CHAPTER 22:

EMERGENCE

Olga watched as Roman and Da Vinci pored over the printout. She'd had another nightmare, some elements different to before, but others the same. The printout was from the instruments Roman and Da Vinci had attached to her during her rest…not that she could call it that, given the lack of rest she had. "Well?" she asked impatiently.

"One cannot rush genius," Da Vinci said.

"Procrastination may have worked when painting The Last Supper Da Vinci, but when it comes to matters of life and death, it doesn't hold water," Olga snarked at the genderflipped Caster.

"And we still don't know the details, Olga," Roman said gently, his usually flippant demeanour replaced by something more solemn. It was at times like these that Olga could believe that Romani Archiman had once been Solomon. "Even with a few data points already, we don't have enough. We may never have enough. For all Holmes' caginess, one thing he was right about is that you don't hypothesise too much ahead of the facts. We do have a hypothesis, true, but it's a pretty tenuous one."

"Then tell me what you have hypothesised," Olga said, getting off the examination bed. "I need something to go on, even if it proves to be false."

"Well, the bad news is, there are certainly signs of mental influence," Da Vinci said, her usually cheerful features subdued. "It's hard to tell whether it is wholly external or internal. The only good news is that there is no sign of it being from a Demon Pillar, so Goetia, in all likelihood, is not the culprit."

"That's only somewhat reassuring," Olga said. "I'd rather die than be that monster's puppet…though if what you said is true, something else may be wanting to make me its puppet."

"It's a possibility we can't rule out," Roman said. "There's so much we don't know about the Phantasmals and other magical entities residing on Earth. But we also know, thanks to Altera and Artemis, as well as some of our Casters, that there are other potential sources of threats. Leaving aside the Aristoteles, we know the Greco-Roman deities, along with the Meso-American ones, came from beyond our solar system, as did Altera's original form as Sephyr. According to our Saber version of Gilles de Rais, his Caster version is able to summon an entity that is possibly related to Cthulhu of HP Lovecraft fame, and we know Lovecraft was partly reporting what he himself learned of the Moonlit World."

"In addition, we know that there are multiple templates for various atypical Servants. Ruler, Avenger, Shielder, we've already come across these, and thanks to the Servants with memories of the Moon Cell, we know of two others: the Moon Cancer BB, and the Alter-Egos she spawned. But I did some investigation, and there's another that concerns me," Da Vinci said.

"Which is?" Olga asked.

"Foreigner. Think of them as entities who were touched by eldritch abominations like Lovecraft wrote about, but they embraced or conquered the madness rather than being subsumed by it. Again, it's only a theoretical class, but Altera, Nero and Tamamo did mention that Archimedes dubbed Altera a Foreigner Servant in the Moon Cell, and it was that that had me investigating the possibility. We need to consider all possibilities, as some outside entity compromising you is still a real possibility."

Olga grimaced. "As if my luck wasn't bad enough already."

"Don't be like that, Olga," Roman said. "If it weren't for Hermione, well, there's a very real possibility that Lev's bomb would have killed you. It's a cliché, but while there's life, there's hope. The fact that you recognise that you're possibly being suborned means there's a chance, no matter how slender, of countering it. And because it isn't Goetia doing this, then unless Goetia has an ally we don't know about…"

"Not something I want to consider," Olga said. "I know this is probably an exercise in futility, but is there any treatment?"

"Pharmaceuticals and potions are out," Da Vinci said. "They won't work against this kind of mental influence, and may even make things worse. I'll see if I can develop a Bounded Field of some kind to put onto a necklace or bracelet. I'm curious, did you see anything different? There was a time when your brainwaves were in a state not unlike that when Masters and Servants communicate over a mental link."

Olga, after a moment, reluctantly nodded. "I…had this weird conversation with Wodime, of all people. I don't know why, but…he said he was nearly murdered by his own father, and he was saved by an ordinary homeless boy. Roman, was that true?"

"Actually, yes," Roman said, his expression surprised. "I heard your father and Wodime discussing the incident once. But you never heard of it?"

"No, not at all," Olga said. "But if that was Wodime, or something that had access to his memories, how did it happen? Ugh, we have too many questions, and not enough answers, and we don't have enough time to waste on them for now. The ground team are apparently off on a new mission today. We need to support them as best as we can for this…"

The plan was simple, relatively speaking. An expedition would be launched to Niddur, a fortress city that had held out north of the main protective wall. Niddur had recently gone ominously silent, so it was decided to investigate. Ushiwakamaru, Benkei, Hinako and Hermione, along with their respective Servants and an entourage of soldiers, would cause a diversion to draw as many monsters away from Niddur as possible, while Harry, Tiamat, Ritsuka, their respective Servants, Merlin and the younger Medusa investigated Niddur with a contingent of soldiers of their own.

Harry felt ill at ease about the whole situation. He and Hermione had provided Portkeys to as many as possible, including a few ropes for mass evacuations. The problem was, in all likelihood, the citizens were all dead. And as they approached the city, he frowned as a thought occurred to him. "…Is it just me, or does this reek of being a trap?"

Merlin nodded grimly. "Stay alert, everyone. I hope you're wrong, Harry, I really do…but given the lack of demonic beasts…Caster…can you scry what's going on from here?"

"I tried doing so earlier. Someone has erected a Bounded Field," Medea said. "I might be able to scry now that I'm closer." The Greek witch summoned up a crystal ball, and frowned. "…Merlin, have you noticed anything?"

"No, someone's countering my own scrying. It's probably because I'm already known to Kingu and his mistress."

Medea gasped, and she proffered the crystal ball to the others. Harry stared at the image of the city from above, covered in lines of blood that converged. And in the middle, on top of the hill at the centre of the city, in the middle of a circle of blood, was Kingu. He seemed to look up at the crystal ball, before giving a vicious smirk. Suddenly, something streaked out of the city, before Kingu landed in front of them. "Your scrying was clumsy, little witch," the green-haired doppelganger sneered.

"What did you do to the people here, you monster?" Ritsuka demanded.

"You gathered them together, and hauled them off elsewhere, didn't you?" Enkidu said, before his doppelganger could reply. "Even from that distance, we would have seen more signs of dismembered bodies through Caster's scrying. Why clean up body parts when you didn't clean up the blood?"

Kingu chuckled quietly. "The faulty doll actually has some brains after all. Yes, that's right. Invasion was never the point, for the time being. Any invasion needs troops. And what better troops than replacements for humanity? For that, we need raw materials, and quite a lot of them. Surely the false mother knows?"

Tiamat's eyes widened. Many on the frontlines of the fight did know of her true identity. How could they not when she fought amongst them so many times? So she wasn't worried about Kingu exposing her true nature. But what Kingu said shocked her. "…Chaos Tide…" she hissed. "You are subjecting those people to the Chaos Tide…"

"To create your true self's true progeny," Kingu said. "Surely you should be glad if you retained your true self, false mother. We are creating the new children you always desired, children that would remain loyal to you, never leave you, always love you. The next generation of humans, the Laḫmu."

"At what cost?" Harry asked too-calmly, only the trembling of his clenched fists betraying his anger. That, and his rising tone. "You're not the real Enkidu, nor are you the real Kingu. You're just a sockpuppet for the false Solomon, with a tentacle up your arse, spouting whatever bullshit he feeds you! And basically working with a false version of Tia."

"And yet, you claim to speak for her, putting your words in her mouth," Kingu sneered.

Tiamat then walked forward, moving closer and closer to the doppelganger, her pink eyes meeting his own violet ones. Despite how badly their last encounter went, Tiamat got close, close enough even Kingu seemed to briefly flinch back as if expecting her to strike. "I do not like speaking in the harsh tongues of men. That is why he speaks on my behalf, and I trust him not to introduce discord and deception into my songs. But this is my song of rebuke and rebuttal to you. I want to sing odes of love to my children, old and new. Why should I cause them to wail rondos of fear? I want their love, and you cannot force love on those you desire it from! Forcing love only causes that song to become discordant and disharmonious. I want my songs to be beautiful! Now…where is the puppet who claims to sing my song?"

"Sleeping back at base, conserving her energy for the battles to come. I have to admit, I'm curious. You seemed to figure out that Mother needs a proxy. But while she is a proxy, I've become fond of her."

"I confess myself surprised to think you have the capacity for fondness, Kingu," Jeanne said. "You seemed to lack any capacity for such sentiment."

"Lesser beings shouldn't speak as if they know their betters," Kingu said.

"Exactly, so shut up," Mordred said, pointing her sword at Kingu. "You ain't our better, just a cheap knockoff of Enkidu with a few extras, being the fake Solomon's little mouthpiece."

Enkidu gently placed a hand on Clarent, before shooting his doppelganger a look. "I can see it in your eyes, you know. The lies. The self-deception. It's easy when the face is the same one you look in the mirror."

"What would you know, you faulty weapon? Choosing to side with humanity over Mother?!"

"Exactly. I chose to be with them, despite being a weapon sent to humble Gilgamesh. I made my choices, and I regret few of them. Tell me, Kingu…how many choices have you made wholly of your own volition?" As Kingu gawped, Enkidu shook his head sadly. "You call me a faulty weapon, when in reality, you speak of your own self."

"Shut up!" Kingu snapped. "I'll ensure you all know the price for…" Suddenly, the ground trembled nearby, and parts of Nippur collapsed, raising a massive dust cloud. But Kingu seemed as surprised as they all were, though his words were suspicious. "No…what is she doing? She has no restraint, does she?"

Suddenly, the voice of Dr Roman burst through on their communicators. "Guys…you might want to consider getting the hell out of there. Whatever's coming is very big and nasty. We're sensing a Servant with a divine origin…and a class of Avenger."

Harry tensed, as did Tiamat. "Mash, get ready," Ritsuka said.

"You too, Ruler," Harry said to Jeanne. Her main Noble Phantasm, Luminosité Eternelle, could be used to protect them. The Ruler nodded, and readied her flag.

A massive shape began emerging from the dust cloud, and a terrifyingly familiar voice rang out, echoing. "Humans…so cacophonic with their fear…well then, witness my advent, and tremble, and prostrate yourself before me. I am the leader of the Three Goddess Alliance, the Mother of Monsters, Tiamat!"

But when the form of the impostor emerged from the dust cloud, it was clear that it wasn't Tiamat. What they saw, though, had a chill run down their spines. Harry took a moment to glance at two Servants in particular in their party, before he returned his gaze to the impostor. He knew similar recognition was going through the minds of almost everyone else present.

True, this Servant was massive, easily dwarfing all those present. She had massive wings that could have been those of an angel, but only served to enhance her image as a fallen goddess. Instead of legs, a massive, snake-like tail was present from the waist down. Her hair seemed to turn into snake heads, and her hands were now reptilian, and ended in wicked talons.

But Harry knew who this was. The face, though cruel, was unmistakeable, as was the shade of her purple hair. The voice was unmistakeable too, the same sultry purr as her Rider counterpart, but with none of the humanity, just cold malice.

The entity in front of them was not Tiamat by any means. Instead, she was a fallen version of one of their own. They were looking at a more monstrous version of none other than Medusa, with her apparently having embraced the nature of the Gorgon she had become…

CHAPTER 22 ANNOTATIONS:

Well, that just happened. Yeah, I know, you guys knew this was coming, but still…

Also, we've had more of Olga struggling with her…issues.

Now, I was actually sitting on this chapter and the next one for a couple of weeks due to a few reasons. Amongst other reasons, I've been working on sequels to my Potterverse/Berserk crossover Ubi Amor, Ibi Dolor and my crossover between My Hero Academia and Legacy of Kain, Soul of Defiance. Sorry about that.

Next chapter: Kaiju MILF Battle, Round One!

Review-answering time! Skull Flame: Tiamat basically said "Fuck you" to Harry playfully, or at least her equivalent.

No numbered annotations this time.