An Archer's Promise

Beta read by Shigiya and DOOMRAIDER.

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-Thorne-

In the soft white-gold light of the new day, the hues of a luxurious bedroom moved from impressionist pastels to brilliant tapestries.

In Thorne's main palace, in a lavish chamber was Celestine, the Goddess Reborn sleeping on her massive bed. Thanks to the rise in temperature, it caused her to sleep without her blankets for the past few nights. Her divine form in human flesh presented bare to the world. Celestine continued to murmur her sleep as she buried her face in her pillow, sweat trickling down her face as she murmured in her sleep. Coated in a sheen of sweat that made her flawless skin glisten in the sunlight. She held one her pillow close to her person, as if seeking comfort in her sleep. Her bountiful chest pushed onto the soft fabric, causing them to press together, creating a valley for the accumulated sweat to disappear. Her long, smooth legs wrapped around the comfortable pillow, bringing it deeper in her embrace.

The sun was beaming through her room's silk curtains, as the rays of sunlight caressed her face. The Goddess Reborn started to stir from her slumber, her eyes opening to reveal her emerald eyes. She let out a cute groan of disappointment when the first beam of sunlight hit her face, signaling that it is time to wake up. Usually, waking up was a simple task for Celestine after having hundreds of years to get used to it. It also didn't hurt that she liked to wake up in the mornings. She's always been a morning person for most of her life.

"Why…"

She placed her hands on her face, wiping some of the sweat on her forehead and even felt traces of fried up tears. Starting to reflect on the dream and its meaning once again. Celestine felt a twinge of pain pulsating in her mind the longer she thought about it. That corrupted voice shook her to the core, able to clearly remember the words that it spoke. It felt wrong… vile; Despite being a peaceful Goddess, who would rather talk things through than fight, was ready to destroy the entity right then and there. It never happened before, not even against Olga during their worst moments.

Something deep in her soul told her that it was not anything that should not exist in this world.

She looked at the painting that she finished a while ago.

"Why can't I find you? Are you even real? Or have you yet to be born?" she muttered to herself, staring at the painting of the red-haired boy from her dreams.

Shaking herself out of her trance, Celestine crawled out of her warm bed. Not bothering to cover up her nudity, she walked to her wardrobe and put on her regular garment. A simple cloth which hid her intimate parts, even with these clothes, could hardly hide her beauty. When they first met, Kaguya, Claudia, Alicia, and even Maia were enraptured by her presence.

A fond memory of a stuttering Alicia came to her, making the Goddess giggle. A part of her wondered how she would compare against Olga. Both were equal in power and beauty, embodying the same aspect to their people. Symbolized as both protectors and mother figures to their people, their role is to create a peaceful life for everyone under them.

They used to be friends, in the past long forgotten by even the two elves.

Both dreamed to rule side by side and bring their people together. What happened? Why did they become enemies when their bonds were as strong as blood siblings? The longer they lived, the longer they watch over their people, the longer Olga only saw the darkness in humanity. Not like the latter couldn't understand her friend's rage. Seeing her people getting enslaved would have been intolerable to anyone. But when she offered a peaceful solution, Olga rejected it, her hate for the humans too overwhelming. Neither could agree on the course of action to take, and their small disagreement turned into a bloody war. If only she could change the past, if only she had been more firm and stayed by her friend's side… maybe…

This was a thought for another time. For now, she needed to discuss other matters with Kin.

{Break}

Arriving to the throne room, Celestine was greeted by the sight of Kaguya and Claudia in the hall, with both Kuroinu vice leaders Kin and Hicks bowing to her arrival.

Ironically, all Princess Knights were established to be of equal status. No one was supposed to be greater than the other as each ruled a single Kingdom. It was through the identity as a Goddess Reborn that Celestine became the unofficial leader of the Shields aswell as Eostia. Claudia ranked second, followed by Kaguya. She objected to such treatment at first, but everyone kept insisting for her to stay as their leader in name.

Truly, equality of rank on paper was not a guarantee in practice. And despite her best effort, she failed at changing their mindset.

"Have you retrieved the artifact?" she asked the mage.

A few days ago, he came to her palace and requested an audience with her. Celestine obliged and came to listen to his words. He had apparently found a way to strip Olga of her magic and the demons that she had under her thrall. While this information sounded promising she couldn't help but have a few doubts raised in her mind. Trying to restrain mages on their level is no easy task and she could probably count the people on one hand that can pull it off if they were still alive. Yet, the Goddess decided to trust the long-time loyal mage of the court and gave Kin the resources and full authority for Kin to get his hands on this artifact in question.

"Yes, Celestine-sama." he said, smirking internally.

Bringing up his palm, the mage showed everyone in the room a small dark red-ruby.

"Hicks and I managed to trace this ancient artifact in an abandoned ruin of a long-forgotten civilization. The books described it as the 'Ultimate eraser' capable of breaking bonds of any magnitude to reality. Please, everyone, step away."

No one objected to Kin's words and formed a circle where he stood alone in the middle.

The man brought his staff to the attention of everyone. Two words came out of his mouth, "Blue Aegis!"

The wooden staff rose from the ground, shining with a bright flash—which expanded into a large dome that enveloped Kin alone. A simple spell, one that even a novice Spellcaster could perform. The 'Blue Aegis' was a shield composed mainly of the user's magical energy to create a transparent layer of protection from physical attacks and offensive spells. Its strength depended on the will of the caster. The more energy they had, the larger the barrier would extend. Kin, easily being one of the strongest mages in Eostia of his generation, could have his spell take a couple of hits from the strongest of an Orc general's attacks before breaking. The only downside to this spell was the length of time it required to be activated.

"Now, I beg for everyone's attention on Hicks over there."

He pointed at that man outside the barrier holding the red jewel.

"He will show you why exactly this item is so miraculous that even Olga, for all her power, will become powerless against us!" Giving the signal to his fellow vice leader, Hicks carefully brought the red jewel near the barrier. Upon first contact, nothing happened.

And nothing continued to happen for the next few seconds until some people began turning suspicious over the validity of Kin's words.

"Are we sure this is a real artifact or at least, that it is not broken?"

Claudia was the first one to speak.

"Not that I doubt your honesty, Mage Kin, but I do not see any astounding effects from this stone."

"I share the same sentiment. In none of our holy scriptures have I ever heard of this so-called 'ancient civilization' with feats of magic as impressive as being able to dethrone Olga. Humans of the past barely had any knowledge of magic in the first place if it wasn't for the gods to share some of their good grace on us." shared Kaguya, finding doubt in Kin's statement.

As the head priestess, she came in touch with an uncountable number of manuscripts in their shrine's records, and neither one talked about a time past Celestine and Olga's creation of the kingdoms and the dark lands. The only ones that could possible have information dating farther back than Olga and Celestine, would be the archives of the Black Fortress.

Kin kept his smirk, not saying a word to any of the Princess Knights.

Suddenly, the barrier fluctuated.

"What?"

The priestess's eyes widened from feeling imbued with the magical energy of the shield began to fade.

"No, it's not fading… it's being absorbed!"

"Look!"

Claudia and Celestine focused on the particular gem in Hicks' hands, glowing in a dark red aura as it absorbed the barrier itself! Though she couldn't be sure, Celestine felt like something was missing about this gem. Watching as the barrier grew weaker by the second till…

Crack!

"It worked!"

It couldn't even hold itself up and break away—brought an uneasy apprehension inside her heart. No dark or evil magic emanated from the gem whatsoever, but she could feel some energy from the gem unlike before. It neither carried a taint from the underworld nor of Olga's brand of magic. A blank sensation of nothingness that sucked everything in to itself as to fill itself up.

'But why? Why create such an artifact in the first place? If it was for offensive purposes for war, then crafting the gem inside a sword or staff would have been ideal….'

She had never seen such effects from any magical treasures past civilizations produced.

Walking back to Hicks, Kin again displayed the red ruby to the others, this time with everyone taking his claims seriously.

"Yes, this stone, this small gem, has the power to change the course of this war by simply devouring every spell and magic thrown at it. We can use this to weaken and sever Olga's connection to her castle and her demonic army. With this, we will be victorious and finally bring the Dark Queen down to her knees!" he cried out in jubilance.

Kin was excited about this. At first, they planned to use the tunnels with the help from those filthy Mortadella Brothers, to enter the castle. They even managed to establish a connection with a possible dark elf traitor amongst her people to get past the barrier. Now with this, victory was guaranteed!

Where did he get it?

Well, Shamuhaza aided him in his endeavor. From what he knew, their cult held a sacred ritual, offering their god a vessel inside one of the women's wombs; to have a spawn of the god roam the mortal world. Yet something unexpected happened. Instead of one of the girls getting impregnated by the insects and for the woman to die later, like it had happened countless times in the past, a crack formed above the last batch of sacrafice, shocking the cult. As soon as it appeared, it dissappered, but not before dropping the ruby in front of Shamuhaza. The unstable fanatic had become even more delirious, raving about how their god had finally sent them a message. Kin helped them research the stone and its properties. When discovering its immense potential, the mage offered a trade to the mad priest.

Unfortunately, the man initially denied any sort of exchange to take place, view the ruby as a holy artifact. No matter the amount of gold and women they offered, Shamuhaza remained stubborn on keeping the gem. Clinging to the gem as if it were his lifeline or the greatest treasure I'm existence.

It wasn't until he offered full claim on Kaguya in the future if the man let him borrow the gem.

'If that crazy nutjob didn't accept the deal… then I would have had no choice but to forcefully take the gem from his hands, ' thought Kin, his eyes briefly glancing over to the shinto princess.

True, Shamuhaza—in Kin's eyes—held the capabilities of a phenomenal mage and researcher. Having such a powerful ally of the Kuroinu die out because the guy didn't want to be separated from his previous stone was wasteful. So, he had to digress and give up on the Kuroinu claimed Kaguya and hand her over to him and his Insect God Church.

'I almost feel bad for Kaguya,'

Having already seen what they did to the other woman, before smiling as he looked over the gem once again.

'Almost.'

"Celestine-sama, we are just a few weeks, if not days, away from the final confirmation. The Kuroinu army will triumph over our enemies and bring about a world of peace for all denizens of Eostia."

"Ansur offers the Kuroinu any aid you'll require for your battle!" Claudia exclaimed out loud, excited and hopefull for the war to finally come to an end.

"Rad will share all our resources as well." spoke to Kaguya calmly, a small smile present on her face, not able to hide her excitement as well.

Everything was coming together. Kin couldn't help but laugh at how easily they were falling into their hands.

Eostia would be theirs.

{Break}

Brynn thought she had seen the best swordsmanship battle in her life when she attended Claudia-sama's battles. The latter could go up against an entire group of Knights and emerge victorious without a single wound.

But this…

This… brought the term battle between two monsters to a whole new perspective in her eyes.

Clang!

The ringing of the swords quickened to a rattle, the Princess's arms flew up, and her second sword descended as quick as swift as the wind, only to be stopped by another blade. The screeching sound of metal scraping metal nearly deafened everyone. Sparks flew in the air with Brynn once again shocked how the sword she had lent Archer before the fight started could hold up to such an immense amount of force. It should have broken into millions of shards during the first few clashes!

"I'm not done yet!"

Maia went over with a great whirling movement, stretching and contorting her body beyond anything a regular Knight could accomplish. With each strike being blocked or diverted by Archer—using nothing but a simple sword.

"This is pointless, why are you trying so hard to bring me in your group?" Archer asked, continuing to block her attacks.

"Wonders the guy who destroyed an army on his own and because I want to!"

"I did not kill those monsters out of the need to oppose the Dark Queen and her tyranny. I was merely living there and didn't want the area to turn into a bloody warzone with goblins, trolls and orcs lurking around every corner. I do not care about your kingdoms for I do not belong to any of them." he retorted

"Then, I'll make you care about something!"

Both Maia and every knight present were baffled by Brynn's sword still holding up against Maia's magically enchanted swords; forged by Luu Luu herself.

Using her shock to his advantage, Archer ducked on her next attack and bashed his foot to her stomach with a spin. Maia's eyes widened as spit flew out of her mouth.

"Th-cough! That… fucking hurt!" Maia roared in anger as she held her slightly bruised stomach. "You're going to pay for that, pretty boy."

"I rather not," Archer said with an eye roll.

The fight was intense. Maia's speed and strength were way above what he had initially felt at the Inn. No, she wasn't anywhere near Servant level, but the increase in strength still worried him. For the fight, he barely used any of his Prana to reinforce himself—mainly his eyes—and decided to rely on his own strength and skill. Against an opponent with supernatural strength, it was no easy task.

Clang!

Maia brought her twin blades down at his, which he blocked with Brynn's reinforced sword. "Uhg!" The force alone forced him back a few feet back. If he hadn't deflected some of that force, then his guard has been broken. Archer knew how it felt to battle against beings way stronger than him and actually manage to hold on for a while.

And so far, not once had Maia grazed him in any way despite being stronger and faster than his non-enhanced self. While enjoying this fact, he could see how this annoyed the Princess Knight—which only made him grin more.

"You find this funny, huh!?"

"What gave it away? The ever-growing grin on my face or how I'm standing here untouched, neither hurt nor cut by your blade. Yeah, there's a funny joke somewhere in this situation." he increasingly taunted the woman.

"You're cute, you know that?" Maia said with a growl. "You fight well, but where is that strength I felt in the past!?"

Wanting to catch Archer off-guard, she decided to try an unusual move. Winding up her arm—much to the bowman's shock—she threw her sword, and it flew from her hand like a shooting star and dived straight at him.

'Throwing swords? How original.'

Knowing that dodging could not be done in his current state, Archer focused his senses.

One of his main traits for those who knew him might be his mastery over Tracing and Reinforcement—but that was not completely true.

Shirou Emiya was not good at Reinforcement compared to his Projection magecraft—which applied to Archer to an extent.

True, he continuously trained with his magecraft for far longer than Shirou Emiya and advanced to a level beyond anything his past self could have accomplished, but it didn't change the fact that Reinforcement remained his weaker trait compared to Tracing. He could masterfully reinforce a blade of any kind and used to struggle with doing so on his body.

That is if he didn't consider his body as a sword.

This may seem counterintuitive because as there were two magecraft, Shirou Emiya could use them without issues. Still, Reinforcement a limb to its limit could not be considered a simple magecraft—he would describe it as one of the hardest—and the entity known as Shirou Emiya was not particularly good at it. He could Reinforce a metal bar or a wooden sword, this list growing bigger by the year; Archer remembered seeing his past self during the Fifth Grail War. When he tried his hand with lightbulbs, he failed miserably and made dozens of them explode before he could even get anywhere. Now, one could imagine that with his own body, which would be exponentially more complex, to begin with.

His being basically Shirou with slightly more Prana—thanks to Alaya—and experience, he had overcome many of his past limits with Reinforcement. As it was one of the few things he turned out to not suck at, he didn't have any other choice but to keep working on it and pushing his limit. Archer had certainly improved, but was still not good, at least not good enough to fully Reinforce his body mid-fight in less than a second. What he could do was reinforce his eyes alone to improve his aim and overall sight, but even that took a second to perform—which could easily get him killed against a Servant. So, he could not rush it against such opponents… but Maia wasn't a Servant.

Not to mention, he no longer had his enhancement as a Servant.

"Trace, on!"

Prana filled his legs, and Archer dodged the attack at the last second. The blade continued its trajectory till it embedded itself against a tree.

"Of all things you decided to use against me, you opted for throwing swords…"

Was this what Gilgamesh felt when he faced him using the same method?

He just wanted to show her how to properly shoot swords but held back.

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"Still weak."

Provocation really worked easily on this girl.

"Shut up!"

She tightens her sword and screams angrily, rushing at him with a frenzy he had not seen before. Sparks fly as Maia and Archer fight fiercely in the open field—bursts of air from each of their strikes rustling each other's hair. Maia's ferocious movement forced Archer to get more cautious and serious, his fighting style changing the longer they fought to counter Maia. The more they kept going, the more advantage Archer was getting. The tides turned, and each swipe of Archer wielding Brynn's sword drove his opponent further toward defeat.

"Argh!"

The Queen of Mercenaries was forced to her knees, and as she raised her sword to block another onslaught, Archer swiped one of Maia's swords right off her hand.

"Bastard!!"

"I thought I was cute?"

"You are, very much, but you need to learn how to treat a lady. Who knows, you might get lucky, and I might invite you to my room~."

"You need a cold shower."

Jumping back up, Maia ran for her other sword and put some distance between them.

"Finally got serious?"

Even with her bruised stomach and numb hands, Maia once again marveled how this guy could keep up with her!

"How are you this strong? Which deity do you follow?"

If she could learn the way that Archer used to enhance himself to this extent… She can share the information with Vault and the others! Olga would surely go down.

"Is it a spell?"

"Maybe."

"—!?"

Clang!

He moved at a speed similar to her and closed the distance in less than a second!

Maia felt her knees nearly buckle once again from the immense force. His face was so close to her that she could see faint lines going up to his neck, so invisible that she could have missed it easily.

"I'm still curious how you got this strong as well," Archer said as they exchanged blows again. "You weren't this powerful before."

Her hands and knees felt like they were about to give up at any moment, leaving Maia with no other choice but to chose a more drastic method. She just couldn't win in her current state against this freak of nature!

"Heh, you'll see!"

It all happened in an instant.

Maia pushed her hands inside her clothes, nearly revealing her naked breast to the dumbfounded Counter Guardian, and retrieved a single talisman.

"Kaguya is scary as fuck, but she can help you out in a pinch."

She ripped the paper in half.

The talisman grew red, with Archer sensing a large amount of Prana coming out of it and getting absorbed inside Maia. Like one of Rin's gems she used to store her Magical Energy for later use.

After that, she struck once again with strength far exceeding her previous state!

Crack!

"What!?"

The sword he borrowed from Brynn and enhanced for this battle… broke.

The shards of the broken blade flew everywhere. Maia's blade continued to advance, and to Archer's shock, the sword's tip slightly cut his cheeks.

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"—!"

Whoosh!

Immediately, his instincts took over of him, endless years of fighting experience and battling against beings stronger than him and armies capable of conquering nations made his body react before his mind could catch up. Prana flooded his arm—glowing with a bright blue circuit pattern.

In Maia's eyes, he became a blur, and before she realized it, the black sword with a glowing hexagonal mesh pattern on the surface she once saw back at the Inn returned… and it was heading straight for her head.

Death was starring straight at her.

'Shit!'

In a state of panic, she brought her swords up, hoping to block the sword attack or deflect it.

But what hit her was a force beyond anything she could ever hope to endure. The shockwave from the strike nearly blew her eardrums and the force that followed made her entire body sweep off from the ground and made it hurl to the side like a spinning ragdoll.

Crash!

The multi layered walls of the castle broke with a black shadow being thrown straight at it and breaking going through it.

Silence permeated through the crowd filled field before one of the girls reacted.

"Maia-sama!"

The guards and Knights all cried in horror as they saw their leader being sent hurling sideways with a single strike!

As they ran up to her, the woman had already fallen unconscious from the impact. Crimson blood, similar to her hair color, ran down her face. Her arms were limp by her side bent at an odd degree… holding a pair of hilts with broken blades.

"We need healers!"

"Grenda, help me stop the bleeding!"

"Bring her back to the castle!"

Both the warden and guards assisted the others to bring the Princess Knight back inside.

"What about the prisoner?"

"Do you want to lock him yourself?"

"..."

"That's what I thought! We need back up—"

"Wait!" Brynn intervened, "I will make sure he doesn't go anywhere!"

Standing without a sword, she pleaded her superior for the task, the latter looking at her in the eyes before scoffing.

"It's your funeral!"

Meanwhile, Archer just stood there, shocked at what happened. Kanshou still held firmly in his right hand. He brought his left hand, slightly touched his bleeding, and gazed at the blood for a while. Many thoughts passed through his mind at the same time, many question arose yet he couldn't find an answer for any of them.

"That… was unexpected."

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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, Harry Potter and my 2 Fate fics are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter.