Outsider Chronicles: Demon Magus

Its one thing to discover that reincarnation is an actual thing, but its quite another to find out that Gods are very much real as well. It certainly doesn't help that I ended up getting dragged head first into a fight between two of them, found myself with a ridiculously hot stalker and labeled as a Demon King. Add in a Grail War and you have the makings of a truly humongous headache.

And we are back! Nothing to say, other than enjoy!

Chapter 2

Well, this sucks. It was the morning after we arrived at Lucretia's house and, after a rather entertaining evening watching Erica get royally plastered, I had been saddled with the job of putting her to bed. Why I agreed I have no idea since I knew that Lucretia would take the opportunity to lock me in the bedroom with her. Now, don't get me wrong, seeing Erica in nothing but her skivvies is a sight I would happily give my right arm for, I can't help but feel rather guilty that its because of what amounts to Ecchi logic and a perverted, oversexed Witch. The fact she nearly brained me the next morning when she woke up and spotted me sleeping on the couch in the room is another.

"Die right here and now!" snarled the bright red Knight as she glowered down at me.

"You do realize this is partly your fault, right?" I grumbled as I rubbed my dead arm in an attempt to bring some feeling back.

I had reacted on instinct when Erica had swung at me and blocked her fist with my arm, but she was incredibly strong and that had just resulted in me losing all feeling in said limb.

"And how is that?!" growled Erica.

"You got plastered last night," I deadpanned, "And since Arianna did to, I had to put you to bed. Its not my fault Lucretia has a bad sense of humor."

"That may be true, but now you have this unlady-like image of me burnt into your retinas," said Erica, cracking her knuckles, "No matter whos fault it is, I'll have to punish you!"

I raised an eyebrow and eyed her up and down.

"Unladylike eh?" I muttered, "Sure, but it sure is a nice image."

Erica's jaw dropped as her face went bright red, the blush stretching all the way down to the tops of her breasts.

"HAH, told you I'd make you blush," I said with a smirk.

Erica gritted her teeth.

"Why you little…"

CRASH!

We both stumbled as the ground shook from the massive crash.

"What was...oh dear," I said a I looked out the window and saw the rain, "Why do I get the feeling thats not a good sign?"

Erica ignored me as she snatched up her discarded dress and donned it at incredible speed, before sprinting outside. I followed her and arrived just in time to find her gaping up at the massive form of Melqart .

"Please wait oh mighty God!" shouted Erica.

The gigantic warrior paused and looked down at us. I swallowed nervously as I felt his massive power wash over me like a wave of hot wind.

"How arrogant must you be, Child of Man, to stop a Gods advance," rumbled the mighty being.

"Forgive my disrespect, but unless I'm mistaken, you are Melqart, the King of the Ancestral line, the Ancient Venetian God?" asked Erica.

"So, there are are still praiseworthy individuals who know the names of the Ancient Kings," said Melqart, "I AM MELQART, the King once known throughout this isle...no, throughout these entire waters!"

A massive bolt of lightning suddenly shot out of the heavens and struck the mighty King on his bracers as he swung up his arm to block the attack.

"Lightning?" I muttered.

"It rarely rains on the Island of Sardinia," said Erica, "This is probably…"

She was cut off as a bolt of lightning lit up a gap in the clouds, revealing a pair of yellow eyes with bar shaped pupils. I twitched as I felt the tablet under my coat start vibrating and heat up slightly from the presence of another Avatar.

"As always, you are adept at changing your form," rumbled Melqart, "I must hurry."

"If Melqart has manifested, that must mean…" muttered Erica, before trailing off.

She snapped her fingers and her dress transformed into her combat gear in a flash of red as she jumped over the wall. She paused as she landed on top of it and glanced back at me.

"You stay here," she said.

"And just what are you planning to do?" I asked.

"I'm going to try and stop this battle," she said, "Melqart is one of the strongest of the Mediterranean Gods. If I don't stop them, this Island will perish."

"Do you actually have a chance?" I asked, although I already knew the answer to that.

Erica twitched.

"Its a Knight's duty to protect the people," she said softly.

I frowned.

"Oh no, not a chance," I said.

"Huh?" said Erica, looking back at me in surprise.

"My Grandpa taught me that I should never allow someone to fight an impossible battle alone," I said seriously, "There is no way I'm letting you go and get yourself killed if I could help."

I smirked.

"Besides, if you died, how could you get me back for making you blush this morning? Its no fun to leave a game unfinished."

Erica frowned.

"I cannot guarantee your safety if you come," she said.

I shrugged.

"Thats fine," I said, "I know I'm walking into the lions den. I can take a bit of danger."

I grinned.

"Besides, how can I resist the opportunity to watch a fight between Gods?"

Erica stared at me in shock for a moment, before letting out an unladylike snort.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," said Erica, "Lets go."

As if on cue, Arianna pulled the car up in front of us. Erica hopped onto the roof while I climbed in, inwardly praying that I'd survive to reach the fight.

Fortunately, the road was relatively straight, so Arianna had no excuse for driving like a maniac. Unfortunately, that meant that I had nothing to distract me from my thoughts as I stared down at the Tablet. The main thought on my mind was why in the world was I doing this? I mean, now that I'd handed the Tablet over to Lucretia (even if she had passed it right back), there was nothing to stop me from simply leaving and forgetting this ever happened. As it was, I was running head first into danger that could well get me killed or result in me becoming a being worshipped and reviled in equal measure.

I snorted and shook my head. Actually, the answer to that was simple. As much as I tried to deny it (in the safety of my own head), the truth of the matter is that I couldn't wait. The idea of seeing, and perhaps fighting, with Gods was simply to tempting for me to resist. Combined with my incredible luck that allowed me to survive that fire all those years ago without a scratch and win virtually every game of chance I've ever entered and I was practically a shoo in for the Seventh King.

"Kariya, look!" called Erica from the roof, snapping me out of my introspection.

I glanced out the window and, sure enough, there was the shadow of a massive bird flying alongside the car.

"Huh, thats not normal," I said as I glanced up at the empty sky above.

"Its a Divine Beast, the Bird of Pray" said Erica, "It must be here so it can merge into a single form again."

I returned my attention to the road ahead as the massive form of Melqart and the much smaller form of Verethragna swam into view. I smirked.

"This was going to be fun," I said, "Melqart vs Verethragna. Talk about an impressive matchup."

"Wha...how do you know him?" gasped Erica.

"He's the Persian God of War and Light," I said, "Lucretia told me about him."

"I see…" said Erica, not taking her eyes of the two combatants.

As we got closer, the Knight leaped from the roof, transforming her sword into a shield as she went.

"Something tells me this won't go well," I muttered as Arianna stopped the car.

"Probably not," said the Maid, looking oddly serious.

I let out a huff and opened the door.

"Wait, where are you going?!" gasped Arianna.

"I didn't tag along to sit on the sidelines," I said, "You get out of here, but I'm going for a closer look."

"No, wai…"

I cut Arianna off as I shut the door and started running towards the fight.

I reached it just in time to see Verethragna start throwing lightning bolts at Erica, forcing her to jump out of the way. She avoided the first two, but the third knocked her shield out of her hand and the fourth would have hit her if I hadn't have tackled her out of the way.

"K-Kariya…" she spluttered as she stared up at me with wide eyes.

"Well, that was rather rude," I said as I stood up, "Are you OK?"

"I-I think so," said Erica.

"Great, lets find some cover," I said, grabbing her hand and dragging her further into the ruins the Gods were using as a battlefield.

I skidded to a stop once we were closer to Melqart and took a deep breath. Might as well dig into Godou's bag of tricks seeing as I'm going to be taking his place.

"Hey Melqart!" I called.

"Huh?" said the God as he turned to me.

"Verethragna's power of the White Horse lies within!" I called, holding up the tablet, "What do you say, wanna team up with me? If you protect the two of us, he won't be able to return to his full form!"

Melqart stared down at me for a moment.

"Are you trying to use me, a God?" he asked at length, incredulity clear in his tone.

"I prefer to think of it more of a shared interest," I said with a smirk, "You want to beat the arrogant brat and we don't want to get fried. Keep us safe and we both win."

Melqart stared at me for a moment longer, before he burst into great belly laughs.

"AHAHAHAHAHA, WELL, AREN'T YOU AN IMPERTINENT ONE," he rumbled, "Very well Human!"

He spun around and took a swipe at Verethragna, who easily flipped out of the way.

"It seems that my initial prognosis was correct about you," said the God of Victory, "Now, MAKE THIS FUN FOR ME!"

He fired a bolt of lightning in mine and Erica's direction.

"KARIYA!" shouted Erica, but the bolt just deflected of a golden shield.

"Hahaha, you'd call that divine intervention," said Melqart, "Be grateful Human!"

The two gods clashed once more with a crash that even drowned out the thunder.

"What are you going to do now Kariya?" asked Erica.

"Hell if I know," I said, "I haven't thought that far ahead."

"How can you just stand there and smile?" asked Erica incredulously.

I glanced back at her, completely unable to remove my grin from my face.

"How can I not?" I asked, "I never believed that I'd have the chance to see something like this! A duel between Gods!"

"HAH, as expected of the Child I bet on!" crowed Verethragna as he summoned his sword, "But its still not enough that I would lose!"

He shot towards us, evading Melqarts club by inches as he slammed the blade into the shield, the tip penetrating the barrier in a shower of sparks and a terrible rending sound.

"A golden sword," muttered Erica, "Wait, I remember that Sword! It has the power to cut through Divinity!"

"Does it now?" I asked with a rapidly widening grin that was beginning to look ever so slightly maniacal.

"The Sword steals Divinity from a God, forcing it to fall from Godhood," said Erica, not noticing my grin.

I was mostly playing the part of ignorant newbee, but the grin was all real. I think I might have the instincts of a Demon after all.

"I wish to experience defeat!" said Verethragna, his own crazed grin splitting his features in two, "Ancient King, Child of Man, you shall entertain me more!"

"Kariya, you have to run away!" said Erica.

"Not a chance!" I said, "I was given a weapon to use in this fight and I will not leave before I have a chance to use it!"

Erica took a step back, her eyes wide in surprise.

"But if a Human uses that, their body will break down, killing them!" she protested.

"And if I don't use it we'll both die," I said, finally losing my manic grin, "I won't allow that."

Erica looked even more surprised by that.

"Kariya, its a Knights job to sacrifice herself," she protested.

"Maybe so, but I still don't want to see you die," I said, "As much as I hate to say it considering how we met, I've taken a bit of a liking to you."

I winked at her.

"You've sacrificed enough, its my turn now."

Erica snorted.

"That was so uncool," she said.

"Hey!"

Erica chuckled again.

"You know, your a lot like Epimetheus," she said.

"You mean the Titan of Hindsight?" I asked.

"Yep, he was a fool too," she said, "Idiot."

She stepped forwards and kissed me lightly on the cheek. Despite myself, I felt my cheeks warming.

"That was for good luck, now make it a good show," said Erica with a smirk.

I grinned and nodded.

"Of course," I said.

At that moment, Verethragna shattered the barrier with a yell of victory, just as I spun around and aimed the tablet at him. There was a massive surge of energy and the White Horse erupted from the Tablet with enough force to push my heels into the muddy ground. Almost immediately, I felt the backlash from the tremendous release of power as it felt like someone had just injected molten lava into my body as my muscles began to burn. I was locked in place, unable to move or scream, until the blast finally ended and I was thrown back. Thankfully, the burning stopped, but my entire body ached. Considering I was probably coming apart at an Atomic level, thats not really that surprising.

"Kariya!" shouted Erica as she ran to my side.

"I cannot be defeated by my own Avatar!" yelled Verethragna, looking rather angry.

"Heh, I stole it," I said, making Erica cock her head in confusion, "I stole his Golden Sword!"

At that moment, the blade in Verethragna's hand vanished.

"It can cut through Divinity, right?" I asked, "So how do I use it?"

Erica looked at me in surprise for a moment, before she smirked and her cheeks pinked slightly.

"I don't know what else I was expecting," she said, "You've more than earnt this Kariya…"

I blinked, but before I could respond, she stepped forwards and kissed me full on the lips. My first thought was how soft and warm her lips were, followed by the fact she tasted of strawberrys, before a searing heat flowed from her into me and my entire body lit up as knowledge flowed into my mind. In response, the light spread, washing away the land around us in favour of the Golden World. The swords immediately moved, spinning to point at a shocked looking Verethragna.

"Ah…"

SHUNK!

The God jerked as a sword shot at him with the speed of a bullet and penetrated him through the stomach. He stared down at uncomprehendingly for a moment. Then, his body burst into flames and he started laughing.

"AHAHAHA, excellent work boy," he said calmly, despite the flames licking his body, "I admit, I never truly believed that you'd be able to kill me...I guess that will teach me to never underestimate an Outsider."

He smiled as his body began to dissolve.

"Continue to grow stronger, young Outsider, continue to grow and win. Don't you ever lose a fight, not until the day we meet again!"

Finally, the last of the Gods body faded, along with the sword, leaving nothing but his crest floating in the air before me as my legs gave way and I fell into darkness.

And done. I know that a great deal of this and the last chapter were Canon, but from this point on, things will begin to change. After all, you can't expect a Campione who's also an Outsider to not screw over Fate, can you? Hehehe.

Just to be clear, although Kariya is a little perverted (he is a teenaged male after all), hes mostly just trying to get a rise out of Erica. Trust me, the relationship between those two will be different from the one between Erica and Godou, mainly because Kariya is nowhere near as passive as the original Seventh King. He also has no problem embracing his role...as a King, not a Demon.

As for pairings, well, it'll be Godou's original girls...plus at least one more who I'll be keeping to myself for now. There may be others, but their not set in stone yet.

Anyway, I am now done, so I'll sign off. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!