birthed of the darkness of glorious legend

Affiliated with Asphodel Valley

[challengxr]

heroicshade

[challengxr]

“Stay back —” 

This city had blurred all lines between friend and foe. The appearance of hordes of undead and monsters were sudden and it seemed that trying to find people to trust was near impossible. One moment, you’re sharing a can of food.. The next, they’re trying to eat you! What was once a vaguely quaint and desolate town became a nightmare. The fox couldn’t even remember the last time she had slept; and it was definitely showing through her behaviour. 

“I’m not about to just give up and lay down yet.. Ngh.. Come on, if you wanna chomp on this hot bod, then fight me!” 

[heroicshade-blog]

Lancelot was slicing through wave upon wave of zombie through the old avenue. And the idea that anyone can live through this is astounding.

When he was just about done he say movement in the distance.

Well he was bound to find some stragglers sooner or later.

He found something very different.

He felt claws slashing at him, and a hint of white fur and raven hair.

He was knocked back, and he saw an unexpected sight.

“What....are you?”

[heroicshade-blog]

Walking down the streets of the....”Old Town”, there was clearly an unsettling air of the place. With the newer, more modern, city, at the very least you had an idea of what happened, the destruction was explainable.

But this.......this lull....this silence, and the almost pristine state the town was in...he didn’t like it at all.

....he thought he heard a shift down an abandoned alleyway.

Just the wind?

Who was he kidding, its never the wind.

[heroicshade-blog]

Opens I still need to make

*Forte

*Archer

*Kumagawa

Just send me an ask if anyone else wants to!

[heroicshade-blog]

Wandering into the maw of the beast

Drip.....drip.........

He can barely see his reflection in the dirty mirror, the grime and water stains covering every inch of the frame. 

Despite this, the disgraced knight felt he would have looked horrendous anyhow. He felt horrendous, in any chance. Like he’s been punched in the stomach at full force.

Or stabbed in the gut

He turned on the water faucet and immediately felt more aware as the ice cold water splashed onto his face.

He buttoned on his suit jacket and walked out of the grimy gas station bathroom. He found himself overlooking the town below. A run down bastion with pockmarked avenues, and buildings decaying at the seams, and a town that seems to have a clear coat of dust on every single inch of it.

Which will he explore first? Only time would tell. 

[heroicshade-blog]

-i am so sorry for the lateness, ill get to the starter soon and if anyone would like to thread with Lancelot feel free to like this post or send an ask!-

[heroicshade-blog]

ANNOUNCEMENT

This blog will be revamped for the new Asphodel Valley MFRP, any old blogs that are not currently part of Asphodel Valley, please unfollow.

[loreleismelody]

it really had to be... { open

[loreleismelody]

Although it may not quite look it, his words and presence were highly comforting to the younger girl— death may be no new thing to her, but being lost and alone… she shifted, watching from a comfortably safe distance as he inspected the jeep. She wasn’t in much of a hurry to go near it again, opting instead to look around the deserted streets quietly.

As dead as everything appeared, there was a certain… underlying sense of unease that prickled beneath her skin, born from more than just the clawing sense of isolation. There was something more that Sayaka was sure that she was missing, or maybe she just didn’t want think too deeply about it. This place felt more dead than the afterlife she’d come from, reminding her more closely of a place closer to her heart— shadowed corridors, nothing but pain and despair for company until the foolish wandered in…

She was almost glad she didn’t have Madoka’s omnipresence, her memories were quite enough at times.

"It seems a shame to fend for yourself in a place like this. Did you meet anyone else since you arrived?"

Words from her companion pulled her from a less savoury train of thought, finding it far too easy to drift into melancholy in this environment.

"Ah, no, you’re the first person I’ve seen,"she supplied a little sheepishly, though she was quick to square her shoulders in a show of confidence.

"I can take care of myself, though! You don’t need to worry!" And it wasn’t a lie— she may not have been the most proficient of her fellows but she could still handle herself. Mostly. Sort of. 

Rather than dwell, the blue magi was quick to barrel on.

"I’m Sayaka, by the way! Miki Sayaka."

[heroicshade-blog]

Lancelot didn't doubt her assertions to being able to fend for herself. She certainly had the spunk needed to keep on going.

It's admirable. Give her supplies and a weapon and she'd be on her way to being a competent fighter in no time.

"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Miki. They call me, Lancelot of the Lake."

...At this point, he was very much expecting a loud exclamation of disbelief at his claim, as he was very much a famed mythological figure, and by all reason, should be long dead.

Arthuria must receive that treatment tenfold in these types of situations, he pondered.

"In any case, even if one can survive on their own, it's always better to travel in groups. You'll have an extra sword to assist you, for example."

Speaking of which, he felt that an extra weapon or two was needed right about now.

For in the distance, he saw yet more of those damned corpses coming towards them.

[serutee]

{ golden hymn. // av open

[serutee]

{ ♛

Her first thought was to leave Lancelot there, and to watch from above as those monsters tore him apart. He could not beat her, no matter what, so their fight was over before it even began. Still, him trying to negotiate was amusing.

— But servitude? To pledge himself to her as her furniture…

What an excellent idea. If he made a deal with her, it would be even better than if she had forced him into the role. That way, the witch should extend the period of breaking the night into a longer one.

Sitting back in her chair, Beatrice relaxed into a regal position. Then, she extended her left hand to Lancelot.

"I accept, I shall heal you. Kiss the ring on my finger, and we have a deal, knight."

How foolish of him, she thought, to make a deal with a witch. }

[heroicshade-blog]

She sure doesn't make this easy.

Seeing as she held her hand much too high for him to reach. So he struggled as much as his broken body can go reach his head up to her hand. He saw the golden ring on her finger. It had a lustrous sheen, and he can clearly see an insignia on it. It was in the shape of a sort of wing, as you would see on a type of bird. Was it a sort of coat of arms? A magic sigil? Or both even.

He put his lips to the ring.

The effect was instantaneous.

The same golden butterflies appeared and surrounded his body, and as they did, a slight burning sensation went through him. But with the burning came strength rushing back into him, as shattered bones were set back into place, severed tendons reattached, and gaping wounds cleaned and shut.

He was finally able to stand on his own two feet.

As he coated himself in armor once more, he let out an energetic scream to the sky.

To anyone looking on, it may seem like a mere battlecry by an overzealous warrior.

To anyone who has lived through the Fourth Holy Grail War however, it would bring absolute dread.

He picked up an elm branch that was beside him as a nearby tree was demolished earlier. As he held it in his hand, dark prana seeped through it once more.

Like a flash he set off, slicing down row after row of walking corpses with his weapon, as they fell in groups of 5.

[swordofrupture]

"I believe, ‘let loose’ would be a much proper term." Gawain really just let loose when it came to Leo. Though he was pretty strict when it came to the serious matters but other than that, he was something like…oh, what was the term, the type of man that would enjoy trying to converse in a gossip group. 

"Though he tried to pick a fight with me but it didn’t end." It was simply an argument but Gilgamesh wasn’t going to let Lancelot know that, it would be interesting to see what type of brooding expression this man can make.

[heroicshade-blog]

He thought this reply over for a short while.

He cracked a smile in spite of himself.

"That's reassuring. I would be most surprised if he didn't present himself as someone of his stature should be."

Gawain was The Knight of the Sun. He held a prestigious responsibility amongst the Knights of the Round. He never expected Gawain to fully accept what he has done, nor did he ever expect to meet him or the king ever again in this....life.

It was good too. It was hard enough facing him once after having taken the lives of the people he loved most.

He didn't much feel like smiling, but he wasn't about to show that.

"I'm...quite reassured that he at least has stayed the same."

[joestarheir]

"Thank you," Jonathan replied, catching the box. He carefully opened it and extracted several rolls of bandages, as well as what seemed like disinfectant. He wasn’t particularly worried about himself, but other people who didn’t have the same abilities or constitution as him.

Packing supplies into his bag, he suddenly heard a voice. And then some kind of banging on the door. He looked at Lancelot, who had had the same thought as him.

Reanimated corpses grasped clumsily at the dirty windows of the store, their flesh threatening to fall off of their bodies at any time. Some had hair, some had nails, some had teeth and eyes. But what was certain was that they had no minds. They weren’t like Dio’s minions. These weren’t vampires but just simple undead.

"Pardon me, Sir Lancelot," Jonathan said, grabbing his sword. "I think I’ve got something to do."

[heroicshade-blog]

He knew exactly what Jonathan was insinuating.

Admirable. This boy had the courage of a full fledged knight. He wondered what sort of training he had undergone, for creatures like these were no easy task to slay. And he supposed Jonathan needed a helping hand.

He set his pack down and followed suit.

"What a coincidence, there was something that I was sorely meaning to do as well."

He stepped outside to face the horde, and then a black cloud of obfuscating smoke surrounded him, letting up to reveal a suit of armor as black as night, with a red light emanating from his visor.

"Let's consider this a review of your swordplay." he said as he gestured to the horde.

[heroicshade-blog]

{I'm really sorry I was out so long!] I'll get to all the opens and replies I can posthaste.}

[serutee]

{ golden hymn. // av open

[serutee]

{ ♛ —

Splendid. Absolutely splendid. That expression of pain, the shock of the impact, the air of defeat, and all of his blood on the ground. It was wonderful. She began to laugh so maniacally and so hard that she wondered if she’d ever laughed this much in all her years; all one thousand of them. 

"Kyaaahahahahahah! Aaahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!”

There was no sweeter taste than victory.

Laughing and cackling as she was, it took a moment for Beato realize that the two of them were not alone. That cut her fit off short, much to her annoyance. Truly, it did make a lot of sense for a city of the dead to have walking corpses rummaging around, but this was the first she’d seen any that she did not create. Then, that defeated knight even spoke to her again.

"Good grief…"

Interruption? The fight was over now, she being the clear winner, so this was more like the after arty. Still, with a quick movement of her hand, her Should Towers disappeared, and the ground from whence they sprouted returned to normal. They didn’t have any issues, but he did. Beato would have had no trouble with such a pathetic horde, but he could barely move after her attack. Another few snickers and giggles tumbled out of her mouth as she floated down next to Lancelot, her chair hovering just a few inches off the ground.

"Ufufu… You look to be in a spot of trouble, Ser Lancelot…." }

[heroicshade-blog]

"How can you tell..?", he coughed out.

It might have some repercussions, but he was not looking to die here, and it wasn't like he could offer anything of value to the witch that she would need. ......Unless he appealed to her childishly sadistic nature that is.

"I wish not to die here, and while you may not be affected by this, surely you're not going to give up our fight here are you?"

He didn't know if she was smart enough to see through this, but beggars can't be choosers, as they say.

"If you heal me, I'll willingly serve you, or whatever you need."

[swordofrupture]

"Lance..lot?" Indeed that name sounded familiar to the king, but it was also familiar in other ways. "Ahhh.." That’s right, Lancelot of the Lake, was a member of King Arthur’s round table. The man that fell in love with the King’s wife, a pitiful tale, truly pitiful. Ah but that was the thing of the past and was not on Gilgamesh’s mind at the moment. The thing that he really wanted to say was this,

"I met the sun knight, Gawain, on the Moon." The irony of that sentence was too much. 

"Perhaps I will meet all of you knights in this isolated providence." 

[heroicshade-blog]

Lancelot cringed a little at hearing his past deeds, but he supposed it was to be expected, you can't just absolve your sins and expect forgiveness.

He did however perk up at his mention of Gawain. He never did see eye to eye with him, especially nearing the end, but he did hold some respect for him and his brothers, and regretted it evermore.

"I see....so me and Arthur weren't the only ones. I assume he's as high strung as ever?"

[joestarheir]

Jonathan gratefully accepted the jar and nodded to Lancelot. He placed it carefully into his tiny bag. The jar may be useful later on again, once the current contents were gone. “As for your question, I’m not sure myself. I have never heard of a place called Asphodel Valley before. It is even a wonder I am here, speaking to you, Sir Lancelot.”

Looking around on the shelves near his companion, Jonathan had a sudden thought. “Is there any medicine here? Or something for first aid? It would be rather troubling if I met someone and I couldn’t help them…” Surely a store that was stocked like this would have emergency supplies.

[heroicshade-blog]

Lancelot looked up and down the shelves. He had a faint idea of the remedies of the modern era, with their pills, and syrups and whatnot. Not that it wasn't convenient, mind you. Morseso than scanning the forest for plants for a salve. As he looked through the farthest shelves, he managed to find a small red box with a cross on it. He took it and showed it to Jonathan.

"This is what people in your time call a 'first aid kit' is it not? I'd say we use this sparingly."

He tossed it over to Jonathan and tried searching for anything else of use.

He then heard a rasping moan.

And then a scratching at the door.

He looked towards Jonathan, who seemed just as alarmed as he was. He seemed to have been similarly convinced of this town's emptiness.

It seems that the townspeople didn't just disappear after all. Outside the front window, were a legion of gray, mangled human forms, with cold dead eyes and rotted flesh.

[loreleismelody]

it really had to be... { open

[loreleismelody]

The girl spun on the spot several times, pulling at her uniform and shaking— anything to get rid of the horrible feeling of far too many tiny legs itching against her skin. No matter how much she batted at her clothes ad hair she could still feel the there, bile rising in her throat, vainly dragging her fingers through blue locks with a small sound of distress—

Only to jump slightly when a larger pair of hands came to her aid, doing a much better job at removing the insects from her person until that horrible itchiness subsided along with her twitching and thrashing. A sigh of relief passed her lips before two things slowly clicked: a) she was no longer alone and b) she’d just utterly embarrassed herself in front of the first living person shed met here.

Well maybe living wasn’t quite the right word… Sayaka stopped that train of thought before it went back to a familiar headache.

"Come now, miss, those are just spiders. They won’t harm you."

"They just… startled me, ‘s all…" Sayaka responded slowly, unable to look up at him just yet, humiliation winning out against the relief of meeting another person. Not exactly the striking image of a just heroine… though it wouldn’t be the first time she’d failed to match that particular standard. She was just as quick to bat those thoughts away, shuffling awkwardly in place.

"Th-thanks… for the help, I mean…" Smooth.

[heroicshade-blog]

"No need to thank me, I'm just helping someone in need."

Lancelot was quite a bit amused at this girl's flustered expression. But he decided to take no notice of it. After all, he would've done the same.

He then walked over and inspected the truck. It was old and decrepit. The paint was almost completely peeled off, the hubcaps were missing, and he suspected that in place of a motor, there would be an entire nest of the accursed spiders. Not that he wanted to find out in any case. Didn't want to alarm the girl more than she was.

He was however, aware that this town was more dangerous than it seems, and was quite concerned for this girl.

He looked around the area, and it seemed quite the same as always. Desolate, abandoned, and not a soul in sight, yet carried an ominous presence.

"It seems a shame to fend for yourself in a place like this. Did you meet anyone else since you arrived?"

[serutee]

{ golden hymn. // av open

[serutee]

{ ♛

The only reason she hadn’t immediately commanded the towers to fire at him was that she wanted to see what sort of face he would make. And she was not disappointed. The shocked look pleased her, enough to cause her terrible grin to become even more contorted. That’s what she loved, to see the look of surprise, awe, and terror on the face of a human before she killed them. It never got old.

"Are you scaaaaared, mortaaaal?!”

However, despite her scornful gaze and matching words, she did not expect to momentarily watch as his form raced away at a surprising speed. Yet, she could guess that he would attempt to evade the blasts, and as soon as he moved, she bellowed out another command to the Towers:

"Fire!”

Both Towers immediately shot at him, and Beatrice knew that he could not dodge them all, and that armor could only protect someone so much. She even hoped that armor to be relatively ineffective against the crystal bullets, as she would have sensed any anti-magic properties that came off such a large scale of armor.

A shovel aimed directly at her person, however, was a bit of a surprise. It came quick through the fire, and hit her right in the left shoulder. The pain was nothing, but the shock and annoyance of actually being wounded infuriated her even more. Any Hell that awaited her after this place would feel lukewarm compared to what she would do to this foolish man.

"Haa — !”

The force of the attack caused the witch to have to grip the arm rests of her chair in order to not fall. Her blood splattered all over, and even though her butterflies were quick to clean up the mess (as well as cause that shovel to disappear to who knows where), Beatrice reached up to wipe blood from her lips before it burst into tiny golden gleams.

At the very least of this humiliation, she could see the damage her Shoulder Towers had done against her opponent.}

[heroicshade-blog]

Lancelot felt himself smirk in satisfaction, but only for an instant.

That's when he felt the deluge of crystals finally connect with his body. All of them. They pierced through every single limb, his torso, his head and neck. He staggered back, stopped in his tracks by the immense pain and considerable damage to his body. He fell to his knees, and coughed up a considerable amount of blood as he fell to the ground, defeated.

He heard the faint sound of the woman's shrill cackle of victory in the distance. She must be having a right old time, seeing him battered and beaten like this.

.....If this was meant to be an ironic hell, well, mission accomplished.

He waited for his mind to go still, his body grow cold.

But then he heard it. The faint, uneven, shambling of feet. The low, hoarse moans. He opened his eyes.

He found his vision to be quite blurry, but there was no mistaking what he saw. Coming out of the fog were countless humanoid shapes, lumbering their way towards the two of them. It was unknown if the witch took notice or not, but he had to think of something. If he was alive, then he might as well try and STAY that way this time. After all, he had already died twice, and that was no walk in the park.

Slowly, but painfully, he turned around and looked directly at the woman.

"A-apologies for the interruption of our fight, but -COUGH-...I think we have bigger issues now."

He motioned towards the oncoming horde.

[afterwarcomesdeath-deactivated2]

Alive and Livid [ Open ]

Death lay immobile in the middle of an abandoned road. Playing back in his head was his leap into the Well of Souls, though he could not remember if he ever closed his eyes. The noon heat slowly came over him, broken concrete painful for his bare back and arms to rest on. Hadn’t it been so cold a moment ago? 

A shadow passed over him, a peculiar green-tinted crow glided down onto him. From afar, one might think it was simply a bird finding it’s feast in a corpse. But Death was still alive, eyes opening with a start as the creature let out a loud “Caw!”. 

"Dust?" Death wearily questioned the presence of the other. He covered his eyes from the sun and sat up slowly, Dust flapping down to the ground. It hopped in place, watching it’s master stand up, hand on his bone mask. A moment of silence was broken by subtle whispers, and his hand jumped quickly to the shards in his chest. 

His plan had failed. Who knows what realm this was, but it very much resembled the wreck of post apocalyptic earth. Logic and thought was quickly overlapped by layers of anger that built up within him. 

It didn’t matter if it was actually the same realm. The shards in his chest, the whispers of the nephilim’s souls, was indicator enough his efforts had been thwarted. He was so close, he had done so much to get to that point and it was taken away from him.

For quite some distance, one could hear the echoes of an absolutely livid nephilim yell at the top of his lungs. 

[heroicshade-blog]

He heard a piercing scream blare throughout the town, like the wailing of an enraged beast.

He was very aware of the irony in that statement, but as it stands, this did not bode well.

He knew where he was instantly, as he didn't even need to know him by sight to feel that intense presence, like fire, but it had none of the passion. In a way it felt cold and lifeless, like a damp chill during the winter. This was unlike anything Lancelot had ever felt before.

He saw it, that humanoid shape of a long haired man shouting to the sky with all the wrath he could muster.

He had alongside him a menacing crow standing silent, and his face was not a face but a gaunt, skeletal, mask, devoid of any emotion whatsoever.

"What in the world are you?!"