The next day, Loki personally visited the "Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic herself." Of course, she did this under a disguise with a simple illusion.
And immediately, she ran into a barrier at the front door.
"You will have to undo your illusion."
Loki turned around.
In front of her was a man. He had white hair and brown skin. But this was not the coppery brown nor the deep brown but ash brown, the kind of brown only found with hair color.
Despite being an immortal god, Loki could fit into her hands the number of times she saw this color for skin.
The color of a dead man.
Was this man an undead?!
"The school has a strict policy on using mind, vision, and other sensory affecting spells outside of classroom setting. You would have to remove your illusion to enter," he said as he entered the school with ... brown grocery bags(?) in his hand. "We do provide lunch today and visitors are always welcome to join us. However, I must say that your illusion is well crafted."
Loki hesitated a bit before she dismissed her illusion. She was in her usual outfit.
He blinked. "God...dess Loki."
Loki blinked. "How did you know who I was?"
The man grinned. He opened his mouth dramatically and then said, "Magic." With that throw away word, he stalked into the building.
Loki just glared at the bastard's back.
With frustrated release of breath, she walked forward and found no invisible wall blocking her. 'And I didn't even sense it beforehand,' she thought. It was scary how she, a goddess of deception, couldn't detect a simple barrier.
It sent shivers up her spine.
Even if her purpose here today was to determine the goal of these ... magicians, she was still a goddess who had been bored for oh so long. An unknown was a thrill she could not dismiss nor ignore.
"Welcome to Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic, Goddess Loki."
When Sakura saw the name of a deity pop up -and the paper clearly marked her as a deity- she was surprised. Who wouldn't be?
'Perhaps gods are much more active here than our reality. And wasn't Loki supposed to be a man?' she thought about it for a while before dismissing it as "another alternate reality difference."
"Welcome to Illyasviel von Einzbern's School of Combat and Magic, Godess Loki Odinson," she greeted the deity as politely as possible. "How many I help you?"
Loki looked surprised. "I never told anyone my family name. No god does."
Sakura smiled. "We have a Bounded Field in place that categorizes everyone who enters the building."
Loki's eyes widened. "That is advanced magic."
Sakura tilted her head to the side. "We had time. So would you like to join us for the lunch break? Shirou is cooking today, and I just know he'll make something divine, especially considering that all of the family is here today for lunch."
Loki smirked. "I doubt a mere human can satisfy my palette."
"I take everything back!" Loki shouted as she slammed down a bowl. The spoon cluttered within it and she had a ring of baige soup around her mouth. "Your cook must be a god! No, he has to be a god!" she reaffirmed to herself as she grabbed a pierced a large steak and hauled it over to her plate in a surprising show of strength. "You have to join my familia, then I'll be able to eat food like this everyday-!"
"Hell no!" Gilgamesh shouted as she slammed her hands on the table. "You are not taking my husband away from me, bitch!"
Loki froze before glaring. "I'm a god. I generally get what I want."
Gilgamesh smirked. "Well, that's just too bad for you then," she said as she opened her Gate of Babylon. A golden fork shot out of it and struck the very steak Loki was about to devour. Startled by the golden cutlery, Loki fell backward.
"What was th- you bitch!"
The steak that had been on her plate just a second ago had disappeared. Conveniently, a steak had appeared in Gilgamesh's plate.
"No one steals my husband or his kitchen skills from me," Gilgamesh laughed behind her hand. "A lowly and ... flat goddess like you have no chance."
Loki's eyebrows twitched before her eyes drifted down to Gilgamesh's bust.
'Damn. I have to admit that those mounds are just perfect,' Loki grudgingly admitted mentally. There was no way she was going to openly admit that. It was comparable to Hestia's own pair of feminism, but unlike Hestia, this girl before her had the perfect figure and size for those bloody mounds. On top of that, they were perkier than anything she had ever seen...
"So you are jealous," Gilgamesh grinned.
Loki glared. "At least I don't have back pain."
Gilgamesh's grin faltered. Indeed, large breast meant heavier weight, and heavier weight meant more stress on any woman's back.
But she was not the Queen of Ur for nothing. Ur was the center of culture, art, trade, and military! How could she rule a city built on military power if she herself was not a fighter?! Her body was not genetics. No, her body was countless number of hours spent in training. Forging.
"Unlike you, my body can take a few kilograms," Gilgamesh proudly stated.
"You mean you have to drag them like a cow."
Gilgamesh glared at Loki. She huffed and turned away, only glancing at Loki from the corner of her eyes. "Besides, Shirou like big breasts."
Loki frowned.
"Besides," Gilgamesh said as she dropped her glare and looked Loki straight in the eye. "None of us here are going to simply hand someone over to fickle being like you, deity."
Loki stiffened before scoffing.
"Fine then, let me go straight to the point," Loki said as she ripped a chunk of meat from a drumstick big as her arm. "Who are you all? What does Zelretch want?"
Everyone aside from her blinked. "Wait, how do you know about Zelretch?" a girl with black hair asked her.
The goddess crossed her arms after setting the drumstick down. "All gods and goddess know of that bloody bastard Zelretch. We could never forget him, even after five hundred thousand years," she replied.
"...We're ran away."
Loki turned to the white haired girl. She had been quiet throughout the dinner so far, and this was the first time she spoke up. "From what?"
"From everything. We were involved in a war over a wish-granting device that was supposed to have only one victor. We of us here won together in the end ... somehow... but our impossible victory brought about the attention of the magi organizations," she continued gravely. "They wanted to experiment on us and reproduce the results."
Loki flinched. She knew how ... barbaric and immoral magi in the past could have been.
The white haired girl smiled. "But they forgot one thing..." Here, her smile became a feral grin, but it wasn't directed at her. "They forgot who we were. We were the victor of a war that had a 100% casualty before us. On top of that, we weren't alone," she said. She pointed to the man sitting to the left of Loki.
"He is Iskander the Great. The King of Conquerors. I'm sure your Greek pantheon friends know of him?"
Loki froze and stared at the man.
"The girl across from you is Gilgamesh, the Queen of Heroes."
And that confused Loki. She was unaware of Gilgamesh's status. "Queen of Heroes?" she repeated.
"She is the first hero," Shirou spoke from left of Gilgamesh. "The first hero born of humanity during the Age of Gods."
Loki's spine shivered and froze.
It had been a long time since she heard that.
Age of Gods.
She was born in that era after all. She used to be uncontrolled and powerful then. 'God, I miss it,' she absentmindedly thought before realizing just what she just thought.
"This is EMIYA."
Loki became really confused at that. "But Emiya is over there," she said as she pointed to Shirou.
There had been a round of introductions before they ate. Hercules had been referred to as Berserker, EMIYA as Archer, and Gilgamesh as Rider.
"This man is the alternate version of future him."
Ilya decided to take over and placed her hand on the giant next to herself. Loki had been curious about the giant. He had the size of a minotaur, but he was definitely human (if you can go past his ash skin).
"This is Hercules, son of Zeus."
... Wut?
'Okay, okay, okay, why the fuck is he still alive and sitting here?!' Loki's mind mentally broke under the implications. 'Gods can't have children, it's one of our self-imposed limitation in this new era. A demigod can't exist!' She knew Zeus. He was, after all, her good buddy. She couldn't imagine him breaking that rule though.
"...Why are you telling me all this?" she asked them.
It was here that Rin spoke. "We are in an unknown territory without allies nor knowledge. So we did a few reconnaissance yesterday, and have determined that you were trustworthy, or at least not malevolent. We prepared scenarios like what you are in for each category of gods who may have come to our school. We simply seek to be left in peace, and being open and honest with you helps us a long way to do that."
"I see," Loki muttered.
It made sense. However, what they didn't know was Loki -and other gods'- absolute disdain for magi. At the same time, though, Loki realized that these people were not "magus," just refugee. They spoke of not wanting to be experimented upon.
"I will agree to your residence in this world under one condition: no magus research."
Rin gawked while the others looked arbitrary about it.
"Deal," Shirou agreed. Rin tried to argue, but Archer just patted her head. She wilted, knowing that everyone except her had issues with magi culture.
Loki looked at Shirou for a moment before grinning. "You sure I can't get you to join my familia?"
He shook his head. "This is my family."
The goddess nodded.
"How about an exchange of information and perhaps service?"
Loki raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."
Loki left the school with a huge grin and satisfied stomach.
"A cook who can make gods drool," she muttered. "I will have to join them in their lunch again."
But the food aside (not that it was not a big deal), Loki was happy.
She now had assurances that this bunch of magi were not into the immoral research of the past nor looking to cause trouble. At the same time, their mere presence offered her...
Entertainment.
Loki cackled. "Oh, oh, oh, I love this," she muttered as she thought about all of the plays she could make.
She did, however, ask something of them.
So when she entered the Twilight House, her familia's HQ, the first thing she did was to set up a familia gathering in the meeting hall.
Those who were in the Twilight House or scattered throughout Orario quickly came to Twilight Houses's spacious meeting hall.
When they arrived, Loki cleared her throat to get their attention. "Hiya guys!" she grinned. "It's been a while since we all gathered like this, right?" There were cheers and agreements. "And that has me curious ... just how far along are you guys?"
That got some questionable and confused looks.
"We are the best familia there is, yes?!"
Cheers.
"But how do we compare with outsiders? People from outside our city and its labyrinth?"
"Does it matter?" one of the adventurers asked. "We're the strongest!"
"The strongest familia, yes!" Loki agreed. "But I know of someone who is stronger than us individually. Someone that even I cannot touch."
Shocked and angry looks. Who dares to be better than them?
"There exists someone stronger than our own LvL 6 adventurers!" Loki shouted. "Then isn't it our duty as the strongest familia to also have the strongest adventurers?!"
Affirming shouts.
Loki felt a little bad at playing her children this way, but she knew that with this, they will indeed become the strongest adventurers.
The keyword: adventurers.
Loki grinned. "Then you agree with me that we all need more training?!"
Some of the affirming shouts faltered, but most continued on with a blood-pumping shout of "YES!"
"Good," she said as she stepped away from the dais. "Then I present to you two of those very people that are individually stronger than us. Meet Berserker and Illyasviel von Einzbern. Some of you know of them from the Illyasviel von Einzbern's School."
As the giant of a man stepped up to the raised dais at the front of the meeting hall, people began to pale.
Vincent shrieked.
Why wouldn't they? Most of them didn't even reach up to his chest nipple. Those muscles of his looked like they were stone hard and big enough to squash most of the adventurers in here with one hand.
But there were some squeals about how cute the girl, who sat on the giant's shoulder, was. She had pristine white hair
"These two will be heading your personal training, and I will pay them for their services. Be warned though," Loki said as she held her finger up in a silencing manner. "They do not accept mediocre effort."
Aiz Wallenstein, the Sword Princess of Loki Familia, was curious. She had the right to be.
To say that she was humble would be correct, but she also had extreme pride in her familia and her goddess.
As well as her own skills.
"I challenge you to a duel. I refuse to be taught by someone who cannot match my skill." She was humble, but not that humble to feel irritated by this sudden introduction of someone "stronger" than her.
Everyone turned and looked at her. Many had disbelieving looks and many more were apprehensive.
A fight between that giant of a being and the Sword Princess? Forget about ruining a garden, the collateral damage was going to be in the millions of varisu!
And for some reason, her own goddess looked upon her with pity.
Berserker grunted.
"I accept," Illyasviel said as she jumped off the giant. "Where will this spar take place?"
"Outside of the castle," Loki responded quickly. "There aren't any training ground in the Twilight House that can take the strain of having two of you duke it out."
"Alright. Berserker, let's go outside." With that, the two strangers left the meeting hall.
Aiz Wallenstein moved to follow them but she was stopped by Loki. "Lady Loki...?" she muttered.
"Try not to die, Aiz."
Those words shook her to the core.
Her own goddess was fearing for her life. She could see it in her eyes. But why? Surely, a LvL 6 adventurer like herself could take care of a man, no matter how big!
"I'm serious. Even if I were to release my entire power against the laws of the pantheon and fight that man, I am not guaranteed a victory."
Everyone was now gathered outside the Twilight House, far away from its walls.
Loki feared for her Aiz. Why shouldn't she?
"When we came here," Archer spoke. "We realized something important. We were no longer 'Servants' summoned by the Holy Grail. We were truly alive. Something between the transference had shattered our bonds with our Masters and gave us our true lives."
"And with it," Rider grinned. "Our limitations disappeared. For me, it won't be long before I headbutt with that nation-type familia of yours. Ares, was it?"
"For some of us," Gilgamesh grinned. "It means that there is no one who can stop us."
Loki gulped.
'Oh, Aiz, you air head, why did you challenge, Hercules of all people?!' she moaned mentally.
She knew of Hercules. No one who knew of the Greek pantheon wouldn't. Hercules, the son of Zeus, from the First Age of Gods. The man who went to the Underworld for a mere quest. A man who broke through cities. A man who killed the unkillable. The man who shattered the very earth if it meant achieving his goal.
Oh, she feared for her child. There was no way Aiz was getting out of this unharmed or without trauma.
Not too far away from her and the rest of the familia, Berserker and Aiz stood in front of each other with their weapon drawn.
Most of the familia had nearly fainted when they saw the stone-axe of Berserker's. It was a monstrous weapon that was taller than everyone. Its black teeth looked like vicious dragon teeth.
But no one could tear their eyes away.
"Alright then," Loki said as calmly as possible. "Here are the rules: 1) No killing, 2) No lasting damage, 3) No fatal wounds, and 4) Once I call the fight, it ends there."
Berserker grunted.
Aiz nodded.
"Then duelists... take your position."
Aiz jumped back with her sword drawn.
Berserker stood still.
"In 5... 4... 3..."
Aiz tensed.
"2..."
Berserker stood still.
"1..."
Aiz readied to jump.
"Sta-!"
There was a rush of wind. A gale so strong, Loki had to teleport herself away.
Aiz had no such luxury.
Berserker was in front of her before she could even blink with his stone axe raised above his head, already in a downward, vertical strike.
Aiz used everything she had to push herself. There was no thinking. There was no planning. Her instinct screamed. Her legs screamed at the sudden pressure she was forcing upon them, but there was no choice.
If she got hit by that...
Living?
More like crippled if not dead.
She merely moved herself five centimeters to the side as her legs kicked off and her body twisted to make herself small as possible, but that was enough. Her face could feel the cutting winds as the stone axe cut where she had stood mere quarter of a second ago.
The stone axe planted itself into the ground, and she used the stone axe's broad side as a platform to jump away.
She landed-.
-And she had to dodge again.
This time, she was not close enough. The jump had left her vulnerable. She hadn't even touched the ground with both of her legs before a kick to her stomach sent her tumbling away like a ragdoll across the plains. Her back struck the tree and broke through it with ease and she landed stomach first on the second tree.
She fell to the ground and held in the urge to throw up.
She couldn't understand. Her world was still spinning. Her balance was off.
What happened? How did he move that f-?!
Her instinct screamed again.
She looked up and saw the giant falling down.
Her pushed herself as fast and hard as she could.
A second later, the very place she had fallen came under assault from Berserker.
He landed.
And the ground cratered. Aiz jumped and jumped, pushed and kicked, and struggled and fought to simply get away.
And she did.
Just as the crater reached her position, it stopped. However, it didn't stop her from looking upon the devastation a simple landing had done to the land.
Berserker stood in the center of a crater knee deep and wider than the length of a normal house.
It had been four seconds since Loki stared the fight.
Her legs trembled. Her arms shook. Her breathes ragged.
'This isn't a human, this isn't a human,' she chanted mentally like a mantra.
This wasn't like the catepillar monster she fought at the 50th floor. That monster was all power.
This being had power and finesse. Martial art that she didn't even recognize coupled with strength and speed that she knew she could not muster.
"The strongest familia, yes!" Loki agreed. "But I know of someone who is stronger than us individually. Someone that even I cannot touch."
Her lips trembled. Why did she have to doubt Lady Loki?
Berserker turned towards her.
She jumped.
'There is no surviving this without my maximum output!'
He moved.
Loki Familia's adventurers watched in shocked awe.
"T-That's impossible!"Bete Loga shouted. He was an adventurer deemed the fastest of all, and yet, he could barely see how Berserker was moving. "Something that big has no right to move that fast!"
Everyone had seen how in the first second, Aiz had been forced to dodge and then struck with a force of a mountain. They were shocked by how easily Aiz was pushed to her limit.
"He's going easy on her."
Everyone turned to Loki.
"No way," Bete muttered. "Please don't tell me that's true."
Loki's eyes narrowed.
It hurt her to see Aiz getting pounded upon, but Aiz had brought this upon herself. She wanted to protect her, but it was part of her agreement with the ... "Emiya Familia."
"Someone stupid will challenge either me or Berserker here to a fight. Promise us that you won't stop them."
"Why?"
"For a large group of people to know their superior, an absolute authority, a crushing and overwhelming power must be displayed."
Loki raised an eyebrow. "And how will you do that?" she asked Einzbern.
Ilya smiled. "I am a magician who wields the complete Third True Magic."
She kept telling herself that her children will be better off with this. That a small bruise here will save their lives in the labyrinth.
It didn't mean that just watching Aiz get kicked hard enough to kill most adventurer didn't make her heart stop and bleed.
"Lil Rafaga!"
Loki's eyes widened. Aiz had just used her best move.
Everyone watched as Aiz crossed a distance longer than a hundred meters in less than a second.
Only to see Berserker swing. He blurred
The entire move fell apart, and a shocked Aiz fell to the ground to her knees.
"One Hundred Arrow Strike," Ilyasviel commented from right next to Loki. "His most trusted Noble Phantasm. The very move that killed the unkillable, immortal Hydra of old. I'm surprised he decided to use it. Her attack must have been something."
Loki couldn't help the pride that she felt right there.
Aiz's ultimate move was a threat big enough to cause Hercules of all people to utilize his own ultimate move.
"Winner!" Loki shouted, much to her own dismay. Aiz couldn't get up from that. She could see even from here that Aiz was at her limit. Merely 30 seconds into the fight and it had taken Aiz everything to fight for that long. "Berserker of Emiya Familia!"
Berserker dismissed his Nine Lives, causing it to disappear in motes of blue light before gently picking up dead-tired Aiz bridal style. Then he made his way over to Loki Familia.
Adventurers began to back away even before he was within a dozen meter from them.
30 seconds.
Finn and few others including Bete were the ones to approach Berserker as he dropped Aiz to their waiting arms. They quickly rushed her to the infirmary in the Twilight House as the doctors and healers ran to her to do their work.
30 seconds.
Berserker scooped up Ilya onto his hands, but the girl stopped him from putting her on his shoulder. She turned around and looked upon Loki Familia.
"Does anyone else want to challenge? Berserker has already shown himself, so I wouldn't mind stretching out a bit..."
30 seconds.
Loki quickly shook her head, preventing anyone else.
"No," she said coldly.
Even though it was agreed upon, she could not help but be cold for that moment.
Ilya pouted. "Alright then. We'll visit every saturday for your training! Anyone who wants more can visit us at my school. It's right next to Hostess of Fertility." With that, Berserk set Ilya on his shoulder, and he jumped away.
"Jumped" away. More like he shot away like an arrow with enough wind strength to cause the trees at the edge of the open field to sway as if there was a hurriance.
Loki turned to the rest of the familia.
"I think you all now know what I mean."
With that, she ran over to where Aiz was.
It was cruel, but sometimes it takes a bit of cruelty for children to become adults.
