Naples pt. III/?
Author's Note: I feel it is pertinent to point out that I am an American and geography is my absolute worst subject, so if I royally screw up somewhere, please just leave a message in the reviews so I can reference it for future notice. Heh…
Liliana Kranjcar was not by any means an ordinary girl. An ordinary girl would never have earned the title of Great Knight or been called a witch in a non-slanderous way, nor would an ordinary girl have been able to witness a showdown between a god and a devil. And it was that same battle between a god and a Devil King that had left her so in shock. Initially she had been content to simply await her cue to come from the Campione Kusanagi Godou, but as the battle got longer and dragged more and more of the surrounding area into its destructive path she began to desire to interfere, to the point where the only reason she did not do anything when Godou's chest was pierced by the [Heretic God] Perseus' blade was because of the look he gave her telling her to stay back.
However, when the Devil King finally sent Perseus flying Liliana was no longer able to contain herself.
"Kusanagi Godou!" She cried out, hurrying over to the teenaged Devil King.
"A-are you alright!? You had suddenly stood still frozen, and then purposely took his blade, what were you thinking!" She scolded, momentarily forgetting that he was a King and she was merely a knight.
"S-sorry that I made you worry... Liliana, watch out!" Godou attempted to apologize, before taking notice of something behind her and shouting his warning.
Perseus had picked himself off the floor as though he had never been wounded.
"Hahahahahaha! I had originally wanted to just kill some time before my battle with Athena, but Kusanagi Godou, you've granted me some happiness! Fufu, the brave girl has come back? Very well, allow me to end this godslayer, and rescue the maiden!"
Perseus proclaimed, trying to boast of his honor, however, Liliana felt that there was something to correct in that statement.
"God Perseus, I'm very sorry, but please do not make such terrible jokes. I am the knight of Kusanagi Godou, there's no need to rescue me - !" She proclaimed, summoning her saber Il Maestro, while donned in blue and black battle gear.
"Ho, you're brave indeed, I like that personality!" The hero god Perseus proclaimed with a smile. "However, for a maiden held by a demonic entity to submit to me, it would be the same as the lovely Andromeda, to say nothing of your being a virgin maiden serving the great goddesses of the land. It is all the better for me."
Perseus' words were quickly filled with power, and Liliana began to feel herself fading away.
"The hands of a graceful maiden are ill-suited for holding a blade, it would be good to throw that kind of thing aside and await my victory." Perseus told her, and she found herself wanting to comply, after all, it was the role of the maiden to wait and be rescued by the hero was it not?
In a matter of moments, Perseus was speaking again, addressing the foul villain she was to be rescued from, however, at the sound of the Devil King's, no, her King's voice Liliana remembered something very critical, she was no mere maiden kidnapped by the dragon, she was a knight, and even if he was a called a villain, Kusanagi Godou was her lord.
"Hear the sorrow of David, people! Alas, may the heroes fall! Alas, may the weapons of war be destroyed!"
Liliana's voice resounded through the plaza as though she were singing.
"O' mountains of Gilboa, I pray that dew and rain will not fall upon your peaks! I pray that your lands grow infertile, unable to flourish! There, the shield of the hero was cast away! The shield of Saul, unpolished with oil, was cast away over yonder!"
The surrounding air slowly began to grow chilly; this bone-chilling cold was extremely similar to the [Spell Words of Golgotha] that Erica used.
For Erica's, the atmosphere was heavy with despair and hatred, that kind of sensation, however, for Liliana's, it was the anguish of the terrible melancholy of regretful departed spirits, an exclamation of warriors who tired of battle.
This description was fitting for the situation, an unbearable feeling that made one want to flee.
"... You actually broke out of my control?" Perseus asked as though shocked. The usually grand, magnificent, and handsome hero was confused for the first time.
"Undrinking blood of murderers, the unretreating bow of Jonathan! Unconsuming oil of the brave soul, returning the sword of Saul in vain! Alas, the heroes, fallen in the midst of battle!" Liliana continued while in her left hand, blue light began to gather, and a longbow as long as she was tall was formed and in her right hand that was also glowing with blue light, appeared four arrows.
"O' bow of Jonathan, with eagle's swiftness and lion's strength, a hero's weapon, go forth in assault, upon my fleeing enemies!" Finished Liliana and from the longbow that was a shade of rare blue, the four arrows were loosed, seemingly like comets. The arrows flew in an unnatural arc, aiming directly at Perseus.
The targeted Perseus displayed his superb speed, a brilliant white meteor that jumped aside at blinding speeds, dodging all the blue arrows.
However, one of the four arrows pierced into his left shoulder.
A visible look of pain was upon Perseus' face.
"Are you okay, Liliana!?" Kusanagi Godou asked of the maiden Great Knight.
"Of course, weren't you the one who taught me how to break out of it?" Liliana replied to Godou with a matter-of-fact expression, prompting a slightly embarrassed reaction from the Devil King.
"No, although that is... aren't witches unable to turn upon the heroes - "
"Not 'unable', but rather 'difficult to'. However, carved upon my heart, are feelings of burning flames. Even when facing a god, I cannot allow these feelings to be trod over... When I thought of that, the spell was instantly broken!" Liliana corrected, feeling herself getting carried away.
"Fe-feelings of burning flames?"
"Yes, my bonds with you... Yes, we are like a pair of birds flying wing to wing, branches of the same tree entwined together, no matter in life or in death, our hearts will be as one. Naturally, I felt that I could not let you fight alone." Liliana explained, an image of her king gloriously leading an army onto the battlefield with her at his side surfacing in the back of Liliana's mind, causing her face to heat up.
With a slightly unsatisfied expression Godou turned to face the oddly euphoric Perseus.
"Then, shall we clean him up, the two of us? That skill earlier, can you still use it?" Godou asked as though thinking deeply.
"Yes, one way or another, one more time is the limit." Liliana replied.
"Got it, then, use that last time to pin that hero-sama to the ground," Godou told her.
"... But, if I simply shoot him, he'll just dodge it just like last time."
"I'll go hold him down! Take the chance to attack then!" Godou declared as he marched towards Perseus.
Quickly enough Perseus and Godou were conversing again, however Liliana was no longer paying attention as she chanted the spell words to form her arrows.
"O' bow of Jonathan, with eagle's swiftness and lion's strength, a hero's weapon, go forth in assault upon my fleeing enemies!" She chanted, and in response arrows appeared in her right hand as she took aim.
"Thus speaketh Lord Mithra: May their bones be broken, may their spines be crushed, their tendons torn; their hair, brains, and blood mingled and trampled together with the earth! The one unblunted and unapproachable! Oath-breaking sinners shall be purged by the iron hammer of justice!" Chanted her Liege, adding his spell words of summoning as he called forth his beast, the black [Boar].
With a joyful roar the black beast began rampaging, stomping and thrashing as he destroyed the plaza while Godou fell exhausted to the ground. In any other time Liliana might have stayed at her lord's side to help him recover, however this time there was something far more pressing, the brown haired youth that had been brought along by Perseus to the battlefield. With suspicion towards the youth's involvement Liliana walked towards the boy who had been trussed up in a nun's habit, and oddly enough the look did not seem to out of place, indeed if his hair was a bit longer she would have thought he was a girl, but with its current length it was mildly awkward to see him in the outfit.
Before Liliana could approach close enough to apprehend and question the youth however a powerful presence tore through the destroyed plaza, a red blur landing at the side of the youth. As Liliana looked up at the presence she found herself shocked. He was exceptionally tall, much taller than the youth next him, who only came up to his collarbone. His hair was made of finely frosted snow with jagged spikes of ice and his skin was tanned to the point of nearly being burned. There was no doubt in Liliana's mind that the figure before her was also a [Heretic God] however he seemed inclined to ignore both her and her lord as his eyes of steel focused on the brown-haired youth.
"How are you feeling, Master?" The [Heretic God] asked the youth with a warm smile, one that almost completely derailed her train of thought before she realized just what that last word had been.
"M-master?!" She exclaimed in shock, pointing at the youth as her jaw dropped in astonishment.
"M-Master?!" A voice shouted off to the side of Hakuno Kishinami, causing him to look away from his former Servant and face the silver-haired girl he had encountered the evening before.
"Ah, hello," said Hakuno cheerfully, giving a cheeky wave with his left hand.
"Who are you that a [Heretic God] would call you his master?!" The silver-haired fairy-like girl exclaimed in shock, apparently not noticing as a much smaller girl appeared next to the unconscious Japanese youth who called himself Kusanagi Godou. Correction, that girl didn't feel human at all, in fact the air around her was heavy like it was around a Heroic Spirit, but he didn't remember any heroes that were little girls, besides that one chick Heracles wanted to marry at one point…
Shaking himself out of that analytical mindset which had often saved his hide during the War Hakuno smiled politely at the fairy girl and replied in the most formal words he knew.
"My name is Kishinami Hakuno, what is yours?" He asked the girl in keigo, formal speech, almost habitually as the younger girl walked up behind her with eyes focused almost entirely on Archer.
"Liliana Kranjcar, Great Knight in the service of the Bronze-Black Cross," The girl, Liliana, began introducing herself almost automatically in reply to his greeting before realizing what she was doing and shaking her head. "Wait, don't go changing the subject!" She shouted as she pointed at him.
"Truly, one would be more interested in the identity of the god willing to call a mere mortal by such a title." The little girl heroine next to Liliana added, and Hakuno had to fight down a chuckle at how the fairy-like girl jumped when she heard the other girl speak from right next to her.
"Athena, have you come to finish off my lord?" The fairy girl almost shouted as she jumped away from the other. Hmm, Athena was a true goddess, so Hakuno supposed she could have taken on the form of a middle-school student, though the idea seemed ridiculous. With that new thought distracting him Hakuno once again began silently analyzing and thinking, not even paying attention as the childish goddess kissed the Japanese youth while muttering something about a reward.
"Hakuno," Archer began haltingly, as though trying out the simple act of calling his former Master by name. "Perhaps we should leave now? I don't think we are needed here, and well, you need some more gender-appropriate clothes." The Heroic Spirit concluded and Hakuno nodded in agreement as the two of them walked away from the now crying female Knight.
【Some days after the defeat of Perseus and the appearance of the unknown [Heretic God], a report universally handed out by the Mage Associations of Europe. 】
At this time the exact nature of the [Heretic God] that manifested just outside the city of Naples, Italy, is still unknown, despite multiple attempts by several magic users possessing the disposition of witches, what is currently known is as follows:
The deity possesses white hair cut short which stands up into spikes.
The deity in question possesses oriental features and is exceptionally dark-skinned, bearing skin coloration almost more in tune with strong burns.
Nearly all found footage of the [Heretic God] show the deity in the company of an unknown Asian youth of exceptionally nondescript features, identified by Bronze-Black Cross member Lilliana Kranjcar as a person using the name Hakuno Kishinami. No information about the youth including a birth certificate, exact age, or personal history, have been located, and other than being repeatedly seen in the presence of the unknown [Heretic God] and brief contact with Perseus no outstanding traits have been noted.
The unknown deity is currently operating under the alias of "Archer" according to eyewitness testimony.
Magical attempts to spy upon the [Heretic God] have resulted in the deity creating a dagger of exotic design and thrusting it towards the viewer, at which point the spell cuts out, it is believed that the god is somehow directly destroying the spell itself.
Based on the god's current rate and direction of travel, it appears to be using mundane means to travel towards the island nation of Japan, the territory of the most recent Campione, Godou Kusanagi.
Author's Notes: This chapter was just another giant pain in my rear end, first this was supposed to go up on Christmas, around the time I finished the Odyssey but character interaction between Archer and Hakuno somehow managed to strangle my muse to death. In one of the initial drafts of this chapter Hakuno began diverging almost completely from his canon personality, becoming an avid bookworm and a mythology otaku. This is most likely how he will remain in this series, keeping the spitfire personality demonstrated in chapter one as well. Also on the subject of Hakuno I have been trying to figure out since chapter one how to keep his from falling to the wayside in epic clashes between Archer and the gods and Campione. My first idea was to have Hakuno regain his code casting abilities but due to his not possessing any natural circuits that idea kind of died out on its own and in the end all I could come up with was Hakuno becoming a Campione himself and fighting alongside Archer as a supporter, since I really can't afford to allow Archer to get slain very easily since he is actually supposed to be the main POV character once I can start getting everything together.