NOTE: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR BERSERK. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima and Berserk belongs to Kentaro Miura.

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Slowly, the girl opened her one remaining eye as she regained consciousness. She was lying face down on the ground.

Sandy ground.

She felt a rise from the ocean waves licking her legs. She lifted her face from the sand, before using her arm to wipe the sand from her cheek.

The arm that still held a slave shackle on her wrist.

She sat herself up on the coast of the beach, looking upon the night sky above her; the full moon shining its pale light down on her. The girl looked behind in the direction of the wide ocean ahead of her. The dark blue waves that stretched out for miles and so far.

No sign of the tower.

No sign… of her friends.

The girl shakingly lifted her hand to her face. Her finger brushing past the bangs of her crimson red hair to the spot that was supposed to be her right eye.

Or what would have been her right eye… if not for the white eyepatch covering the wound…

With it… the girl started to remember… all that had happened before… and how her being on the sandy shore of the mainland meant…

With that, the scarlet-haired girl kneeled and started sobbing.


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'I don't know… where I am.'

'I don't have anyone… or anything. Not anymore.'

'Why?'

'Why did he do this to me? To all of us?'

'I just wanted to save him. I wanted to save them all.'

'I'm all alone now.'

'I don't know… what to do.'

'I don't know where to go.'

'But… wait… there is…'

The redhead pondered as she kept kneeling on the sand, the sound of the waves behind her.

Even so with the decision she was most likely in favor of… the frown on her face did not fade. Nor were the tears that streamed down her cheeks dry yet.

Then came a faint rumble that spooked her out of her thoughts and wonder where it coming from, before looking down…

…at her tummy.

She was still hungry. And cold.

The girl sighed before found the strength to rise on her two feet and walk. Before long she departed from the beach and came upon a soft kind of ground…

She gasped… almost having forgotten the feeling after so long.

She rubbed her feet and curled her toes around the fur-like blades of green below. The girl realized that it had been so long since she laid her feet upon the green grass of the Earth.

It caused her to smile with awe at it, while bending herself down to place her palms upon the lush green grass. She even looked and reached for a dandelion growing next to a lone rock, watching as the wind caused its petals to scatter.

It wasn't long before the tears came again, and Erza Scarlet wept with bitterness and sorrow following in.


Erza had departed from the coast and made her trek into the woods ascending up the hill towards the mountains.

She was unable to find any signs of any civilization yet from where she was, even less any roads or signs. She would have to start walking in order to get closer to any sign of path she could take.

She moved up the grassy hill, careful of trees and rocks around her.

Erza became concerned that she may end up sleeping in the wilderness for the night.

It did not please her. She was still hungry, forgetting the last time she had taken a bite of something. She hoped… at least that she may stumble onto a berry bush. It was not uncommon that she made a habit of it back at her village. So, far none she could find. If worse, she may stumble upon an unforgiving batch of poison ivy.

Then there was the matter of keeping warm. The only clothing, she had on was the white shirt. The dirty white dress shirt that she had been wearing for… a long time. Being out here in the open wild was already cold for her like the first breeze of winter.

Erza sighed.

'I've slept in… worse…'

'At least… I don't have to sleep any longer… on a stone floor. Or behind closed bars.'

'But even then… at least I wasn't alone.'

Erza wiped her eye with her wrist.

Then came a yell.

Erza gasped.

Tchk!

"What? What was that?" Erza questioned as she heard the commotion coming from the direction of the bushes to her right.

Before long…

The girl gasped when a woman flailed her arms as she dashed from the trees and bumping into her.

The woman collided with the girl and rolled into the ground.

"AH!" the redhead cried as she felt the weight of the woman almost crush her to the ground.

"Wha… what the heck?!" the girl cried out as she felt the woman move off of her. "Watch where you're…"

The girl stopped as she took in the appearance of the woman.

It was a woman, well, as the girl could see, a young woman. A woman who looked to have already been in adulthood for several years, but still young. What stood out of the woman's appearance were her features: her olive skin, black almond eyes, and black hair that had been grown out yet looked very uncomely. The woman's attire was that of a brown robe that cover the whole of her body, except for her head; akin to that of a monk.

The woman seemed to be panting and breathing incessantly.

"Uh…" the girl stuttered. "Hey, are you…?"

"Wah?" The woman glanced at the girl. "Ah? Ah, ah?"

"Huh?" the redhead questioned. "Uh… ma'am… are you… alright?"

"Wah, wah, wah, oh," the woman repeated… nothing but…

Gibberish?

"Huh?!" Erza exclaimed, before standing before the woman. "Lady, are… are you okay? Is something wrong with your throat?" She extended a hand to her. "I can't understand you…"

"Awu! Awu!" the woman balled out with her hands, leaving Erza perplexed.

'What's wrong with her? I may think perhaps she is injured or perhaps she is feeling delirious, but this feels weird…'

Suddenly, an inhuman growl came, causing both Erza and the woman to look back… just in time for a black shape to spring from the bushes. It pranced on both fairs of paws, in a stance and glare towards the two.

"Oh, no…" Erza mumbled in fear.

It was a wolf.

And yet… it did not look like any other wolf Erza had seen.

It looked… far worse…

The wolf's face was twisted… looking more like a pudgy man's face than a canine maw. Its bared fangs were soaked in saliva… and its eyes were glowing yellow. Glowing eyes that were glaring back at Erza and the woman.

The sinister wolf made a bark, causing the woman to cry with obvious fear.

"Get back!"

Erza took initiative, and brought up her stick, while placing herself in front of the woman.

"Get back!"

Erza repeated, while feeling frustrated with only wielding a mere stick. A simple, weak, no-excuse of a twig.

If only she had a sword.

In fact, it was not so long ago when she wielded one. She even wielded two of them! And used them to slash and cut up the monsters that chained, whipped, and beat her…

'NO!' Erza shook her head. 'No time to think back to that… this is now. These are not slave drivers. They're wolves ready to rip us apart.'

The wolf in front of Erza dashed and took a bite for the stick.

"Argh!" Erza yelped as she felt her weapon being tugged by the gnarly teeth of the wolf. The girl and the wolf were locked in a tug of war for the stick.

Erza shifted up and the stick started cracking…

RIP!

The front top of the stick ripped open in splinters, causing Erza to fall back.

"AWU!" Erza turned to see the woman backing up, being approached by another ravenous wolf.

"Get away!" Erza dashed to the woman's side again and held out what was left of her stick toward the wolf. "Get away from her!"

Erza didn't see it coming…

…when another wolf jumped from her right…

…opening its jaw… before falling its teeth on her right arm.

"AHHH!" Erza screamed at the sudden pain, as both she and the wolf rolled across the grass.

'No! I didn't see another one coming. He came from the right. I could have seen it… if not for my right eye…'

The wolf was now on top of Erza, and still had its mouth on her arm, the teeth bleeding into the skin.

"Argh! Get off!" the girl lifted her splintered sticked, the broken section having been ripped into a sharper end… and started stabbing that end into the face of the wolf. "Get off! Get off!"

The girl stabbed pointy end into the wolf's cheek, then repeated at the nose, before getting blinking stab into the glowing purple eye… where the wolf finally recoiled away from Erza.

"Ergh!" Erza cried out as she held her now-injured right arm, which was now bleeding. She was at a disadvantage… when the now-angry wolf approached her again.

'This… This is it? This is how it ends for me? Just when… when I'm finally away… from the tower?'

'No… why should I be free… when everyone… back there… couldn't make it?'

The wolf pounced in the air…

'THIS IS IT!'

SLACK!

Erza's only eye widened.

Just while in midair… the mad wolf was hit by a projectile that sent it flying and hitting the bark of another tree nearby.

"?!" Erza gasped, before turning to the source of the projectile that saved her.

The woman was being cornered by the other wolves approaching her, until…

(Hai Yo - Berserk OST)

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A sudden black shape dashed from the trees, with one of its armored legs kicking one of the wolves to the ground.

All attention was turned to the new arrival.

All, including Erza, were in but awe and shock.

It was a man.

A tall man. Taller than any man Erza had seen by far.

He wore armor. Black, rough armor that covered his legs, torso, and shoulders, except for his right arm. Over his shoulders, was a long black cape that was darker than the night sky.

"Awu!" the woman cried out again at the sight of the man.

The other wolf nearby growled at the appearance of the man and started charging at the man from behind…

"LOOK OUT!" Erza cried out.

"Hmm…" the man only grunted as barely turned his one open eye when…

SLACK!

"!" Erza gasped when the man in a swift reflex, swung a small arrowhead blade flying through the air, before it struck the approaching wolf in the face.

The wolf cried out before it hit the ground. The man stomped before the injured wolf…

…before bringing his armored boot in the air and…

STOMP!

Erza gasped.

Without hesitation, the man stomped his boot hard on the wolf's head to the ground. Crushing. Erza could clearly hear the sound of the wolf's skull crack louder than a dozen eggs. The man repeated another stomp again. And then again for good measure, till Erza could hear the squishy sound of flesh mixed with bones.

"Errrr…."

Erza's widened as she turned her head at the sound of inhuman growls from behind her.

Eyes.

Yellow eyes. Purple Eyes.

Eyes focused now on her.

Coming out from the shadows were no longer wolves… but something worse.

Erza could look in horror at the human-shaped liked things. The walking shapes of decaying corpses come alive.

'No… it can't be. They're… they're the same as… the things the guards used on us… back at the tower!' her eye widened with fright. 'Are they here… no, don't tell me. Are they from that place?! Can they be here for…?'

Their skin was dark and grey, robbed of any skin color. Gashes of where skin should be were only patches of exposed bone and rotten muscle. Even their faces were sullen and stretched to expose the skeletons they were.

They were all focused now… on her.

KCHAK!

THUM! THUM! THUM! THUM! THUM! THUM!

Erza blinked, and then beheld multiple arrows… having struck and embedded themselves on the walking corpses.

'What?! Where did they come from? Are there archers here?!'

The girl turned, and her mind went baffled at the source of the arrows.

Not a group of archers, but all coming from one man. The same tall man… who lifted his black cloak… to reveal his strange metal-coated arm… fixed with a mechanical crossbow.

The man narrowed his only open eye… aimed…

KCHAK!

and fired again…

THUM! THUM! THUM!

Arrows blasted out repeatedly from the crossbow and toward the monsters in front of Erza.

The arrows were strong enough to shove several corpses back. Some blasted right through their decomposing skin, while others cracked through their skulls.

Erza gasped in awe. 'N… No way! How is he able to shoot so many arrows at once?! What kind of crossbow is that?!'

It wasn't over yet…

The tall man stomped over to Erza's side, the girl looking in awe at his height.

"Stay back…" the man said to her without need of glancing at her… before he walked toward the approaching horde.

He then reached up to the long-bandaged hilt behind his shoulder.

"!" Erza looked with alarm. 'That's it! He has another weapon. It has to be… his sword?'

The man pulled the hilt up from his shoulder, unsheathing a wide slab of iron from the black cloak…

'WHAT?!'

Erza's jaw dropped as the man's sword was being lifted and unveiled… and the size of it.

Finally, the man pulled out a long, thick, heavy blade that fell to the ground with a thud.

'What… is that?! Is that… supposed to be a sword?! It… that has to be… the biggest sword I have ever seen in my life! It could be fitting for a giant! But… but how is that man carrying it? That sword… it looks bigger than him! The size of it… and how wide it is. Even how thick it is! So much metal! How heavy is it supposed to be?'

The creatures rushed forward…

The tall man gripped the sword with both hands: his right and his left that was coated in metal.

Before the first creature could make a swipe at him…

The man swiped first…

…as he brought the great slab of sharp iron up and swung it…

….

SLAAAASSSHHHH!

…vibrating to a sound like that of a violent bell, it horizontally slashed apart the first row of creatures in half.

Time had slowed for Erza in that moment…

The girl stared at the bisected parts of the monsters flailing in the air. Their decayed innards and fluids spilling upon the slab of metal, the face of the man, and into the open air above Erza.

The time reverted back to its usual flow, as the man wasn't done yet.

The man pulled again at the giant sword to swing from left to right at the next row of creatures. Then another time, the swiftness of the sword cutting down a trio to ruin.

'How… how is he doing it?!' Erza's jaw trembled. 'Maybe… maybe he is strong to lift it… but how is he able to swing it back and forth so quickly for more strikes?!

'Could it be… magic? Is he a wizard?'

"Grr…" The man growled as he shifted the sword back and made a straightforward jab… into the belly of one of the undead. He growled as he heaved the great sword up and pointed into the open air for all to see.

Erza looked on in complete awe as the creature was still embedded at the tip of the sword, now struggling… all for naught… as the man brought the blade down unto the remaining group of creatures…

THUMP!

With another bell-like clang, the strike caused the ground to shake. Erza trembled and fell on her back. The man struck his massive sword into the incoming group of monsters before and smashed them with a force that sent them all to pieces.

Erza shivered and felt entranced by the destruction the tall man was inflicting upon the monsters, she barely noticed when…

"AH!" Erza cried out when she barely noticed a black tentacle zapping towards her. She dodged the thing and looked up with a widened eye.

The black vine had emerged from that of the grassy ground… rooting from… the root of a nearby… tree?

Erza gasped in horror.

Before her… was what supposed to be a tree… but now…

…like the wolves… and the corpses… it had come alive… as a monster.

Its roots were ripping out of the ground it had grown in, its trunk was swaying like a stomach, its branches were extending like dozens of tentacles and gnarly arms…

But the worst part… were the heads…

Sprouting out from the upper part of the wooden trunk like mushrooms, multiple round heads came alive. Their yellow eyes and mouths widening with excitement as they all gaze upon Erza. Their ghoulish looks and crooked smiles were like those of haunting jack-o-lanterns that were lit during the scariest night of the year.

The ghoulish branches extended toward her.

"!" Erza cried out as she got up and ran. "How can this be happening?! This can't be real! This can't be!"

"AWU!"

Erza turned to see that the monster tree had now directed its attention upon the gibberish woman, who was wailing and backing in fright. The woman appeared to be clutching her upper chest, as if she had been injured.

"Lady, get out here! Run!" Erza cried out.

The woman barely registered the girl's cries, as the ghoulish branches made their way towards her, ready to snatch when…

"Ergh!" Erza dash and jumped to push the woman out of the way. However…

"!" Erza cried out when she felt her ankle get ensnared by a wooden appendage. "No…" The wooden tentacle wrapped around her ankle, before it started to drag the red head away from the woman and across the grass. "No! No! No!"

Soon, more wooden limbs extended and grabbed hold of her, before lifting her up high into the air. Erza tried squirming, but only made the wooden branches tighten around her incapacitated limbs. She frozen when she was brought above the tree… facing the pile of ghoulish faces staring back right at her.

Their cracked, sinister smiles widened and glowed even more.

Erza felt herself being lowered towards them… their mouth opening back and forth… their teeth ready.

The girl gasped in horror. It was evident. Obviously, like the wolves and the corpses, they were truly monstrous and inhuman. And they were intent on devouring her.

"No! No!" Erza cried out as she squirmed again. "I won't! No!"

'No. I don't want to die like this! I have to break free! Right now! Or it's over!'

Her fists balled in fists.

'I just have to… break free. I know I can. I'm strong. Because… I have magic. I can… I can…'

"RAAHHH!"

Erza was broken out of her thoughts when she heard a man's roar. She turned her head to the side… to see the tall man.

The tall man running towards the tree monster… with his sword raised.

His hardened face… looking now…

…berserk.

The monster tree blasted a dozen branches towards the man. Just as the hand-like branches were but a foot from him… the swordsman reared his massive blade back… before…

SLASH!

…swiping it up and cutting through the ghoulish arms away. While the severed limbs were flying through the air, Erza noticed something to her shock.

The severed wooden branches were pouring out blood.

'BLOOD?!'

The tree's ghoulish faces hissed out in sharp pain and glared at the swordsman, who was not stopping his onslaught.

The swordsman went in to strike again with his long, giant sword, only for the tree monster backed away in time for the blade to scrape a cut on its bark. Once again, red blood poured from the wound.

The swordsman started circling around while keeping his blade up, until…

"AWU!"

Erza gasped when the gibberish woman who had been left alone… was still undefended.

"Casca!" the swordsman turned and yelled when he saw the woman approached by more walking corpses.

'There's still more of them?!'

The swordsman dashed from the tree, but not before the ghoulish attempted to reach him from behind…

The swordsman reared his sword back to sever at them…

Only for a gnarly root to pop out of the ground and hit him in the chest…

Which sent him him flying in the air…

'Oh, no!'

The swordsman rolled away a bit, before struggling to quickly recover. Erza realized that the hit had sent him away from his great sword.

This was bad.

The swordsman growled and made a dash.

The woman… now known to Erza as 'Casca' fell flat on the ground… the ghoulish beings hovering over her…

THUM! THUM! THUM! THUM!

The swordsman brought out his crossbow to start shooting bolts that hit them square in the face. Protecting Casca.

At the same time, he released the arrows, he had been running in the direction of his fallen sword, ready to retrieve when…

…when one of the tree's appendages sprout and curled around his boot.

The swordsman felt himself slip before he was dragged up into the open air. Before long, multiple branches swarmed and took hold of him, in the same way Erza was.

The ghoulish faces started cackling as they tightened their grip on the swordsman's limbs, making sure he could not use his crossbow or reach for one of his knives.

It was no use. It appeared that they were all done for. Erza's close her eyes in frustration and with imminent defeat. Before long, they will be lowered to be eaten and torn by this monster… in this horrid nightmare.

"Don't touch me…"

Erza opened her eyes, to see it was the swordsman who was speaking out.

"Who told you… you could touch me?"

"…" The ghoulish heads stirred.

"I said… DON'T TOUCH ME!"

The swordsman yelled in rage, before he bit down with his teeth on his cloak. Erza was confused by his action, before she looked to see caught in his teeth was a white string that trailed to that of his left arm…

His gloved hand of his left arm shifted… to flip down… and reveal a cylinder hole aimed to the side of the tree…

BOOOOOOMMMMMM!

Coming out was a ray of light first, and then a roar of fire that blasted straight from the swordsman's metal arm and into the faces of the ghoulish tree.

Erza felt the bonds around her come loose instantly and she was sent flying.

The explosion shrouded the area in a bright light that shone during the dark of the night. The smell of fire and burning wood, shortly before the inhuman shrieks blowing in the air.

Erza felt herself fall to the ground with a thud, her body feeling the effects of exhaustion after being ensnared, falling, and she almost forgot the bite wound on her arm.

"OH! OH! AW!" The girl turned to see the woman named Casca, fortunately unharmed, but looked with awe and fright at what had happened.

The girl then turned to see the swordsman, who was back on the ground… adjusting his metal left arm…

'…' Erza's eye trembled. 'How… he… he blasted fire… from his arm… almost like… a cannonball. How is that possible?'

Erza was broken from her thoughts when she heard painful cries coming from the dissipating smoke.

At the figure of the still alive tree monster…

A big section of its trunk and branches had been blasted and burned up. The wounds now looked and smelled more like that of black burning flesh than that of black burning wood.

'That monster is still alive?!'

The swordsman looked less surprised. He walked over to retrieve his great sword, before making his way to the wounded monster tree.

"Hmm…" the swordsman snorted. "I guess… with your vines squirming about me… my aim was a little off. Let me compensate for that…"

The swordsman growled one more time… before bringing his great sword and stabbing it into the heart of the tree monster.

The ghoulish faces cried out in pain as the man plunged and twisted the sword deeper into their flesh.

Erza looked on… as her savior kept pushing the blade deeper, causing more inhuman screams.

Before long, the swordsman pulled out the blade… before he lifted it up with both hands above the monster…

Then…

SKRAKK!

The momentum built was greater than that of a lumberjack bringing an axe down on a block of wood on the stump… as the giant blade was brought down and cut through the trunk of the tree. Cutting through the pile of screaming heads down to the root.

The trunk came apart, spurting out liters of blood. Even the faces had been bisected, and their remains falling onto the floor.

Erza's gaze did not leave that of the sight of before.

The tall man turned about, thus finally glancing back at her.

Erza could see the look on his face…

His face was hardened with sweat and adrenaline building up, his lips were in a thin line, while his left eye looked hard.

She noticed that not once. Not once had he opened his right eye.

The left eye showcased something else.

An eye of exhaustion.

An eye of determination.

An eye of rage.

It was those emotions… that Erza recognized seeing not long ago experienced…

When a power in her awakened in moment of despair.

And when she took hold of a sword for the first time… and raised it high for everyone to see.

And when she yelled with the newfound courage in heart ablaze.

Erza didn't realize she was blacking out, the exhaustion from all that happened to her taking hold of her. The image of the tall man rushing to her was that last thing she beheld before she lost consciousness…

THE BLACK SWORDSMAN: END


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(Waiting so long - Silver Fins)

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In Memory of

Kentaro Miura

(1966 – 2021)

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FLAP! FLAP! FLAP!

Popping up in front was a certain figure with shaggy blue hair, pointy ears, and flapping wings. He turned to the fourth wall, almost as if noticing it for the first time...

"WOW!"


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Posted as of 10/14/2023. Day of the Solar Eclipse...