Warning: Extremely minor spoilers of Final Singularity, Time Temple Solomon.
Chapter II: Kingfall
"Guda?! Guda?! What the hell is-" I broke my communicator, and the voice of Roman was cut off.
"So this is the Time Temple…" I watched the scenery in front of me.
To put it simply, this was no temple at all. What I saw was a land in pieces, forming small floating islands that were connected with what appeared to be giant black tree branches.
No, they were no branches, they were Demon Pillars.
"How intriguing, there is a peculiar Saint Graph in this space, it doesn't belong to the normal servant classes." Kiara observed.
"Are you referring to Grand Caster?"
"No, it's nothing that righteous. What I felt is the essence of a Beast, an embodiment of the human's sins." While she said that, she grinned. "Just like me."
"A Beast…" To my mind came the figure of Beast II, the primordial mother Tiamat, an almost immortal monster that destroyed Uruk during Babylonia singularity. Even with the help of powerful heroic spirits like Gilgamesh, The first Hassan, Merlin, Ereshkigal and Isthar, it was quite difficult to defeat her.
And now, we have to face one of those beasts alone…
"Are you perhaps worried, Master? A Beast is a part of human existence, as long as humanity exists in this world; they can't be destroyed or killed." She said happily, as if she was enjoying this predicament.
"Then, it's our win already." I declared, confidently. "There are only a few humans left, when we are done here, humanity will cease to exist."
Kiara just smiled, with a vicious grin.
"True, but remember that you are still human, my master."
"I rejected my humanity when I chose you, Kiara." I reassured her. "Also I don't plan on surviving this ordeal. If my death will bring salvation to this world, then I would gladly die."
"Then, what if I tell you that the only way to win is for you commit suicide, right now?" She said, staring directly at my eyes, with her sharp shaped pupils.
I shuddered. For about a second I almost considered doing exactly that…was her control over me that great?
But I immediately remembered my true objective.
"Then, I would have to reject that order." I stared directly to her. "I would not die until you become mine."
The sadistic expression on her face disappeared in an instant, and was replaced with a lustful grin.
"Yes…that's what I wanted to hear."
Suddenly she approached me, and without any warning, she kissed me on the cheek.
"I can hardly wait." She said, cheerful.
That simple action almost made me explode, I needed all the force I could muster to regain my composure and not assault her. My body desperately wanted her…Is this how a servants felt when a command seals is used?
Luckily someone interrupted that moment before I went wild.
A man in a green suit, with long messy hair and a top hat appeared in front of us. He wore a cautious expression on her face.
"Chaldea…you are that puny master of Chaldea, right?" He said, seemingly confused.
"Lev...to think that you are still alive." I recognize him immediately. This "man" was the one who planted that bomb in Chaldea, which put the other masters in coma and killed a big part of Chaldea's crew. I couldn't forget him even if I wanted to.
"So you ARE Fujimaru Ritsuka, but that's not possible how could you…!" He brought his hands to his head, as if something had gone terribly wrong. "Where is that girl Mashu? Where are Romani Archaman and the servant Da Vinci? Why are you with…?" He was extremely restless, not even when Altera "killed" him was he this hysterical.
"Ara, you must be Flauros-kun, a pleasure to meet you, Zepar has talked much about you." Kiara said, using the professor's real name.
"What…!? Zepar…!? How did you know that name!?" He said, perplexed.
"Ah right, you don't know her. Lev, this is Kiara Sessyoin, the Third Heterodoxy Pleasure Deva of Deliberate Overwhelming Joy, also my girlfriend." I said, enjoying the situation a bit too much. "I see you know him Kiara. Thanks to this man, I am together with you right now. If he hadn't tried to destroy Chaldea and kill us all, then maybe I would never have met you."
"Oh, I see. Then you have my utmost gratitude, Flauros-kun." She made a small reverence toward the professor.
"You...! Human!" He opened his normally closed eyes, furious. "You are toying with forces that you don't comprehend! Such idiocy is even too much for a stupid monkey like you!"
"You really lost your cool, Lev. It's almost a shame that I have to kill you, I would gladly watch you reactions all day."
"I can't allow you and that monster to reach the throne. You will die here!" As he said his body began to lose its form. A giant black tentacle emerged from him, the multiples red eyes that covered it looked at us with uncontrollable rage.
"Listen well! I am the Demon God Flauros! One of the seventy two Demon Gods, and the one who rules over information!" A deep voice came from the ascending pillar, the true form of the Professor Lev Lainur.
I instinctively stepped back. Although we had defeated a few Demon Pillars before, I would not underestimate my enemies.
"I guess it's time to show you what I am capable of, my dear Master."
"Beware of him Kiara, we have already kill that thing once before. And he managed to come back."
"It's useless! Not even an aberration like you could kill me, because we are the seventy two demon gods! As long as this land and the throne still exist, our numbers will never be reduced! If you want to kill me, you must first kill all seventy two of my brethren!"
"Oh? Who say that I was planning to kill you?" Kiara laughed, as she extended her hands. "In fact, you are going to serve me well, Flauros-kun."
Suddenly, the floor began to tremble. From behind me appeared various Demons Pillars.
"Prepare yourself, there are more of them!" I shouted as I put my back to her. I began to chant the enchantment of reinforcement, but Kiara reassured me.
"Ufufufufu, don't worry Master, they are friends."
"Eh…?"
To my surprise, the pillar extended themselves, totally ignoring Kiara and me, and attacked Flauros.
"W-what!? What's the meaning of this!?" I could hear the confused voice of Flauros, it seemed like he was as dumbfounded as me. "Who the hell are you!? Why I can't sense you!? Why can't I reach you!?"
The rogue pillars caught Flarous, they used their tentacle bodies to hold him up, making him unable to move.
"Are you surprised, Flauros-kun? To think that your precious Demon friends would betray you so easily…"
"You! What have you done!? Why can't I feel them!?" The voice of the demon pillar Flauros was full of despair.
"It only natural that you don't recognize them, they are not part of your seventy-two demons pillars. They don't have a name like you all."
Flauros continued to struggle, and finally break free from the rogue pillars.
"Then it's unless! Even if you command demons as well, if they don't have names then they may as well be just trash! They can't compare to-"
The ex-professor was interrupted, as more and more demons pillar tried to subdue him.
"But that doesn't mean they are weaker, Flauros-kun." Kiara never lost her smile. "In fact, for them to be nameless just means that they don't have personality or individuality. That makes them the perfect force, not just seventy-two, but infinite."
More enemy Pillars appeared in front of us, but for every one of them, ten rogue pillars were there to fight them.
It is said that numbers doesn't win wars, but I guess that doesn't apply when you have an infinite army.
They fall much quicker that the originals, in fact, it doesn't seem like they have killed a single enemy pillar. But that was fine; our mission is not to exterminate the Pillars.
No, our goal is their king.
Kiara extended her hands once again, and more pillars ascended beside her, making some kind of path between the islands.
"Let's go Master, the foolish king's pillars are neutralized. We have to take the him down to make them fall."
She extended her hand to me.
At that moment, between the piercing demon cries, between the festival of horrors that fought each other, between the rain of black and decayed flesh, I couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful she was.
I am really a lucky man.
I took her hand without hesitation
"Lead the way."
...
He was sat in his throne, looking at battles inside his temple.
At first glance, one could think that the battle was in a stalemate.
The rouge pillars were no immortals like his own, they were not true demons so they simply fall at the force of them.
But as the old ones fell, more got birthed. They do not revive like his pillars, they simply were replace by new, different ones.
The fights were reduced to his pillars killing the enemy's. They don't tire so they will never stop killing, as the enemy appeared to have an infinite source of nameless pillars, they would never run out of things to kill.
That could be called a stalemate, but that would be wrong. In a battlefield were the soldier force could be considered null, as they don't affect the outcome of the war, the factors that would decide who will win and who will lose were the leaders.
And he was about to meet them.
Before him, a single human appear, he doesn't seem anything special. In fact, he was far weaker than Solomon had imagined. "Magus" was a title that barely befit to someone like him.
And even knowing that, to think that such human was able to single handedly reach his throne was so painful that he almost desired dead.
The only thing that keeps him from dying of humiliation was the fact that the Servant that caused all this was nowhere to be found.
Where was she? Where was the woman than commanded the pillars?
"Welcome to the throne, human. I would extend the king's courtesy to a traveler from afar, but unfortunately I dislike humans." He fixed his gaze on him, studying his movements and reactions. "There would be no reward at the end of your journey."
The human didn't respond, he just glared at him. Solomon thought that he will see fury in his eyes, but that sentiment nowhere to be found.
Instead, he saw confidence.
Why? Why was this human so…? No, that doesn't matter at all. That was nothing more than stupid bravado.
He will die here, just like the rest of humanity.
The calculations for his imaginary first Noble Phantasm, Ars Nova, was almost completed.
"There is nothing for you to do now, human. Even that monstrosity that you wield will fall when I complete my-"
"Solomon." The human finally spoke. "Do you want to know why you lost?"
The King of Magic felt an indomitable fury at his words. What was this foolish human thinking? Just because he could fight back his pillars he thought he had already won? Such presumptuous..!
But he contained his rage, because he was curious about what utterly madness would come out from his mouth.
"It's because of that throne that you sit so proudly in. Always waiting, watching from afar instead of facing us head on…It's because of your ego that lead you to underestimated us until now. That's the only reason you lost."
Solomon was about to release a taunting laugh, but the human appeared to no be finished yet.
"Even now, you are waiting that I finish talking, you are truly a fool, King Solomon. You gave her enough time to finish her Noble Phantasm."
"…!"
It was just one instant. He was dumbfounded just for a mere second.
But when he finally turned back, it was already too late.
An enormous hole, that appeared to be tearing reality itself, was behind his throne. An infinite number of demon pillars crawled and writhed inside of it, their blood red eyes were staring intently at him.
He had made a serious mistake; he should have killed the human as soon as he entered the throne.
Not wasting any time, he jumped from his throne, and began rushing to the dammed human that was just a few meters in front of him. Just a single attack was needed; just a single touch from him would be enough evaporate him.
He shortened the distance that separated them in a second. He was fast, faster than any servant that Chaldea could summon. Nobody should be able to stop him…!
The human just stood there, waiting for him. His confidence had not faded.
"YOU INSECT! I'LL KILL YOU!" Solomon shouted, as he was reaching the foolish human.
At that exact moment, a long and bright white hand came from behind the human and grabbed him, trying to stop his movement, but it was not enough, the hand was strong, but not enough to stop him!
Immediately after, another hand came, and then another, then another, hundreds of hands began to stop him.
"THIS IS NOT ENOUGH!"
He was just in front of him, he only needed to extend his hand and…
Giant hands, similar to the one that were grabbing him but much bigger, came from under him, finally stop the Grand Caster just as he was about to touch the master of Chaldea.
"DIE!"
Fool, he doesn't even need to touch him, at this distance, just a bit of magic was enough to destroy him.
A ray of light came from his hand, and went directly to Gudao's head.
Unfortunately his magic never reached the Magus, and was easily deflected by a horned figure.
"Ara, I can't let you do that." The woman that wielded demons finally appeared behind the master, unlike him, she had a broad smile on her face.
"YOU!" He fought with all his might to get free, but it was useless, the hands were not letting him go.
"Now let's end this. You too, will be saved by me, King Solomon."
A powerful current of air began push him backwards, to the hellish hole that was still open behind him.
There was no other choice; his mask will have to be undone.
The servant that was posing as King Solomon began to break, all his body crumbled in pieces, as his real self, came to be.
His arms quickly broke his bindings, as they transformed in vicious claws.
His lost all his facial features and only a white façade that barely resembled a face remained, form his head grew burning horns that resembled tree branches.
His once humanoid body now seemed to belong to that of a monster, with a giant red eyes in the center of his chest.
That was his real self, not King Solomon but…
"I welcome you inside me. Please, savor this feeling, because it is the last thing you will ever feel."
It was already too late.
The woman moved her arms and adopted a pose similar to a Buddhist statue, as she intoned the name of her Noble Phantasm.
"AMIDA AMIDALA, HEAVEN'S HOLE."
As soon as he heard that words, he saw himself being surrounded by the demons pillars. He rapidly teared them apart; with unmatched strength every single one of them was destroyed. But it was not enough, because others appeared behind him. They were endless, they were infinite.
The light was beginning to fade, his vision was tainted by dark and red, the entrance of the hole was closing.
The only thing that he could see were the two figures that destroyed his plans, but only one of them mattered to him.
"GUDAAAAAAAA!" He shouted, his voice coming from the deep of his soul. "YOU IGNORANT FOOL! YOU NEVER UNDERSTOOD ANYTHING; YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IS TO COME! YOU CONDEMNED THE HUMAN RACE!"
The pillars began taking him, he no longer felt his extremities, they were eating him, dissolving him entire being. All his power didn't matter inside the hole. He, for the first time, felt useless, he helpless.
With the last bit force that he had, the broken man screamed his last words.
"YOU ARE NOT THE SAVIOR OF HUMANITY…YOU ARE IT'S DESTROYER!
The hole was finally closed inside of Kiara's womb, as her Noble Phantasm was completed.
...
I saw how Solomon finally disappeared inside Kiara's hole.
The moments after his end were reigned by a tense silence. I kind of expected that he could find a way to come back…but as the second passed, it appeared the he did not.
It was as Kiara said; inside her Noble Phantasm all was meaningless. Only pleasure existed inside it.
I timidly walked to Solomon's throne, and stared at it for some time. The enormous white chair was still standing, even after its owner death.
I sat on it, a strange feeling ran through my body.
Kiara approached me but said nothing, as if she expected me to speak first.
"Kiara."
"Yes, master?"
"Did we win?"
"Indeed."
"…I see."
I threw myself on the back of the throne, and a small laugh came from my mouth. Not a laugh of victory or contempt, but one of irony.
"I see, we won." I said, as trying to retain those words in my mind. "We single handedly killed King Solomon and saved the Human Order. Both of us would be remembered as heroes, the people would narrate our deeds, old people would know our names and young kids would adore us as the one who did the impossible."
Kiara didn't interrupt me and just looked at me, as expecting something.
"It would be so easy if I decided to come back to Chaldea now, with the people that care for me. It would be easy to come back as a hero. It would be easy if this was the end." I said, as all the face of my loved ones appeared in my head.
Roman, Da Vinci, Mashu…
"Yes, it would be easy." Kiara said, with a knowing smile. "But…that's not what you want, right Master?"
"No, I don't want such a thing." I recognized, erasing that thoughts from my head. "What I want…is you. That's why I did all this, that's the only thing I desire."
No words could escape from my mouth anymore, as Kiara put her hands behind me and kissed fiercely. Her lips touched mine in an almost violent, desperate way. The warm feeling of her mouth was intoxicating; I could no longer think or feel anything beside her.
My breathing was accelerating and my heart was almost exploding in my chest, if only a kiss was enough to make me feel like this, I can't imagine how sex will feel.
She had me entirely in the palm of her hand and I was okay with it.
However our mouths suddenly parted away.
"Why…?" I asked, my was breath was agitated and it was difficult to form words. "Why…why did you stop?"
Kiara gave me a painful look, as if she too had been hurt by stopping our kiss.
"We have company, Master."
"What…!? Who…!?"
Kiara didn't respond and walked away from me.
She made a gesture with her hand, and a pillar rose from the ground.
"Look." She said pointing at one of the pillars eyes.
What I saw made me skip a beat.
"No….this can't be happening..."
"What would a Heroic Spirit be if they did not answer this call, this faith?" The woman in the pillars reflection shouted, with conviction on her eyes. "My Lord, once more I shall raise this flag, for the sake of the country- no, the world's salvation."
The woman had long blonde hair; she was clad in white battle armor and in her hands rested a flag.
And I knew her very well.
"Listen, o peerless, mighty Heroic Spirits who have gathered here! Even if you were sworn enemies, even if your times never crossed paths, now is when you entrust your backs to one another! We are here to protect the human order, even from someone we previously considered a comrade. We shall not abandon those who still cling on hope!"
The woman revealed herself, her flag held high.
"My true name is Jeanne D'Arc! In the name of the Lord, I shall become your shield!"
At that moment, the multiples eyes of the pillars shined, as countless of different Heroic Spirts were reflected in them. I could see everyone, form Saint George to Jack the Ripper, they were here, they were all here!
"No…no…no!" I grabbed my head in desperation; of all the times…they decided to act now!
"It seems that they are adamant to interrupt us." Despite all this, Kiara still sounded relaxed, as if she had predicted that something like this would happen.
"Kiara…what are we going to do now?"
The only reason we beat Solomon so easily is because he underestimate us. All these Servants know what were all capable of, they won't show any mercy, even for their previous Master.
"Even for us…they are too many to-!"
I was interrupted as Kiara planted a small kiss on my lips, and spoke.
"Why are you worrying so much, Master? It's only a natural that the heroes rose up against us. We both have chosen the path of devilry, even if some people will love us, the same amount will condemn us and our actions.
"Kiara…?"
"But I do not fear them; in fact, I will welcome them, as I will welcome all living things to my embrace. I am going to save everyone, Master. Not only just them, but the animals, the plants, all the universe will be saved in the palm of my hand. "
She suddenly took my head in her hand, and hug me.
"I can do that thanks to you, Master. Because you choose me instead of them, all of this is because of you abandon them and decided to follow me." I could feel warmth in her embrace, something similar to…love? "That's why, I will not fail you, I will save this universe no matter who oppose us. That's my duty as the Pleasure Deva after all."
I stared at Kiara for some seconds, dumbfounded.
What I saw was something that I could not comprehend. How could a demon speak words that sounded so powerful, so holy? How could this fusion of lust and faith exist at the same person?
She said that she was a proper messiah for her people in the past, and now I could see why.
Maybe, in a different world, she could have been the true savior of humanity.
"Aha, sorry." I said as I left Solomon's throne and stood up. "I lost my composure for a second. It won't happen again."
I was ready for this. I knew thing wouldn't be easy when I choose this path.
"I understand your resolve, Kiara Sessyoin. I will do anything for your salvation, even if it cost my life."
"Fufufu, but don't go dying too soon Master, I'll still need to save you…personally."
"Yes…I promised you after all. My body is yours, and so is my soul. I will not fall until we're together."
I said that, as I prepared to face those I once call friends.
I have no more doubts.
No matter who gets in our path, we'll definitely save this world.
END OF CHAPTER 2
AN: I haven't forgotten about this. I have planned a fight with Solomon in my other fic, so I wanted to make both instance different. Also, in case I am unable to make another Her Eyes chapter until January, let me wish you all a good New Years. (even though this not exactly a happy or hopeful chapter... well, it's the though that it counts.)
TNG-san.
