"The envoy! Go to the divine envoy! Ask for his help!"
People then remembered there was an envoy in this village - not Lady Skadi's, but the envoy of the Goddess of Death, Hel. Still, no matter how faint the hope, they crowded together fleeing for their lives towards Shirou, surrounding him, crying and begging, "Divine envoy, please save us!"
But A-46 beside Shirou shook her head with an indifferent expression. In a stiff tone she stated, "No. Lady Hel has ordered us to retreat from this place."
What?!
People had lost all hope. And why wouldn't they? Shirou was Hel's envoy, so how could he possibly save them? Lady Skadi had protected the world for over two thousand years, but even she had been overthrown by the terrifying Hel. If he disobeyed Hel's orders, he probably wouldn't even be able to protect himself!
Just then, a 20-meter giant came barreling towards the crowd. To him, they looked like a buffet of delicious chicken legs. He licked his lips impatiently as he reached out to grab one.
The crowd screamed and scattered in a panic. But the giant already had his sights set on one man - the slender guy wearing black armor, with fair skin and bright eyes.
The old geezers from his clan once told him that humans who wore armor, no matter if they were big burly men or petite maidens, always had the fullest, tenderest, most mouthwatering meat concealed within that hard exterior - it was as if the armor helped seal in all the juices and flavors.
So, with delicious thoughts of the tender meat, he eagerly set his sights on the young man encased in black armor, intent on cracking him open and feasting on the tasty flesh inside. Though, those old fools forgot to mention one tiny detail: while armored humans tended to be the most delicious, at the same time they were also the most dangerous.
Just as the giant's massive, meaty hand was stretching wide, ready to grab the black-armored youth and pop him in his mouth as a snack, there was a sudden flash of bright, blinding black light that shone out through his thick fingers. Then in the very next moment, before the giant even had time to grunt in confusion, an intense black beam tore clean through his entire palm, burning a gaping hole straight through. The searing brightness assaulted the giant's eyes before smashing into his face and continuing to shoot towards the sky.
It all happened so fast, he didn't even have time to wonder why his vision had gone blood-red. Only when his body hit the ground, teetering on the brink of eternal sleep, did he understand—he'd been killed. Killed by a insignificant human. With his last ounce of strength, he heard the black-armored man's cold voice.
"You dirtied my spear..."
As the giant exhaled his final breath, Shirou's face contorted in disgust. To think this beast had set its sights on him! Treating him as nothing but helpless prey ripe for the taking. The audacity...
Gripping his spear in one gauntleted hand, he used the other to pull a white towel from his armor, wiping the grime off the gleaming spearhead.
After wiping his spear clean, Shirou walked towards the charging giants. A-46 grabbed his arm. "Lady Hel ordered us to retreat."
He sneered. "Yeah, don't care."
...
Seeing the giants attacking the village, Sigurd hurried south - he had left Valli with a family in that direction. But when he arrived, he saw a giant ripping the roof off Valli's house, reaching inside. Sigurd's eyes contracted to pins. Without hesitation, he activated his Noble Phantasm, Dawn of Destruction, blowing three giant heads clean off in one mighty blast.
Sigurd rushed forward in a few quick strides. He shoved the headless corpse off of Valli's house, sending the giant crashing lifelessly to the ground, the earth shaking from the impact.
He rushed into the crumbled house, shoving aside slanted, broken walls as he shouted Valli's name.
"I'm here, Lord Sigurd—" came Valli's voice from under a tilted wall. Sigurd lifted it with both hands, moving it aside. Valli lay there bleeding, two trembling girls tucked protectively in his arms.
Seeing the blood-soaked Valli, Sigurd frowned with concern. "How bad is it? Are you okay?"
"It's nothing, Lord Sigurd, just a scratch on my back..." Valli dismissed his own wounds, more worried for the terrified children.
Sigurd looked down with a heavy heart at the two young girls huddled together on the ground before him, their long hair now tangled and matted with dust, their faces filled with residual fear and streaked with tear tracks through the dirt on their cheeks.
When the wooden roof and walls of their modest home had come crashing down due to the rampaging giant, their older brother Valli had clearly shielded the two girls with his own body, protecting them from the falling debris even as he suffered nasty injuries himself. Right next to the shaken children lay the bloody corpses of the girls' parents - their mother twisted unnaturally in a slowly spreading pool of dark red blood, and their father a mangled mess of flesh and bone after being violently torn apart and partially devoured by the giant.
Sigurd clenched his fists. "I arrived too late."
Valli stretched out his hand and covered the eyes of the two girls.
"Brother Valli, why are you covering our eyes?" they asked.
"There's dust and sand everywhere," Valli explained gently. "It would be painful if it got in your eyes."
"Oh, okay Brother Valli," said the girls. "What about Mother and Father though?"
Valli glanced sorrowfully at the dead couple. "They..." He hesitated, then said, "They have already fled to safety. We will see them again soon."
He covered the girls' eyes and led them out of the crumbled house.
Sigurd followed the limping yet determined boy out of the ruins of the modest family home, eyeing the boy with newfound respect. "Growing up in such despair, yet adapting so calmly...you have a strong spirit, Valli."
"You praise me too highly, Lord Sigurd," Valli replied modestly.
Sigurd's gaze swept across the horizon, his eyes following the clear path of trampled earth and flattened snow that marked the route the now dead giants had taken on their frenzied stampede toward the village. As he traced along the wide swath of debris, he spotted, in the far distance, a swarming, roiling mass of movement in the form of over one hundred more giants. Their hulking bodies, wreathed in flames, pounded the earth with each footfall as they bore down toward the village.
As he was about to take action, sword in hand, his body suddenly froze. His gaze shifted to a young man not far away, wearing black armor and holding a glowing spear. The youth slowly walked toward the group of over a hundred flaming giants charging their way.
"Eternal King?" Sigurd's brows furrowed. After a moment, his eyes fell on a two-story wooden house. He bent his legs slightly, then sprang hard, snow flying up beneath his feet. Using the momentum, he leapt up and landed on the roof.
From his vantage point, Sigurd gazed down at Shirou walking steadily toward the giants. They looked like hungry ghosts charging the village.
"Charge, my tribesmen! Humans just ahead!" the largest of the giants bellowed, urging the crazed mob onwards.
"Humans! Food is near—so hungry, so hungry—" the other giants took up the cry, voices rasping and guttural as they raced frenziedly closer to the village, seemingly maddened by all-consuming hunger. As they drew nearer, the giants finally took note of the lone figure approaching them.
"A human!" one giant shouted in delight, flames trailing from its fanged maw.
"An armored one!" another giant called out even more eagerly, its pace quickening with anticipation. "My grandfather said before he died, armored humans are the tastiest!"
"Don't fight me for his thighs, they're mine!" a third giant snarled at the others, claws flexing and grasping.