This chapter has been edited (A/N: This chapter has been reuploaded, thank you reviewer for pointing out the missing chapter!)
The group and remaining soldiers hurried to another area. As they grew closer to the Breach, corpses were appearing in their way. Arturia slows down before ever entering through the collapse stone walls with an open way, a huge spike resigns in the walls, Arturia stared at the structure before laying her sight at the corpses, their flesh burnt to a crisp, the bones were visible and the skin was still attached, these people must have suffered instant death from a blast, no doubt from the sudden destruction that has created the Breach.
The blonde internally grimaced at the sheer amount of death all around her, all too familiar with it all. Having personally led and fought in more wars than she would have personally liked, the King has gotten used to such a scene. She had to in order properly do what she needed to do, she did have a kingdom to run after all. Sadly, that didn't make such loss of life any less tragic in her eyes.
"This is where they found you."
The voice takes her out of her thoughts, Arturia turns to Cassandra.
"You were laying there, they say two women were behind you, and you had on a blue dress and armor, a golden sword in hand."
"...Did anyone describe what either of the women looked like?" Arturia asked. Her eyes focused on the huge spike.
"Both wore white clothing, that was all they could see before they disappeared. Including your armor."
"You're getting more interesting by the minute," Varric said to Arturia.
"A golden sword..." Solas whispered, seemingly lost in his mind for a moment before catching up with the group as they pass through the entrance of the recently ruined temple. With Arturia leading, she walks around a corner, and a few more burned corpses comes up until they at last arrived to the sight of their destination.
From a level down, many emerald shards all cluttered together, formed into this large structural tower, and at the tip of it, a faint spiral of green light connects to the cloudy sky, where the large portal is embedded within. The Breach.
"The Breach is a long way up." Varric comments as he looked at the glowing disaster and the effects it's doing.
Indeed. Arturia wondered how do they plan to get her close to that, much less seal it.
"You're here! Thank the Maker."
Everyone turns their sight from the Breach to the approaching Leliana followed by other soldiers. Arturia's eyes lightened with small hope that the woman has her sword. Seeing the eyes of Arturia, Leliana almost attempted to avoid them.
"I'm sorry, I have my men searching for your sword, they will come to me should they find it."
The hope dulls but not completely diminished, although she is coming to a bitter thought that she may not feel the grip of Excalibur any time soon, if at all. She cannot lose that sword, not when she needed it the most.
"Leliana," Cassandra spoke to the hooded woman, "Have your man take position around the temple."
Leliana nodded and goes to speak with the soldiers. Cassandra looks back at the source of the massive rift in the sky, and then to Arturia. The blonde knight had her eyes on what was right there just below them until Cassandra came in her view.
"This is your chance to end it. You managed this far without this sword you wanted. Are you ready?"
Arturia gave one more look at the sky, and she nodded. Even without Excalibur, she has become more than adept with the weapon she has now, it will do for whatever may come, even though it would easier if she were in her prime.
"Is there a way to get up there?" Arturia questioned.
"No," Solas answered, "The Rift was the first, and it is the key." He referred to the large green shards which is by far the closest that they can reach. "Seal it, and perhaps we seal the Breach."
"Then lets find a way down, and be careful." Cassandra said, Arturia nodded in agreement.
"Now is the hour of our time."
Suddenly, a deep echoing voice reached everyone's ears.
"Bring forth the sacrifice."
Arturia and the others listened, frowning. "What are we hearing?" Cassandra stared at the rift where it seems the voices are coming from.
"At a guess," Solas said, "The person who created the Breach."
No one needed to spoke their feelings that perhaps they should hurry, more so than before. They head down a path where it should lead them to the lower level and to the area where Arturia may seal the Breach, passing by pieces of broken walls and large stones that has the liking of veins on them which glowed an eerie green, what was left of this now ruined temple. Through the fog of dust, they passed by soldiers whom carried bows and arrows, stationed to attack whatever will approach from the Breach. As they proceed, Arturia saw something red in the midst of the fog, coming closer to it, the red glow is revealed to be coming from the ground and rocks.
Though Arturia has no idea what this was, she was unsettled by these rocks which she feels are radiating heat, actually more disturbed by it then the environment she's in entirely.
"You know this stuff is red Lyrium, Seeker." Varric said to Cassandra, addressing the red rocks.
"I see it, Varric."
Arturia turns her head slightly, "Red Lyrium?"
Solas answered, "They're red crystals which are known to allow spirits, more likely demons, to interact with the physical world." He looks over the red crystal, and a much larger one came in sight, "Magic could of drawn on Lyrium beneath the temple, corrupted it..."
"It's evil is what they are," Varric surmised, "Better not touch it."
Arturia took the advice and distance herself from the red Lyrium by a couple of feet. They made it to the stairs leading downwards, and the voice of the Breach returned.
"Keep the sacrifice still."
They all got to the bottom of the stairs when a new voice is heard, a woman's voice.
"Someone, help me!"
Shock and recognition shots through Cassandra, "That is Divine Justinia's voice!"
The group reached to a ledge and the ground was close enough for all of them to jump down safely, upon doing so, they slowly approached the source of the Breach.
Arturia studies with a frown the multiple green shards, lights flickering and sprouting out, shards minimizing and then suddenly expanding. She felt her marked hand twitched and she looks at it, watching it as the same color as the Rift flash from her hand.
"Someone, help me!" The voice of a woman is heard again. And then, a new voice.
"What's going on here?" Whoever it was, they came in answer to Justinia.
An image then shows from above the Rift, and many gripped to there weapons out of instinct.
A vision is shown, unfolding an event, a large figure cloaked in shadows and empty eyes looks down upon a captured old woman in red and white robe, her arms is spread out with a magic chain surrounding them, holding the woman in place. The woman was looking up to the being in fright. And then came a new person.
"What's going on here?!" The person was a mage, he had already had his hands on his staff, glowing with power and ready to help the Divine Justinia.
"Run while you can! Warn them!" The woman begged to the mage.
"We have an intruder." The being made of shadow faces the mage, "Kill him, now!"
A white flash blinded the group, and the vision itself breaks before disappearing.
A moment of stunned silence, "What are we seeing?" Cassandra is swarmed with her own thoughts, what is going on? Who attacked? What happened to Justinia? She turns to Arturia. "What HAPPENED here?!"
Arturia calmly faces Cassandra, "I don't know. I was never here. Though, it seems we've found the culprit behind all of this."
Solas steps forth, "What we just saw were echoes of what happened here. The Fade bleeds into this place." He steps closer to the Rift. "The Rift is not sealed, but it is closed...Albeit temporarily. I believe that with the mark, the Rift can be opened, and then sealed properly and safely. However, opening the Rift will likely attract attention from the other side."
"That means demons. Stand ready!" Cassandra ordered the people around her. Soldiers on the ground stood side by side, swords raised, while Archers on higher levels find their positions and remains, pulling the arrow back with the string of the bow, their aim at the Rift. Cassandra takes a stance, Solas and Varric readied their weapons, and Arturia follows everyone's actions, clutching to her steel sword. Looking over to Cassandra, the warrior woman nodded in confirmation that everyone is ready, and Arturia approaches the Rift.
Raising her marked hand, she focuses on the Rift, and immediately power surges through her veins. Her marked hand glows, a stream of light shot out, connecting to the Rift, a few seconds went by, and the Rift sets off a small blast.
It was open, instantly, something shoots out.
Appearing in front of the Rift, a large demon is revealed. It roared as it landed on its feet, causing a tremor to which some soldiers balance wavered from.
"A Pride Demon!" Someone shouted. The demon had seven small black eyes, pale skin but bulging with dark spikes on it's shoulders, spikes coming out from the elbows as well on the thighs down to the knees, horns on the top of its head that was covered in blue sparks of magic. Arturia tightened her grip of her sword and her instincts warns her to be at her most defensive, she has not faced such a creature before, not in her life-time or in the Holy Grail War, but she will not allow herself to be intimidated.
"Now!" Cassandra raises her mace, signaling the Archers to fire at the Pride Demon. The Archers did just that, but the demon merely swatted them away. Though the arrows were able to hit it, it did no damage, its armor incredibly strong.
All the archers including Varric continued to fire arrows at the demon, Arturia, Cassandra and other soldiers ran to the side of the demon with their weapon ready to strike. Cassandra brought her mace down to the Pride Demon's knee but it did little damage, she barely managed to dodge the attack of the Pride Demon who brought its fist down, breaking the ground. Arturia took the demon's distraction by Cassandra as an opportunity and struck its side, but it was the same as when Cassandra tried to attack it, she jumped away a few times with a huff of breath to regain her stamina. Solas shot out ice magic to freeze a limb of the demon, but it did little effect, not even slowing it down.
"We must strip it's defenses. Weigh it down!" Cassandra ordered.
Arrows, Magic, Close Range Weapons were used, but the demon did not waver from any of them at all. Brave soldiers who were close to the demon were all swatted away, earning many broken bones and even instant death. Frustration builds within Arturia as she continuously tries to think of a way to somehow pierce through the Pride Demon's defenses.
"Magic or physical attack will do little to no damage to it!" Solas announced. Arturia focuses on the demon and from seeing the arrow bounce off the demon's skin, something close to that of a barrier shines, sparks of magic surrounds the Pride Demon but not truly affecting it. Magic and Physical Resistance, quite impressive too. This would prove to not only be difficult, Arturia can't see how it can be possible to break through this barrier with her current strength.
"Arturia!" The Elf Mage calls to her, "You must use your mark on the Rift, affecting it will affect the demon's immunity!"
"Do it then! Disrupt the Rift!" Cassandra yells.
The Knight glances at the Rift, her attention returning to the Pride Demon who to her surprise, has blue sparks surrounding its arms. Her instincts screamed at her to jump aside.
The Pride Demon shot out two streams of lightning, Arturia ran to the side and kept running as the stream of magic follows her before the attack stopped. That's when she started running towards the large demon, with Cassandra joining her. They both held their weapons up and with it, they strike the demon's knees once they were close, it merely shrugs it off and landed a decent hit to Cassandra with its fist, Arturia could not stop to see if she was all right, narely avoiding getting skewered by the Demon's claws, and earning a scar to her temple from its nail, blood fell from it.
Many soldiers came to her aid. The Pride Demon's distraction towards them led an opening for Arturia to run pass it, she does so and was finally underneath the Rift, but at the cost of three soldiers lives who bravely fought against the large demon. She will not let those deaths be in vain, she reached out, power surged through her veins, and a stream of light attaches from her marked hand to the Rift until an explosion. It did not completely sealed it, but it turned the tides in fighting the Pride Demon, as one soldier manages to slash the Pride Demon's side, and blood spurts out at last.
The Pride Demon reacted in pain, smacking the soldier aside. Acknowledging its defenses are down, it began to attack more fiercely, Cassandra returns after recovering from the Pride Demon's attack and landed a hit with her mace to its knees once again, Arturia soon joins the fight alongside Cassandra and together, more and more soldiers came in to fight the demon more bravely now that its deposition of invincibility is dropped, with arrows actually piercing the large demon.
The Pride Demon releases a wave of lightning to discard the closest fighter, Arturia had only doubled back a few feet before it had done this, the magic attack harmed and killed a couple of soldiers instantly, as for the ones who survived, they were crushed by the foot of the demon, hearing their bones bring let out a inhumane laugh from the creature.
The sense of humor of this demon admittedly made Arturia's blood boiled, she gets close to the Pride Demon again, and thrusts her sword into its abdomen, a bold move which earned her being swatted away with a kick, her armor took most of the damage, but the attack had her lose her breath, she quickly regains herself and goes back in.
Varric got closer and he repeatedly fires arrows aimed at the face of the Pride Demon, one arrow hits one of its many eyes, the demon raises its hand and blocks the other arrows, baring through the piercing pain. Solas shoots out more ice magic from his staff, freezing one knee of the Pride Demon which slows down the creature. Taking plenty of damage, the Pride Demon surrounds itself in a wave of electricity.
"Get back!" Arturia called the order out before Cassandra, and everyone complied. Some have been shocked but it wasn't fatal, though they are stunned and had to be pulled back by other soldiers for them to recover. The Pride Demon knelt down and shield itself with its arms from anymore coming attacks.
Arturia wishes to end this, so using with every bit of strength she has to deal great damage, she was the first to go back in, raising her sword, she brought it down to the demon's arm.
But rather than leaving a wound, her blade simply bounced off. Shocked at the sudden return of defense, there wasn't enough time for her to understand that the Rift had return to an active state and she needed to affect it again so that the Pride Demon's defense can be lowered. Arturia had to retreat, it was then that the Pride Demon suddenly lifted it's head. Turns out it wasn't defending itself, it was prepping itself, and it charged.
Arturia managed to make a side-stepped to not be in the way of the demon's charge, but seeing that she is still open for an attack, she raises her sword in defense as the demon comes closer.
Unfortunately, the sword she held to could not take any more beating, during it's charge, the Pride Demon raised its claws, balling into a fist, it shot for Arturia, from fist to blade and from the impact of the demon's punch, her steel sword broke and she earned an impact to her ribs. The crushing blow had the wind knocked out of her, she flew back twenty feet, her back smacked to the stone wall, she fell to the ground on her knees and coughed out blood, her vision went hazy and it was difficult to breathe, the strap that held her hair together into a ponytail snapped, letting her hair fall to her shoulders.
She could hear the call of her name, but it was like that of a person deep within a cave, echoing and very faint despite it being a scream. She kept herself up with her hand to the ground but her arm is shaking, coming close to give out any moment. Arturia cursed at her poor state, she cannot let herself be defeated this way.
"Arturia!"
With a shaken body, the Knight can barely register who's voice that was despite being it sound so close.
"Your sword!"
Her head snaps to the direction of the voice, which she found to be Leliana's, running across from above ground and holding...
Arturia's Excalibur.
A sudden new flow of energy flows in her, Arturia forces herself to stand, and when she saw Leliana threw the sword, watching it fall and stabs into the ground, she found herself running to it, ignoring the screams of her damaged body. The sword, it was definitely hers, no mistaking its design and even feeling a connection to it. She ran, she was at a hand's reach, and within a second, she felt the handle.
It was ironic really, to be relieved to feel the handle of Excalibur, the sword she had planned to let another wield it, and take the place of a true King.
"Watch out!" Cassandra's warning came too late. When the Pride Demon turned its head it had caught sight of Arturia running towards a sword, and when it had seen the sword, it recognized the danger of that sword, it knew very well, and seeing as how the girl must be the wielder considering how she is able to force herself to move despite injuries, it knew that a weapon is nothing to be afraid of with the death of its wielder. So it shot out streams of lightning, and it hit Arturia.
The Knight is blasted to her side and smashed into the stone wall, smokes hid her form from everyone, and in effect from the impact, boulders fell on top of her, she was completely buried, and things like this will certainly lead to many broken bones if not a painful slow death.
Cassandra curses, "Distract it!" She orders Solas and Varric, they followed her order, very much wondering if their sole hope is dead and so are understandably worried. The Pride Demon roared as he is getting futile attacks at all sides from Soldiers, Mages, and Archers, taking little notice of Cassandra running past him and to where Arturia is buried.
"Arturia! Speak up!" Cassandra drops her mace and started pulling the boulders off, she saw how the blast connected to Arturia, it would leave her stunned and with all these boulders, there will be broken bones, she must hurry to get Arturia out, she is the only one who can affect the Rift, though that is one reason, another reason would be of honestly not wanting to see Arturia to die, seeing the good nature with the girl, although it was a foolish thought to have when living in a world like this.
Cassandra held herself responsible for Arturia, just as she had for Divine Justinia. She failed to protect and keep her most Holy from dying, she cannot afford to fail again!
"Seeker!"
The loud call of Varric's warning and the vibration behind her, Cassandra pulls out her mace just as the Pride Demon makes its way to her, her shield up as well, she finds herself cornered, and only a small chance of luck would provide for her if she aims to run, but she has a strong feeling that the demon would go after Arturia. She had been studying the creature, it had paid attention to Arturia the most, as if knowing she would be dangerous, her marked hand may have been the reason, and that is why Cassandra cannot run now, not when the chance of the demon intending to ensure the death of the blonde knight is there, so she prepared herself as the Pride Demon raises it's claws, intending a killing blow.
At that moment, Arturia bursts through the boulders, gripping Excalibur, and a simple sound of blade meeting the palm of the demon is enough to almost bring silence to the area. Cassandra had to blink away the dusts and dirt from her eyes, but it was also to make sure if what she and others are seeing is true.
Standing in front of her, arms wavering, golden hair swaying in the wind, Arturia should be at a very injured state to not even stand, yet she is, holding her sword she had requested to return to her, and that same sword with the blade holding back the Pride Demon's claw.
She had stopped this powerful demon from landing a blow on Cassandra with her own strength.
Arturia pulled Excalibur down, leading the Pride Demon's claw to fall the same direction as the sword, before it could recover she spun once and swung her sword. The Pride demon lifted its arm to defend and that is the place where Arturia struck with a grunt. Jaws were dropped as the large demon was forced back, into the air shortly, landing but still skidding back until it stopped itself by digging its claws into the earth, it did not expect such strength to come from this little girl, and neither did anyone else.
The Knight brushes off the blood from the corner of her mouth with her fist, staring at the Pride Demon with a promised look to defeat him. All stared at her, even the large demon is studying her.
She clenches her hand, and quickly brought it to her chest. Sudden flashes of light surrounds her torso and arms with gusts of wind surrounding her and it proceeds to her lower body, her hair blew up like a wild golden ember and ties into a one braid bun with a blue ribbon formed from gold dust, free of any flaws and tangles. The short fantastical light show ended with a pop, and her armor is revealed.
She wore her battle dress, its blue fabric glowing like an ocean gem with it's white clothing included, a gray strap around her waist, steel armor guards her torso and arms, plates of steels fall to the side of her dress, and steel boots. The knight's nobility and pride enhanced upon regaining her armor.
Many were in awe, Cassandra was quite taken aback, Varric was as so for quite a bit, the interest in the girl very much interesting by the nano second, and Solas...Solas had a different reaction from the rest of the bunch. He looked as if he knows. He knows who this girl might be, and it was, quite frankly, difficult to comprehend.
The Pride Demon roared, and it prepared itself to charge once more, Arturia grabs Excalibur with both hands, preparing herself from whatever the demon may do. The Pride Demon charges first, and Arturia did the same, head-on. With the damage she gained, she would not have side stepped the charge so quickly, but she did, showing that she is miraculously healed in everyone's eyes without the need of a potion. The Pride Demon stopped in the middle of its charge as it was a feet next to her and raises it's claws, Arturia ducks as the claws crashes to the ground and she found an opening, wielding Excalibur to strike the demon's arm, causing him to stagger back.
Even with its defense up, the demon felt the sword's holy effect before going back in and makes an attack with its claws Arturia, the Knight however had blocked it with Excalibur and even though she was thrown back, she landed perfectly fine on both feet. She goes back to the demon with amazing speed, practically superhuman levels, and a series of slashes of claws swung in the air, clashing the weapons of their opponent or dodging them.
"She really should have gotten that sword sooner..." Varric comments in wonderment as he reloads Bianca, only to pause when the Rift began reacting again. "Oh great."
Lightning is shot from the Rift, dozens of them struck the ground and took shape, revealing demons, this broke everyone from their view of Arturia's battle and prepare themselves to fight.
"Defend the girl!" Cassandra orders her men, even if Arturia is miraculously acting like in her prime, these many demons could throw her off, and it will not do to lose not only their only hope to seal the Rift but an obviously extraordinary fighter as well.
Arturia side-glances at the scene of more demons, she clicked her tongue in irritation that more enemies decide to appear and she is dealing with a much ferocious enemy, though with the assistance of the soldiers, she can focus on the Pride Demon alone, even in her full-health, the demon is strong and is able to adapt in competing with her new batch of energy.
This is not what Arturia would call a relief, not especially when she is experiencing haziness in her vision, her regaining these abilities were too quick, her new body would most likely shut down in any given moment in order for it to adapt to the blood of the Red Dragon she was birthed with, if that occurs, she will be dead. She needs to end this quickly, but even with Excalibur's blade, though affecting the demon, cannot completely penetrate it's defense, she needs to affect the Rift first
Perhaps it is because she is only using her basic moves. It may be the appropriate time to use a stronger move, but would this not heighten her risk of blacking out? If she can have the demon stagger or be stalled for a moment, she will have the chance to go and affect the Rift so that it would be an easier battle for her, she must either do it quickly thus risk her own life, or take her time, but the chances for the demon to lay a decent hit would also hinder her greatly, and so she made up her mind.
She jumps back, dozen feet away from the demon, the Pride Demon did not chase her, it decide to study her and prepare itself for what move she will make next. She takes a deep breath, focuses her power to her sword, and points Excalibur to the Pride Demon.
"I aim to end it here, demon. Whatever you or your kind intend to do to this world, I cannot allow any act to bring ruin to the lives of these people." Excalibur's blade shines golden bright, pure holy light covering the powerful weapon up to it's very edge, "Even though I am a foreigner of this world, as a knight, I will not ignore these people's cries of help as you send this world into ruin."
The Pride Demon body is surrounded with magic, it stretches one arm forward, and a streams of lightning is shot out, striking Arturia and creating a cloud of ground dust. A moment of silence, and Arturia sprints out of the dust cloud, running towards the Pride Demon, the demon shoots out another stream of lightning, though in its mind its wondering how she could of survived that first stream. Its answer is given when the stream of lightning struck a barrier surrounding Arturia, and it understood, the knight's magic resistance is at it's finest, just as good as its own.
Arturia thrusts the blade to the chest, the Pride Demon grabbed it's blade on time and even though it's palm is burning, it bares with it, it aims to test how resistant is the Knight really is to it's magic, even if she will deal with it up front, its guaranteed that she wont deal with a strike of its claw to her skull.
But Arturia will not allow it to give it the chance, with a battle roar, Excalibur's blade grew brighter, burning through the demon's defense, prompting it to shriek, she pushes through with all her strength, getting her blade's tip to the Demon's skin, and she releases a burst of prana, a small beam tore through the demon's defense, it was too little, but it may provide the expected outcome.
Then the unexpected happened. Her marked hand glowed, sparks quickly surrounds her blade, without blinking, Arturia saw the instant reaction of her marked hand's power combining with Excalibur. A much larger beam bursts through her sword, swallowing the Pride Demon's entire chest, leaving it only a short roar and a grand hole in it's body. Caught off guard, the knight herself was sent skirting across the ground from the sheer power released from her attack, sparks flying off of her attire as the blonde dug a armored hand into the ground in order stop herself into a grinding halt.
Even the demons had paused for a second when this ability was unleashed, the soldiers and warriors were left stunned again. She had broken through the demon's defense with such sheer ease was staggering. Arturia had paused to comprehend what just occurred, but she quickly shook her head and ran towards the Rift, leaving behind the vanquished Pride Demon. Arturia cuts her way through the demons, now a lot coming after her, her vision was getting bad now, but she kept going until she was underneath the Rift.
"Someone watch my back!" Arturia understood that sealing the Rift takes time, and so she will need anyone to defend her back. She would have expected Cassandra to look after her and order a few men to do the same. Because of her back to them, she did not witness the movements of a dozen soldier coming to her defense, wordlessly doing so without Cassandra's command.
They have all truly seen her as the Maker's sent warrior. A warrior in need of them as her shield.
"Do it!"
At Cassandra's words, Arturia raises her hand as a beam of light connects her hand to the Rift above, all the while men and women valiantly defends her from the raging demons that surrounds them all. It lasted much longer than the previous Rifts she sealed due to its much bigger size. Something began to weigh her down, draining from her body but she stood determinedly, clutching her magically connected hand, yelling in defiance and competing against the strain as a blast blooms from within the sealed Rift.
Arturia's arm drops as if it has been turned to stone, watching as the spiral of green light slowly dims and rises towards the sky, into the vortex in the clouds, and a bright flash explodes from the Breach. After the display, she looks to the soldiers around her and prepares to join in the battle against the other demons, but she discovers all of them have been vanquished.
So that's it then. It's over, with the work of Arturia's marked hand and her allies, they have successfully sealed the Rift.
The King of Knights stands up straight, thoughts running throughout her mind of what to do next in her journey with a new body and all of her powers regained, what her purpose is living in this new world or why even her, she hs no time to think and create theoretic answers for her many questions. She drops her sword, falling to her knees as exhaustion finally overcomes her, and lost consciousness before her face meets the ground.
The call of her name becomes a distant echo.
A review pointed out a very good point when I mentioned the ironic feeling of Excalibur, and another pointing out awkward grammar. Props to you guys! Please let us know other inconsistency and so on. I like to make this story enjoyable and fluent to read as possible.
Thank you for reading, please leave a kind and honest review.
