Title: Fate/Desiderantes Affectibus
Author: Rowan Seven
Teaser: A doomed master summons an equally tragic servant in the Fourth Holy Grail War. Together, can they change fate or will their journeys once again end in sorrow? Pre-Rebellion.
Rating: PG-13.
Disclaimer: This story contains spoilers for both series. The Fate franchise belongs to Type-Moon. Puella Magi Madoka Magica belongs to Studio Shaft and Aniplex. This story is a work of fanfiction written for fun. I make no claims to either series.
Chapter Nine – And Here I Thought You'd Come Here to Die.
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!"
The harsh, alien words reverberated eerily inside the large confines of Caster's underground lair, seeming to take on brief lives of their own as they raged against their inevitable dissolution, faded to dissonant whispers, and then vanished to haunt dreams and nightmares. More chanting, equally vile and unearthly, followed as the insane Servant of the Spell continued his dark invocations. Incongruously, he appeared peaceful—even regal—as he read from Prelati's Spellbook, standing tall and proud bathed in the caliginous light of his bloodstained atelier. Briefly, with his crazed thoughts and his rage against God subsumed by greater purpose, hints of the gallant knight who had heroically fought beside Jeanne d'Arc to liberate France could almost be glimpsed beneath his madness.
"Cthulhu fhtagn! Cthulhu fhtagn! Cthulhu fhtagn!"
However, the only witnesses to Gilles de Rais's vestigial nobility were in no state to appreciate it or even understand what it was that they so fleetingly saw. A dozen children and young women stood lifelessly around him, arranged in a spiral that coiled inward to the center of the magic circle Caster had traced in a mixture of human blood and the gore of his water demons and which he now chanted in front of. Their eyes were glazed and their faces vacant, their minds having completely succumbed to the madman's hypnotic spells. Even if someone cut off their arms and legs they wouldn't react, but what Caster planned for them was far worse than any physical dismemberment.
"Cthulhu fhtagn."
"Aiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
The entire chamber became pitch black as the agonized screams rang out for nearly a full minute. Loud thuds followed as the bodies collapsed to the ground as if they were puppets and their strings had been cut, and then there was silence. The atelier's pale light slowly returned and revealed the bloodless slaughter of Caster's former audience, now lying prostrate on the concrete floor. Caster, his black eyes remaining fixed on Prelati's Spellbook, casually waved a hand and scores of water demons burst out of the bodies, spraying blood and devouring flesh as they materialized in the world. The masses of writhing tentacles and hungry, razor-toothed maws quickly scuttled deeper into the sewers to join their brethren, and an additional dozen-plus children and young women filed past them into Caster's workshop and stood where their predecessors had just expired. Like them, their eyes were glazed and their faces vacant. Even if, somewhere deep inside their minds, they were aware of their surroundings and intended fates, they had no power to resist.
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu—"
Caster abruptly stopped in mid-invocation, his serene state of mind vanishing as fury flashed across his gaunt features.
"Intruders!" he screeched, turning to face the entrance tunnel. "We've been discovered, Ryuunosuke! The Grail's deluded champions are on their way here to destroy our beautiful works!"
"Cool! I hope they enjoy the show I've set up for them!" Caster's orange-haired master shouted back cheerfully from within the tunnel. Dashing, he arrived inside the large workshop a few seconds later, his bishounen features flushed from physical exertion and manic energy. His servant looked at him in befuddlement.
"What?"
Ryuunosuke laughed and, once he was within arm's reach of the much taller Caster, convivially slapped him on the back.
"It's just like you told me the first day we met, big guy. Y'know, about terror having its degrees of freshness and being a dynamic state and all that? It got me thinking, and, while what you've been doing all day is totally awesome, wouldn't it be even more awesome with a curtain raiser? Only a shit magician opens a show with his best magic trick, after all, so I've been busy carting out my own works of art into the tunnels for display. Y'know, to set the mood and offer a sneak peak of coming attractions, as it were."
The Servant of the Spell's bulging eyes narrowed inscrutably for a brief moment, and then he grabbed his master's shoulders and gazed down at the young man in astounded admiration.
"Brilliant, Ryuunosuke! Your keen insights and understanding continue to amaze me. Truly, you are a diamond in the rough in this world of common, ignorant philistines."
"Hey-hey, cut it out, big guy. You're making me blush!"
"But it's true, Ryuunosuke! It's all true! Had I had a partner like you back in Tiffauges we could have toppled the entire Catholic faith with our atrocities! Why, simply imagining what the horrified reactions of the filthy clergy would have been when they investigated my castle fills me with joy!"
Ryuunosuke raised a hand to scratch the back of his neck and looked down in pleased modesty. "You give me too much credit, big guy, but I'm glad you approve. Watching this show is going to be totally cool! But, um, hey, not to be a downer or anything, but—" He spared a nervous glance at the creation that had been taking shape in the center of his servant's magic circle for the past few hours. "—are you sure this thing's ready to be debuted? I know you're eager to show it off—So am I!—but true art takes time, and it'd be lame if we botched this because we rushed."
The Servant of the Spell grinned, his mouth stretching hideously wide in demented glee. He clasped his hands together, rubbing them eagerly, as he released his master and turned to face his masterpiece.
"Oh, it'll be ready. Beyond a doubt. And, thanks to your perspicacity, my dear Ryuunosuke, our enemies will arrive believing we've already sunk to the vilest of lows and performed the most unspeakable, most unforgivable crimes..."
Still grinning horrifically, Caster reopened his spellbook and turned to the page he'd been reading from.
"...only to discover that we've succeeded in a sin that is far, far worse than anything they imagined. I'm going to enjoy seeing their faces in that moment."
The madman laughed in crazed anticipation, and then he closed his eyes and resumed his solemn chanting of abominable words of ancient and arcane power.
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!"
The earlier terrible cycle of sacrifice repeated itself as Caster's invocations reached their recurring climax, but this time, when impenetrable darkness swallowed all light in his workshop and the tormented screams rang out, something that should not have been stirred within the confines of his magic circle. The horrified exclamations abruptly cut off as their speakers' bodies collapsed to the ground, but, instead of the deep silence that usually followed, there was the sound of a single, uncanny heartbeat.
In the grim darkness of Caster's workshop, something terrible had just been born.
Standing in the back of Rider's Macedonian war chariot, Sayaka watched wide-eyed as the two divine bulls pulled the powerful conveyance down the absurdly spacious sewer tunnel deeper into Fuyuki's industrial water storage system. Behind her, stretching back as far as the eye could see, were the splattered remains of dozens upon dozens of Caster's multi-limbed water demons. An equal number scuttled and slithered in front of them, but without Prelati's Spellbook to bolster their regeneration and endlessly spawn more the otherworldly horrors were simply no match for the supernatural oxen's lightning-infused hooves. The two black bovines lowed loudly as they trampled everything in their path with abandon.
"You see? I was right, wasn't I? Things are working out splendidly!" Rider proclaimed even more loudly as he held the chariot's reins in one hand to steer and gaily slapped his young master on the back with his other hand. Waver barely reacted as he took in everything with a dazed look in his eyes, almost but not quite overwhelmed by the impossibility of what he was seeing and doing and who he was seeing and doing it with. Lancer, for his part, remained silent as he stood in the back with Sayaka, his keen eyes keeping watch for possible traps and other hidden dangers.
Note to self—fighting Rider in a confined space is a very bad idea. Don't do it, Sayaka thought with a mixture of vindictive satisfaction and unpleasant anxiety. It felt good seeing the monsters that had pushed her into madness last night shredded as easily as tofu, but it was also further evidence that Rider was in a league above her own. And since she needed to get past him at some point to win the Holy Grail...well, what she was seeing now wasn't exactly what she'd call confidence building.
"There's light around the next corner," Lancer announced as the bull-driven chariot continued carving its destructive path through the water demons. "Caster is undoubtedly aware of our presence by now, so he must want us to see what's ahead. We should all be on-guard."
Rider nodded his head in agreement. "Indeed. Brace yourself, boy. There's no telling what a twisted mind like Caster's has prepared for us."
That got Waver's attention, and the young man looked up at his much taller servant peevishly. "Don't mock me, Rider! I'm not a child who needs—who needs..."
His voice trailed off tremulously as the chariot rounded the bend and entered a new section of the tunnel devoid of water demons. Instead, the sewer passage was filled with horrors of a far worse, despicably human kind. For one long, appalled moment, all of them—King, Knight, Swordswoman, and Mage—stood still, rendered speechless by the abhorrent scenes lined up on both sides of the tunnel. Waver broke the silence first by leaning over the side of the chariot and heaving in revulsion.
"On my word as a knight, I have never seen anything this loathsome. Even the Fomorians would be disgusted by this," Lancer spoke coldly, his normally handsome face contorted in a visceral repugnance that deepened with each passing second at what he saw. The corpses of young women and children stood brazenly erected along the corridor, each horrifically ravaged in a different and sickeningly cruel manner. Three—a mother and her two children, judging by their similar features—had been forcibly conjoined into a misshapen, torturous whole, forced to simultaneously witness, share, and inflict pain upon each other. Near them, a naked woman stood with her own bloody hands squeezed around her throat, a body raked and gouged by her own sharpened nails, and her intestines pulled out of her chest and wrapped around her like a hideous body necklace. The horrified expression on her face made it clear that she'd been an unwilling participant in the self-mutilation. And beyond her...Lancer refused to let his mind supply the revolting descriptions, choosing instead to see without processing what he saw as he searched for traps hidden among the heinousness. Despite that, he knew that these images—agonizing, terrified final moments cruelly stretched out and preserved as sculptures of flesh—would haunt him for the rest of his existence as a servant.
Rider, his voice uncharacteristically somber, placed a reassuring hand on his recovering master's back. "Your reaction is normal, boy, and I would punch anyone who could see this and remain unmoved. However, now is not the time for emotion. We are in Caster's lair and could be attacked by our enemy at any moment. As hard as it may be, we mustn't let this confound our wits."
"How...how can you be so calm?" Waver demanded angrily as he looked up, upset at his servant's poise but even more upset at his own lack of it. "This is...this is..."
"A crime against civilization," Rider answered evenly. "A monstrous deed conceived by even more monstrous men. My heart seethes with rage at the sight of it, but if we let our anger get the better of us and act foolishly because of it...that'll only benefit the very person who committed these abominable deeds, and that may well be Caster's reason for doing all this in the first place. When Medea of Colchis fled her homeland with Jason she dismembered her own brother to stop the pursuit, and history is full of other—"
"That's not it," Sayaka interrupted, her voice almost a hiss as her eyes completed their own survey of the desecrations and narrowed in indignant rage. The air around her briefly roiled as something dangerous and atavistic stirred within her furious gaze but then, with the shameful memory of last night still fresh in her mind, she forcibly calmed herself. Somewhat. Her fists clenching in anger, she elaborated.
"At least, that's not all of it. On the night of Caster's summoning, I found the site his master used for the ritual...and the victims he left behind fit this same MO. Whoever Caster's master is, he's a super-twisted serial killer who murders people for the fun of it."
"Th-then our purpose here is clear," Waver spoke, still pale and stammering but doing what he could to steady himself. "A p-person like that h-has no right to call himself a m-master, l-let alone a human being! Rider, as your master I command you to stop him and his servant."
It was more a plea than anything else, a cry from a frightened child seeking to appear braver and more dignified than he truly felt, but the King of Conquerors grinned when he heard it and answered with encouragement.
"That is an excellent order, master, and I will happily carry it out. There can be no negotiations with madmen such as these, and I will make both Caster and his master regret the day they conceived their depraved crimes! Onward we go. Hiyah!"
The two divine bulls responded immediately to their master's command and, with primal bellows, charged forward. Lightning crackled and flared around the black oxen as they barreled down the tunnel, and the gruesome gallery quickly receded behind them. Before the disfigured dead completely disappeared from view, though, Sayaka turned her head back to look at them one more time, a pained expression on her face and dark thoughts flittering through her mind. If only she'd gotten here earlier...if only she'd managed to stop Caster last night...if only—
A strong hand came down comfortingly on her right shoulder, and she turned, looking up to meet Lancer's understanding gaze. He squeezed, gently but firmly, and she gave a slight nod of thanks in return for the supportive gesture, grateful for the distraction. He nodded back and inclined his head towards the darkness that lay ahead in the tunnel. His handsome, grief-tainted face became unforgiving as he peered into that blackness, and his silent message reached Sayaka loud and clear.
Caster would not leave these sewers alive tonight.
Pain beyond anything to which the name of pain is given tore through the mind and body of Harada Kaeda, horrifically ripping the young schoolgirl from the magical thralldom that had imprisoned her in unthinking terror for days but which now she would've traded anything to return to. Her consciousness shattered and broke under the excoriating assault, but there was nowhere to hide from the agony and the white-hot torture denied any darkness to blackout in.
And then, it became worse. Everything was wrong. Kaeda could not see, and she could not move. It felt like she'd been impaled by thousands of searing needles and buried in a pit of burning coals but a hundred times more terrible. Nothing made sense and nothing was familiar; every sensation and every feeling was alien except for the pain, and it was too much. She wanted to scream but she could not. She wanted to run away but she could not. She wanted to die but she could not. Everything had been taken away from her except her own awareness, and that awareness was comprised solely of suffering and her own nightmarish powerlessness in the face of it.
And then, it became worse. Something terrible reached into the very core of her being, violating her so profoundly as it gathered up the shattered shards of her identity that even the indescribable pain of before seemed preferable, and then it hungrily swallowed.
Suddenly, Kaeda could see again, but the sight wasn't of any type she knew as shapes with neither color nor detail appeared in her mind's eye through means completely unfamiliar to her. Suddenly, she could move again, but she wasn't the one doing the moving and nothing felt as it should. Suddenly, the pain was gone and she could think clearly again, but intermingled with her own hysterical thoughts were those of dozens of others and a primal, forbidden hunger that terrified her.
What...is...happening...to...me?
And then, it became worse. Understanding dawned, and Kaeda screamed in horrified realization but heard nothing except the noise in her own mind as other terrorized voices joined her own. The sheer volume quickly became torturous, but no one stopped and the noise increased further until something terrible reacted angrily.
And then, yet again but not for the last time as new horror followed new horror for the young girl and those suffering with her, it became worse.
The first sight Sayaka saw when Rider's chariot plowed forward out of the sewer tunnel into the far larger subterranean silo that comprised Caster's lair was a veritable sea of water demons. The tentacled maws were everywhere, covering almost the entire floor, clinging to the walls and ceiling, hanging from pipes, and packed so tightly together they had nowhere to go except over each other. Anyone who charged into that host would be overwhelmed and devoured by sheer numbers within seconds unless they fought even more ferociously than the hungry, multi-limbed legion.
The second sight to catch the puella magi's attention was Caster himself. The Servant of the Spell wore his usual muddy black robe and stood in the single patch of concrete floor not teeming with his monstrous minions. There was a cruel, mocking, and disturbingly happy smile on his face, and he clutched Prelati's Spellbook in his left hand as if it were a sacred relic. Sayaka's stomach churned the instant she laid eyes on the arcane tome; the vile book reeked of even viler magic, and its aura was sickening.
Beside and standing slightly behind Caster was a lean, orange-haired young man with a manic gleam in his brown eyes, but Sayaka's hostile gaze only settled on him for a brief moment. Instead, her blue eyes were drawn to the large eldritch abomination laying prolongated on the floor behind the two men. The monstrosity was nearly three times the size of its smaller brethren but, unlike the others, it had a swollen, bloated appearance and quivered and trembled in unsettling paroxysms. Tiny tinctures of occult light flashed in the air around it as the monster twitched, restraining the creature, and something about the giant water demon set Sayaka's entire body on edge as she looked at it, although she was at a loss to explain why.
Caster was the first to speak and his tone was inordinately cheerful, the voice of a child eager to share a wondrous secret.
"Welcome! We've been expecting you, oh tragic, blind champions of the Holy Grail! I had hoped the lovely Jeanne would be with you tonight, but she is a beautiful angel worth waiting for and your deaths will make a wonderful present for her!"
Lancer scoffed and, raising Gae Buidhe, pointed the yellow spear at the Servant of the Spell.
"Your ideas of courtship are as deranged as your demented crimes, but in this one instance you are not entirely off the mark," the Irish knight spoke coldly, steel in his voice. "News of your death would be a fine present for Saber! Prepare yourself, for I'm here to finish what I started last night and kill you."
The insane servant smiled crookedly. "Oh? And here I thought you'd come here to die."
Lancer opened his mouth to reply, but Rider spoke first, his tone conversational but containing a hint of deep and dangerous displeasure.
"Well, it's really all a matter of perspective," the Macedonian conqueror explained slowly, his eyes scanning the chamber and taking in every detail before settling firmly on Caster and his orange-haired companion. "Attacking a Caster-class servant in his lair where he enjoys every advantage available to him could be construed as a death wish, but I can just as easily say the same about your willingness to confront three servants simultaneously. Victory will decide whose foolishness is greater...but before that, I have a question to ask. The bodies in the tunnels leading here...were they your victims, or your master's?"
The young man beside Caster all but preened as he stepped forward and nodded his head in affirmation. "Yep, those'd be mine, guilty as charged! What'd you think of them? Letting the dead know the exact time and circumstances of their death...it has an artistic dignity, wouldn't you agree? The name's Uryuu Ryuunosuke, by the way, and it's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for being my first audience tonight."
"Artistic dignity?!" Sayaka spluttered incredulously, her eyes leaving the sickly alien abomination to glare furiously at Ryuunosuke instead. "Is that your only reason for murdering women and children? Because you think it's cool?!"
Ryuunosuke looked at the blue-haired swordswoman as if she'd grown a second head. "Eh? Of course I kill people because it's cool. Why wouldn't I? If it wasn't cool, there's just no way in hell the guts of living things would be as awesome and colorful as they are. The same goes for what you do, doesn't it? Honor, courage, and hope...they're totally cool, but so are screams, blood, and total despair. These opposites and extremes make the whole world unbelievably wondrous and amazing, and if you didn't have cruel and demented villains like us to play against I bet you four would be totally bored out of your minds."
Sayaka grimaced, sickened by Ryuunosuke's twisted logic, while Lancer narrowed his eyes angrily, insulted by the insinuation that he should be glad about what the sociopathic master and servant had done. Waver boggled, the expression on his face making it clear he thought both Caster and Ryuunosuke were insane. Rider frowned but otherwise appeared unmoved. Caster, though, had turned at his master's words and now gazed at the young man with borderline religious reverence.
"Yes, that's it precisely, Ryuunosokue! Your wisdom continues to astound me! I am honored to be your servant...and speaking of screams, blood, and total despair, I think it's time we revealed our masterpiece to our guests. Or would you prefer to draw out the suspense further?"
"Nah. I've been totally waiting for this moment all night. Do your thing, Bluebeard, and I'll—"
Shiiiiing!
The sound of a cutlass cutting through the air drew everyone's attention, but the conjured weapon's flight came to a premature end when one of the many water demons leapt in front of the blade's path. Caster watched with amusement as his impaled defender collapsed in front of him, the magical weapon already being ejected from the abomination's body as it regenerated. Then, grinning in sickening delight, he looked at his attacker.
"If you wanted my attention, all you had to do was ask, Berserker. I am always willing to make time for children."
Sayaka's blue eyes twitched, reading everything Caster had intended and more into his proclamation, and a new cutlass materialized in her hands.
"Shut up! We're here to avenge the innocent lives you murdered, Caster, not chitchat, and I don't need to see another one of your disgusting crimes to want to tear your head off with my own two hands! What makes you think we'll give you the time of day to cart out your next horror?"
His grin becoming shark-like, Caster raised a hand and a host of water demons appeared out of the darkness in the entrance tunnel behind them, blocking their exit. Simultaneously, the water demons surrounding them hissed and tensed, bristling with murderous intent that was only—barely—restrained by their summoner's command. Violence would break out the instant anyone moved to attack again, but, even knowing that, Sayaka was eager to fight. She wanted to fight. Shooting her companions glances to see if they were ready, she was surprised when Rider held up a hand to her telling her to be patient.
"No. Let us see this 'masterpiece' Caster and his master have prepared. I want to take the full measure of these madmen before we battle."
Sayaka, Lancer, and Waver all shot questioning looks at Rider while Caster laughed.
"Haha! You talk as though you have a choice in the matter, you blind fools! My greatest crime is already in front of you, and you haven't even realized it yet! You think you've seen horror? You think you understand sin? You believe you know the depraved depths the human mind can sink to? You are all ignorant, but fear not for I, Gilles de Rais, shall enlighten you!"
Caster and his master both stepped to the side to make the bloated water demon behind them fully visible. Ryuunosuke was grinning like a child and appeared ready to break out into joyful dance at any moment as Caster looked down at Prelati's Spellbook and chanted a single word from the magical text. And then, the monster behind him screamed.
"Aiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
"Saaaaaaaaaave meeeeeeeeeee!"
"Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill meeeeeeee!"
"Please-gods-make-it-stop-MAKE-IT-STOP-MAKEITSTOP!"
"Mommyyyyyyyyyyy!"
"Scriiiiiiisssss!"
Dozens of voices, all mingled together into one horrifying, deafening cacophony, emerged out of an alien orifice never intended for human speech. They screamed in anguish, insanity, suffering, and despair, and screaming with them was the equally tortured shriek of the water demon itself.
Caster spoke another word, and the screeching stopped, magically muted. He then looked at his enemies, madness dancing in his bulging black eyes and his demented grin nearly splitting his face.
"Do you see now? Do you understand? I have created a monstrosity that feasts on souls, ripping them from the bodies of its victims and trapping them forever inside its own mind, where they feel the monster's hunger for flesh and blood and its pleasure as it gorges on the living and the dead! Ah, but even better, the monster too becomes a victim, forced to feel the despair and terror of those it kills but compelled by its own hunger and instincts to continue killing and stealing more souls! The humans feel what it's like to be a monster and the monster feels what it's like to be human as their shared suffering intensifies into collective insanity! It...it's truly beautiful, isn't it? Isn't it?!"
Reactions to this pronouncement varied widely. Ryuunosuke clapped enthusiastically, hanging on Caster's every word. Lancer scowled, angry and disgusted. Sayaka shook with rage, seeing red and only restrained by a horrible suspicion that terrified her. Waver turned pale and gaped, staring at Caster, Ryuunosuke, and the altered water demon in horror. Rider didn't react at all, but his usual mirth seemed to drain out of his face as something hard and unforgiving took its place.
"You monster!" Waver yelled, his voice squeaking as he pointed an alarmed, accusing finger at the Servant of the Spell. "That-that's forbidden magic of the worst kind! What could have possibly motivated you to do something so terrible?!"
Caster's eyes briefly settled on Sayaka, and dread clutched at her heart when she saw the genuine gratitude in that crazed gaze. The madman's next words simply confirmed what she had already realized.
"Let's just say...that I found a new source of inspiration, shall we?" he spoke, his tone oscillating from calm triumph to crazed exultation and back again. "Besides, I think you should be more concerned about your own glorious fate. Congratulations, boy! You and your heroic spirits are trapped in my lair with a monster that eats souls! Soon, you will become enlightened to true beauty and harmony as part of my masterpiece. You will have a front row seat as my monster devours the people of this city, and you will bear witness when Jeanne sees this present I have created for her and finally, finally, finally turns her back on God! I—"
Sayaka snapped before Caster finished his speech. Screaming in blind fury, she tensed and prepared to lunge straight at him, heedless of the alien horde she'd have to hack through to reach him. However, a large, powerful hand came down on her shoulder before she could take a single step. Glaring angrily, she looked up at Rider...and froze.
"Caster, and you, Uryuu Ryuunosuke, what you two have done is unconscionable and outrageous, and I no longer acknowledge you as fellow men," Rider proclaimed in an unsettlingly calm voice. He was clearly infuriated, but his wrath was like raging water buried beneath thick ice, powerful and lethal, presently contained but with the potential for the ice to crack and break at any moment. On the ancient conqueror's battle-hardened features, it was absolutely terrifying to see.
"You are less than beasts, and I will put you down like animals."
Caster laughed, as if Rider had said the most hilarious thing possible.
"You? Punish us? Ha! For eight years I murdered and defiled day after day, committing spectacular atrocities the likes of this earth had never imagined, but no punishment came and God completely ignored my crimes! If God himself refuses to punish me, then by what right do you?!"
Rider smiled mirthlessly and folded his arms across his chest as he looked down at Caster almost pityingly. Then, the air pressure in the chamber increased, and a strong elemental wind began to blow.
"You ask me by what right I judge you? By what right I punish you? So be it, Caster. You shall have your answer."
The gale winds intensified, howling as they buffeted everyone and everything inside Caster's lair. Filaments of white light appeared, cracks in the world, dancing in the air, and then, centered on Rider, there was an explosion of that same white radiance. The blast raced outward, encompassing all of them in an instant, and Sayaka instinctively raised an arm to shield her eyes against the blinding brilliance. When she lowered it a second later, she was somewhere else entirely and rendered speechless for the second time in nearly as many minutes.
A...a witch's barrier? But that's impossible!
Surrounded by swirling desert sands rich in magic that was distressingly familiar to her, Sayaka could barely see Lancer and Waver standing next to her in Rider's war chariot. Of Rider himself there was initially no sign, but as the wild winds raced on and the sand settled around them she saw him standing several feet ahead. Further still, Caster, Ryuunosuke, and the entire host of water demons that had been with them milled about in bewilderment. Almost a quarter of a mile separated the two parties, but that distance was a drop in the bucket compared to the full size of this world. Endless desert stretched from horizon to horizon as a bright, blazing sun shone overhead. And then, from behind them, there was the tumultuous sound of thousands upon thousands of marching feet. Sayaka, Lancer, and Waver all turned, and all three gasped at the sight awaiting them.
Soldiers. Tens of thousands of soldiers stretching almost as far back as the horizon itself, young and old, from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. They stood proudly as they marched in their many formations, clad in ancient Macedonian, Persian, Indian, and other types of body armor and carrying weapons and armaments as varied and diverse as themselves. Crimson and gold banners fluttered high above them as they advanced, stopping only when the frontmost column reached Rider's chariot. From somewhere within the vast, peerless host, a war cry erupted that was swiftly taken up by the whole multitude, filling this entire, impossible world with exultant cheers.
"Behold my endless armies!" Rider proclaimed with the utmost pride. "Their bodies have been destroyed and their souls offered to the world as heroic spirits, but they still pledge their loyalty to me and answer my call! They are my greatest treasure and my right to rule. They are proof of my kingship, and by my right as king I sentence you to death, Caster. You shall fall before the might of my ultimate noble phantasm, Ionian Hetairoi!"
A massive black warhorse with a white star on its brow emerged from the legendary army and approached the King of Conquerors. It was a giant in the same respects as its master, as tall and strong compared to others of its species as Iskandar was compared to his fellow men. Its blue eyes gleamed with incomparable loyalty and unrivaled fierceness, and Rider greeted the horse warmly, affectionately rubbings its head.
"It's been a long time, partner."
Bucephalus neighed happily as Rider expertly mounted the famous stallion. Turning slightly to the gobsmacked Sayaka and awed Lancer, he nodded his head at them.
"Berserker, Lancer, I'm going on ahead to smash apart our enemy's army with my own. The Caster class is tricky, however, and our foe may yet have more surprises for us. I entrust my master's safety to you and ask that you be on guard. Gods willing, we shall meet again soon!"
Drawing his spatha, Rider raised and lowered it in a signal to advance and yelled a battle-cry. He charged forward on his horse, and his army followed like a thundering flood washing over the desert. Sayaka could only watch breathlessly as they ran past her in their thousands, her thoughts awhirl.
H-how?! How is Rider doing this? It's a witch's barrier complete with familiars...but it's not at the same time! I-is he even sane? I thought this was only possible if one was totally bonkers...Is there another way? Gods, how am I ever supposed to defeat this?
The impossible, miraculous world around her offered no answers to her questions, and Sayaka stood still, frozen in place, as the true enormity of her task and the caliber of the opponents she faced finally sank in. It was not a pleasant realization.
Author's Note: For some reason, FNet did not change the "Update" date when I uploaded the previous batch of chapters in April. I'm hoping that error has been fixed and that these two new chapters will properly notify readers of the update.