Notes:

Tags: Mature, Gore, Violence, Tragedy, Drama, Fantasy(makes sense), AU-Alternate Universe, Romantic Subplot, Dark Humor

I haven't read nor watched Danmachi so I don't have clear info on how the world works. It won't matter on this fic anyway.

The M.C. is DEMIYA, or if you don't know him by that name, EMIYA ALTER.

Just a little something I wrote as a side project while taking a short break from writing my other fic. Here are the few things you shouldn't expect while reading this:

Regular updates - Don't expect it, I don't really have enough time as it is.

Canon - What's that? Is that edible? Seriously.

Fluffy-ness and all things cute - They'll die pretty fast, its not a full on tragedy where everyone dies per chapter though. Sad. Go back to the land of rainbows and unicorns if you don't have the stomach for this.

Story length - I won't be setting regular standards for this so you can expect varying chapter lengths but not the 10k or more goals that I usually set for myself.

Aside from that...I'll answer questions and reviews on the next chapter. Whenever that is...

Disclaimer: I don't own Danmachi or F/SN and any related franchise.

Once upon a time, there was a war that destroyed the world. Humanity was driven to near extinction. Seeing that the two Great Gods who had imprisoned them were weakened and near death, they conspired with the humans and those who dwelled on the reverse side of the word.

Injured and powerless, the two Great Gods could do nothing as their former prisoners threw them into a prison of their own. Thus, the cycle of the world begins anew. History begins to be written and the two Great Gods would be left in obscurity to be forgotten.

Until the arrogance of the former prisoners who sought to acquire power, allowed the two Great Gods to release a portion of their power. They created a Champion.

The Dungeon was a complex labyrinthine structure created after the Gods descended to the lower worlds. Or so that was what the history books said. It was a structure that infinitely spawned monsters, the deeper you delved the stronger they became. Little is known about the dungeons except a few facts. One fact being, the dungeon hated gods going so far as to seal the exits and spawn a terrifying monster should they ever choose to go into it.

Then there were the Gods, beings who came down from the upper worlds to sate their boredom. They chose to seal their own powers in an agreement so they may dwell among mortals.

They granted powers, Falna, unto their followers to assist them in fighting against monsters. In exchange, the Gods garnered the mortals' loyalty and gratitude. Such people would come to be known as adventurers. They who dived into the Dungeon's depths to plunder its treasure and kill its inhabitants.

But was that really the truth of the Dungeon? Was it truly nothing more than a place that contained monsters? Why did the Dungeon hate the Gods?

A young man contemplated this questions that appeared in his mind. He sat in daze while staring at the wide blue skies. The sounds of forest critters and the breeze as it blew through the vast greenery tickled the young man's ears.

"Why am I here?" The young man asked himself.

It was not a philosophical question by any means. Neither was the young man questioning how he got there. No, what the young man wanted to know was why he woke up in the middle of a forest.

Swords floated around the young man, varying from medieval swords to Japanese katana. With a flick of his wrist, the swords disappeared into blue motes.

There was barely a drain, the young man thought.

"Is this suppose to be another job?" The young man said to no one in particular. His face was set in a perpetual scowl, his face serious and his amber eyes seemingly glaring at something.

His auburn hair was being lightly blown by the wind.

He knew who he was. He could remember the things he had done and he had paid for all of it in full, dying a dogs death. Such a thing should not have been possible, but it was.

He stared at his arms, yet to be stained by blood and tainted by his magecraft. He clenched his fists.

It was pointless sitting there and trying to grasp answers from nowhere. He might as well explore around to get information on his location.

He picked himself off the ground and started travelling towards a random direction. As he travelled, he passed by a few peculiar creatures. One of them included a green humanoid creature which spoke in gibberish. The creature had attacked as soon as it noticed him. Fortunately, the thing was fragile.

He stuck out like a sore thumb walking through the forest in his black colored pants and arm covers. His exposed torso showed rippling muscles and alluring abdominals.

A simple reinforced kick had blown the creature towards a tree and shattered its head.

It was noon when he found signs of civilization.

The sounds of steel crashing against steel could be heard as he approached. He detachedly noted that it was a village being burned to the ground by armed combatants. Medieval knights and soldiers, he observed as they butchered the civilians who wielded nothing but pitchforks and axes. A few of them had swords but they were vastly outnumbered and underequipped to face a trained army.

The young man looked on as the soldiers slaughtered children crying for their parents. The women were dragged off, their clothes ripped to shreds as the soldiers laughed vulgarly. He wrinkled his nose in disgust but did nothing else aside from observing the army's movements.

By nightfall, the village was nothing but cinders. The young man walked towards the village as the marauding army left. Corpses littered the ground and in the middle of the village, the nude bodies of women and children were grotesquely displayed as they were piled atop each other.

He scavenged through the burnt remains, looking for any salvageable material. As he was stripping a corpse of its clothes, he heard weak voice crying out for help. He ignored it and continued with his task.

He was luckily able to find rough linen clothes. He put several of them on, the mismatch between his modern clothes and the peasant's clothes made him stand out. He put on more clothes to cover himself.

He didn't know anything about this world aside from the fragmented pieces of information he receives when he arrived. He didn't want to gather attention on himself by wearing stagecraft created clothing.

The voice had been persistently crying out even with it growing hoarse by the moment. The young man curiously looked on, wondering why the voice stopped calling out. He made his way towards where he had heard it.

On the ground crawling was a sorry excuse of a human. The young man noted that it was a young malnourished girl. Blood and white fluids dripped down between her legs. Her clothes, the rags that they were, were torn leaving her body bare. The girl turned her head towards him.

Dirty blond hair and a small body impoverished by poverty. Her ears were slightly pointed, noticeable enough to differentiate between a human's.

The dull empty look in her eyes stirred the young man's frozen heart. There was a determined look in her eyes, a tenacious spirit to cling to life.

His own memories of the past assaulted him. A boy who walked through hell, ignoring the cry for help. In the end, the boy lived. The young man opened his mouth and asked.

"Do you want to live?"

There was a peculiar incongruence between the sound her mouth made and what he heard. But he understood her all the same.

"Y-yes..."

The girl collapsed but before she could crash to the ground, the young man caught her. He noticed how light the girl was and how thin her arms were. The young man moved her aside and mechanically stripped some clothes from the other corpses. Once he was done, he moved towards a few burnt houses and looked through whatever he could get.

By the end of it, the young man was able to find two pieces of dirty burnt meat and a few trampled vegetables. He was also able to find a gourd filled with wine. He needed the food for now because he didn't have the time to hunt while scavenging. But his greatest find was the round metallic objects. Currency, coins made out of some enchanted metal.

The young man analyzed the coins with his magic. Then attempted to recreate them with his magecraft. He grunted at his success. A round silver coin with a V at its center was on his palm.

He approached where he had taken the girl and carried her away.

He didn't look back as he left the destroyed village. He knew he shouldn't be able to feel anything but the slightly constricting feeling in his heart bothered him. His throat dried and his eyes reddened. But his expression remained the same.

After making sure he was far enough from the village, he found a location where a massive tree had fallen. He cleared some space and put down the girl. With a low mutter, he invoked his magecraft. A steel pot formed in his hands. He bent down and dug a small pit. He arranged rocks around it and left to find some branches.

"Trace on."

A flaming sword appeared in the young man's hands. Dyrnwyn a weapon from Welsh mythology.

With all the necessary implements prepared, the young man proceeded to cook. It was a meager mixture of what he had gathered. The scent of food drifted through the forest. The noise of his cooking woke up the girl he had carried.

She curled up and stared at him.

The young man ignored her. A pair of bowls appeared in his hands, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. The girl's stare turned wide eyed. He poured stew into the bowls and traced spoons. He carried his own bowl and went to the other side of their small camp while leaning against the fallen tree.

The girl cautiously made his way towards the food. She looked towards him before taking her share.

The sound of the stew being ravenously devoured could be heard.

"Slow down or you'll vomit." The young man said without looking. He ate his own food in silence. After the meal, the young man traced a pair of sleeping bag complete with the blankets. He threw one to the girl who proceeded to prod it curiously.

He fixed his own and went to sleep.

The young man woke feeling the heat of another human in close contact with him. The sun was rising from the horizon. The young man let out a breath, the crisp morning air fogging his breath.

The young man got out of the blanket leaving the girl to sleep.

"It's annoying being human again." He complained to himself.

With a short aria, a bow and a quiver of arrows appeared in his hands. He walked towards the forest and began to hunt.

When he got back, the girl was already awake. Her expression was panicked as she held the blanket to her chest but she calmed down at the sight of him.

He silently made breakfast, no words were exchanged. Mostly because the young man didn't find the necessity in it and the girl was afraid to ask her savior anything. Once he was done cooking they quickly ate breakfast.

After they ate, the young man faced the girl.

"You, do you know anything about the Dungeon?" The young man asked in demand.

"I-its Brenna. I d-don't know about it. I can't remember anything." The girl said meekly.

She looked at her savior who burst out into hysteric laughter at her words. It was not happy laugh by any means. It was the laugh of a madman laughing at his great misfortune.

After his short outburst the young man proceeded to ask more questions from the girl ranging from the name of the country they were in to the state of the world. The girl could only shake her head, not knowing the answer.

"Tch. How useless." The young man said.

The girl bit her lips as tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. The young man deliberately ignored her and filed what little answers he could get for later thought.

"Let's go." The young man said.

The girl followed after him but was unable to keep up with his strides.

"How useless can you get?" He asked in annoyance.

Brenna looked about ready to cry when the young man picked her up. He effortlessly carried her in his arms while walking at the speed of a sprinter.

They shortly arrived a short distance from the burnt village where the young man found a road leading to somewhere. He started walking the path, not knowing where it would lead him.

They had been on the road for three days now. Brenna breathed heavily as she attempted to keep up with the young man. She was trying her best not to get left behind as she wiped the sweat that threatened to go to her eyes.

Her savior was a strange person. He didn't speak and if he did, it was to say mean things to her. She had not been lying when she told the young man she couldn't remember anything. The only thing he could remember was the pain-

She nearly fell over at the memory. She steadied herself and looked up. The young man was leveling an intense glare at her. She lowered her head and walked towards him. The young man went down on one knee and stared at her.

"Get on my back, stop being a burden." The young man said in annoyance.

Brenna silently complied. It was later that day when they reached the sight of another village. Brenna was about to shout out in delight but the look from the young man silenced her.

"We're leaving." The young man said and turned around.

"Why?" She asked.

The young man stared at the village for moment and spoke.

"That village is about to be attacked." He said in disinterest.

Before he could walk away, Brenna grabbed ahold of his clothes.

"Can't you save them?" She asked. She wilted when the young man stared at her as if looking at a particularly dull child.

"Do not take the word 'save' lightly, girl. Do you even understand what it means to save others?"

"B-but you're strong, right?" Brenna asked as she gathered her courage.

"I have the ability to save them but I won't. Because there is no meaning to it." The young man stated simply. "Let's go." He said, this time with more force.

"Please! Save them!" Brenna pleaded.

"Foolish girl. If you want to save them so much then go and do it yourself." The young man said.

In defiance, Brenna ran towards the village. She had to at least warn them. She couldn't remember much of what happened to her but the vivid memory of the pain she suffered remained. She remembered when a man broke down the closet she'd been hiding in and dragged her out into the open. She remembered as the man ripped her clothes and raped her. She remembered as her mother was-

"NOOOO! Please stop! You're going to be attacked!" She shouted desperately towards the village as she ran. A rock made her stumble bruising her knees but she stood up and continued to run. "You're under attack!"

Sadly, her small voice ignored. It instead caught the attention of the soldiers who lay in ambush.

She felt a burning pain as an arrow hit her leg making her fall to the ground. She continued to shout even as an armored man came out in the open to take her life.

Brenna saw the soldiers begin their assault. She felt the ground shake as warhorses rushed through the village's open gates.

"What's a brat like you doing out here? It doesn't matter, sorry about this kid." The man said he raised his sword. Brenna closed her eyes waiting for death to come. A loud thunderous boom resounded in her ears. Death never came, instead she felt blood splatter on her as the soldier fell backwards.

She opened her eyes to see the red haired young man glaring down at her. In his hands was a strange weapons with blades protruding from its tips. The young man pointed the weapon towards an archer and shot. She heard the same sound that she heard earlier. She saw the archer fall backwards as his head exploded in a shower of blood and brain matter.

"Do you really want to die that much, girl? Get up." He said in a cold tone. "I might as well save them since the soldiers wouldn't leave me alone with one of their own dead by my hands."

Brenna saw the young man staring at the soldier who were heading towards them. As if annoyed, the young man turned his weapon towards them.

The booms from the strange weapon sounded like the wrath of a god as each time it was fired. One of the soldiers died, even with the protection of their shields and armor.

"What are you staring at? I said get up."

Brenna hastily picked herself off the ground but the pain in her leg prevented her. She looked towards the arrow protruding from her leg.

"I-im-" Her words were cut as the young man looked at her in annoyance.

"Pull it out. You should suffer this much for doing something stupid." The man said as he left her alone.

She grimaced. But there was a slight smile on her face even as she tried to break the arrow's shaft to make removing it easier. She grit her teeth and rolled the front of her shirt into her mouth. She bit down hard as a scream managed to leave her mouth.

She stared at the wide shoulders of the young man who had saved her for the second time. His back seemed much more reliable even with the ugly expression on his face.

This wasn't suppose to be happening.

Grans Stigma could do nothing but stare as a red haired young man proceeded to methodically kill and maim his men. The palpable killing intent he released paralyzed the less experienced recruits.

"Attack! What are you doing!? Surround him and attack!" He shouted in an attempt to awake the stunned soldiers from their stupor.

"But- but Captain!" A soldier attempted to object but his head left his neck before he could word his refusal. The brutal act motivated the soldiers as they attempted to attack the man.

When he was sure his soldiers were not looking, he slowly moved to the back of the line. He went unnoticed as the soldiers were too busy worrying about who would die next. Morale was breaking and they all knew it. Once he was sure he was out of sight, Grans made a mad dash towards his horse. Unfortunately that was where his luck ended because as the next booming sound exploded, he fell down face first into the ground. His jaw hit a rock further stunning him with more pain.

Grans desperately made his way towards his waiting horse, blood trailed behind him in his attempt.

'This wasn't suppose to happen. I was suppose to level up with this excursion. Just when I'm about to reach my next level, I meet a monster!'

Over the course of the next few seconds, the sound of struggle grew fainter but Grans was no nearer to his horse than he was from the start. He looked behind him in horror when he realized he was the only one left. His soldiers had mostly run off when they realized they could do nothing and their commanding officer was not in sight.

"I-I am the leader of this unit, C-captain Grans Stigma." He said in an attempt to buy time. He felt relief when the bloody monster in human skin stopped a few feet away from him. "If you capture me, you can ransom me to my Familia. They'll pay you a great sum!"

"Do you think I care about money? Do you really think I left you alive for such a mundane reason?" The monster said as he sneered. A blade appeared in his hand, forming from blue motes of light.

"I left you alive because I needed answers," the monsters stepped towards him. "If you cannot give me the answers I need, then there are a lot more people willing to give them to me..." The monster said as he grinned down at him.

Grans felt his bladder loosen as he the monster looked at him.

"A-anything! I'll answer all of it!" He pleaded in fear.

"Good because if I know if you are lying, if you are..."

The blade the monster held was stabbed into his leg.

"GAAAAAAAAAAHHH! STOP! PLEASE STOP! I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!" Grans shouted as he tried to get the sword of his limb, it registered to him that the blade that the monster had created was a magic blade that could cause immense pain.

Grans was left a sobbing wreck as he inched away from the blade.

"S-stop! Please, I'll answer your questions!" Grans said.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. So make sure to be honest, or else." The monster said. "Now to begin with, tell me what's a Familia."

"I-it is an organization or group headed by the Gods. They're named after the Gods in charge of them" Grans answered immediately.

"A good start. Now tell me what Familia you're from and why you're destroying this villages." The monster asked.

"It is widely known that humans even the weak ones can provide a great amount of excellia. Our God has told us to get stronger, this is the fastest means without going to the Dungeon." Grans said, his eyes straying to the blade that was near his leg.

Then the blade was plunged into his flesh. Grans let out another ear-splitting scream.

"Do I look stupid? I'm sure that's not the only reason you're raiding this villages."

"I- swear- GAAAAAAAAAAHHH! STOP! I'LL TELL YOU! ARES-SAMA WANTS TO START A WAR WITH THIS KINGDOM!" Grans felt a hard slap to his face.

"Would you like to try lying again?" The monster questioned.

Grans furiously shook his head.

"No! I'll be honest now!" Grans said.

"Good, otherwise I'll have to regret sparing your life. If you lie to me again, it might be your last. Answer carefully."

The monster continued to ask question ranging from what should be common knowledge to anyone of this world to the Kingdom of Rakia's goals in attacking this kingdom.

After being satisfied, the monster walked away from him. Grans glared at the monster, the fool. Did he think just because he spared him that he would forget the pain and humiliation he experience?

A small limping girl appeared from where the monster was heading towards. He stared at the familiar girl. He'd seen that child somewhere... then he remembered the last village they attacked. It was the elf adventurers child, the woman had nearly killed him. He was lucky the woman was already tired from battling his soldier or he would have died that day. He had thoroughly enjoyed the elf woman even though she struggled all the way.

Then the monster spoke to the girl. He handed his weapon to her and pointed at him. He realized with dawning horror why the monster left him alive.

With his desperation renewed and his stamina recovered, Grans crawled started crawling towards his horse. The monster left him alone to be killed by this child.

"No! No! NO!" He said as his arms moved with exertion. A small ray of hope blossomed in his heart, he was nearly there.

Then his horse fell down with a thud. Blood splashed towards him. Grans lost all the energy in his arms and allowed himself to fall to the ground. The feet of the girl appeared within his vision. He looked up and attempted to speak but before he could, death took him

The young mans stared impassively at the sobbing girl as she embraced the weapon he had given her.

"Get up. Stop making a habit of staying on the ground." He said. He neither felt pity nor hatred, only annoyance.

He went towards dead captain's horse. He regretted the moment of impulse where he killed it. He looked through the pack that was attached to it. He grunted when he found a change of clothes, a pouch containing coins and some kind of crystal, then a few rolled parchment.

He read through the parchment and threw it to the ground.

He looked towards the girl who was still crying as she stripped the captain of his armor and belongings.

'Good. She's learning.'

"What's your name?" She asked as she limped towards him with her loot.

"Huh?" He asked.

"Your name, you never told me your name." The girl said.

"I don't have one." He said and picked the girl dangling her in his shoulders like as sack of potatoes.

"But everyone has a name... if... if you don't have one, can I give you one?" The girl asked.

He snorted.

"Suit yourself. I don't care what you call me." He said.

"C-can I call you Einar?" She asked.

He looked at the girl curiously. He both heard the name and understood what it meant. He smiled in self derision.

"You're have the gall to call me, 'One who Fights Alone'? It seem you've grown braver, girl?"

The girl blushed in shame at the criticism.

"That... that was what you looked like when you were fighting. B-but I won't allow you to be alone anymore! I'll fight by your side, Einar. I'm going to repay this debt." The girl said with conviction.

He grunted, showing neither approval nor disapproval.

"I don't care. You don't owe me anything. I'd be happier if you grew up and left me alone. I've got better things to do than dealing with you." He said.

"Then I won't care either. I'm not gonna leave you." The girl said.

The young man stopped mid step. He snorted and continued walking.

In his mind, he already accepted the name.

"Einar." He said, testing how word rolled in his tongue.

'Might as well have one. I don't have a clear reason yet why someone summoned me to this world. But I'll find it out one way or another. If my mission is to cleanse this world through fire and blood, then so be it.'