Berserk : The Deviant

The Fleur de Lavys Inn was true to its reputation, a luxurious place with large and secure stables.

Not being nobles or wealthy merchants of great renown, Barkha and his men would have been turned away if they did not have purses full of gold.

Fortunately for them, they were at a time when a festival was being held in the royal capital so the rooms were free because there were almost no guests in the inn.

Count Gastan himself had left for the capital with his eldest son, there was only Julian in the city, the younger son of the count present to administer the city.

Julian was described as a real tyrant, dishonest, brutal, haughty, greedy and petty who even had a very large group of bandits in the city with the complicity of the guards.

As Barkha had said, the men organized a big party with only them and the 30 prostitutes they hired for that night, drunkenness and sex, the crazy party delighted a certain God Hand who once again visited Barkha in his subconscious when he fell asleep.

The party had been so loud that the five men had not noticed the commotion in the stables where their demonic horses were brutally killing the 4 men sent to steal their wagon in the stables with the complicity of the managers of the inn. 

The next day, people violently knocked on their door and it was Marco who opened the door to let the prostitutes go under the gaze of the people outside.

The man who knocked on their door was the owner of the innkeeper accompanied by several armed soldiers we could also hear the noise of the crowd outside. 

"What do you want ?" Marco asked and the man told him that their horses killed and devoured people in the night, a statement that made Marco laugh to ask the man what these people were doing near their horses in their stables and he couldn't answer preferring to avoid the question. 

"YOUR HORSES ARE MAN-EATING DEMONS AND THE ABBOT DEMANDS INTERROGATION ON YOU FOR HERESY." He yelled at Marco who only smiled and he told him to wait a second . 

A few minutes later, Barkha came out of there with his men dressed and equipped. He looked at the screaming crowd and the guards but just made a grin and with his men, they just headed towards the stables to take their vehicles as if they had no account to give to anyone.

They wanted to prepare the horses when the soldiers surrounded them with their lances. More than 100 soldiers were present when a clergyman arrived on horseback, it was the abbot and with him on another horse was Julian the youngest son of the earl.

"YOU THERE, IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY SEE AND IN THE NAME OF MY FATHER COUNT GASTAN OF THE CITY OF LAVYS, I ACCUSE YOU AND PUT YOU UNDER ARREST FOR HERESY." Julian yelled at Barkha and his men who turned around calmly to look at them. 

"Listen, we were just passing through at night to sample the local prostitutes and celebrate our prosperity. We don't want any trouble so we'll leave quietly..." Barkha said with annoyance as he stroked the mane of one of the demonic horses. 

Abbot : You will not leave this city, heretics. 

Barkha: Heretics ? Can I at least know what we are accused of ? 

Julian : Your horses killed and devoured men in the night, no horse created by God can do that. You will be judged and your possessions will revert to the governor of the city.

"Hmm… have any of you seen my horses feed on human flesh ? I can see human remains and blood but someone could have just thrown that in there." Barkha mockingly retorted and Julian ordered them to be seized.

As the guards advanced, Barkha casually looked at his men and told them to capture the abbot and the count's son.

Vincent, Leo, Kail and Marco charged at the guards drawing their secondary weapons to begin killing the soldiers with an ease that shocked the crowd. 

While Marco and Vincent who were the physically larger ones continued to fight the guards with amused smiles, Leo and Kail jumped up to begin heading towards the abbot and Julian running over the soldiers' heads, they were so fast and agile that the soldiers only stirred up air with their weapons as Marco and Vincent killed them.

By the time their two targets realized the danger, it was too late for them and in a flash, they were sitting on the back of Julian and the abbot's horses to take them hostage. 

 Easy, it seemed so easy but facing humans was nothing compared to the monsters of the Lost Woods forest for their training and the hunting they were forced to do. 

These monsters were much stronger and faster than normal humans and their numbers were practically infinite because the immense forest was directly linked to the astral world where these things had no set number and reproduced in very large numbers and in a very short time.

In two years, they didn't lack monsters to hunt and fight, although it was difficult and dangerous at first, they ended up becoming stronger and stronger by eating their meats and the fruits of the fairy tree until the day when the elites of the brotherhood were able to go hunting individually without problem. 

 Out of over 500 Shadow Brothers, 56 went out with Barkha who deemed them ready to represent the Brotherhood and leave to make a name for themselves across the continent while the others stayed to complete their training. 

"Gentlemen I will ask you to stop agitating and attacking my men. At the slightest sudden movement, the Abbot and the Count's son die." Barkha said nonchalantly while he was saddling the horses.

Julian : YOU...WHAT ARE YOU DOING ? Get your dirty paws off me... 

"I told you I didn't want any trouble but you didn't listen so we're going to do things my way. For the life of the count's son, I demand the sum of 3000 gold coins as ransom and for the abbot, it will be the taxes of this city to the church that I ask.

You have 30 minutes to bring what I ask otherwise they are dead and at the slightest stupidity, the ransom will double." Barkha said smiling brushing one of the horses, Julian tried to speak to insult them but Kail behind him slapped him hard enough for him to spit out a few teeth. 

Abbot: You want to rob the church ? Who do you think you are? I refuse that-(interrupted) 

*CRACK* 

"NGHAAAAAAAAH" The abbot screamed in pain as Leo broke his arm. Barkha kindly asked them if his terms still didn't suit them and they sent their men to get the money, apparently they understood that the guy in front of them was someone dangerous.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers on high wanted to play the hero and fired a crossbow bolt at Kail behind Julian but he underestimated the enhanced man who immediately caught the projectile under the shocked eyes of the others (Silat was able to do the same thing easily to save a Kushan general, it's an easily achievable feat for an elite Bakiraka). 

"We warned you that at the slightest stupidity, the ransom will be doubled..." Kail said before driving the arrow into Julian's ribs who immediately screamed in pain.

He told him to send someone else to look for more gold and when Julian wanted to defend himself, Kail turned the tip of the arrow in the wound and it was under the influence of pain that he sent a second man. 

Very quickly, the ransom arrived they quietly collected their due. Barkha and his men got into their vehicles to leave the city with Barkha's wagon in the back.

While Marco and Kail were at the front of Barkha's wagon to direct the horses, Barkha quietly began to install on the roof of his wagon a cannon with a thinner cylinder, it was a culverin. 

"They are coming so just worry about directing the horses, I want to test my new toy. " Barkha said smiling as he saw in the distance the riders of Lavys coming in large numbers towards them, the projectiles of his cannon were slightly different from those of his hand cannon.

The difference was that inside the apple-sized cannonballs were smaller fragments of explosive crystals in large numbers but also tiny metal balls to scatter and shred a large number of targets upon explosion.

Barkha was extremely talented in everything he did and his apprenticeship in the art of forging opened new doors for him.

He fired a first cannon shot and the result was grandiose, the cannonball exploded violently in the middle of the riders killing 11 riders instantly and seriously injuring 4.

This is the damage that a cannonball the size of an apple could cause and Barkha had made 9 to test them.

The metal layer on the outside served as shrapnel in the explosion but the small metal balls inside did the most damage in the explosion and tore apart both men and horses. 

He looked at the riders in chaos behind, a single cannonball had done so much damage and the explosion had agitated the horses now in panic.

Yet, as if that was not enough, Barkha fired a second cannon shot which added more victims to definitively abandon the pursuit. 

"Rahahahah it was diabolical..." Barkha said while tenderly tapping his cannon of which he was extremely proud, he was already imagining the damage on an apostle.

After a few days of driving, they arrived at Ironrock the mining city and the place where the miners of the kingdom gathered to supply their ores.

It was one of the oldest and most famous cities on the continent and it was said that it had been founded by dwarves more than 2000 years ago.

Today, Ironrock was the reference to supply even the rarest ores and Barkha went there to buy silver ores and a few others before taking the road back to Golm with two new wagons to transport the ores.

Returning to the Lost Woods Forest put a smile on the lips of these guys as the place was sinister and filled with monsters in the gaps but they were at home.

Arriving at the large clearing where the entrance to the underground fortress was, they saw their brothers training hard with the training equipment built there with the help of the dwarves and they respectfully greeted Barkha and the others. 

They entered the fortress where the men took the ores to the dwarves and the gold to Barkha's treasure room who stayed on the first floor to see how Corell's people was doing before going down to see the dwarves.

At the forge, Barkha saw several of these men who greeted him and they were the ones who wanted to be the dwarves' apprentices. They served as assistants to their masters because the forge was huge and there was a lot to do. 

"Finally back, kid ?" Haustri one of the dwarves asked Barkha who greeted him respectfully.

He told him that he had something to show him and Barkha followed him curiously to go to the testing room to present Barkha with a leather armor made by himself.

The leather armor was black and made from the scaly skin of a reptilian monster from the black swamps in the forest and Barkha knew this creature well. Haustri asked him to step aside and gave a signal to his assistants.

They pulled out their crossbows repeatedly to fire bursts of arrows at the armor under Barkha's eyes who saw some arrows bounce until they were ordered to stop shooting.

More than 30 arrows were fired but only a few managed to penetrate the scaled leather armor.

Barkha saw that the few bolts that had penetrated the scales of the armor had only done so by a few millimeters to his great satisfaction but Haustri told him that it was not yet perfect and that he needed Barkha to go get what he needed on the island of Ragnar where his brother Gunnarr resided. 

Barkha: Ragnar ? The land of ice and legends ? 

Haustri: I see that You're a very knowledgeable boy, The ancient dwarven kingdom is there and I need some artifacts. 

"I hear it's far away, you have to take the sea and a ship is expensive. Plus, I don't know the location of this big-ass island..." Barkha said wearily. 

"I'll tell you where the big island is, the fallen king isn't the only one who knows the location of various treasures, kid. My brothers and I have been alive much longer than him, complete this task and I'll give you the location of three great treasures." Haustri said and Barkha's ear twitched as he listened to that. He asked Haustri the location of the island, when he wanted him to leave and a list of the equipment he needed.