UNITY FORCE MISSIONS: HORIZON ZERO DAWN

CHAPTER 5: The Field of the Fallen

ARC I: The Seeker Aloy

DISCLAIMER: All characters in the story are not owned by me, save for my OCs.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This will focus mostly on The Field of the Fallen.

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[Dimmed Bones, Earth-1355]

A few moments ago, Asta, Noelle Silva, and Meliodas separated with Zoro, Maya Tendo, Trafalgar D. Water Law and Aloy, who have been looking for Olin Delverson, to rendezvous Unity Force with their friend Erend in a place known as Red Ridge Pass and hunt down the culprits, who are presumed to be a group of Shadow Carja soldiers, who are directly responsible for Ersa's apparent murder.

Following Erend earlier, Asta, Meliodas, and Noelle joined in with the Oseram Vanguard as they fought off a small horde of machines in Red Ridge Pass, including the Antelope-like Lancehorns and the Watchers. However, these machines proved to be a complete cakewalk for the Unity Force and Erend, as the group instantly dispatched the rest of them.

Moving on, they later proceed deep into the mystery of Ersa's murder, where they stumble upon a completely strange revelation. They heard from Erend that a search party was sent there, and found Shadow Carja corpses.

What shocked Asta, Meliodas, and Noelle however was the bizarre nature of this scene. They heard that Ersa's corpse was so badly beaten that she is beyond unrecognisable, forcing them to continue their investigation of this "murder", until even more bizarre clues are found by the Unity Force group.

They found a helmet, bloodstain, a thicket, several unused arrows, and even an unused spear. Noelle suspects that this crime scene is staged, and Meliodas cannot be wrong any further, when he finds bloodied cart tracks that seem completely out of place amongst the scene of the crime itself.

Suspecting more of a hidden conspiracy lurking around, Erend, Asta, Meliodas, and Noelle continue to follow the bloodied cart trail, until it leads them to an ancient ruin known as Dimmed Bones, where it is unusually silent, but they see something else suspicious around.

Suddenly, however, a group of rogue Oseram mercenaries have ambushed the Unity Force by firing their bows in point-blank range, prompting the Unity Force to prepare themselves for a combat that they have never expected.

This angered Erend, when immediately he finds out that the Shadow Carja were not the perpetrators of Ersa's "murder", but his own Oseram tribe members who were presumably the perpetrators behind it.

"These are not Shadow Carja! These are my people from my tribe, the Oseram!" Erend exclaimed.

"I knew it!" Noelle exclaimed. "Someone is orchestrating an ambush on you, Erend-san."

"Goddamnit!" Asta said, as he takes out his Demon-Slayer Sword. "It's about time you got stabbed in the back by your own people, Erend-san!" He added.

"Damn it! These backstabbing pieces of shit are working for someone else!" Erend exclaimed.

"Here goes nothing!" Meliodas added, as he takes out his Lostvayne.

A battle ensued within Dimmed Bones, as Asta, Noelle, Meliodas, and Erend fight off against the mercenaries. Erend takes out his Hunter Bow, as he dispatches two of them in a rapid succession.

Noelle then takes out her wand and fires Sea Dragon's Waterball towards the other Oseram mercenaries, causing them to be thrown away out of the ruins due to the spell's force.

"I guess that's the end of the–" Noelle commented, but she is later suddenly interrupted by Erend.

"Uh-oh. I think not." Erend stated, as he hears some roaring, where it reveals a new machine, which is three of them. He then takes out his War Bow, as he loads it with Freeze Arrows. "Ravagers! Looks like those traitors have lured it here!"

"Oh, great!" Asta exclaimed. "Three of them!"

These machines are known as Ravagers, and by the looks of it they are notably ferocious.

Ravagers have a similar appearance to Sawtooths: heavyset at the front, with a large, broad chest, neck, and shoulders, powerful legs and no tail. However a Ravager's chassis is leaner, and more closely resembles that of a large dog, although not as canine in appearance as that of the Scorcher. Additionally, instead of the metallic longitudinal crest of yellow-tipped spines seen on the backs of Sawtooths, Ravagers have a rapid-fire energy pulse cannon, dubbed a Ravager Cannon. The Ravager can swivel this weapon to aim it. The Ravager is quadrupedal, with clawed feet and a head with a toothy snout. Unlike the Sawtooth, its armor plating overlaps across its head, shoulders, back, and front legs. This increases the armor's effectiveness. A canister of Chillwater is ensconced in its chest, in a similar manner to a Sawtooth's Blaze canister. This is possibly used as a coolant.

One of the Ravagers fired energy pulses towards the group from its cannon.

"Are you kidding?" Meliodas dodged the attack with his sword. "Well, then. If they want to play dirty, then so shall we!"

The battle begins, as they fight off against the Ravager threat, the likes of which they don't expect.

Asta and Noelle fight off one of the Ravagers, as it throws a barrage of attacks to both of them, including claw swipes, mandible stabs, and its Ravager Cannon. Asta would only respond by continuously blocking its attacks.

However, in spite of the machine's utter ferocity, both members of the Black Bull squad prevailed against it, as Asta uses his Black Meteorite attack towards the Ravager with his sword, destroying most of its chassis, before Noelle then ends it with another of her Water Magic attack through her Grimoire: Sea Dragon's Roar, which was an attack that shows the head of a sea dragon with sharp teeth, where it hits straight through the damaged machine.

"Damn right!" Erend exclaimed as he watched at Noelle's said attack, before he fires off three Freeze Arrows into another Ravager. "Die with the demon, Machine!" He exclaimed, as he bashes the frozen Ravager's chassis twice with his war hammer, slowly destroying it piece by piece, before he finishes it off with another attack. "And you're down!"

"Haha!" Meliodas cheered, as he begins provoking the last Ravager in front of him. "Now it's between you and me!" He declared, causing the machine to be instantly furious as it growls at him, before it proceeds to use its two Ravager Cannons at the same time in an attempt to kill Meliodas immediately.

However, the machine is proven utterly wrong, when Meliodas uses an attack from his sword, Jitsuzou Bunshin (Physical Clone), which causes four clones of himself to encircle the machine. However, these clones only have a half of their powers coming from the prime Meliodas.

"What manner of sorcery is that?!" Erend exclaimed.

"It's his Physical Clone attack." Noelle answered. "He must be trying to bait the Ravager." She added.

"Well, Ravager or whoever you are!" Meliodas declared with extreme anger, as he and his clones brandish Lostvayne. "Before you think about hurting my friends and me, maybe you should think twice about that decision first!" He furiously declared, before he and his clones attacked the machine.

The Ravager only responds by attacking Meliodas, but the machine instead misfires its cannons towards two of Meliodas's clones, before the prime Meliodas mocks the machine. This goes on for the remainder of the battle, with the Ravager going completely berserk, where it suddenly augments its offensive capabilities, before the Demon's Sin of Wrath and his clone proceeds to use another attack: Full Counter.

"Huge mistake right there, puppy!" The prime Meliodas said, with the Ravager only responding with a threatening growl, before the machine lunges towards him.

However, Meliodas and his clones later counter that attack, causing the machine to be destroyed and subsequently thrown into a the building.

"That's impossible..." Erend exclaimed in shock.

After that, the machine threat has been stopped, as Asta, Erend, Meliodas, and Noelle begin to proceed investigating the scene further.

From there, Asta, Noelle, and Meliodas scatter around the ambush site to look for anything suspicious and out of the ordinary that has been overlooked after all this time. Erend, on the other hand, also does his investigation of his own.

They discover bits of leather, bloodstains, a bloodstained rock, several shattered rocks, and unused weapons, signifying that Ersa's Vanguard unit were ambushed, given by the lack of blood from the weapons itself. Focusing on their attention to the bloodied rock,

"It seems that Ersa-san's unit was ambushed, and no blood from any of these weapons were to be seen." Noelle deduced.

"Ingenuity at its finest." Meliodas remarked.

"Not to mention, this bloodied rock

The most telling discovery, however, is when Asta finds something else. He later spots a tripod and a used power cell all by itself, as well as motorcycle that is too out of the place in this world inside the ruined building, indicating that an outworlder from another world must have entered this world, but the reasons for it remained unknown.

"Hey, guys!" Asta called out on the group. "You might want to check this thing out." He added.

"What is it, Asta-san?" Noelle said.

Noelle, Meliodas, and Erend approached Asta.

"Looks like I found some kind of tripod all by itself." Asta said, before looking at Erend." Hey, Erend-san. Does this remind you of something, given your technological ingenuity?" He continued.

Erend looks more at the tripod. "Looks like some kind of Sonic Device." He added. "However, I don't know who was behind this, but I know that an Oseram definitely used this to ambush Ersa's Vanguard." He ended.

"Which explained the lack of blood from their weapons." Meliodas deduced.

"The question is, who?" Noelle asked.

"But more importantly, however, is this!" Asta exclaimed, as he takes the motorcycle out.

"What the hell is that?" Erend asked.

"It's a motorcycle, and it looks okay." Asta added.

"Doesn't look like any other Oseram invention." Erend remarked.

"Of course it's not, because it's from another world, and only one person knows how to operate it." Asta responded.

"What's that thing doing here in this world?" Noelle pondered.

When Noelle asks that question, however, they heard a male voice from somewhere, prompting them to take their weapons out, only for them to find out that no one was there.

That is, until they find out that the source of the voice is coming from the motorcycle, much to the confusion of the group.

"Don't attack me!" The motorcycle exclaimed. "My name's Hermes. I know it's too weird in this rather tribal world, but before you destroy me or whatever you are about to do, hear me out for just a damn second!"

Hermes is a sentient, talking Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle, which is a complete mystery for the Unity Force as to how it has managed to end up in the world of Horizon universe.

"A motorcycle that can talk?!" Noelle freaked out.

"Of course I am, you dunce!" Hermes furiously cursed. "Now, can you park me?" He added.

Asta reluctantly parks the said bike outside of the ruined building, before they proceed to go further into the heart of the matter, and that is asking Hermes how it managed to end up in this world, as well as the mystery of Ersa's supposed "murder" that have driven Erend insane.

"Before that, who are all of you?" Hermes asked.

Noelle then explains to Hermes what the Unity Force is all about, as well as the heroic organisation's goals. She also goes into explaining the existence of several worlds, and saving them from any threats that come into.

"Never heard of you all." Hermes responded.

"But now you know." Asta relied.

"How long have you been here?" Noelle questioned.

"Days. As long as I could remember." Hermes added. "I was travelling with a person named Kino, about five days ago, after we reached the final end of our journey." It recounted, though most of it was vague.

"Who is Kino?" Asta questioned.

"She's a traveller and my companion!" Hermes replied.

"And then?" Asta asked.

"It's an even bigger mystery how we ended up in this world." Hermes revealed. "It was until a group of those arseholes suddenly attacked us from out of nowhere, and they used that... whatever that thing was to paralyse Kino completely and they took her away, along with her belongings and supplies!" It explained, albeit its speech becomes convoluted as the motorcycle loses it.

"I know that Kino-san being kidnapped was worrying, but why the supplies matter?" Asta asked ignorantly.

"It contains Kino's weapons, as well." Hermes said. "That's why they took the cache."

"Damn. That's real bad news." Asta remarked.

"So you're saying that Kino-san was paralysed with that Sonic Device?" Noelle inquired Hermes, to which it nodded.

"What did you remember?" Erend suddenly inquired.

"Guys wearing in brown outfits with those metal discs, just like you, which were the same mercenaries you guys fought were the same people who took Kino away." Hermes replied.

"Damn it... Those are mercenaries within my tribe. Those bastards are responsible for Ersa's murder!" Erend replied.

"Please, Erend-san." Noelle reassured. "Calm down."

"The last thing I knew was that they ditched me here." Hermes replied. "Listen... You have to rescue her from those rogues. There is no telling what they're going to do to her." It added.

"We're also looking for Ersa-san's killers, as well." Asta remarked. "So much for us getting baited."

Meanwhile, Meliodas suddenly deduces what truly transpired from this suspicious scene, as he arrives at the group with an important piece of information.

"Erend-san." Meliodas called out. "I'm starting to suspect that you sister is not dead, but was held hostage, much like how Hermes-san mentioned about Kino getting abducted by the same people we just fought."

Erend then comes at the group with what looked like Ersa's helmet. "I thought she died in the field below, but it must have been there." He suspected. "All this trickery. For what? Feels like it's just torture to me."

"Not to mention they took Kino-san." Hermes replied.

"Then that means Ersa-san was also abducted, as well. She is not dead, and someone must be tricking us for the whole time." Noelle claimed.

"Look... She's dead!" Erend suddenly interrupted. "I saw her body in that state in Meridian with my two eyes!"

"Or is it?" Asta claimed sceptically. "Either someone used a switcheroo to switch her body into someone else that is exactly the same size, or it was magic." He added, albeit the last one was sarcasm.

"Maybe you should examine the body again?" Meliodas offered. "If we're wrong, then we're wrong. But just to be sure."

"So you're saying that she's alive, after all?" Erend questioned. "Listen, meet me there in Meridian. I'm going there and examine it again!" He added, before he took Ersa's helmet, as he is en route to Meridian.

"Hermes-san, don't get alarmed when we go there to Meridian." Noelle said. "I know the tribespeople there would be shocked to see a motorcycle, but we talked most of them out."

"I hope." Hermes replied briefly. "This world seriously is something else."

And with that, Asta, Meliodas, Noelle, and now Hermes leave Dimmed Bones, with Meliodas carrying it over, much to the shock of Hermes.

"What the?!" Hermes said. "Put me down, you arse!"

"No can do." Meliodas sarcastically remarked.

"None of us know how to use a motorcycle anyways, so Meliodas-san will carry you up to Meridian." Noelle said.

This only annoyed Hermes more, much to his dismay.

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The characters that appear in this chapter (in order):

Hermes from Kino's Journey

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A/N: This story is inspired by the ideas of someoneStupED and XP4Universe.

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On the next chapter of UF Missions: Horizon Zero Dawn: After discovering Ersa's murder to be staged, Asta's group later joins in with Erend to hunt down Dervahl, a dangerous Oseram, who is last seen in the Oseram border freehold of Pitchcliff, and find Ersa, They also have to find Kino, as well, who was abducted by Dervahl's Oseram contingent, after hearing from Hermes. However, their search takes a dramatic and twisted turn...