Prologue: The Summoned

'Fire... Why does my entire body feel like it's on fire?...Am I even supposed FEEL? ...Go figure, even erasing yourself from existence is a complete pain in the ass. Does this mean I've ended up in Hell after all? Heh, nah... The devil isn't unfortunate enough to deal with the likes of me.'

A muscle atop his brow twitches. The movement is light, but the pain is piercing. An unprepared soul would have been driven mad by this alone, but he'd been tempered and tested through combat and life. It meant almost nothing to someone of his caliber. An eye twitches before finally opening. His entire eye stings painfully as his vision adjusts, but he manages to keep it open. His eyes then land on a wooden ceiling.

'Congrats, you now know you're indoors Ragna,' the Grim Reaper glumly thought to himself as he shifted his head only slightly, fighting the urge to wince at his neck's soreness. '...And apparently in a bed. Enough of this.'

Throwing the bed-sheets off his person, Ragna then realized another issue; his clothing. Instead of wearing his normal black and white hakama with his prized red coat over it, he was instead dressed in a plain white robe top and loose fitting white pants. The sleeves were short, enough so that it showed off both of his artificial arms; the more natural looking left one... and the midnight black right one. He was barefoot and his feet felt cold the moment he put them on the cobblestone floor.

"That's concerning," he said aloud, finally using his voice. Against his better judgment, he opened the top of the pants... the underclothing he wore was not his usual boxers. "...WAY too concerning."

Knowing how crimson his face probably looked, he glanced around his current surroundings. There were three beds besides his own, each of them housed a person in their sheets. One was a young man with gray hair, another was a boy with spiky blonde hair with odd black highlights, and the third was a dark haired girl. All three of them were sleeping peacefully and looked to be the age of teenagers though none of them looked at all familiar to Ragna the Bloodedge.

"...This just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I know Rachel's done her share of keeping me out of the loop, but this is insane. Hey Rabbit, you listening to me? You're a total bitch ya damn loli! I bet you get off on tryin' to lead men on, ya flat chested bloodsucker!" He paused, his glare at the ceiling something fierce. "Nothing eh? Knowing your pride there's no possible way you could have ignored that... So what is this then?"

Taking a second look at his surroundings, he saw that the room was lit by lanterns positioned around each of the walls. The candles inside looked like were about to lose the last of their oil, meaning they'd been lit for sometime now. This place had no windows, only a single wooden door with some sort of magic circle in front of it; a seal.

"...This ain't Ars Magus," he stated putting his hand up to the door. Trying to send a small pulse of energy into the door to remove the seal, his scowl returned as he instead felt no change in either himself or the door. "That's not good... meaning if my BlazBlue is out-"

CRACK!

"We do this the old fashioned way," he finished as he destroyed the door with a well placed roundhouse kick; breaking through the seal and the wood without resistance before blasting the whole thing off its hinges and sending door to hit a far wall before turning to splinters. Glancing back at the other three, he realized that they hadn't stirred in the slightest. "Damn, you actually slept through that? Guess that means I won't be able to wake you myself. It really is you snooze; you lose," he muttered before taking a single step out of the front door before his conscious got the better of him. "...Once I figure out what the hell's going on, I'll come back for you three."

His promise made, Ragna exited the door and hurried into the long hallway of cobblestone. Along the walls he noticed there were a few oil painting hung up as decoration, many with either a man or woman painted while others seemed to be depicting some sort of religious event. Taking his eyes off of the walls for a moment, he realized that he wasn't alone in the hallway. A lone maid stood at the far end, and judging by her shaking paralyzed body and her face's terrified expression it was clear that she'd seen him break the door.

"Please don't..." Ragna pleaded uselessly with a sigh.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK!" the maid screamed out.

"Of course..."

(Cue Final Fantasy XV Veiled In Black Extended)

"What's going on here?" a voice demanded as a door on the maid's end of the hallway opened. Behind the door were two armored knights, dressed in plated armor of pure white. Each of them held an iron longsword in their right hand and were looking in Ragna's direction beneath their metal helmets. "He's awake already!?"

"This isn't good," said his friend before pointing to the maid. "You! Let Lady Lavell know of the situation immediately!" Nodding the maid hurried off past the two guards. With her out of the way, they then directed their attention to the Grim Reaper. "We don't want to hurt you, but we insist that you return to your room for the time being. We'll use force if you don't comply, so make it easier on yourself."

"And I'm getting out of this place, looks like we're dealing with a problem here," Ragna insisted as he threateningly stepped forward, causing the two guards to tense. 'I'm dealing with amateurs here...'

"What now?" the first knight demanded of his friend.

"If he's just awoken we might be able to take him. We just need to knock him out," the other said as the two nodded at each other before starting a charge forward. "He's only at base lev-!"

A gust of wind was felt by both of them as their target closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Ragna's right hook managed to clothesline the first knight sending flying back into the far wall. The impact left a solid indent in the cobblestone and the knight fell to the floor.

"Jasper!" his remaining ally shouted. "Why you-!"

"Calm down I left him ali-" Ragna tried to say, but the knight wasn't in much of a listening mood. Dodging the powerful swing the knight made with his longsword, Ragna growled before spinning into a powerful kick that sent the second opponent flying into the wall beside his friend where he too crumpled. "Piss me off more why don't ya?"

Another barrage of footsteps then followed from the other end of the door, the source of which was more and more knights rushing into the long hallway. These weren't all the same type as the two Ragna had just beaten; instead of swords, a fair few of them carried lances while one was dressed in heavier armor and wielded large two-handed hammer, more still were dressed in white robes with masks over their faces while they wielded strange scepters.

"Bring him down!" the more heavily armored knight commanded. "The plan has become a failure!"

"Plan eh?" Ragna muttered, just before noticing one of the scepter wielders was glowing a deadly shade of crimson red. Glancing around his being, he realized he was surrounded by a red circle with an insignia of a flame right under his feet. "What the-?"

"Fire Spell the Second: Blast!" the caster shouted. A massive and blinding blast of fire sounded from the magic circle leaving the others to flinch at the sheer force of the attack. A large cloud of smoke clouded the attack area... which Ragna promptly rushed from and sent the caster into a wall like his friends.

"He survived!?" one of the heavy knights shouted as he raised his hammer high above to crush the Reaper.

"I dodged," Ragna said before side stepping the move and delivering a devastating left hook to the attacker's ribs, sending a fourth victim flying, the armor not protecting this figure in the slightest.

With more and more knights falling, the two lance users lunged at him and forced the Reaper to lean back to avoid the attack, but the front of his robes was badly torn as a result. Scowling, he performed an aerial axe kick that caused the first target to face plant into the floor before spinning into a second midair attack and punting the other lancer into a wall. Before he'd even landed Ragna then smashed his fist into a swordsman's helmet, sending him flying into both another sword wielder and a scepter user with enough force that all three of them were rendered unconscious.

"Form up!" Ragna heard a new voice shout out. More soldiers had emerged from the other end of the halls and we making to surround the Reaper. Ragna then noticed who had spoken; this was their apparent leader. "Don't let him escape! I will handle this myself!"

Unlike the other soldiers, this warrior didn't have a helmet, revealing the face of a thin figured woman with fair skin and strange sky blue hair with a long braided ponytail that fell behind to her waist. The woman's armor wasn't that much different from the others, save for the flowing red cape the woman had behind her. She carried a two-handed greatsword which rested atop one of her armor plated shoulders.

"We were fools," she said angrily to Ragna with a scowl. "We trusted the prophecy and in turn it betrays us." She readied her greatsword before her, keeping her hold on its handle tense. "And you now you pay the price."

"...Don't count on it lady," Ragna said as he didn't bother raising his fists nor going into a ready stance. "I was in a bad mood when I woke up, you people are just making it a thousand times worse. Let me pass and maybe I won't have to be so grumpy."

"If it's freedom you want, you'll have to fight through me to get it," the woman told him with a scowl. "I am Lady Lavell, Commander of the Royal Guard force... and you will not defeat me you cur!"

"In case you haven't noticed, I've already knocked all of your friends unconscious. So how about you-?" The woman charged him with her sword before he could offer a less violent solution. "At this point, why do I even bother?"

The woman's first attack with her sword was a powerful one that Ragna was forced to weave back to dodge. Rushing his fist forward at the opening, Ragna managed to notice the woman change her grip to thrust the sword towards him and defend herself and eliminate the opening. Sidestepping the move at the last moment, Ragna turned into a roundhouse kick to the back and sent the woman skidding forward on the ground. She gave a grunt of pain as she was forced forward, but managed to withhold her footing.

"Sword Technique: Mana Edge!" Lavell shouted as she swung her sword. A sky blue slash of energy fired off at Ragna, leaving the Reaper to quickly dodge to the side as the energy slammed into the wall, resulting in a massive explosion of rock and dust when it made contact. Plunging her blade into the ground behind her, the woman then gave a feral shout as she swung it forward and sent large chunks of debris in Ragna's direction.

"Yare Yare..." Ragna sighed before throwing a multitude of punches out, destroying the attack in its place without difficulty. He then noticed that Lavell had tried to use that attack to cover he next one and had managed to leap high in the air, despite her armor weighing her down. "Dragoon Skill: Diving Fury!" Her decent was fast enough to form a cone around her speed, but Ragna still intercepted the attack, effortlessly leaping into the air before smashing his elbow into the woman and sending her to the floor. "Gah!" the woman was trembling as she slowly rose to her feet, her breath was starting to waver. If anything, the only damage Ragna had taken was to his robes which had become further torn in the process.

"Lady Lavell!" one of the soldiers shouted before getting into a ready position. "You bastard! I'll-!"

"Hold! I can still take him!" she shouted as she managed to rise to her feet, her face now bruised and her armor now scratched and bent.

"Feh, you can't take me," Ragna told her off. "I've managed to see through every one of your attacks and dodged them all. You haven't even been able to touch me."

"Maybe... but you won't dodge this one!" Lavell declared before stabbing her sword into the cobblestone beneath her. Immediately Ragna was surrounded in a bright golden circle with a barrier surrounding that seemed inescapable. "Specialized Technique: HOLY BINDING!"

"What the-!?" Ragna grunted as he felt a titanic weight on his entire body forcing him down. He couldn't move from his spot and the force just kept coming, becoming more and more intense the harder he attempted to resist it.

"There's no escaping the Holy Binding technique!" the commander declared as she kept her sword in the ground to continue her attack. "Once it has you, it will continue to force you to the ground and drain your stamina from your body. Try as you might, it will-!" It was at that moment that she discovered that while Ragna's knees were badly bent from the pressure forcing him down, neither of them had yet to touch the floor. "H-How can you-!?"

"Damn... it... all..." Ragna grunted as he slowly rose his head, his body shuddering whilst enduring the weight as he slowly made his way up. "TO HELL!" Glaring at Lavell with scalding eyes, he threw a last attempted punch forward and forced it through the titanic gravitational force. Cracks appeared from where the blow had landed, spreading through the entire enclosure. The walls shattered and fell around Ragna as the spell was broken.

"I...Impossible..." Lavell could only stutter. "No one has ever..." Seeing Ragna rise fully and continue to send a seething glare her, she pulled her sword out of the ground and prepared for a final charge. "I WON'T BE BEATEN!"

Her greatsword swung through the air with tremendous force behind it, enough so that every man surrounding the two could feel the force of the deadly attack. Time seemed to slow as they watched the blade as it neared the Reaper, relief and victory filling the soldiers eyes... Then said hope shattered with the blade as Ragna drove his dark fist through the metal. Rushing forward, he grabbed the commander and forced her forward, driving her deep into the wall, the force of the shockwave resembled a canon explosion.

(End Theme)

"H...H...How...?" she groaned as Ragna let go of her and watched her sag into the indent, her own will to keep fighting unable to support her any longer.

"Easy; one of us was proud, the other one was actually strong," he lectured as he turned to face the remaining enemy soldiers. Many of the knights seemed to have lost their will to fight as their commander lie in the broken wall. Ragna's scowl alone was fierce enough to force a fair few of them to take a step back as he started making his way down the hall.

"Please wait!" a new voice called out to him; this one of a young lady. Turning his head, Ragna's eyes landed on a new woman, one who appeared no older than the three in the room he'd awoken in. This woman had hair of silver done into curls and emerald green eyes that were behind thin glasses. Her dress was something out of the dark ages and it was clear with the gold embroidery on the violet and white design that this woman was someone of importance.

"Princess, stay back!" one of the soldiers begged, trying to get in the young woman's way. "This man is dangerous!"

"No, if I was dangerous I'd have been killing your soldiers; I've done nothing but knock 'em out from the start," Raga said as he continued to make his way for the door. "Go get 'em healed up or whatever, I'm out of here."

"But I can't just let you go!" the princess told him with desperation in her words. "You're... you're our last hope... We need you for the Prophecy of the Four!"

"It's none of my business... and to blunt, I don't care," he told her harshly. "You're the ones that kidnapped me and now you're demanding I help you? Someone's pretentious."

"I... I'm aware..." the princess admitted with guilt, but then tried to speak with determination. "But you must listen to me! If you don't help us, countless of people will suffer!"

"Then fix it yourself; you seem to care enough about it to shout at me if nothing else," Ragna told her.

"B... But I can't!" she screamed tears flowing from her eyes. "Monsters have attacked so many travelers on the road and no one can defeat them! Bandit raids have become an almost daily occurrence on the smaller villages and in the larger ones corrupt nobles are starving their subject with their greed! My father the king won't even lift a hand to help the common people and my siblings are too busy vying for the throne! Without you our kingdom is as good as dead." The princess then knelt to her knees causing the guards to stare as she went prostrate in a tearful bow. "Please... you must... I'm begging you..."

"P-Princess," Lavell could only gasp as she tried to remain standing by bracing on her broken sword. The rest of the soldiers just seemed as taken aback, but the princess didn't move from that spot.

'...For the love of-' Ragna growled to himself as he made his way back over to the newcomer. "Get up, and quit making such a damn fool of yourself."

The princess slowly rose her head, looking at Ragna with eyes that had turned slightly red from crying. Feeling uncomfortable with the whole situation, Ragna roughly yanked the young lady to her feet, earning a scowl from Lavell at his bluntness.

"S-So y-you've... decided to help us?" she asked him, only to shriek softly as Ragna's scowl increased, making him look even more terrifying. "Eep!"

"I haven't decided jack," the Reaper growled at her. "Give me my damn clothes back, then I'll listen..."

Author's Note: Okay, so less explaining here than I had intended, but we're just getting started after all. Not sure when I'll have the next chapter up and ready, but I'm hoping it's at least somewhat soon. Maybe Friday if we're lucky.

Anyways, here's the review responses, followed by the Omake.

Dread Grim Reaper: Don't worry about it, I know from experience that typing on any app is damned near impossible.

Wic W. Author: Let's hope I can keep it that way at around 3,000 words an update.

BlackSavior: Well... the butler story wasn't exactly working out, so I wouldn't expect an update on that anytime soon sad to say. At least we've got us a dub.

Chaos HellLaser: Thanks for the vote of confidence, I'll make it a point not to let you down.

Wlyman2009: I wouldn't say out of nowhere, but I still like to think of it as a pleasant surprise.

EpicLinkSam: We already talked via PM, but I'm glade you like it.

Medblare: Thanks, got a lot more of these messages than I had planned on.

Mystech Master: All great ideas, but all to be decided later.

The Unplanner: It's not a Grimm, but I already told ya that. Anyways, I've got things under control and you'll be seeing more of this story.

Mugen7: L8r m8.

PhantomEdge: Not likely, the main four seem to be the extent of my focus for right now. And I've played/watched all of the games, so I know what I'm getting into.

Annnnnnnd Omake time ladies and gents.

The Brute

"So he forced his way in?" Lavell demanded from the three maids standing before her. "Into our kitchens no less."

"Not exactly ma'am," one of the maids admitted. "H-He had asked if he could use the kitchen instead of forcing himself in... But those eye of his were-"

"He used intimidation then; that's just as bad," the commander said as she growled under her breath. "That brute and his ways... he's no better than some bandit."

"A bandit?" another maid asked with startled surprise. "But isn't he supposed to be one of the four heroes the prophecy spoke of?"

"...Maybe, but you three didn't see him when we fought." Lavell gripped a gloved hand in anger over her own weakness. "That man blasted our soldiers away so gracelessly and didn't care for any chivalry in the slightest. Even against my greatest technique he resorted to brute force... and that's how I know he's a brute."

"I-If you say so my lady," the third maid said. "But he's still in our kitchens..."

"If we're lucky then by the end of this we'll still have a kitchen, and by some miracle we'll also have some food left," Lavell muttered. "I know his kind, all they do is scarf down everything they have without concern of what the next day will bring, they gorge themselves on raw food and waste so much in the process. They're barbarians."

The three maids looked at one another in concern; the kitchen had been their life for the longest time and they loved their work with a passion, always loving the happy faces that their food brought. The thought of someone destroying their beloved kitchen hurt them deeply... though bleak thoughts seemed to vanish as a familiar aroma wafted before them.

"I... I smell chicken cooking," one of the maids said as they sniffed the air. Looking at each other, they came to a silent agreement and entered the kitchen as carefully as they could. Lavell followed as well, keeping her hand on her backup longsword in case it was needed. The three then peaked around the corner coming to a surprising sight.

"For a place that has a princess in it, they don't have that great of a spice rack," Ragna said with a sigh as he sprinkled a few select herbs over the spit-fire chickens he was cooking. "Guess I'll just have to make do however I can." Turning his attention away from the fire, he took out a knife and cut a large collection of vegetables in the blink of an eye. Giving the cutting board a quick jolt, he then launched them through the air and added them to a pot where he was making stew. "Damn, hope those soldiers like carrots cause this is looking more like carrots with a bit soup mixed in here and there.."

"He... he's cooking?" one of the maids asked.

'And he's doing it for the soldiers he was fighting? That's odd...' Lavell thought to herself. She then made her way into the kitchen, much to the maids' surprise.

"Hmm?" Ragna hummed as he saw the knight approaching him, taking her gloves off as she came to counters. Grabbing a bag of flour and a bucket of water, she began preparing bread. "Didn't ask for your help."

"There are over two hundred occupants to cook for; you'll need my help if you intend to feed all of them," Lavell told him humorlessly. "Though... why bother?"

"People are a lot less likely to put a knife in your back if you've filled them up with a good meal," the Reaper admitted.

"Is that so? I didn't think that would be enough to kill you," the commander told him seriously.

"...Shut up and kneed your bread; we both suck at small talk alright?" Ragna told her with a groan. What he didn't notice was the blue haired woman's sly smile at him.

"So... is he flirting with her?" one of the maids asked. None of them had any idea.

Until Next Time Everyone!

Ciao!