"Ow..." Oda groaned out as her eyes fluttered open to stare at the sky above her head. The last thing she was able to remember was a pair of purple eyes before she suddenly blacked out as she was hit by some kind of unseen force. From the looks of it, the attack had shattered her reality marble and left her back in the real world and her opponent had seemingly forgotten to kill her.
She sat up and shook the dizziness from her eyes. It seems she had been knocked out for a couple hours, seeing as the sun was already close to disappearing and letting the darkness of night take its place after hours.
"Guess I got too careless." Oda muttered to herself as she stood up and looked around. First things first, she had to get out of here. The Black camp must be in a panicked frenzy after everything that had happened and would no doubt be tightening their security to make sure every inch of the grounds is clear.
"Indeed. Didn't our leaders tell you not to play around with him? You're lucky that he was distracted by the cowboy and the bull, or else you would have most likely died." A robotic voice chided from above as Caster descended down towards her gently using his steam propulsion system.
Oda puffed out her cheeks. "I admit, I might have showed off a little more than I should have, but I finally got the chance to meet one of my idols! You can't blame me for getting off track when you meet someone like him in person!"
"And did he possess power described of him in the legend?" Caster asked curiously.
"Yeah, it was incredible! I don't know how he did it, but he blew apart my reality marble with a single attack! I wouldn't have expected anything less from Japan's patron hero!" Oda said with a hint of pride for her fellow Japanese, even if she had her ass handed by him. Her face suddenly turned serious. "By the way, what happened to bill and Asterios? I recall them acting as our reserves and backup."
Caster would have palmed his face if his free hand was actually able to function. "Bill and Asterios got killed by your idol the second he destroyed your reality marble. If I recall, he crushed them both with some kind of black object that completely erased them from this world. I didn't even find any leftover prana from their bodies."
The warlords face turned a little bit sad at the news. "Poor Asterios... He never got to play with the bunnies he saw at the pet shop."
It was a well known fact amongst them that Asterios was actually quite the innocent monster. He usually spent his free time in lush places like the forest or the garden, hanging out with the wildlife and enjoying the nature that was denied from him inside the Labyrinth.
Also, he had a fondness for bunnies. Why? No one knows.
"What about the cowboy?" Caster asked, noticing that she didn't seem to acknowledge him.
"Eh, he deserved it." Oda said with a shrug, causing the mech to sigh in exasperation. From the moment they were summoned, the two of them could not get along. Constant arguments over who was the better shooter or marksman was the only thing that flew out of their mouths whenever they were near each other. They didn't outright hate each other, but they never got along at all.
"Whatever, let us hurry and get out of here while the Yggdmillenia are busy. I do not wish to get into another confrontation with a Black servant right now," Caster said logically. "And considering your state, I doubt that you're in any condition either."
"Agreed, Let's head back. I need to go and make so more preparations." Oda said in agreement.
"Good. Hop on." Caster said. Oda nodded and immediately jumped up onto Caster's shoulder, which was wide enough that she could sit on top of it easily. Making herself comfortable, Caster's mech rose slowly into the air before it blasted off towards their base of operations.
The next morning, Jeanne followed Naruto with a curious expression as they trudged through the nearby woods. After breakfast, Naruto had taken her outside to meet his mysterious friend. He never gave any indication or hints as to who it was, but it certainly had her curiosity at its peak.
There was one thing she needed to question him, though.
"Why are we in the forest?" Jeanne questioned as she hopped over a tree root.
"To meet with my friend." Naruto replied as he moved a bush out of the way.
"I mean, why here?" Jeanne said with a slightly annoyed look.
"Well, it's because he likes places like this," Naruto said obliviously, not noticing her annoyance. "He's not exactly dead, but he's not alive either. He can exist at certain places on earth, but for only a short amount of time. He's kinda like a ghost."
"A ghost?"
"Kinda," Naruto said as they happened upon a clearing that had remained untouched from the battle. "This should be good. The man loves to be in secluded areas, and this fits the bill. The recent battle should also get his attention as well."
"So how do you plan to summon him? Flare your power and hope he notices?" Jeanne asked as she swatted a mosquito that flew too close to her head.
"Nah, it doesn't have to be that big," Naruto said with a wave of his hand. "He'll just come running when I say his name. Names are quite powerful, you know? Just hold on for a moment." He got down on the ground and sat in a meditative position as Jeanne gave him a questioning look as she watched him. Before she could ask him anything, he suddenly opened his eyes and yelled into the air.
"SHAKYAMUNI! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
Jeanne flinched in surprise, not expecting something like that to happen. She had expected him to flare his power or use some kind of magic thingy, but he was actually shouting out this Shakyamuni guy's name out into thin air.
"Naruto..." She sighed, earning an apologetic look from the ninja.
"Sorry, but I did tell you what I was gonna do," Naruto said as he stood up and dusted off his pants. "Anyway, just sit tight for another minute or so. He'll be here in a couple seconds."
"And how do you know that?" Jeanne asked with a frown. "I know you can sense people, but the dead? Isn't that a little bit too far?"
"Actually, young lady, I am not dead."
Jeanne screamed in surprise and jumped into the air comically in response before she landed in Naruto's arms, clinging onto him as her body acted on its own. A quick second later, the air shimmered for a moment before a form appeared like a mirage sitting in a lotus position.
Her breath hitched as she looked upon him. The man was floating in the air with a serene expression on his face, with his only piece of clothing being that of a red shroud that wrapped around his body except for his right shoulder, leaving that side to expose his thin frame. As he hovered in the air, several blades of green grass formed beneath him and turned into a platform of lush overgrowth, letting him rest his body on top.
He was a holy man, that was something she could definitely conclude. There was not a single imperfection on him, not even the familiar form of sin that has clouded mankind since the beginning of time. His being shined with holiness and grace, making it extremely hard for her to immediately get down on her knees and bow before him.
For a moment, nobody moved from their spot before the man suddenly spoke once again.
"Young maiden, it is quite rude of you to stare." The man said with a serene tone devoid of any malice or hurt, but it definitely sounded like a father scolding his son for doing something wrong.
"A-ah! S-sorry!" Jeanne apologized nervously as she dislodged herself from Naruto's arms with a slight blush on her face, much to Naruto's amusement before he turned to the unknown man.
"Hello there, Snakyamuni, it has been too long." Naruto greeted with a small bow, earning one from the man in response.
"Indeed it has, Maelstrom," The man said in agreement before he gestured to Jeanne. "If I may inquire, who is this fair maiden? A servant I may guess, but I do not know her real identity."
"Oh, she's Jeanne d'Arc." Naruto supplied with a wave of his hand, earning an incredulous look at how casually he just revealed that.
"Naruto!" She complained with a cute pout, causing Naruto to chuckle once again and the strange man to smile just a little bit.
"A fair maiden of purity who believes in God, no wonder you have this certain aura of pureness that surrounds you," The man said as he stared at her. "I must admit, the teachings of Christianity have worked well with you. Understandable, since they go hand in hand with several of my beliefs."
"Er," Jeanne gave him an uncomfortable look at the mention of her religion. "Who... exactly are you?"
At those words, the man seemed to straighten up slightly in surprise with a slight amount of embarrassment. "Ah, yes. How rude of me. It has been quite some time since I have ever interacted in social society. Please forgive this old man."
Relaxing himself, the man introduced himself. "My name is Shakyamuni, the man who would become the Buddha."
Jeanne's eyes widened in shock. "Buddha? From Buddhism?"
"Well, I believe that's what most of the world associates me with." Buddha said with an amused smile.
"Then... how do you two know each other? Weren't the two of you born in two different countries at two different times?" Jeanne asked with confusion. Hearing the title of Buddha, she had pulled information from the grail and found out that the man who would become a messiah-like figure was born somewhere in between China and India at a place that would now be called Nepal.
"We met each other purely by chance," Naruto said. "The buddha is a little bit younger than me, but he has become immortal through his practice and has been released from suffering and pain while he was alive. Due to this, he constantly traveled across the world and we just so happened to meet."
"Indeed. It has been quite some time since our last meeting," Buddha said with a nod. "Might I ask, why have you summoned me? I do not see any reason for you to."
"Well, partly because I wanted you to meet, and it's also to ask a question." Naruto said as he leaned forward with a serious look. "Tell me... what do you know of the Grail?"
Jeanne immediately perked up to listen, while the normally serene man's face turned sour. "What is there to tell? It's a horrible device, one that may spell the end of this world."
Jeanne's perkiness immediately turned to surprise. "What are you saying, sir?"
"Do not be fooled by its name, Catholic," Buddha said with a sigh. "It may have once been a holy artifact, but it no longer is. It is a horrid, putrid, despicable machine that has an evil of godly proportions slumbering deeply inside."
"So you sensed it too, huh?" Naruto muttered, causing Jeanne to turn on him with a cross look.
"Hold up! You knew about this too, and didn't even think to tell me when we got back?!" Jeanne asked with a point of her finger, causing Naruto to sweat as he felt the heat of her stare burn into his face.
"To be fair, it sort of skipped my mind while I was busy fighting a king and breaking out of a reality marble. Besides, last night wasn't the most appropriate times for us to be discussing something like that." He gestured to Buddha. "Which is why I decided to summon him here. This man has existed in many places at once and practically knows everything there is to know about this world. If someone was able to understand and explain this to us, it would be him."
"You flatter me, Naruto." Buddha said with a smile. "Yes, I do have information concerning the Grail during my time throughout the years. The amount of evil and hatred that has been centered around that particular object is quite hard to miss."
"Evil? How can something like that be evil? It may not be the true holy cup, but such a thing wouldn't call us into this world if it wasn't capable of granting wishes!" Jeanne said, obviously trying to comprehend what she had just heard.
"You naive girl, an omnipotent wish granting device is a power that should not exist in this world. Legendary gods of the past don't even have the power to do something like that, not even people like me or Naruto are able to. People are only convinced of such an artifact because of the abominable ritual." Buddha said with a displeased look on his face. "Bringing a powerful spirit back to life is a feat that can be compared to the gods. Summoning a small portion of someone, however, is much easier."
"The servant summoning ritual..." Jeanne muttered, realizing what he was talking about. All of the heroic spirits that were taking part of the war were not exactly the true heroic spirit. Using an advanced ritual by the three founders, they managed to tap into the throne of heroes, a place that held the records to every single heroic spirit in existence. However, summoning a true heroic spirit back into the real world would require prana upkeep that would run the grail DRY with seven heroic spirits. As such, they only used copies to severely lower the cost and keep the Grail from running out.
Once a heroic spirit was killed during the war, their soul would be absorbed into the grail and used as fuel to power it into a wish granting device. Once the heroic spirits had been sacrificed, the winner would be able to make a wish upon the Grail.
However, that didn't make any sense. The man had said that primordial gods like him and Naruto weren't able to grant omnipotent wishes either. Seeing as how Naruto possessed energy that was close to infinite, and the Buddha himself was said to be able to rule a galaxy, how can a cup powered by several heroic spirits even compare?
"It seems you are starting to understand..." Buddha said with a sad nod. "The Grail is not an omnipotent wish granting device. Rather, it was a device created to pierce an opening straight to the Root, the greatest amount of knowledge that all magi strive to reach." He shook his head sadly. "How foolish. Playing with lives that deserve to stay in nirvana to reach such a place is despicable. It seems that most of mankind haven't been able to reach enlightenment like I had wished for."
"I highly doubt they ever will." Naruto said with a solemn look. "Civilization has changed quite a lot since our time."
"But... what is this so-called evil that lurks within the grail?" Jeanne asked, determined to figure out the truth.
"An evil so repulsive that it represents every single sin that humanity can possibly do." Buddha said seriously. Even at his tone, plants wilted and died under the heaviness in the air. "It is Angra Maninyu, a being of evil from Persia that has names of all sins grafted onto its body. It was summoned during the third holy grail war and has since dwelled inside of the grail after it was slain, merging and corrupting the cup as it absorbed his essence."
"How do you know this?" Jeanne asked with a frown.
"I sensed the summoning of evil from my place in Nirvana, and it brought my attention down to earth." Buddha answered serenely. "I do not remember much after that, as I have forgotten most of the events after the monster had been slain, but there is one other person who you could ask."
"And who, holy Buddha, is that?" Naruto asked with respect.
"Ask the priest of the Red camp. He shall have the answers that you seek." Buddha said as an image of a young teen male with white hair and priest garbs appeared in front of him.
"The mediator?" Jeanne muttered as she stared at the teen's face. He was young, but there was something strange about him that set her on edge.
"Yes, the person who you call the mediator, will answer all of your questions." The man nodded as he waved his hand, and the image disappeared. "Is there anything else that you would like to ask of me?"
"No, that will be all. Thanks." Naruto said with a nod.
"Then I must be off. Gaia will most certainly not be happy with me exceeding my time here." The man said with a chuckle as the vines disappeared and he hovered into the hair. "And young lady..."
"Yes?" Jeanne asked, slightly flinching under the surprising attention.
"Prepare yourself for what is to come. I sense that there are unknown pieces not sent into motion yet. Be wary." Buddha warned.
"Of course, thank you, lord Buddha." Jeanne said with a bow, earning a small smile from the man.
"It seems that you found yourself a wise partner, Naruto. Truly, she is unlike any other human being that I have seen."
"I know, she is my master, after all." Naruto said with a chuckle, making her blush under the attention.
"Until the time for salvation comes... be prepared, Heroes." Buddha bid farewell as he rose up into the air, glowing with an ethereal light that radiated holiness, before disappeared into the air in a flash that made them shut their eyes in response.
"He's gone..." Jeanne muttered as she stared at the spot he had disappeared from.
"He probably went back to Nirvana." Naruto said with a shrug as he faced her. "Anyway, now that you know of this priest... what are we going to do?"
Jeanne remained quiet for a moment before she spoke once again.
"We must find him quickly."
"We have lost a valuable asset." Waver muttered as he recounted the deaths of Berserker of Red and Archer of Red. While Berserker certainly was a powerful servant, most berserkers tended to die early and were too hard to control. He was more of a deadweight instead of an asset.
Archer, however, was someone that couldn't be replaced. His sheer power and abilities were the best of the best, giving them a practical guarantee of victory with how strong his noble phantasms were. They still had Achilles, Mordred, Alexander, Assassin, and Shakespear, who was not even any use to them at all.
That left simply four of them left to oppose to black faction. Still, he remained confident that they had victory in the bag. There may be fewer of them, but these heroic spirits were the best of the best. What they lack in numbers, they will make up for in skill.
Quantity over quality, after all.
"Archer was a fool for challenging Ruler's servant." Reines muttered as she took a sip from her tea cup. Ever since Lancer came back with numerous scratches and bumps due to being sent flying through trees at the speed of a bullet, she had been in a foul mood as of late.
"Yes, of course he was." Waver muttered as he grabbed another bottle of ale. "But he was powerful. We have this war in the bag with him on our side, but it seems he has to screw everything up for us even in death."
"Well, we can only hope that goldie didn't die with regrets!" Rider said optimistically as he chugged down another bottle. "As long as he doesn't die with regrets, everything should be fine! You should cut him some slack anyway, he was obviously excited that he could get the chance to kill a god, and completely got wrecked while trying to do so! The best he could do was die without any regrets and go back to the throne a happy man!"
"I highly doubt he's happy." Reines said with a roll of her eyes.
"He's probably cursing his head off in the throne of heroes." Waver said with a chuckle while his finger twitched. God he really wanted a smoke right now, but Reines hated it when he smoked in front of her, and he made it a personal promise to not smoke in front of her face.
"Be that as it may, we have to come up with another form of strategy for the future. Damn it all... I had a plan incase a servant were to fall, but I didn't account for Archer! Now I have to change it up again..." Waver muttered in disappointment while Rider roared with laughter and smacked him on the back, nearly sending him sprawling onto the floor.
"Coming up with a backup plan is the sign of a great general! However, it seems your failure to account for the loss of Archer puts you on mediocre at best! A great general must plan for every situation!" Rider lectured with a smug grin while Waver groaned on the floor and Reines giggled in amusement. She had heard stories about Alexander from Waver, but had simply blown them off as him having simply blown them out of proportions. After all, what kind of military commander would act like that?
Apparently, he really wasn't lying.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened and Shirou kotomine strolled in, gathering everyones attention with his mere presence. Waver immediately stood up and coughed into his hand in embarrassment, but Shirou didn't seem to notice, smiling like a little kid on christmas.
"Sorry for barging in on your little session like this, but I have some good news for you!" Shirou said with a chipper tone that matched his smile, catching everyone's curiosity.
"What is it, Shirou?" Waver asked suspiciously. "It's rare to see you get so worked up."
"Assassin has just finished the construction of her noble phantasm." Shirou answered, causing their eyes to widen. "If you wish to follow me, she will show us a small demonstration of what it's capable of."
"hoh! Now you have peaked my curiosity! I wish to see what the queen has in store for us!" Rider exclaimed with a grin as he stood up and followed after Shirou with the two masters following behind with a tired sigh. They followed shirou into the basement where Assassin usually spent most of her time at in private. As far as anybody knew, nobody had actually managed to sneak down there without getting caught by the scary queen.
Assassin stood proudly in the middle of the basement where a green gem on a pedestal was resting. When she saw all of them approaching she gave each of them a pompous smile that smelled of excitement that was getting a chance to show off.
"Hello, my liege. Are you ready for me to release my noble phantasm?" Assassin asked with an endearing smile.
Shirou smirked. "Of course. It's not very often I get to see something like this."
"I'm very interested to see what Ruler of Babylon can do!" Rider exclaimed with an excited expression while Waver just grunted beside him.
"Hold up! Where are the others at? Aren't they supposed to be here?" Reines asked as she looked around and noticed that the rest of the camp wasn't present for this little meeting.
Assassin's face soured. "They didn't wish to join me. A shame, they will simply have to deal with the surprise outside the safety of the chamber." She shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well, not my problem. Now then... pay close attention as I show you the true power of queen Semiramis of Babylon!"
She touched the gem in the middle and it glowed green as a sign of activation. Seconds later, there was a sound that resembled a girlish scream come from outside of the room, grabbing everyones expression while Assassin smirked.
"Go ahead and look outside."
Rushing outside, everyone's eyes widened as they saw the city of Trifas below them as they floated high in the air on a flying machine of babylonian design that would have made Gilgamesh pause to admire such beauty.
"Do you enjoy it? It's not exactly something I made while I was alive, but it seems the people of today have gotten quite confused about it." Assassin said with a chuckle as she joined them. "This is the hanging garden of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the world. A floating fortress made with the role of offensive attack."
"Magnificent! Babylon had weapons like these! This would make a fine addition to my army!" Rider howled with laughter as he stared at the city below. Before anyone could berate him for being too loud, however, a panicked yell caught their attention.
"Saber! Pull me up!" Kairi screamed the petite woman as he dangled over the edge of the island, earning a sigh from the girl as she held onto his arm easily.
Everyone deadpanned in exasperation while Kairi continued to scream like a little girl. Instead of helping him, however, they just continued to stare in wonder at the city below.
Now their resident necromancer knew exactly what their green haired lancer felt like.