Knight of Avalon
Chapter-10
Baobhan Sith, Kay
Shortly after the auction hall went dark, the screams of panic erupted.
Sith blinked in confusion at the pitch darkness around her and attempted to use magecraft, reinforcing her eyes to see better.
Even then, she only able to make out shapes, as the assassin immediately swung his blade and sliced an ashen knight in half. He then jumped off the stage and ran up the stairs towards the exit.
Sith immediately got up from her seat and jumped up, turning into a crow as she flew over the seats in pursuit of the assassin.
As they got out of the auction hall and into the main hallways, the darkness disappeared as Sith spotted the assassin running at high speeds towards the exit.
Sith shapeshifted back to her normal form and strummed failnaught, sending its projectiles at the assassin.
The assassin, however, whirled back and summoned a black bow partially made of ice and shot icy arrows that deflected Failnaught's arrows.
Sith growled as she landed on her, before her tentacles came out and batted away more arrows out of the air, before plucking failnaught's strings to summon a wall of strings blocking off the assassin.
The assassin stopped and turned around to look at Sith.
"Hm, draugr." The assassin spoke. Compared to their last meeting, his voice was much deeper and had a slight growl to it, unlike the more younger voice
"So we meet again, brute." Sith spat, remembering the humiliating defeat she suffered at his hands.
"Hm? Oh…you're probably talking about the smith. Well…I'm not him, so buzz off, you little shit."
"You're not going anywhere, brute." Sith spoke before grinning psychotically.
"We have so, so much to talk about."
"I don't. So fuck off." The assassin spoke before stomping his foot and sending ice spikes up at Sith who dodged them.
The assassin immediately ran towards the window and jumped out.
Sith ran after him and turned back into her crow and flew through the air, pursuing the assassin as he went out of The Dome and headed towards the upper-class mansions.
Many ashen knights on the field spotted him and raised their halberds, blasting bolts of mana at him.
The assassin deflected the bolts with a shield of ice, before rapidly firing arrows at the knights. The knights dodged some of them before the arrows embedded themselves in their necks.
The assassin then turned back and swung his blade, sending waves of darkness at Sith who barely dodged them before one particularly massive one forced her to change back to normal and block it with a web of strings.
Sith grunted as she tumbled to the ground before noticing the assassin scaling The Dome's walls in one leap and jumping off.
Sith turned back to a crow form and continue pursuing the assassin, as he now bounded across rooftops.
As she got close, Sith shot projectiles at the assassin again, who dodged them and stopped on a rooftop once more.
Sith settled down behind him as the assassin looked back, before deflecting more arrows from failnaught before suddenly disappearing.
Where did he go? Sith thought cautiously before she heard a soft hiss of the wind and the air grow cold.
Sith's eyes widened as she created a web of strings behind her just as the assassin's blade crashed against it.
The force of the strike tore through the web, but it saved Sith from being cleaved in half. The assassin's foot met her stomach and sent her tumbling back.
Stih growled as she got up. This fight was turning out just as humiliating as the previous one.
You're not getting away that easily! Sith thought as tentacles extended from behind her and fangs grew out of her mouth while failnaught glowed blood-red.
She was going to show this assassin what a grim fairy was capable…
"Huh?" Sith spoke as she found her body unable to move. On the other side, the assassin had his fist clenched, as Sith felt like something had grabbed her.
Come on! Sith throught, trying to shapeshift into her crow form, but of no use.
The assassin summoned another blade of darkness and dashed towards her, intent on separating her head from her shoulders when a spear of fire interrupted him.
The assassin jumped away as Sith spotted the pig's human slave come up, along with a human mage, another armored knight and a small fairy with a spindle.
The pig's slave swung his sword at the assassin, who deflected it with his blade and slammed his fist against the ground, sending a shockwave of darkness that sent the others flying back from him.
The assassin looked at the human mage for a brief moment, before nodding slightly and melting into the shadows, out of sight.
"No, no!" Sith exclaimed as the assassin disappeared.
Sith immediately turned her angered gaze towards the pig's slave.
"Why did you interfere, dog?! He escaped!" Sith snapped at him.
"So? Am I going to sit around and not confront him? Especially when he escaped with his little blackout?" The slave responded gruffly.
Sith snarled as Failnaught's bowstring glowed.
The human's sword in response ignited. Behind him, the human mage unsheathed a short sword with runes floating around her and the other knight unsheathed their sword as well.
I'll take all of you on! It's what you get for interrupting me! Sith thought, her mind clouded by rage.
She felt a lot stronger since she entered Murian's domain, and she was confident the her enemies had been weakened by its effects. So, the fight shouldn't be a…
"STOP!" A voice commanded as several ashen knights surrounded them, pointing their halberds.
"What are you doing, you ill-mannered brutes?!" Sith snapped. "I am the royal princess of Britain! How dare you raise your weapons against me?!"
"Camelot does not have authority here, leech." A familiar voice spoke as Sith looked up to see Murian floating above them with a cheeky smile.
"I thank you for trying to catch our valuable prize, but I think you all should catch your breath and not start a fight in my city." Murian spoke.
Sith opened her mouth to snap at Murian before remembering Woodwose's words about Murian.
"There's only one person in all of britain who can fight a Lord in their own city, and that's the High Queen. So for your mother's sake and your own sake, do NOT antagonize Murian in Gloucester."
Gah, Woodwose's getting to me! She though in irritation and kept quiet.
Murian smiled cheekily.
"Excellent. Now…all of you, back to the Dome~"
The pig's slave looked at Sith through his helmet, and Sith noticed a scarred eye staring at her with even more disgust than a usual fairy.
Hm, he seems to have a different reason to dislike me than other fairies. Sith thought.
Walking beside a bloodthirsty, psychopathic, brat princess who had taken the name of his comrade was not helping Kay's nerves.
Truth be told, he could have had the blind swordsman kill Tristan and then deal with him, but he hadn't really spotted Tristan and threw a fire spear impulsively to stop the blind swordsman.
"Well, this will be interesting." Habetrot spoke. "According to what I know, Murian has a…interesting throne room."
"Why's that?"
"...It's just…disorienting." Habetrot spoke.
Helga walked beside him, silent. She hadn't spoken ever since her little episode on seeing the blind swordsman.
I assume it's her eyes acting up. Kay thought.
"I am a völva, Briton. I am responsible for perceiving the world beyond what others can see to divine our destinies. Sometimes, I might be overwhelmed by the things I see."
That 'overwhelming' part must have happened to Helga.
All that Kay knew was that the blind swordsman was a servant. Beyond that, Helga had definitely seen more into who that servant is.
"Well, Helga?" Kay whispered into her ear.
"Care to explain?"
Helga looked at Kay in alarm. "...The 'Child of Prophecy' is not just a servant, they are a Divine Spirit."
"Perfect. So it's even worse than I thought. Do you know which one?"
Helga pursed her lips.
"...Yes. In fact, it's one that I have a history with."
"..."
"Hödr. The Aesir of darkness and winter." Helga spoke, her voice going quiet and almost melancholic.
Kay noticed Helga's expression turn sorrowful.
"Bad memories?" He asked softly. "Did you meet him before?"
"Once." Helga spoke. "Kay, please…just don't bring it up. I-I don't want to think about that meeting again."
"..."
"..."
This is getting more and more worrying. Kay thought as the Silent Knight walked behind them.
"Come on in, all of you! We have much to talk about." Murian spoke.
"...Especially you, leech." She told Sith who simply glared at her.
"Um, Lady Murian?" Kay spoke up. "We're walking towards a…"
Kay's voice died out as he spotted a tiny set of wooden doors that could fit only a bug in front of them.
Kay only stared at it.
Is that a bloody fairy door? Kay thought, looking at the tiny door in front of them.
Kay immediately remembered him, Artoria and Merlin finding one near Camulodonum and bumbling into a Seelie Court. He could feel the shivers coming from old memories.
Murian turned back and smiled at them before Kay's world turned into a chaotic mess of colours distorting about.
Kay blinked at the onslaught of colours before he, Tristan, Helga, the Silent Knight and Habetrot found themselves standing in a small cage, connected to a pole and hanging over a garden of giant flowers.
Kay's eyes looked over the garden to see a wooden throne with Murian sitting on it. However, it seemed as if they had been shrunk to the size of ants.
"Welcome to my throne room, respected guests." Murian spoke with a carefree expression as she rested her face against her hand.
Helga looked around in slight worry as Murian got off and flew up to them.
"Excuse the rather odd landscape. I am the last member of the Wing Clan. One wrong move, and we'll disappear from history like the Rain and Mirror clans."
Well, this all looks like a giant case of paranoia. Kay thought as Murian looked at them.
"You know, I enjoy it when fang clan members visit the throne room. Seeing those bloodthirsty savages whimper in fear as they realize how easily I can kill them can be…vindicating."
Oh, perfect. Not only is she cunning, she is also paranoid. Kay thought shaking his head.
"Lady Mur…"
"Ah pap pap! Let the lord speak first." Murian spoke. "First of all, I welcome you to gloucester, companions of the Child of Prophecy."
Kay's eyes widened. "How did you…?"
"I know things. You see, the 'child of prophecy' I was auctioning was sold to me by a mysterious merchant who came to Gloucester. They found him after our dear Tam Lin Lancelot so unceremoniously dropped him into the Abyssal pit. But of course, I discovered he wasn't the real deal. I was of course annoyed, but that merchant vanished in thin air before I could let him know about my irritation."
Murian laughed.
"An interesting fellow, that merchant…how many centuries it has been since someone fooled me as quickly as that merchant did. Quite the silver tongue they had."
"As for you? Your little escapade at Salisbury became gossip for a lot of people here in Gloucester. Some of it just happened to reach my ears." Murian spoke with a smile.
Tristan
"So, you know who we are?"
"Yes."
"And since you haven't tried to hand us over to Woodwose, I assume you want something from us?" Kay asked.
Murian grinned. "Good, you understand it. Very well, I shall give you a little teaser." Murian spoke as a mirror floated in front of Kay.
The mirror's surface rippled to reveal a young red-haired girl in a black jacket and grey skirt sitting in a carriage with a number of Wulf soldiers. Beside her was…
"...!"
"Camelot found these two wandering in the Cornish Woodlands only mere days back. Right now, they are being taken to the imperial capital. You know what that means, don't you?"
Kay's mind immediately went to Artoria, Mash, Puck and Da Vinci entering Cornwall, before he looked at Ritsuka Fujimaru and the real Tristan sitting in a carriage headed for Camelot.
Damn it! They don't know Ritsuka's no longer in Cornwall anymore! Kay thought.
Tam Lin Tristan stepped up. "The pig's in cornwall?!" She hissed as Murian laughed.
"And that blows apart any chances of you going after her, leech. Sorry." Murian spoke as Tristan growled.
"But anyways, I shall talk to you in a moment. First, let me speak to the others." Murian spoke before snapping her fingers as Tristan disappeared in red particles.
Murian shifted her gaze back to Kay.
"You should know the Nameless Woods' abilities to wipe minds is dangerous enough…but should the child of prophecy set foot in the Lost City, she will find some…nasty things there."
Kay looked at Murian. "What?"
"Don't you know? Salisbury wasn't the original capital of the wind clan. The old one's name has been lost in time ever since it's destruction. And now, it is nothing but a ruin hidden deep within the nameless woods, haunted by the aftermath of the Calamity of tears. And if you find it…just know your very existence will be forgotten by the world by the end of it."
Calm yourself, Kay! Artoria…Artoria will be fine! She has help! Kay thought.
"Kay, don't panic." Helga spoke putting a hand on Kay's shoulder.
"If you want to get your friends out, you all need to do but use a mirror. But…you have to find the faker before he starts wreaking havoc across my city."
Kay looked at Murian, aghast. "You…You stopped us from catching him. We had him!" He snapped.
"And do you think he would have gone down without causing enough property damage to put a financial headache on my head for the rest of the year?" Murian spoke.
"You should know Gloucester property doesn't come cheap, and I'm expected to pay up considering the faker was property of the Dome."
Ah, damn this…wait a minute. Kay thought as he replayed Murian's statements.
Kay closed his eyes before the corner of his lips twitched upwards.
He looked at Murian. "Very well then. We'll find him."
"Kay…" Helga spoke. "Is this fine? Lord Hödr might not be willing to go back."
"I know what I'm doing. Trust me, Helga."
"You'll be with our little princess as a companion." Murian spoke as Kay shook his head.
"...Excuse me?"
"The more the merrier, no?"
"...Fine. Tam lin Tristan can help us as well."
"Good, at least you are reasonable. Speaking of which…Koyanskaya! Come out, what's the problem?" Murian asked.
Koyanskaya? Isn't that…?
Kay's eye stung again as Cath Palug's glowing eyes appeared in his vision.
Kay's forehead broke out in cold sweat, as Helga and the Silent Knight tensed in alarm.
All of them had felt something big materialize with them, and out of them, Kay was the most familiar with it.
That aura… Kay looked to his left to spot a tall woman with pink hair and yellow eyes in a green victorian dress frowning at him, holding a cane.
"Ah, yes. Meet Koyanskaya, my…business partner, you could say." Murian spoke with a smirk.
"Although…she usually gives a mocking smirk, not icy glares. Do you two have a history?" Murian spoke as Kay stared at this Koyanskaya scowling at him.
W-Why does she remind me of Cath Palug? Kay thought, before grunting as Cath palug's eyes flashed in his vision again.
"Hm…Murian, I would appreciate it if you took away the knight's blade." Koyanskaya spoke as Murian tilted her head.
"Really? Whatever is wrong with…" Murian stopped as she looked at Kay's sword.
"...What is that?" Murian whispered, taken aback for the first time.
Murian blinked before Kay's sword floated out of its sheath.
"Hey!" Kay tried to reach for his sword, but it simply floated away from his gasp and towards the cage's iron bars. Murian leaned in, her purple eyes glowing with letters as she inspected the sword.
"...I see…"
"No wonder Koyanskaya's worried…"
"But where did you…?"
Murian muttered to herself, inspecting the sword.
Once she was done, Murian sent Kay's sword back into it's sheath.
"Where did you get that blade?" She asked with a frown.
Kay's eyebrows rose up, as he glanced at Helga, who nodded slightly with pursed lips.
"The blade is a normal blade I made with my father. It was Helga and another mage named Merlin who further enchanted it." Kay spoke as Murian looked at Helga.
"Human…care to explain the rune I saw inscribed on that sword?" She questioned with a serious expression.
Helga looked down for a moment, her eyes filled with doubt, before she stared at Murian with a frown.
"It is a gift."
"From whom?" Murian questioned further.
"...A benefactor."
Murian continued staring at Helga. "...Do you know that rune is concerningly similar in power to the mors curse?"
Kay's head snapped towards Helga, who stared impassively at Murian.
He could see Murian was concerned about that. The trump card that helped him slay Cath Palug. But for it to be compared to the Mors Curse…how was that possible? The Mors Curse doesn't have any connections to the runic enchantments Helga put upon the blade.
"...Yes."
Murian floated back and looked at Kay.
"I thought your blade was just a little metal prick that could shoot off flames. But the flames are just a cover for the darker power that hides inside."
Murian leaned in. "If you use that rune's power even once…I will not hesitate to bring Camelot's wrath down upon you."
Oh… Kay thought. It must be really bad if Murian, who he could see didn't like Camelot's Authority, was willing to cooperate.
Murian shook her head before smiling. "But anyways…do be quick. Time is ticking for your friends. Now shoo!"
Kay, Helga, The Silent Knight and Habetrot noticed their hands turning to pink particles.
"After this…don't come to my city again!" Murian spoke.
Kay gave one last look to Koyanskaya before his scarred eye glowed purple.
Huh…why does she have a slight aura of death around her? Kay thought before his world went white.
"Sir Kay." Koyanskaya spoke as Murian looked down at her.
"No wonder I was getting a sense of caution." She spoke.
"Do you two know each other?"
"No. But…he is known for killing someone very similar to myself."
"I see. With that blade of his…I can see how he did such a thing."
"It definitely is a nordic rune. But it's power…it is not ordinary." Koyanskaya spoke.
"Not to mention the material…"
"Reminded me of the Great Sea Beast's bone." Murian grumbled.
"What happened to Albion's skeleton?"
Koyanskaya scowled. "Someone came in, undid all my work and erected a barrier to keep me out."
"Is it strong?"
Koyanskaya growled lightly. "Don't ask. I have been trying for the past week and I haven't even made a little dent on whatever bounded fields that's been made up."
"Water mirror?"
"Does not work. The bounded field is strong enough to block out any types of spatial transportation and does not seem to even care about the lostworld's influence. In fact, I wouldn't even call this a simple bounded field. This is more like a domain."
"Hm…Well, I can't really convince the High Queen to look into it. She's focussed on the coming Calamity."
"Whatever. If I can't get past that bounded field, I don't have anything to do."
"Then relax. We'll see what to do about that issue later. Right now, keep an eye on Kay and his group."
Albion's corpse, North of Forest of Yorkshire, 2019 EoHQ:
"You sure that fox won't attack?" A voice spoke.
"No. Thanks to her little fight with Chaldea on Olympus, I've got a good read on her limits. She won't be getting past the barrier. Besides, she left a mess behind." Another voice spoke.
"Really?"
"Yeah…this is the work of someone who doesn't know how to handle dragon corpses."
"Well, this particular dragon is special."
"Don't sweat it. I've worked with primordial creatures and substances before. This is but a husk of the creature. It's easier to shape it into something knew, but I'll have to start tweaking the skeletal structure before we implant the core. How's the child of prophecy doing?"
"Not great. She just entered the Nameless Woods without knowing that her targets are already headed to Camelot."
"Hm." The first voice spoke before walking up to Albion's fangs, ignoring the mors pools around them.
"Just a bit more time before the calamity strikes Norwich. Then we can start reshaping the world."
"That is, if the child of prophecy makes it out of Cornwall alive.
A/N: Ah, it's been some time. Blame me for recently getting Hollow Knight and the Ace Attorney trilogy and spending my time playing through them rather than updating my fanfics for the absence. Anyway, now that we've hit the 10-chapter mark, I'll go back to updating my other fanfics. Knight of Avalon shall be updated alongside them.
Since so many reviews mentioned it, I'll just scrap Kay's deduction segment. Truth be told, I felt it was a bit off but I wasn't sure about cutting it out and kept it in. At least your reviews pretty much tell me otherwise.
The chapter features A short battle between Sith and Muramasa, except it isn't. I'm pretty sure the 'blind god of war' Muramasa talks about is Hödr. The blindness, causing the Twilight of the Gods (AKA Ragnarøkr/Ragnarök). Dead ringer for Hödr, and I suppose the 'war' bit comes from one of Hödr's Kennings 'Hödr of Battle'.
After that, Kay meets Murian and Sith joins Kay's group to find Hödr. Again, now that I've established Helga's relation with Kay, it's time I sat down and started fleshing out my OC.
Now, we switch perspectives to Artoria's group and what waits for them in Cornwall.
Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!
Foot Notes:
Nothing for now.
Response to Reviews:
Kleave Guy: Until Strike Fire attacked and wiped out Strike Water and Strike Earth. Now, it competes with Strike air in a brother-sister rivalry. This is the story of the Strikatar.
: Yep, indeed.
Awarboah: Glad to know.
Guest: No. I looked through previous chapters, and I can confirm Kay did not know about the bells beforehand.
THOTSLAYER9000: Again, no one really cares for any character a few chapters after their introduction. It's my responsibility as a writer to make my readers care about my characters.
NotSpecialDude: Don't worry. I'm not kicking out Muramasa. He'll still be present for a lot of the storyline. And while LB6's theme is about responsibility, this fanfic's theme is slightly different. Responsibility will be more of a secondary theme.
Boogy Woogy: Yep. That's what I've shown so far about George and Sith's relationship.
TalonScythe: Yep. That's what it is.
Pelican117: Got it. I'll just scrap out the deduction segment.
Axel the Moon: Ah, I won't ask what you think SK is, and I request you not to really write down your thoughts in another review. If you're right, it could become a huge spoiler.