Chapter Text
…It was done.
The Knight had done it, all the tension from the fight faded away as The Radiance was consumed by The Void they were born from.
With her death, Hallownest will be freed from her plague, the dead can finally rest, and the survivors can rebuild…
…
…
…yet why?
Why, despite all they accomplished, did their very being ripple with sadness and longing?
They had won…
…but they had lost so much before then.
They mourned, for every soul and shell lost and defiled by this infection before their arrival.
They mourned, for every sibling lost to The Void and the ones who died despite escaping.
They mourned, for the Dreamers and Warriors they met in their travels who lost their lives in this cursed kingdom.
They mourned, for those who survived that had lost far more than they realized.
They mourned, for every fool that believed in the Pale King who failed his kingdom at every turn.
Then finally, they broke.
For they knew, far before they remembered, that whatever happened in this dead kingdom, it would be where their last moments would be.
They had died for this kingdom, hoping that their gendered sibling would rebuild in their place.
They knew the risks…but did not expect to regret.
Regret for those they left behind.
Regret for those they could not save.
Regret for those who died for them, and who died from them.
And as the shades of their siblings sunk to The Void, their Shade stayed afloat. It ignored its call to rest, to join the rest of its siblings and become one again.
For how could it rest? Stuck with these thoughts of doubt, and with no way to cry them out?
So it floated, drifting across consciousness and existence as it wandered out of The Abyss and into the Lands Beyond.
Those who caught a glimpse of the Shade simply believed it to be their imagination. Even those who knew what it was thought it lost to the mental erosion being outside Hallownest brings…
It did not matter to the Shade, as it drifted a path it took once upon a time…
At any other moment, that moment should’ve been the end of The Knight. A broken body and a Shade wandering the wastelands…but in that moment, something else was happening.
Across space, time, and realities, 4 weapon spirits searched for their champions.
The Shield, as always, found their champion almost instantly, choosing a young man from Earth’s Japan to become their wielder.
The Spear and Bow, as always, did find someone to be their Champion, but had to settle on flawed humans from different Japans.
The final spirit, the Sword, had also initially searched Earth as usual…
…but through its search, stumbled upon Hallownest.
The Cardinal Weapons usually never strayed from Earth when finding their Champions. However, the death of such a powerful entity as The Radiance had drawn in the Sword, who had always looked for Strength among its wielders.
So when it had found a soul, empty and vast as the void but whose strength allowed it to care for Nightmares and wield Dreams…
…The Sword had found their Knight.
______________________________________
In a flash that eclipsed even the sun, the Royal Mages had to cover their eyes from the bright glow of the summoning.
It worked! They had successfully summoned the 4 Cardinal Heroes of Legend!
In front of them, they witnessed 4 figures materializing with the weapons already in hand. However, some of them couldn’t help but gasp at the sight they saw.
Granted, the legends had always spoke of how the heroes would be from different worlds beyond their knowledge and comprehension. Nevertheless, they had prepared for many things.
For one of the heroes to be a Demihuman was not one of them.
At first they believed the pale figure arousing from sleep had been wearing a simple mask. However, as it simply shifted and immediately stood at attention despite the other heroes still shifting gave the mages pause.
The figure was…unnaturally silent, barely a whisper or even a breath coming from them. They were short, barely 3 feet if one included the small arching horns atop the pale and white head. It seemed almost cute, with the unnaturally large head compared to the small cloaked body, but then they stared into its eyes.
They were…blank. Some tried to compare it to a black they could think of but it seemed darker, like they shouldn’t be viewing this particular version of darkness. And despite the short figure, they gave off an…unnatural presence. It seemed to almost choke those who could sense it’s aura with power, and yet it seemed to almost be barely perceived even if they were actively viewing the figure.
One brave mage decided that they had to notify the heroes(even when one of them had been actively staring at them in silence) and walked forward, his echoing steps waking and stirring the other heroes to stand.
“Oh heroes! Please save this world!”
“What the hell?!” The Bow, Spear, and Shield heroes all shouted in unison, making them acknowledge each others presence and making the Bow and Spear heroes jump as they realized the clearly not human standing between them.
They said nothing, but the way they turned to view the other heroes showed the legendary sword sheathed on their back, alongside another blade that had been already there.
The brave mage made a note of that, realizing that one of their summoned heroes must have been a warrior before being summoned, but mentally grimaced.
He had hoped that the King would realize this before judging them for being Demihuman, as an experienced hero would benefit greatly for fending off The Waves of Catastrophe.
And as he explained the rest to the heroes, he tried to ignore that voice in the back of his head that told him how dangerous it was.
______________________________________
Holy shit, Motoyasu could barely keep his excitement!
HE HAD JUST BEEN ISEKAI’D INTO EMERALD ONLINE!
Sure, the beginning was slightly different from what he remembered and the fact that he had a spear basically attatched to him was a little weird, but he recognized the basic plot when that robed guy mentioned The Waves!
He was almost grateful for being stabbed to death by two of his girlfriends…almost.
As he and the other 3 heroes(another thing different from Emerald Online with what he remembered) followed the robed dudes through the stone corridor, the Shielder looked out a nearby window and mentioned how the air felt so fresh.
The little Sword guy looked out that same window and seemed to agree with the Shielder. It almost felt like the little guy had never seen something like the view before…
Seriously, what was it?! He’s pretty sure the dude hasn’t blinked once! Were they blinking when he wasn’t looking? Did they have no eyelids? It’s such a bizzare creature to Motoyasu!
He honestly would’ve asked the little guy if they hadn’t already made their way toward the throne room.
…Wow, that king looks old!
…Motoyasu was suddenly glad he didn’t yell that out loud.
______________________________________
“So these are the Four Cardinal Heroes of ancient legend?” Aultcray couldn't help but judge the age of their summoned heroes. None of them barely looked older than 20!
“I am the king of Melromarc, Aultcray Melromarc the 3…2nd.” In his prior assessment, he had failed to notice the unnatural form of the Sword hero until he introduced himself.
How had they summoned a Demihuman for their Sword Hero?! The legends never mentioned such a thing!
No…Aultcray calmed himself down before his anger showed. The legends said that their heroes were always summoned from different worlds…but still, the King hadn’t even considered the possibility of one of the heroes not being human.
“Heroes, name yourselves!” He decided he needed more information, and so asked the heroes their names and looked at the Sword Hero head on.
However, all the hero did was look at him, took out a sword(Aultcray barely noticed it wasn’t the legendary sword) and pointed it downward. The Hero grabbed the hilt of the strange, pale sword and bowed, almost a spitting image of a Knight.
They held that pose for awhile before the Spear hero next to him commented on the pose.
“Huh, he’s like a Knight.” At the mention of the word, the Sword hero nodded in confirmation.
“So, you were a Knight in your world before being summoned here?” As the hero nodded once again, Aultcray sighed in slight annoyance at the lack of words from the creature.
Nevertheless, having one of the heroes be experienced in combat would be a boon, despite not being human.
“I'm Kitamura Motoyasu! Twenty-one,
and a college student.” The Spear Hero introduced himself next, but he found himself only half paying attention as he looked at The Knight, who had sheathed the sword on its back alongside the legendary Sword.
Despite no longer wielding the Vassal Staff, Aultcray was still able to somewhat sense magical potential on certain people if he focused.
And when he had focused on The Knight during its introduction, he saw something…strange.
While the hero had great potential for magic, as expected of a Legendary Hero, he sensed something…strange.
It’s mana was like a void, absolutely nothing could seemingly come close to it…and yet, he sensed two other magical sources almost…dependent on that void.
One felt like a flame, beautiful and dramatic, but had the potential to burn everything in its path.
The other was almost invasive, like it’s very presence was reading him instead of the other way around.
They seemed to almost fuel the Void. One, locked in an eternal dance with it, the other almost trying to leech of it but never diminishing it…it was—
The King zoned back in when his advisor called him, the other heroes looked at him in worry.
How long had he…
“ahem, Forgive me, I was lost in thought. Now then—” Aultcray recovered, but pointedly decided to keep a close eye on the Sword Hero.
After all, his daughter had expressed interest in adventuring with one of the heroes.
He wouldn’t forgive himself if the Sword Hero would hurt her in any way should she decide to follow him.