Chapter 1

Despite the chaotic noise of the battlefield all around, orders are still given to the army advancing on the fortress before them. The battle had been a stalemate for almost three weeks, even after the main village fell to the main assault, the surviving forces still held on. Despite being outnumbered four to one.

But the army of bandits finally gained the upper hand. After four days of building, their battering ram was ready to use on the front gate.

"Charge! Break the gate and kill them all!" the captain yelled.

The men surged forth, pushing the ram forth, bashing it against the gate once. They held strong, but it wouldn't last for long. The proof was from the cracks beginning to appear on the giant, wooden doors.

On the other side of the gate, warriors order women and children to head into the underground shelter while men prepare to defend them and cover their escape.

Heading the evacuation was a humanoid Kaiju woman with long, light brown hair. Her eyes were a crystal blue that were filled with concern, but radiated hope within them. On her back were a pair of large, moth wings with mixed colors of white, yellow, and brown. She wore a brown kimono and had a quiver full of arrows hanging around her waist. In her right hand was a long bow while her other hand gave the citizens directions where to go.

"Lady Mothra!"

She turns to the voice of one of her attendants.

"The ship is ready for departure, the last of the civilians are onboard." she said "We can leave anytime."

Mothra sighed in relief. They were lucky that this village's castle was connected to the sea. They had spent the last four days evacuating people to a nearby port city of Laxus that was much better defended. The plan was working, now they just had to hold out a little longer, until the next ship arrived to retrieve the ones who were still fighting.

But they were running out of arrows and there were more wounded that could barely stand. On top of that the gate won't hold for much longer. Odds are that there wasn't going to be any escape for them. But she had to try to get most out of here.

She turned to the attendant "Is there any more room on that ship?" she asked.

"Not enough room for all of us." she replied.

Mothra inhaled deeply as she thought up a plan "Alright, get all the wounded onboard and then leave."

The attendant nodded before running off to give orders. Mothra knew the ones who stayed behind wouldn't be able to escape. So she turned the ones who were still fully combat effective with a sad look.

"I'm sorry…" she said honestly "But I won't be able to get us out of here…"

She was surprised when she heard laughter coming from the crowd of soldiers in front of her. She turned to the source and her surprise subsided upon seeing it was the old lion kaiju, Caesar.

"If this is to be our death bed, then fine. At least we'll give them a fight that they won't forget." he said, followed by hearty laughter as he spun his staff around with one hand.

"Yeah, besides…" another soldier, a human named Roha said with a smirk "We managed to hold out for three months when no one thought we would hold out for three days. That's a victory in my book."

Mothra smiled at the sight of her soldiers cheering. They were still in high spirits despite knowing they would most likely die here. And though she was admittedly scared deep down, she had to remain a fearless symbol of their group.

"Alright then," she said with a smile of confidence, "Lets this immortalize the name of the 'Band of Crusaders'. Let's show these fools that we are the best group of warriors for a reason. Prepare for battle!"

Caesar turned to the group, shouting "Crusaders! Live with honor!"

"Die in glory!" the soldiers roared back, grabbing their weapons.

With that, the gates burst open and the enemy stormed the castle. But, with nothing else to lose, the Crusaders fought as if they were each ten men strong. Killing dozens of men, before one of them fell by the enemy's hands.

Mothra fired arrows into the throng of men that charged at them, killing many of them before they could even reach her soldiers. But then they parted, allowing their leader to step forth. Mothra glared at the enemy leader with hatred. She's faced him before and if he was here, that means she knew who was behind this attack.

It was a kaiju that had sinale hooked shaped claws instead of hands. He had a body that was covered in blades and a single, glowing red eye that stared at her hungrily. He had a twisted grin filled with razor sharp teeth. Smaller spikes jutted along his belly like a saw blade and atop of his head like a mohawk. On his back were three gold colored wings and at the tip of his long tail was a steel pincer. His skin is a mix of green and gold while also being covered in dark gray body armor.

"Gigan…" she growled in fury.

The kaiju's grin simply grew when hearing his name "Aw, you still remember me Mothra. I'm touched." his voice was growling and hissing "I highly recommend you surrender. My master wants you alive and unharmed… mostly."

She glared at him in disgust "Who in their right mind would surrender to you?" she asked as she drew her bow back, the arrow in hand beginning to glow a pale blue as her wings spread out, ready to take flight.

Gigan's grin turned into a grimace as he let loose a mighty roar and charged at Mothra, who started firing arrows at him. While a few did reach his flesh, most just bounced off his armor and neither did it do anything to stop his charge. Thinking fast, Mothra jumped out of the way and took to the air.

Gigan skidded to a halt and turned to see Mothra quickly fire a volley of arrows his way. Bringing his claws up, he blocked all of them while slamming his tail onto the ground which forced him into the air at the same height as Mothra. Mothra tried putting some distance between the two of them, but Gigan was slightly faster.

He got within arms distance of her and brought his claws out into a bear hug motion. Mothra's eyes widened in surprise and dodged the move that would've sliced her in half. Bringing her legs close to her chest, she forced both her feet into Gigan's jaw. He rales in pain, but not without him bringing one of his claws and slashing one of Mothra's wings.

She grits her teeth at the pain, but fights through it and back away while firing more arrows at Gigan. But the kaiju snaps his head around and a bright red beam erupts from his eye that heads straight towards her. It turns her arrows into ashes and Mothra herself just barely avoids the attack.

It forces her to land on the ground and struggles to catch her breath. She only has a few arrows left and one her left wing is damaged. She takes a quick glance at the battlefield and sees that most of her comrades are gone. The enemy forces are already inside the main hall fighting whoever was left inside.

And it is here she is quickly reminded that Gigan is not her only problem to worry about.

A shout from behind her makes her spin around and jump away from the soldier swinging his sword down. She kills him with a single kick from her powerful legs, breaking his neck. But the attack distracted another enemy from behind, and this attack did hit her.

She gasps in pain as a sword slashes across her back.

She sends the one who wounded her flying back with a caved in chest. The cut is shallow and not life threatening. But the pain it was creating was immense. She could barely focus and her vision was blurry.

But couldn't pass out.

If she did, then it was over.

She was not going to let it end. Not like this. Not until-.

Pain flooded her body as a scream tore itself from her mouth. She glared back to see Gigan's grin as he pulled his claws out of her wings. She struggled to keep her footing, but was quickly forced to her knees by two men holding her down. She screamed again in vain defiance as her legs were quickly bound by chained locks.

She knew what these chains were and she quickly felt her magic leave her body. She was now no stronger then an ordinary human. She could hear her comrades call out to her, along with Gigan's victorious laugh as he yelled.

"Hear me, Crusaders! You precious leader is at my mercy! Surrender now or she dies!" he orders, brushing one of his claws against her neck.

The sound of fighting quickly died down and she knew that soon it would be followed by the sound of weapons falling to the ground. She would not allow that.

Taking a deep breath, she screams "DO NOT SURRENDER! EVEN IF I DIE, DO NOT SURR-!"

She's quickly silenced by a smack to the face from Gigan's tail, creating a small cut across her right cheek. However, it worked. After a few moments, there were no signs of her commands dropping their weapons. Gigan's face grew an enraged scroll on it, but then it turned into a grin.

He leaned down toward Mothra "Let's try that again." he stated.

Mothra didn't understand, but quickly figured it out as a pained scream erupted from her lungs. She could see her friends jolted at the sight of her in pain as Gigan removed his claw from her leg. But she can't let them surrender. If they did, they were dead. She started to grow desperate as she watched Caesar lower his staff to the ground. She started pleading to whatever gods were listening to her to please save them. For someone to save them as a single tear trailed down her cheek.

But it was too late.

Her men had surrendered and Gigan's forces were cheering in victory. Gigan himself was laughing in triumph. The struggle of keeping her tears back was becoming harder. They had lost. And this defeat truly hurt-.

SSSSKRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNKG!

Total silence fell over the men as the air around them vibraties at the shear volume of the sound. It was deafening and made the wind almost stop instantly. No one dared make a noise as the echo carried on for miles.

Mothra dared not even take a breath as she waited, listening. But only heard lingering silence. That was until the sounds of horrified screams and chaotic battle came from the distance.

She turned her head toward the direction and watched as halved bodies came flying through the main gates. Blood splattering all over the walls and across the ground, the red liquid running down to the floor. All who saw this blood bath dared not move a muscle as they waited for something to happen.

Soon, the sound of heavy thuds came from the entrance, along with the audible sound of something heavy being dragged along the ground.

A silhouette of a dark figure soon approaches, coming closer with each stomp of its feet. Finally, it came into view… and Mothra was in shock by what she saw before her.

Before them stood a reptilian kaiju that walked upright. It was massive, easily towering over everyone as it moved its dinosaur-like head around, glaring at everyone with glowing red eyes. It's scaly skin was tar black, with multiple red scars covering its body. The body itself was thickly built with mighty muscles that were tense, ready to take action at a moment's notice.

In the kaiju's left hand it dragged a massive blade that was as long as it was tall. It was big, almost too big to even be called a sword. It was more like just a giant slab of steel, made for smashing rather than cutting things. While in its right hand it held a decapitated head of an enemy soldier. The face still had the look of terror, giving Mothra a good idea of what his last moments were like.

Then, the kaiju brought the head up to its maw and took a bite out of the human head. Its uneven, unnatural, needle like teeth pricing the flesh and taking a chunk out of the head with a sickening crunch.

Mothra froze in fear and horror, she had never seen a kaiju eat a human before. And it was revolting to her.

And by how Gigan's face was in a scared grimace, he was disgusted by it as well. At least now she knows this kaiju is not with Gigan and his forces. But then why is this creature here and what does it want?

Then she found herself locking her gaze with the unknown kaiju's eyes as it looked in her direction. There wasn't any sense of self aware within those eyes, nor any sign of common sense. All that she saw in them was mindless chaos. Without any understanding of right from wrong. Of friend nor foe. All she saw was madness and bloodlust.

But there was something else there…

Something other than chaos or madness. But she couldn't tell what it was. However, her thoughts were interrupted as Gigan let out a chuckle, finally returning to his senses.

"I don't know who or what you think you are," he said, stepping away from Mothra and towards the new combatant "but you are dead if you thin-."

He didn't have time to finish what he was saying, as he was forced to dodge the hulking mass of the sword as it came down, intent on killing him. Gigan jumped back as the blade smashed into the ground, destroying the earth beneath it.

Mothra watches in amazement at the show of strength the kaiju just displayed.

Suddenly, the two men holding her down charged at the kaiju, their weapons ready to kill it. But the black kaiju pulls its sword back before spinning, slamming its long, thick tail into the men. Breaking their ribs and spines in a single blow.

Everyone stares in awe and/or horror. Despite its mindless, chaotic nature, it has very impressive skills. Almost as if it wasn't mindless at all.

She quickly realized that this was her chance to free herself. She looked back at her shackles and saw that thankfully they weren't locked yet. She quickly removed them and soon felt her magic return to her. She then moved on to healing her injuries and took a look around to asset the situation.

A few of her warriors were still alive, among them were Ceaser, Rodan, and Anguirus. Meaning they still had a chance to fight and escape. As for the unknown kaiju, it was occupied with cutting down any who dared attack it.

Then she spotted Gigan.

He had run to the top of castle walls and was going to take flight to escape. But Mothra was not about to give this coward the option of running away.

She scanned around her and found her bow. Moving over to it, she picked it up and loaded three arrows, ready to fire. She then closed her eyes and began chanting a spell upon the arrows, which made them start to glow. After she finished her spell, her eyes flashed open, seeing her target jump into the air and take flight.

She grit her teeth, drew back the string… then let go.

The arrows flew at they're target, spinning in a circular formation as they homed in on Gigan. He turned in time to see the arrows flying at him, his eye widening in shock. The arrows hit their mark, hitting Gigan's three wings, shredding them to tattered pieces of skin and flesh. He is then sent crashing to the ground with a light thud.

The unknown kaiju heard the crash and spun its head toward the sound. When it saw Gigan on the ground, trying to regain his footing, the kaiju moved its body toward Gigan's direction before charging. Massive sword ready to swing on his enemy and slice him in half in one blow.

When Gigan heard it coming toward him in the form of heavy, fast stomping, and rolled out of the way. Just in time to see the sword smash into the ground. Panicked and starting to show his fear, Gigan yelled and stabbed his sycal like claws at the kaiju, piercing his chest on the left side.

At first, Gigan smiled at being able to hit this monster. He thought he had managed to hit a fatal blow. But the smile disappeared completely as the kaiju reached at the bladed claw with its left hand and grabbed onto it.

Gigan tried to break free from the kaiju's grip, but then he found himself being tossed like a ragdoll into the castle walls. He wasn't given the chance to regather himself, as the kaiju charged at him and slammed his great bulk into the smaller kaiju in the form of a shoulder charge.

The shear force of the impact forced both combatants through the stone walls and out the other side, kicking up dust in the process.

As it clears, Mothra sees the black kaiju look around, trying to find Gigan. He found him when a pair of blades slashed across its back from behind. Spinning around with the sword in hand, it swung the mass of steel sideways. But only hit the air, as Gigan jumped up and over his opponent.

When he landed, his chest armor opened up and out fired two spinning saw blades. The kaiju turned in time to get hit in the chest by the blades. Before it could fully react to what hit him, Gigan ran at him and ran his claws into his chest a second time. Even deeper than the previous strike.

They both stood there, none of them moving an inch. Gigan started laughing in victory as he fired his eye beam attack at point blank range. The attack hits the kaiju in the head area and it sets the whole upper half of the larger beast on fire. He continued to laugh as he pulled his blades out and let the kaiju burn.

"Serves you right for fighting me!" he laughed "Now you burn! Burn! Burn! BUR-!"

A great, scary hand suddenly shoots out and grabs onto Gigan's head, fully enveloping it.

"Huh?" was all Gigan could say before he starts roaring in pain.

The kaiju steps forward, the flames on his body starting to go out. It lifts Gigan up and slams the smaller foe into the earth beneath it. Gigan gasps in pain, but quickly starts screaming horror and pain when the black kaiju brings its foot up and stomps down on Gigan's right arm.

There's a sick creak and crunch of metal and bone. And Gigan's scream reaches another octave.

The kaiju lifts its foot away from Gigan's arm, showing that it was now totally crushed and broken. The green and gold kaiju tries to crawl away, crying and pleading for mercy. All the while the black kaiju simply stares at him with an emotionless face, void of anything.

Then, it brings its sword up into a stabbing position and shoves it down on the creature at its feet. Gigan screams before looking at his remaining men and the other onlookers.

"He-help! Pl-Please, save me!" another stab makes him start to cough up blood.

"Please, he-help me!"

STAB!

"Pl-please, I'll do anything. Save m-!"

STAB!

"Please… someone… save-."

STAB! STAB! STAB!

Mothra watched in abject horror as the stabbing continued to increase speed. Sweat trickled down her brow as she stared at the ruthlessness before her. She had never, in her whole life, seen anything like this.

This was nothing short of single minded savagery. A lust and thrill to kill the creature at its feet. It was killing Gigan without a shred of pity or mercy, to a point where she was starting to consider to stop it.

But it was too late.

With one, final thrust downward, Gigan finally stopped moving. His lifeless body still, drenched in his own blood and riddled with puncture holes from the sword. As the blood started to pool around his corpse, the black kaiju pulled its sword out and just stared.

After a few moments of silence, the kaiju reared its head back, its lower jaw splitting down the middle and its maw opened unnaturally wide as it let loose and ear-splitting roar. It was deep and belloing that made the ground shake beneath Mothra's feet. The very shock wave itself smothered her whole body.

As the roar died down, the kaiju looked over at the remaining men who were frozen in fear. Finally one of them screamed, yelling to 'Run away'. But the kaiju huffed, broke into a charge and started slashing and hacking down the men in its path. The blood and carnage that followed made Mothra realize that they needed to escape before this thing turned on them.

"Caesar!" she called out, getting his attention "Get the others out of here, now!"

As she gave those orders, she glanced around and found a few more arrows that were still in good shape.

"What about you?!" he asked in a concerning voice.

Mothra sighed. There was no way they could make it far without the kaiju taking notice and attacking them. She knew someone had to stay behind and stall it while the other escaped. But she was not about to lose anymore men. Nor was she about to give up her life to some psychotic beast with no mind of its own.

The sound of heavy thuds made her look up.

Standing before her was the kaiju, staring down at her with a blank expression. It had wounds covering its whole body and was bleeding badly, but it didn't even notice them. Swallowing a large lump in her thought, she gripped her bow tighter. Defeating it was out of the question. All she needed to do was stall it long enough for the others to get away. And then get away herself.

She glanced at the sword. It was dripping in blood from the enemies, the droplets pooling on the ground beneath it. She knew if that sword even grazes her, it'll be over. She had one advantage over the monster before her however.

Despite this kaiju being easily three times her size, that meant it relied completely on its hulking mass and power to attack its enemies. But, because of that, they weren't very quick to react to fast things. That meant as long as she kept on her toes and remained calm, as well as careful, she won't get sliced in half.

She has the advantage in speed. And by the looks of it, maybe more intelligent as well.

Still… her glare softened at the behemoth in front of her. Whether it was aware of it or not, this kaiju still saved her and her Crusaders from a terrible fate.

So she sighs "Look… I don't know if you understand me or not…" she said to the kaiju, as she looks up at it in the eyes "But… thank y-."

Mothra's eyes widen in shock as she sees Gigan pop up from behind the black kaiju, ready to attack. He had a crazed look in his eye, like he was possessed. She didn't have time to think about how the hell he was still alive. She needs to act, now.

She pulls up her bow and readies to fire three arrows… but she never gets the chance.

In that moment, she had stupidly, in fact completely, forgotten about the kaiju in front of her. Only when she feels it's thick, muscular tail slam into her left side as the black kaiju spins around, is she reminded about it.

It felt like she was hit by a bolder ramming into her. She could already feel two of her ribs break and her shoulder dislocate by the impact. As for pain, strangely, she didn't feel any. She couldn't hear anything either. Her vision blurred as she began to taste the blood in her mouth.

Then, as her body hit the wall and she slumped onto the ground in a heap, Mothra, leader of the Band of Crusaders, lost consciousness.

~o0o~

Author's Note:

So, this is the official opening chapter to my 'SHIN' saga stories. The first 'short' was just to introduce the character and give you an idea of what the setting of this story is going to be like. But now it's time to rock and roll.

Also, just a heads up to you people, I am doing this thing at my own pace. But I have a ton of other projects in the works so I won't be able to come back to this once every week or so. So if you are here for a monthly update schedule, you might want to go somewhere else. Cuz, much like the real 'BERSERK!' Manga, this is gonna take awhile to make. So don't hold your breath waiting for a monthly thing. Cuz it's not happening.

Any who, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and I'll catch you next time.

This is Dragon, signing off.