Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero 46: Interlude: Reiser 2

Unfortunately, I’m Not A Hero 46: Interlude: Reiser 2

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Shaderic

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In the deepest depths of Kindred lands, I fought against a knight in all but name, in an arena of honor.

The Minotaur’s is completely unlike that of her Holstaur cousins. Where those creatures were flesh and fat meant to produce and rear herds of dull-minded workers, the Minotaur is a beast of battle, and the one standing before me is no exception.

Eschewing the Kindred’s focus on speed entirely, the Minotaru I faced in the arena was clad completely in armor, and wielded two, short cudgels in her hands. The setting sun was on her side, and would shine into my eyes, if not for her height. The shadow she cast was long and immersed both myself and the ruleskeeper of the match completely, while the Kitsune declared the terms of battle.

“This is the final battle! The two champions today’s matches shall face off with the same arms and armor they use for war!” Healers ringed the match, clad in white, and with sharp gazes. Their duty was to ensure that no matter the outcome of the battle, both warriors will not be permanently harmed. In the Empire, for duels of honor, they did not exist. “Release yourselves, bring glory to your tribe of Kindred, and shame them not with forsaken deeds! Warriors… ready yourselves!”

The Minotaur’s name was Eine, and I met her this morning, amongst all the contestants. Unlike those who let loose a breath of relief at the sight of me joining battle, instead of the Amazons or A’Bel, she had looked towards them as they waited in the stands with a gaze of yearning.

She’d wished to fight them and not I.

The moment that thought occurred to me, her gaze leapt towards me, and a smile replaced her downcast countenance.

“So, there’ll still be a fight today, eh?” Her voice held a rumbling quality, and nearly echoed within the depths of her helmet. Silently, with an experienced gaze, she took my measure as I failed to repress memories of techniques to bring low creatures like her moments. Her smile only widened at what she found. “I’ll see you at the end, little elf. Don’t hurt the rest of the idiots too much, alright?”

Those were the only words all my opponents sent my way this entire day.

No other was able to stand against me in me battle long enough to utter a word. 

Now, our gazes met at opposite ends of a ring composed of stone riddled with countless cracks, upon which much blood was spilled, and many victories were won, as the rulesmaster leapt back and left the ring of her own accord. 

“Heh, you weren’t even hit the entire battle. What were you doing hiding behind all those Warriors?” The Minotaur laughed, and despite the tenor of her voice, there was a sweetness to her voice now. A note of admiration and respect gilded her words. I felt the same. I watched her fights. In each one, she did not dishonor a single foe, and acted as a proper opponent should. “You should stand with them— grk!”

By blade was blocked by both her cudgels, while she rapidly changed her stance to put all her weight against me, leveraging the strength of her frame and her armored legs against the stone ring we stood upon. Her hooves bit into the stone, sending shards of rock upward, as I put weight upon her crossed cudgels and sheared her helm with the edge of my blade. 

In battle, the greatest respect one can show their opponent, is to face them with their full strength. 

So, without words…

…without hesitation…

…without contempt…

I struck against the Kindred.

And, she held.

“Hah!” The moment she matched my strength, she counterattacked. Her cudgels caught my blade and dragged me forward before I let loose of the handle, and her hoof rushed toward me like a lance. A Minotaur’s kick can easily break a horse with ease, regardless if they are armored or not, and even those clad in the finest armor would be shaken by the strike. If it connected with me, I would lose in an instant, given my light armor. If it connected. “Ha…haha!”

The Minotaur’s eyes were wide within her helm, as she stared at me upon her outstretched leg, and I took advantage of her glee and her surprise by lunging forward, crossing the length of her extended leg in a single stride, and with a twist, introducing my heel to her helmeted temple. 

The mortal blow merely staggered her for a second, a second in which her cudgels ceased to hold my sword in place, so I retrieved it before leaving the Kindred’s body and reach. 

After all, I’d already done as I’d wished.

“Huff, hah, gruh…GRAHHHH!” I’d watched the Minotaur’s matches throughout the day, witnessed her skill in combat, honed through both battle and a life dedicated to a single craft. Despite her massive frame, and her armor, she moved through battle with grace and poise, allowing hits to glance off her amor, and never losing balance when she is struck. Thus, with her innate strength and ability refined and supported by years of training, it was only natural that she reached the final match against me. So, I took that away from her. “Grauuaahhhhhhhh!”

My heel kick to her temple might not have killed her, but it certainly rendered her unconscious, leaving behind only instinct and rage. 

The creature, guided solely by instinct and rage, discarded the knight’s weapons and armor with great speed. It threw aside carefully maintained equipment without care, while struggling to stay standing on two legs. Soon enough, the creature only wore mere straps of leather across its body, as a red hue overtook its form. Its only purpose was destruction, to follow only what it was told to do since its birth, and nothing more and nothing less.

In a way, I suppose that was I and many of the Empire looked to Hikigaya.

Simply creatures of instinct, doing nothing but lashing out, and only having human faces by sheer chance.

Though I wanted to believe that facing the creature before me would give me a manner of solace, or even the slightest bit of redemption, I knew the truth.

This is only a battle that I must win for the slightest, infinitesimal chance at either of those things in a faraway future I couldn’t even reach out for.

Nothing more and nothing less. 

Therefore, I shall be victorious.

…

Lady Kurama dealt with my victory, spreading my acclaim, while I took solace upon a cliffside that overlooked the arena and the valley. 

I’d heard many tales of the Kuzunoha.

Their undead warriors, their Onimusha, were born of humans who stood against the Empire and were wiped out. They came from across the seas, from a land called Zipangu, and were killed to the last while the Kindred they protected fled. Over the centuries, the corpses of the men were recovered and given a chance to serve once again, therefore the Empire now must face Kindred who have centuries of experience in battle. 

However, despite their individual, martial might, they did not compare to the Kitsune and Kunoichi who decided to stay in these lands to avenge those who they lost. 

They were feared even in the innermost cities of the Empire. The nobility feared them, as they were masterful assassins, nothing more and nothing less to any who ruled within the Empire. They stole men of lesser status, guardsmen and common soldiery, but for those with storied lineages only death awaited from poison, curses, or the simple edge of a knife. 

When I closed my eyes and recalled the stories of the Kuzunoha, I saw a dark, harsh land where Kindred lived only for war and death. It was a land of poison, plague, and unlife where humans were nothing more than chattel, where nothing grew, and the skies were perpeturally dark due to the Kindred’s heinous miasma.

Yet, when I opened my eyes, I looked upon a mythical paradise fashioned for the Kindred, filled with individuals who devoted themselves to living rather than death, and with a deep devotion to their past, honor for all who meet them, and care for even the outcasts.

Such as I.

“For my tribe, it is a warrior’s duty to be present when their deeds are glorified. It allows the next generation, as well as those who could have done better, to look upon what they must strive to become.” The Minotaur took a seat beside me in the shade cast by a tree with thin branches and pink leaves. The moon cast a silvery light upon us both, but its hue was put to shame by the streets that were flush with golden flames below us. Even the stars were made dim by the light cast by the splendid, peaceful town that stretched across the valley. “How is it amongst the Elves? Do they shame those who have lost by receiving gifts, thus needing others to accept it in their stead?”

“We don’t fight as you do and don’t exchange blows with one another. I find this strange and disquieting.” Those who win duels in the Empire extract from the loser their prize. Those who are weak are at the mercy of the strong. Those who show mercy are seen as good and just, while those who take what they wish are seen as simply doing what they can. At least, that is how champions and heroes fought amongst one another. If there are any normal soldiers left, if some were spared the Empire’s efforts to destroy their minds, perhaps some kindness remained in the army that told all they fought for mankind. “I dislike it.”

“Strange. You fought like you liked it… or, perhaps, it isn’t proper for an Elf to be bloodthirsty?” The Minotaur mused. She was clad in a red robe studded with golden scales. It was small upon her frame, almost hiding nothing of her scarred, bronze-hued form, but she wore it with pride. It was her right as the one who lost to the champion and the finest of those who were defeated. No prize is offered to those who lose, in the Empire… let alone one truly studded with gold. “My mother always told me the world is vast and strange, but here I am… caught by surprise that my best opponent doesn’t want any honor and glory after defeating me.”

“It is the way of my people.” The Empire would have you become a golem. An unthinking, unfeeling creature that protected spellcasters with the strength of your body. Once your muscles could no longer move your frame, your horns and bones will be ground to dust for reagents, while whatever fragments you left behind in your passing are sacrificed to steal humans from other worlds to fight for the Empire. “Thank you for respecting it.”

I bowed to her, and I knew not if I was asking for forgiveness or acting my part.

She raised her hands at my words, while a blush spread across her face.

“It’s not much! Nothing that needs you to bow to me!” The Minotaur shook her head and waved her hands, desperately attempting to reject my words and actions, as she thought herself unworthy of them. She was wrong. She deserved far more than what I gave her. Far, far more. “Sheesh, you Elves really are strange. Shouldn’t you be at least a little proud of your strength? I would be.”

“We value speed and grace more, like your footwork and balance in battle. That was magnificent.” I spoke with great hesitation, wondering if I was breaking the mask I was wearing, but persevered at the look of elation I received from the Kindred. My compliment had reached her, and it was true and honest. Something that I never managed before. “However, you underestimated my agility and dexterity, allowing me to rob you of those skills.”

“Ah, so you planned all of that too? I really was beaten from the start, then.” Though she enjoyed my compliment for a moment, her focus turned to my words urging her to improve. She reminded me of better days, when I stood amongst others who simply yearned to fight well and wished to improve, even if for the ultimately wrong reasons. There were days back then when we merely competed with one another to become better. I missed them. “…Are you okay?”

Somehow, reminiscing of the past brought me to tears.

No.

The past wasn’t at fault.

It was what could’ve been.

If not for a war set in motion by our ancestors, if not for the drive of those who rule over the Empire to fight against the Kindred endlessly for power, then the world could be better. Places like Ylstu, and the land of the Kuzunoha, could be where humans and Kindred lived with one another. We’d compete in tournaments, honorable test our mettle against one another, and sit together after battle as comrades filled with respect for one another.

Instead we massacre one another incessantly for reasons long lost, die for causes we didn’t choose, and cannot stop until we perish.

Ah.

I think.

I think I understand Hikigaya just a little now.

“Elf?”

“Excuse me, I need to be alone.” Without hesitation, I leapt from the cliffside to the surprise of my companion, until she saw me navigate my way down the mountainside. 

My knowledge of the truth shook me to my core when he first confronted me, and shattered me after I saw Ylstu, and reinforced it more as I looked upon more and more Kindred lands. 

How would I have felt in reverse?

If I had known peace like that in Kindred lands, before being forced to fight for a cause I didn’t believe in, killing to simply live, and sacrificing my only allies so that I could do as I’ve been told by individuals who I cannot refuse?

Anger.

Hate.

Rage.

The incessant, unstoppable urge to destroy what robbed me of my peace, my joy, and my happiness.

That is how I would have felt, if I were taken from Kindred lands. 

A place which still believed in strength above all else, where human beings are seen as pets to be cared for, and war as a fact of life.

Hikigaya came from a much, much better place. 

With that knowledge at the forefront of my mind, my eyes met that of a Demon’s.

And, she smiled at me.