Author note: i wanted to write battle in this one but also wanted lots of story to go with it and damn, it took the entire day!
Chapter 5: Are you a human or an animal?
Sieg and Beatrice were being escorted without problems by the order knights and after dealing with the lovebirds long enough some were smiling, thinking these heretics didn't look so bad and others were full of envy thinking why they still didn't find their fated one like these apparent relatives did, Wilmarina was of the latter since she was forced to be separated from her beloved Elt and each time she looked at how the couple acted with one another she felt a twinge of pain in her mind.
"Could you heretics stop and take this seriously, need i remind you this isn't a stroll but a escort to decide your fates?" the icy woman rubbed her temples while looking at them.
"Deciding our fates? Good joke madam but i doubt anyone has the power to do so anymore" He was amused at her reaction, she should be treating them either with respect or being fearful can it be she can't feel other people energies like Sasha? Or she's so assured of her and the other heroes power she thinks she can win without effort? Then again a gank is almost a death sentence for the person at the receiving end, and they are going right into their base.
"Sieg please don't confront her like this, she's just doing her mission as you too once did" Beatrice appeased calming down both parts
"With hope in the future she'll be released from it and can live life to the fullest like we are now" the maiden smiled gently, she could read well people's hearts after living in Firelink for so long and noticed that the hero hid pain in her heart each time she looked at them.
"Sorry madam, i'll cheer for the day you are released from your fate then" Sieg apologized with understanding, now looking at the woman who locked her emotions away and only did the mission she was tasked with, he could see a little of himself on her.
Wilmarina turned around and continued her mission without speaking a single word, the heretics looked at her with pity, the only people other than her closest friends who looked at her like that felt pity for her burden, and from the way Beatrice spoke she also could guess the hero longed for a lost love which could never be fulfilled as long as she had the mission of a Hero.
"Elt i wish i could see you again" she thought as sad expression that no one could see formed on her face before it became a cold facade once again.
After a long walk, the couple the knights and the hero finally reached the square of the nobles district and the pair was in apparent awe of the place which inflated some of the knights ego, to them it meant they either were commoners or that the Order interested them to the point of reverence, except the couple didn't think any of those things.
"So much disparity even after the world was fixed" Sieg spoke disappointed gathering their attention.
"Even after losing their worst enemies they still fight between themselves" Beatrice complemented.
"Did that couple live under a rock their entire lives?" some thought to themselves, "what is even fixed in this world we live in, with the threat of monsters encroaching humanity more and more each day?".
"While you have people dying on the streets, people who can't buy a bread for food and children losing their parents eventually becoming street rats or lucking out and finding lady Sasha to care for them, you flaunt your nobleness by making an entire city out of pure white marbles and ostentation", this angered some of the knights who were zealots and nobles, while others born from the common masses inwardly nodded in approval, some nobles and knights walking on the street looked at the commotion and laughed waiting for a show to happen, and the commoner be put down on his place.
"Wasn't the Order supposed to protect human life?" the man was fuming while pointing around at the pretentiousness of it all, "why then you don't protect and improve the lives of people that are closest to you in this city? people who are dying bellow your noses?!" Sieg at this point could have killed everyone in here with his pyromancy but held back because that would go against the request of the nun who didn't want any bloodshed today.
"How dare you speak of our ways your heretic bastard, we need all of this to protect the people and the monster menace is far greater than some street rats dying out in that filthy slum!" one knight spat hatefully before getting punched in the gut by a angry Ashen one using the dark hand, before he could even react he felt his energy being drained at a fast rate then looked down and saw the dark mass pulling out light from his body.
"AHHH IT HURTS! GET AWAY FROM ME! HELP!" his bravado gone and only screams of despair filled the area freezing in fear everyone who laughed at the commoner, he tried shaking away the man to no avail, the man was glued onto him
"Help... please... someone... any...one..." weaker and weaker his body stopped responding and before the embrace of death came, he was freed from the abomination and could breathe laboriously once again.
"Stop it you're killing him!" Wilmarina unsheathed her sword and attacked with all of her strength, mission be damned if he dies, she wouldn't let murder happen in front of her eyes.
"Are you okay? Someone bring a healer here he needs urgent treatment!" knocking the Ashen One to the side and saving the now emaciated man before his demise, everyone could see that the man had almost no life left on his eyes, the once young and proud noble now looked like a oldman at the end of his life, the more sheltered ones knew that monsters drained away the life of men but they never thought it would be as gruesome as this, they were mistaken though, even a monster would beg mercy for the victim of this thing if they were watching.
"How dare you, what did you do to him!" the temperature around the hero dropped bellow 0 she needed to execute this heretic right here and now, the man was too dangerous to be brought closer to the king.
"I just disposed of the trash, one less scum on this world means less suffering overall, what do i care if he's a noble?" Sieg calmly stood up and drank a estus before looking at the girl, "i feel utter disgust toward animals like him who think lives other those of nobles are expendable, tell me Hero are you an animal or a human?" Sieg should apologize to Sasha later, maybe she would lose a friend today.
"Sieg please try not to hurt her too much" Beatrice could only pray after getting away from their arena, now both had the entire square to themselves.
"I value human life more than anyone else, i denied myself from everything to become their shield, how dare you question my values?" she launched an attack, "even his life, as ugly as it is should be valued!" the people who were frozen in fear in front of the monster now cheered for their hero from a distance.
"I commend you" Sieg parried her strike and punched her but didn't activate the art of lifedrain, she passed the test and would be treated like a human not a hollow.
"But you are far too naive" he stepped to the side when she did a thrust then ducked down and sweeped her foot when she followed with a neck slice.
"To be a hero you don't need to become a machine without emotions, and you don't need to deny yourself happiness" He would try to fix her ideals, she didn't need to be like this, even during his times when all hope for a future was lost, his companions still lived to the fullest even if reaching their objective meant they would pass away or go insane.
"What do you even know about the struggle of a hero? you are just a crossdressing heretical bastard!" Wilmarina who was fallen did a flip then swung her sword from the ground to the sky unleashing a cone of crystal ice on his direction building up his frostbite.
"Haha i wonder if you are a descendant of sister Friede" he rolled back outside of the area of attack, and remembered how much of a pain was to defeat her.
Wilmarina attacked relentlessly each strike of hers creating more ice but none of them hitting true, Sieg was a slippery bastard in her eyes, running away when she used area of effect spells and sometimes he rolled behind her back and punched her kidney, deflecting overswings with a side palm then striking her with that cursed hand of his, sidestepping her thrusts, throwing himself on the ground at times when she sliced and created crescent blades that left no other way to dodge, rolling when she tried to capitalize on her opponent being down then sweeping her leg and breaking her balance before giving a counter.
"Finally i'm beginning to see a pattern" He thought, "soon she'll be out of tricks and i can finish this, ugh damn frostbite"
Even if she couldn't capitalize and hit the man decisively, the amount of ice she expelled built up his frostbite like nothing else, so he changed his dark hand for the pyromancy flame and feeling the warmth melting the ice that has been building up on his body, Sieg was reinvigorated while the Hero took him more seriously than before, his flame was a hard counter to her ice and he already was hard to deal with without even using it.
"Your ice or my fire which do you think will win in the end?" Sieg willed his pyromancy to life and the heat rose up rapidly before he made a throwing movement and out of nothing a giant ball of flames inside a vortex surged towards the hero extremely fast, she couldn't dodge either the fire would keep going until hitting a target and consuming the people behind watching their fight, so she made a ice shield in front of her body and braced for impact.
"GAH!" She felt her lungs burning up from the heat, even with her icy defenses it wasn't enough for the fire instantly vaporized and exploded the ice shield increasing the damage she took.
"Me and Beatrice know more of struggle than you ever will missy" he said before holding his hand at her direction and spewing a continuous stream of flames, which she could only defend by using up her mana reserves and creating more ice even if this action was useless.
"Many have fallen by these hands, evildoers, kings, heroes, nobles, villainous priests, innocent people gone insane all for the sake of a mission" he recounted people who he gave a merciful end, the lords he was tasked to put back in their thrones, the knight who disappeared in the smouldering lake and the lies he sprouted to Anri so she could forget him and persevere which ended in their unexpected "marriage" by the hands of Yuria, a crazed Gael at the end of times who needed his life to complete his lady painting pigment, but was far too gone to even deliver it if he ever defeated the Ashen One.
The nobles and knight could only stare, this man openly admitted doing regicide and killing heroes, nobles and the priesthood, how hypocritical could he be to dare giving moral lessons to them? They could only pray that their Hero could get away from his flames, and finish the monster before them either he would begin a slaughter.
"So open your eyes and learn to think and act for yourself lady, you have the power to change things, yet you are bound by rules and orders of weak selfish people who never took the frontlines in their wars" once he saw she was at her wits end, Sieg stopped her bath of flames and waited for the hero to recompose herself.
"Sorry guys, in the end i couldn't protect you" the hero fell and the people began despairing.
Wilmarina was in a sorry state, her beautiful snow like hair had soot and burnt marks, her clothes were in tatters blackened by the flames embers still burning some spots in her once regal cape, her laborious breaths sucked in the smell of ash in the air, she used everything to defend his flames from ending her and the people she swore to protect, and now without any energy left was waiting for the finishing strike, while regretting she couldn't protect anyone even after her oath of becoming humanity's shield.
"Ahh i wish i could've seen Elt one more time" she thought to herself waiting for the finishing strike, praying the man didn't use his nightmarish hand to suck her life like he did with that noble.
The end she was expecting didn't come though, and instead of having her life sucked away or burning in pain and fading into ash, she felt a gentle warmth that caressed her body and made her remember of happier times, slowly healing her battered burnt self back into good health.
"Stay close to it and let the flames heal you" he casted the Warmth pyromancy, Sieg didn't know if the fallen cold flower in front of him would learn to act independently and seek her own happiness without sacrificing it for her mission but he at least tried, the means were brutal yes, but it would be far more convincing than using words, and he wasn't too good with words in first place.
"Why?" It was the only thing on her mind at that point.
"Because you are a good person madam, and just like Sasha your only fault was choosing the worst way possible to deal with things" Sieg began walking away from her to meet his beloved before a arrow pierced his skull and he fell down, his first Death since a long time.
"Sieg!" Beatrice could only scream, Wilmarina was shocked and knew whose arrow it was and everyone else looked at the man falling down like a puppet with his strings cut and cheered.
"Wilmarina stay with me i finished the heretic!" the half-elf Primera Concerto appeared and tried healing her friend before noticing the ball of warm light the man used close to her was a healing spell.
"What happened to his body?!" the cheering stopped and a clamor began. "The heretic dissipated into ashes to the wind!"
Primera helped Wilmarina get up after the effects of Warmth dissipated and looked at the place the man died, before long a pool of blood formed and a light ball swirling with a unconceivable amount of spirit energy floated in the place.
"That feels divine, how much spirit energy did that man have?" they tried touching the thing to no avail as it only floated there and refused to interact with anything, for only Sieg was the true master of these sovereingless souls.
The sudden spike of spirit energy didn't go unnoticed by the forces of the Chief God in Lescatie, and even the Fallen God from her hijacked connection with Sasha now at the monster camp in the forest could feel the tasty morsel in that town, a certain Lilim the leader of the radical faction planning to invade and turn Lescatie into a demonic realm also looked at the direction of the city feeling a surge power that was comparable to her father, her desire in conquering the place stroked once again, before returning her attention to the ex-Hero in front of her.
"So lady Sasha, are you here to tell us good news and advancing our plans?" the beautiful voluptuous white haired woman gazed at the nun like one would at prey, controlling herself from turning the hero right now and tasting the debauched pleasure of corrupting someone so pure, but wouldn't let the predator expression show on her face and masked it with gentleness.
"I'm here to plead to you Druella, once the invasion begins please spare the children they are too young and innocent to discover the love of monsters" The nun pleaded at the Lilim wanting to stop the worst from happening and this riled up some of the more uncouth monster girls in the area.
"And why do you ask that? Weren't the children suffering with abandonment, hunger and lack of love?" The Lilim spoke in honeyed words "Once they find their fated monster girls and become married, they won't need to suffer anymore for their wives will provide the affection love and smiles they deserve"
"It is still wrong, we shouldn't force the choice on them, they should grow up as humans and chose it from their own freewill!" Sasha raised her voice "there's no happiness born from coercion, this will make you no different from those who hurt them in first place" her point was logical by human standards, but she wasn't begging to a human, she was begging to the most radical faction of monsters who would turn an entire region by force and impose their happiness on them.
"You're still shackled by a human sense of right and wrong dear Sasha" Druella lifted her chin and looked at the nun lovingly almost taking her lips, "not now, she needs more preparation we still didn't find her beloved one" she thought before stopping and letting the gasping nun fall to her knees blushing.
"I know about your concerns but not everyone in here is a monstrous rapist like you think we are"
"Some of us would be more than happy in protecting the children until they grew up to like and love us from their own free will" she knew she was spouting lies, everyone knew that they couldn't defeat their instincts and soon enough would crave for the semen of their husbands the moment they felt they could produce it, age not being a hindering factor to it, and after enough sex their husbands would also begin craving their bodies.
"What about the girls?" Sasha recomposed herself while members of the sabbath had their ears perked up, "the girls don't deserve turning into monsters, families being ruined by daughters craving for their parents once they turn, and young girls unable to control themselves throwing away their innocence to a stranger is cruelty" the lolis of the sabbath got wet imagining how much they would play with their new sisters and big brothers.
"Please before the invasion at least give me time to evacuate the children" She pleaded to the white succubus in front of her a tear forming giving her a tragic beauty appearance.
"So beautiful, i can't wait to see her monster form once she turns" Druella thought to herself before answering her pleas.
"Ok you can try to evacuate the children from town when the invasion happens, i'll order the more enthusiastic ones from my army to not attack them on sight" the Lilim conceded, knowing it would be futile even with her having the power to do so, her army was composed of misfits who most of the time acted by themselves and defected once they found a husband
"Now go, either you turn into one of us and fail your objective before ever accomplishing it" she slapped the nun's butt earning a moan before the hero quickly left the place.
"You heard her girls" Druella turned back and ordered around the members of the sabbath "Don't touch the ones she's able to protect and escort out of town, everyone else is fair game" she smiled.
"It's been so long i forgot how death feels like" Sieg woke up in a dark place not knowing where he was, before pulling out a fragment of the coiled sword.
"Even if bonfires don't exist anymore, i hope i can reach Beatrice quickly and if they dare touch a single hair of her head, the monster invasion will be the lesser of Lescatie's problems" Sieg knelt down and willed upon the fragment hoping it would at least take him to the place they woke up in this world, from there he would need to run at top speed until reaching Lescatie again, but then he felt a connection to Beatrice.
"Beatrice has the properties of a bonfire?!" He didn't had time to think about it before he disappeared from the place he was and reformed back close to her.
"Sieg!" Beatrice looked at the man and hugged him in tears shocking everyone in the area especially the heroes, how could a dead man reappear in front of them no worse for wear?!
"You should be grateful to your god, if you had touched her everyone in here would become ash" He looked at Wilmarina, then at the newcomer who he was sure was the one who killed him before ending the hug with his beloved and began walking at their direction making both take a step back in fear.
"Stop don't come closer!" the heroes screamed before distancing even more from the man, they felt no spiritual energy from him but he was overflowing with demonic one, in front of them was a well of darkness could very well be the Demon lord if they didn't knew the current Demon Lord was a female.
Walking without a care and this time deflecting an arrow from the green haired bitch, he reached his bloodstain and the beautiful orb of souls he dropped when he died then absorbed it, the pressure the heroes were feeling in front of them was no more.
"Take us to your leaders, the time to end this fiasco is long due" Sieg spoke to a frozen Wilmarina before walking back to the crowd and taking Beatrice by the hand.
Primera thought she could try to battle him and end both monstrosities if one's life was linked to the other as otherworldly as that idea would seem, but lost her will to do so after feeling the pressure from the man who came back to life. Wilmarina also felt true fear looking at them, even though he tried to help her change her beliefs through the battle they had, and healed her up instead of finishing her, she thought he wouldn't forgive the backstabbing he suffered and would implicate everyone in here, she could only pray to the Chief God for him to not do so.
"We need to report his existence to the Chief God!" a Valkyrie up in the sky said before disappearing.
"We need to report his existence to Druella" a disguised kunoichi who saw the entire battle and his death and resurrection said before disappearing in the shadows.
Not long after Sieg and Beatrice accompanied by Wilmarina and Primera on a silent procession reached the Castle, everyone inside was already informed of the events that transpired and took their distance before the couple was guided to the Throne room.
The fancy place was filled with the murmur of knights, heroes full of bravado, members of the clergy including Wilmarina's father whose gaze made the girl shrink back and at the end of the hall was a man who exhaled power even in his late years, a lord was truly a lord no matter the era.
"We finally meet" a Regal figure at the top of red carpeted stairs said in a booming voice demanding attention which stopped all murmurs in the room.
"Sieg and Beatrice state you objectives in our town and your true nature either we'll finish you two right here and now" the king heard about the man coming back to life after having his skull pierced by the arrow of a hero but even he wouldn't survive a joint attack from everyone in this room.
"We have no objective at all your majesty" Sieg spoke calmly and everyone thought he was lying through his teeth.
"We are travelers and our only reason to even be in here was to take in the sights before going somewhere else" members of the clergy remembered about that travelling heretic who wrote that accursed encyclopedia.
"And after taking in the sights of your town i can only say i feel utter disgust for it" He spat venom at these nobles
"You all hole up yourselves in this fancy castle isolated from all the suffering masses outside and dare to think you are superior because you have a holy mission" the heroes got angry.
"You all go out and murder people in the name of your God, not caring if they are humans or children only because they had the sin of mingling with monsters" the clergy got angry.
"Then you all go and harass the sister who took upon herself to repent, by sending teams of priests and knights who threaten her orphanage in the slum on a daily basis" Wilmarina's father in particular got angry, this man was revealing things he did out of his own accord.
"Tell me your majesty, are you a human or an animal?" everyone who was with Wilmarina before their battle flinched, it seemed the man was ready to begin a bloodbath in this room.