The Sword Saint’s Second Life As a Fox Girl
6-16 Limbo

There was no bell. There was no chirp. Not even the cries of roosters, as she was in a city. Yet, something woke her up. No one shook or jostled her out of her slumber. It was something else. Something strong and… primal. Erin sprang out of her bed as soon as she woke up. Her sword immediately manifested in her hand. She brandished her sword at the unknown force and sensation that pulled her out of her sleep.

There was nothing. There was no one.

“What the…” Erin gasped in confusion. There was truly no one. Not even her companions. Their bed was empty. Their belongings were also as if they had abandoned Erin and left on their own. “What’s happening?” she asked no one in particular.

The tea party with Melissa Valdrun was just yesterday. Afterwards, they had taken up rooms at some pleasant-looking inn that wasn’t too shabby nor too opulent. There were plenty of inns in the capital. Melissa had insisted on them staying in the manor for a few nights but Erin had graciously declined the offer. Though Erin considered Melissa a friend, they still weren’t at the level where she would feel at ease sleeping under Melissa’s roof. As much as she hated to admit it, she trusted Iris more than Melissa at the moment.

Nothing else of interest happened last night. Everyone hit the hay after supper. Some stayed up for a few moments longer to tend to their gear. There was no confrontation with some unknown hostile. There was no entanglement in heat and passion either. Everyone simply dozed off, which made Erin’s current ordeal even more baffling.

“What is this place?” she muttered. 

Something was wrong. It wasn’t just the absence of her companions. She headed out to the balcony after noticing how unusually and dreadfully quiet everything was. She also realised this was what had awoken her. The disparity of the situation. There should be clamour and noise for a morning in the capital. Yet, there was none. 

True to her horror, the streets were empty. No, it wasn’t just the streets. It was the entire city. It wasn’t just the people. There were no animals either. There were no rats scuttling in the shadows of the alleys. There were no birds flying overhead. There were no dogs or cats strutting across the streets as if they were the guests of honour. There was no one in the capital… not a single soul.

“Am I dreaming?” Erin asked but no one answered. She tried pinching herself. It hurt but it didn’t dispel the world she found herself in. She then looked at her sword, a weapon moulded out of Mana and Spirits. The sword was persisting. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t some entirely different dimension. If it was, she wouldn’t have been able to use her abilities.

Still, that discovery brought only a slight comfort to her. It didn’t address the main concern of hers. How would she escape from this forsaken place? Just as she was about to head back inside her room to contemplate, her Life Sense picked up on a presence. She immediately turned around and leapt off the balcony to the rooftop of the building across the street.

There was a scream. Though muffled and soft, it was, without a doubt, a scream. She was not alone. From the sound of it, this other person was in distress. No time to lose. She sprinted and dashed in the direction of the sound, leaping from one rooftop to another. When there were no more rooftops to leap onto, she took to the ground.

Without her Lightning Magic, she was considerably slower in a race, but that was not something she would let dissuade her from trying her best and damndest. Eventually, her haste took her to the central square of the capital city, a large and vast open area with an amazing and intricate engraving onto the ground of the whole two acres of land. There, a knight was visibly fighting off two hostiles which appeared to be some unknown monsters with humanoid figures. The knight, wielding a sword, was evidently no match for the two monsters wielding maces.

Erin kicked off the ground and lunged at the two monsters when there was only a few tens of yards worth of distance left between her and the monsters. The knight yelped in surprise when Erin suddenly came between him and his opponents. Erin paid no mind to the knight’s astonishment and confronted the monsters. They reminded her of orcs and ogres but their appearances weren’t as feral as the two resemblance.

Erin switched her long sword for a greatsword as a mace came swinging at her. She parried the mace and riposted with a high cut that took the monster’s head clean off. She ducked low, avoiding a mace swinging overhead. She rose with her sword swinging upwards, slicing off the second monster’s arm, which was wielding the mace. The monster showed no pain but it did panic in the face of its imminent death. It tried to run but Erin’s thrust was faster, piercing through its neck, which Erin then tore it out of.

Having the monster dealt with, Erin turned back to the knight. Instead of gratitude, she found the knight pointing his sword at her. The knight was rather young, she noticed.

“Identify yourself, Fae!” the knight shouted with his sword still trained on Erin. He was shivering badly, not from the cold.

Now that Erin had a good and close look at the knight, she realised he was no simple knight. He was a Holy Knight of Ruva, a paladin. “What’s a paladin doing here?” she muttered to herself.

“Answer me!”

Erin sighed. “My name is Erynthea. I’m an adventurer.”

“What are you doing here, Erynthea?”

“I do not know. I woke up and I found myself in this place.”

“Bollocks!”

“Whoa. I’m sure your faith has some rules regarding profanity.”

“Don’t lie to a servant of a god. You will not be forgiven even if you are a Fae. State your true aim.”

“I already stated my true aim, Sir.”

“I am a Holy Knight. I am no Sir.”

“Whatever. All I care about is leaving this… place.”

“You are not going anywhere until you tell me where you took the Saintess.”

“The Saintess? What Saintess?”

“Do you intend to play the fool with me until the very end?”

“That would be my question. I told you the truth but you refused to see it as such. What am I supposed to do? Moreover, I just saved you from being clobbered by those two… monsters.”

“If you insist on this path of falsehood, then you leave me no choice but to cut you down, Fae or not.”

“You can barely hold yourself against those two monsters, which I cut down with ease, and now you are challenging me? You are not very bright, are you?”

“Mock me all you want. I have a duty to uphold and I will uphold it, even if it costs me my life.”

“Why do you keep insisting that I am… whatever you’re accusing me of?”

“This is your last chance, Fae. Where is the Saintess?”

Erin sighed once more. “This is stupid. I don’t have the mental fortitude.” Just as Erin was about to leave, a scream resonated through the air. “That scream again… Wait, that wasn’t you?”

“Saintess!” The young knight exclaimed and immediately took off running in the direction of the scream.

“So, that’s the Saintess…” Erin mused. After shaking off the misunderstanding on her part, she rushed towards the voice of distress. Though she had a later start, she quickly overtook the young knight by traversing across the rooftops. In no time at all, she came upon a vast street where a group of monsters of the same kind as before surrounded a boy in an alley. No, that wasn’t a boy, but a girl, dressed as a boy with pants and shirt and all.

Erin dropped down into the alley and began cutting down the monsters before they could even register her presence. The ones that did, launched their counterattack but Erin deflected or dodged their blows, before retaliating with deadly ripostes. Erin ploughed through the monsters with ease. They weren’t half as skilled as most people they fought. The only advantage the monsters had was their immense brute strength but it was all useless in the face of Erin’s skill and agility.

The monsters’ swing smashed into the walls of the alley. They even broke the ground. But none of it matters as they failed to touch even so much as a single strand of Erin’s hair. Erin fancied herself a pair of short swords. She let her swordsmanship flourish amidst the raging monsters. Her blade reaped the lives of these bloated-looking thugs in seconds.

“Who are you?” asked the girl in boyish clothes.

“Erynthea,” Erin answered. “I’m an adventurer.” 

“Thank you, Lady Erynthea. You saved my life.”

“Think nothing of it. Say, are you by any chance the Saintess?”

“...Who are you?” the girl asked once more but with a more suspicious tone this time.

Erin noticed the change. “I’m guessing that’s a yes.”

“How do you know I am the Saintess? That’s not common knowledge. Are you with these monsters? Is this some kind of a trick?”

“Look, I’m not with these monsters. I assumed you were the Saintess because there was a paladin looking for you. Both of us heard your screams and we came running.”

The girl looked behind Erin and frowned. “And where is he?”

“Still about three buildings away. He’s quite slow for a paladin.”

“...Why are you here?”

“I do not know. I already had this conversation with the paladin but he didn’t believe me.” 

“Just tell me.”

“If you say so. I woke up this morning and I found myself in this… world. That’s it. I was hoping someone could answer my inquiry for once.”

The Saintess’ shoulder loosened. “If you’re not with these monsters, then you must be a straggler.”

“Well, I am separated from my companions.”

“No, a straggler means someone who has been involuntarily involved in a dimension shift. One could also say, collateral.”

Erin raised an eyebrow. “A dimension shift?”

“A Spatial Magic spell, Limbo. Have you heard of it?”

“I have, but only a bit. That doesn’t explain how I’m in Limbo.”

“As I said, you’re collateral. I’m the intended target but you were accidentally pulled in too. Most likely because of your high affinity with Spatial Magic.”

“But I don’t know any Spatial Magic.” It was the truth. She knew nothing about Spatial Magic. The System did. Now, without it, she was as good as not having any affinity for Spatial Magic.

“It is common. Most people do not know of the gifts they had, even until the end of their life. It is a real shame and a huge waste of potential. If you want, I can teach you, Lady Erynthea, as my gratitude for saving my life.”

“I’m very grateful for that but first, I want to get out of here.”

“That won’t be easy.”

“Not easy, but not impossible.”

“Only the caster can get us out of Limbo.”

“Alright, where is the caster?”

“Outside of Limbo.”

“Oh, fuck right off.”

The Saintess flinched.

“What?”

“I have never known a Fae to utter profanity.”

Erin chuckled. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“Saintess!” There was a shout.

Erin and the Saintess turned towards the shout. It was the young knight.

“You damn Fae, get away from the Saintess!”

“Franklin, stand down. She’s not an enemy. She saved my life.”

“Don’t be naive, Saintess. It’s a trick.”

“Franklin, use your head. If she’s the enemy, I would have been dead or taken. Yet, I am still here. For once in your life, use your head and think! Or are you incapable of that!?”

The young knight froze. Albeit hesitant, the young knight eventually lowered his sword.

“Apologies, Lady Fae. He is still green.”

“Apologies accepted. And I have to ask, why are you in such clothes?”

The Saintess chuckled wryly. “It’s a long story but I suppose we have plenty of time for it.”