dared to insult her comrade.
"Damn!" the aforementioned elf grumbled as he changed targets to Koroyuki.
Koroyuki was able to dodge the arrow the elf let fly, but not completely as it was able to scratch her cheek due to having her range of movements restricted by Illandria's flame snakes.
"Nice try." Koroyuki smirked as she landed a clean jab on her target's stomach.
The force of the was strong enough such that this elf was sent flying right into another, and both denizens of the forest fell into the body of one of the flame snakes. As for the third member of this unlucky trio….
"Too late for you to do anything about me." the third elf thought as she monetarily glanced at Koroyuki.
"Nice try." Koroyuki thought as she picked up an arrow that fell out of the quiver of one of the two she eliminated.
This stoic dog eared girl threw the arrow like a kunai with the intend of aiming at the third elf's neck, but because she threw it in that manner it only ended up hitting the arm of the elf that held a bow.
"Arrghh damn it!" the third elf internally screamed as she was caught off guard by the sudden burst of pain.
"Thanks Koroyuki." Illandria said with a smirk, "That gave me just enough time to redirect.
Initially the third elf was confused with that remark, but that confusion failed to be rectified as she was stabbed or rather swallowed in the back by one of Illandria's flame snakes. In response to their comrades' deaths, the small army of elves and forest denizens retreated to regroup in order to prepare for another assault.
"It seems the battles of the others are reaching its climax." Koroyuki pointed out as she decided to take the momentary reprieve in fighting in order to look behind her.
Illandria dose the same, and they both see a large wooden door with elvish carvings that leads into the interior of the fortress along with a large cylindrical tower that has a partially collapsed dome for a roof metaphorically hovering just above it. Illandria and Koroyuki could sense two sets of clashing auras. The first set was a 2v1 fight going on in the bottom floor near if not in the tower itself. The second set was also a 2v1 battle, however it was occurring in the top floor of the tower.
"This will only be another page of glory for my onii-sama, but the others better not tarnish his name by losing….. or worse dying." Illandria declared with an almost haughty admiration, "If that happen I'll kill them myself before they get to die."
"Hmph… yes well….. before you do that we better make sure we're not the first ones on the other side." Koroyuki calmly replied before turning her attention back towards the enemy foot soldiers, "Not that the angels would let us in anyway."
These two will continue to fight valiantly for their king, and of course the king himself is one of the three auras fighting in the tower's top floor. As for the set of people fighting in between these two groups, their battle took place in a grand hallway that could easily serve as a ballroom. On one side was a monstrous humanoid golem like creature that looked as though it was made up of a series of interconnected black spheres that was also 2.5-3 times the size of its opponents. On the other side was a young man wearing robes that wouldn't be out of place for a government official in the warring states era of China. Next to the same young man was a young woman with raven black hair, an eye patch over on eye, and a scythe in her hand.
"I'm disappointed… you two are the right and left hands of the famed youngster of the Botis family, and you haven't damaged me once!" a haughty arrogant voice yelled, of which originated from inside the strange golem.
"Fuck off!" the robe wearing youngster cursed as he pointed his right hand's middle and index finger at the metallic creature before him.
A golden light suddenly launched from this youngster's fingers towards the golem, then that light transformed into a facsimile of his fingers about half the size of their golem opponent.
"Ha ha….. truly you are both useless!" the golem arrogantly declared as it stretched out its arms as if intending to invite the robed youngster's attack head on.
The golem doesn't actually hug the attack, but rather takes it upon its spherical chest directly. The robed youngster's attack only serves to push the golem back a few feet, but the former's scythe wielding compatriot sees an opportunity to launch a strike and dashes in. Her path of travel was the golem's right flank and to correspond her target was its right arm.
"Take this!" the scythe wielding maiden as she attempted to go for a jumping overhead strike.
"Completely useless." The seemingly sentient golem thought.
Right when it seemed like the scythe wielding maiden's attack would strike true, the targeted spherical section of the right arm just opened up like it were Pac-Man getting ready to eat a power ball. The result being the attack ends up hitting only air, and the scythe wielding maiden ends up leaving herself open for a counterattack.
"Damn!" the maiden inwardly cursed as she could already see the golem's fist flying towards her.
The maiden was sent flying, then started rolling around on the floor, and finally came to a stop just a few inches short of hitting the wall.
"Shit! Mikuro, you okay?" the robed youngster cursed as he hurried to his ally's side.
The youngster offered his hand to help this Mikuro up, but she got back on her feet on her own and seemed to be mostly unharmed save for a few additional bruises on her face.
"I'm fine Liu Bao….. a little disoriented sure, but my armor took most of the blow." Mikuro explained as she gasped for air, "But we can't keep this up forever."
"Exactly right. I could have inflicted far greater harm to your friend, but my duty right now is to bide for time." the golem laughed, "The materials in my armor already have the effect of dissipating the qi of your friend's attacks making them useless, with your attacks I can just purposely open gaps to deal with them, and you'll both run out of steam before I do."
"Once again, just fuc-" Liu Bao yelled as he was about to repeat the cycle when Mikuro suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Save your energy. We need to fight smarter not harder here." Mikura explained so Liu Bao wouldn't blow his top again.
"Ha ha…. that's right. Can't you feel it?" the golem declared, "Through the ritual and the princess's blood… we shall have the secret behind god's greatest inventions, and the means to exact vengeance against the world."
"Yeah yeah….. especially against us devils since we were persecuted to near extinction due to being mistaken for your vile race" Liu Bao said out of an angered annoyance, "I've heard the whole shtick before."
"Then at least I save time." the golem said, "So shall we repeat the usual routine again?"
"If only we could launch an attack from inside that damn armor." Liu Bao grumbled.
"Inside….. ha…. that's it!" Mikuro mumbled as the proverbial lightbulb over her head started to shine brightly, "Liu Bao….. the talismans you keep in that box on bookshelf… the ones at the top of the pile. Do you have a pair of them on you?"
"What are you….. ohhh that's brilliant." Liu Bao whispered as he catched onto his ally's train of thought, "That one consumes a lot of qi… right now that'll be about half of what I have left, so you'll be on your own if this goes bad."
"Then I'll make sure it doesn't go bad." Mikuro smirked.
"What are you whispering I wonder." the golem says aloud.
"I wonder…. you were supposed to be the princess's bodyguard…as well as her best friend…. why betray her?" Mikuro asked.
This "Golem" seemed to be suddenly angered by that remark, but was quickly able to rein it in.
"Ha… I was never a friend….she was merely a means to an end. She and the current royal family will only be the death of our race by sucking up to humans, angels, devils, and the other sentient races. Instead we will rule this world!" the golem screamed, and yet somewhere in its words there was a twinge of doubt.
Mikuru caught this doubt.
"Certainly you've been cold to all those save for your own kind, but I've seen you two smile and laugh together!" Mikuru declared, "Can you honestly say your friendship with her was a lie from the bottom of your heart?"
"SHUT UP!" the golem screamed as it could no longer keep its anger at bay.
One loses the ability to think rationally when angry, and this golem proves it by charging at Mikuro like a tank mixed with a cannonball.
"Now!" Mikuro yelled.
"Arghhh…. these things are expensive." Liu Bao reluctantly thought as a little over a dozen talismans flew out of the sleeves of his robe, "But at least they don't take much time to use."
The talismans line up in a row in front Liu Bao, of whom then swipes his fingers across each talisman using his qi to "ignite" them like a candle string. Almost instantly each talisman starts to glow brightly before transforming into a sword… specifically a Chinese liuyedao made just of energy from hilt to tip. Each sword speed off towards the golem as if locked onto it like a missile.
"Bastard." The golem thought as its forced to turn its attention towards these qi swords due to sensing their considerable amount of destructive power.
Contrary to its hefty appearance, this golem was quite nimble and was able to dodge half the flying swords. The golem was then able to punch away 5 of the swords through considerable strain and effort, however it couldn't react in time to the last sword so I had no choice but to cross its arms in order to block. Even though the golem's armor had qi nullifying properties, the remaining sword had enough power to create several cracks in the armor. The golem was then treated to the sight of Mikuro using its arms as a stepping stool so she could attempt another jumping strike with her scythe, and this time her target was the chest of the golem.
"Shit!" the golem thought, but then it remembered the trick it could use to dodge these attacks "I told you that won't work on me!"
The sphere forming the golem's chest opens up rather wide like a cockpit door causing Mikuro's attack to yet again hit only air, and inside this "cockpit" she can an elvish girl whose limbs were seemingly infused into the metal itself. In short Mikuro and Liu Bao's opponent wasn't a mindless automaton, but rather powered armor. At any rate this elvish girl quickly swats Mikuro down like a fly, but she forgets to close her "cockpit" back up and that's what ends up proving fatal.
"It's over!" Liu Bao screamed as he pointed at the elf girl with his two fingers once more.
The elf girl looked up and saw Liu Bao hovering upside down just a foot away from the exterior of her armor. She instinctively tried to close the shell of her metal doll, but at this distance she wouldn't be able to close it fast enough. There was only one way it could go from here, but meanwhile in another part of this ancient fortress; specifically on a floor one young man is about to finish up a battle of his own.
"Take this!" the young man yelled as he cut one of his enemies in two.
This young man had brown hair, he was wearing the uniform of the famous Kuoh Academy though the blazer as well as the shirt underneath have been ripped to shreds as a result of injuries sustained in battle, and attached to his left arm was a white/blue round yet rectangular shape that in turn had a sword…. hilt and all attached to it on a seemingly switchblade like mechanic. The young man of course had his hand on the hilt right now.
"Just 3 left, but I better hurry it up or I won't be able to maintain the gear for much longer." The boy thought as he could sense what his injury riddled body was telling him.
The boy was fighting in what appeared to be left of an ancient library surrounded by corpses. Some were likely here since this fortress was last used, but about a dozen were recent additions thanks to this young man. Those corpses weren't of living beings though, but rather of humanoid magic powered automatons….. or simply put magic robot guards. Each wielding a different weapon….. a mace, a flail, and a short sword respectively.
"Come on!" the young man yelled in order to provoke to robots whilst he put "away" his sword via the aforementioned switchblade mechanic.
They were only mindless robots, but the one with a short sword dashed forward anyway. It was easy for the young man to block this attack, and had the robot been a sentient existence it would have realized how dangerous being only a foot away from this young man was.
"Got you!" the young man yelled as he used this moment to take advantage of his weapon's switchblade mechanism.
The young man's blade springs forth with enough force at this distance to slice this magic powered robot in two, but the robot with a flail was able to take this chance to dig into the young man's back.
"Son of a…. bastard!" the young man grunted as he could rather painfully feel the spiked metal ball part of the aforementioned robot's flail pierce into his back.
The magic robot pulls its weapon back in order to attempt another swing, but the young man quickly spins around an cuts this magic machine in two. The magic robot with a mace doesn't even offer a challenge due to the short range of its weapon, and as a result it goes down just as easily as the last two.
"Have to hurry and back him up." the young man thought as he motions towards the closest staircase.
This young man was about to take the first step up a set of stairs when he hears a large bang in the distance as if something heavy just dropped to the floor. The resulting vibration was so powerful that the young man would have assumed a light earthquake was going on if he didn't know any better.
"Looks like Mikuro and that hotheaded jackass managed to deal with her sacred gear." The young man thought as he continued his climb up the stairs, "I'll at least get to the ritual chamber before them so Illandria and Koroyuki don't hold it over my head."
At first the young man was able to walk up the stairs normally despite his moderate amount of injuries, but the adrenaline of battle starts to pass as he's only a few feet away from reaching the top floor of this cylindrical tower forcing him to lean on the wall for support. The young man will have to continue on without a weapon as his sword disappeared in a flash of pale blue light when he crossed the final threshold into the top floor of this tower.
"I will keep my promise and protect you!" the young man inwardly declared as he directed his gaze upward.
The young man was focused upon a sphere of light that rested upon an altar that sat at the top of another staircase that reached 10ft in the air, and in that sphere he could see the shadow of a young girl trapped inside.
"Now where is he? I don't hear anything. Could the fight have already ended?" the young man thought.
The young man didn't even need to look around when he found another youngster wearing armor similar to Illandria and Mikuro's. This other youngster was on the floor, with his back to the wall, a tachi (longsword version of a katana) to his left, and he was oh so clearly badly injured.
"Shit… Sajon!" the young man screamed as he ran towards this Sajon.
The young man was thankfully able to confirm that his friend was still breathing.
"Hey... Kaiba… sorry to show you such a nasty scene." Sajon said as it was a struggle to turn his head to face Kaiba as well as breathe.
"Fuck…. don't talk man." Kaiba said urgently, "You always keep a vial of phoenix tears on you… where is it?"
"Sorry…. had to drink it earlier. I really underestimated the bonus to his attack and defense points this field would give him." Sajon said jokingly as his own laughter caused him to cough up blood.
"SHIT…. it'll be alright man…. Liu Bao should at least be able to keep you alive long enough for Sona to kick your ass when she finds out what happens." Kaiba said sarcastically as he couldn't but help find himself making a joke despite this situation.
"Ha… that's not funny….. sorry, but you'll have to be the knight in shining armor after all." Sajon laughed again despite his injured state, "If I did it…. Sona would definitely kill me."
"Wait… you didn't beat him?!" Kaiba yelled.
"Nope….. he's over there." Sajon explained as he could barely raise his hand enough to point it behind Kaiba, "For an elf he's one tough bastard."
Kaiba saw a male white haired elf slowly getting back on his feet in the middle of a bunch of smashed/knocked over columns, lesser altars, and floor impressions.
"So another ant joints the party? No matter…. I'll just kill the both of you." the white haired elf pointed out as he finally stood upright, "Soon enough the secrets of god's greatest weapon will be mine, and the elves will reign supreme."
Sajon then barely manages to find the strength to pick up his sword and raise it high enough just so the hilt can naturally fall into Kaiba's hand.
"Don't worry….. I was able to knock the guy around enough and make him burn through enough juice where even you'll be able to beat him." Sajon said confidently, "Cough…. Cough…. damn.. it hurts to even be sarcastic right now."
"Shit….. how did I get into this situation?" Kaiba thought.
Kaiba could verify Sajon's claim that this white haired elf was only somewhat less badly injured than the former, but he just had no confidence in his ability to win this fight by himself. To Kaiba, it was as though he was looking death in the face, of which causes like the events over the past few months to like the saying goes flash over his eyes. Kaiba recalled the path that led to the loss of his humanity and beyond started one morning before school during a sparring session with his dad.
To Be Continued
?: You're decision to do this dishonors everything I've taught you.
Kaiba: I have to do this since you refuse to let me fight strong opponents
Sayuri: Wow… that guy is amazing. Do you think you can beat him?
Kaiba: He's not using any form of kendo I recognize, but rather western techniques and….. that form?
Sajon: Next time in A Sword Between Twilight "Lady of the Tree."
A/N: Greeting members of the fanfic community. A portion of you reading this has likely read my Kingdom Hearts & High School DxD crossover fic aptly labeled Kingdom Hearts DxD. Said readers should remember how I mentioned in a chapter or two of the aforementioned story and in a poll I had on my profile page a while ago that I entertained the thought of a what-if story where I write out how the lives of the OCs from the DxD universe would have gone if the keybade never crossed their paths. Even if some of you readers haven't read the crossover fic, some of you may remember my first attempt at such a story. I deleted it as just the first chapter alone failed to set up the story how I'd like, but after some careful thought and taking a break from the issue I decided to make another attempt at this "What-if" story. I hope in the end that round 2 goes better than round one.