Boyzilla: Some people have the peculiarity of revealing the best in case of danger or facing Elizabeth... to get rid of her some are capable of violating the rules of physics like learning to fly, or better, projecting Elizabeth far, beyond space and time to get rid of her forever.
Thank you for your remarks.
Ubbo-Sathla
Caster joined Jeanne and just before they arrived at the base camp of the archaeologists. The three girls went together to Petrie-Smith's small prefabricated house. Tomoko Tohsaka, anxiously waiting outside, hastened to drive them to the old man's office. The latter straightened up at their entrance.
Pointing chairs at them, he listened to the report they made of the discovery of Cibola, the presence of prisoners controlled by hypnosis by the Mighty Ones, and a veritable army of monsters.
Most of the time, it was Tamamo who spoke. Jeanne d'Arc intervened several times to complete the story with relevant explanations and details that had escaped the Kitsune.
As for Hakuno... as usual, the master remained silent, content to acquiesce to what his friends said.
When the Servants finished talking, it was dark. Petrie-Smith turned on one of the hurricane lamps to provide some light to the dark room.
Lighting his pipe with a flame, the professor resumed the conversation:
"I took advantage of your absence to tour the communities isolated by the Mighty Ones' Bounded Field. At least twenty more people were abducted during the last night. Our enemies need more and more personnel to search the ruins of Cibola. These are very extensive; after all, the legend does not call it "the seven Cities of Gold"? And that's our opportunity. Whatever these creatures from another world are looking for, it's going to take them a long time to find it.
Jeanne became pensive, putting her chin on her fist:
"What are these creatures looking for?"
The answer came not from Llewelyn Petrie-Smith but from Hakuno Kishinami:
"The tablets extracted from the stars on which the gods before the creation of the world engraved their wisdom and which the Ancient One Ubbo-Sathla keeps."
It was a long sentence for the Master not used to making speeches. As Professor Petrie-Smith, Tomoko, Jeanne and Tamamo stared at her, surprised that she seemed so sure of herself, Kishinami blushed and looked away:
"Caster, Ruler, have you forgotten? I saw it when I was under the kind of helmet we found while exploring the Lost Dutchman's Mines."
Caster nodded thoughtfully:
"It's true; it was totally slipped my mind... So much has happened in the last three days!"
The kitsune's gaze betrayed a mixture of discomfort and worry:
"I should have examined you immediately afterward... instead, I ended up in the infirmary." She had a little embarrassed laugh." Mikon, I don't intend to wait any longer. Goshujin-sama, your devoted wife is not reassured that intelligence from another world has filled your adorable little head with knowledge without her consent. This can only be a trick to take you away from me! No one can resist my lovely husband and even the creatures from outer space are jealous of my chance to catch you."
Grabbing the arm of her "husband" Tamamo no Mae, undertook to pull her out of the room without worrying about her weak protests. Caster was determined to examine Hakuno without further delay.
Accustomed to the strange behavior of this strange couple... after all, humans get used to everything... neither Tomoko nor Professor Petrie-Smith reacted. As for Ruler, she forgot to be outraged... "The tablets of the gods before the creation of the world," she murmured. For an illiterate peasant, Jeanne d'Arc had an amazing knowledge of the Bible. She remembered in particular that Genesis described the creation of the world with God floating on the primordial waters. Implicitly, the Bible indicated that these "primordial waters" had existed before God's intervention.
She looked at the door through which Hakuno had gone with Caster. She would have to talk to them about these tablets. Only her instincts told her that if these tablets came into the hands... or rather into the tentacles of the Mighty Ones, it would be the end of the world.
The discussion could resume with the return of Tamamo and Hakuno. While the Kitsune looked very satisfied, wearing a nurse outfit... miniskirt version with pink hearts marking... her Master had red cheeks and clasped her arms around her badly dressed clothes. The (very) thorough examination of Casko revealed nothing dangerous. It seemed that the strange organic helmet found in the mines had done nothing but fill her Master's brain with knowledge.
As Tomoko shook the head of consternation while massaging her forehead and Ruler frowned, Llewelyn Petrie-Smith decided to change the topic:
"While you were away, we began to think about a plan of action to neutralize the Mighty Ones before they liberated Ubbo-Sathla."
Until a late hour of the night, they debated. Finally, the plan adopted made the best use of each person's skills. Hakuno disguised to look like a Body Snatcher should wait with Caster and Ruler near Cibola. Simultaneously, at the head of the survivors of the Superstition Mountains, Petrie-Smith and Tomoko would attack the mines. Thanks to explosives from construction sites, they would collapse the Lost Dutchman's Mines, as Gideon Spilett had done in the past. The main purpose of this attack would be to serve as a diversion.
Attracted by the explosion, the Mighty Ones would leave the ruins of the Seven Cities of Gold, opening the Bounded Field protecting them. Hakuno should take the opportunity to enter with the astralized Servants. This part of the plan had been difficult to get Tamamo to admit. The Servant simply refused to put her "husband" in danger. It was Hakuno who convinced her by showing her the Apache fetish she had received from Geronimo. It was their best weapon and it would only be used once. Most importantly, she was the only person who could use it. However, Hakuno had to threaten the kitsune to use one of her Command Seals to stop her protest.
Once inside Cibola, the Servants should eliminate the monsters remaining in the ruins and release the prisoners. The train would allow everyone to drive safely.
Once this is done, Petrie-Smith and Tomoko would detonate the cliff to collapse and swallow up the exhumed ruins.
This battle plan was nothing extraordinary and implied that the Mighty Ones reacted as humans imagined. However, all their other ideas were like frontal attacks or really stupid plans. They adopted it by default.
They had done their best, so they went to bed to rest before tomorrow's day... and the decisive battle.
Disguising Hakuno as a monster had amused Tomoko and Jeanne... much less Caster who pestered that one "made her so adorable husband look bad". The result was not up to the costumers of the Hollywood films, but like the rest of their plan, it was a somewhat absurd measure. For starters, we didn't know how the Mighty Ones perceived humans! At least, Tamamo assured that the Tibetan mask that her Master wore as a pendant protected her from detection by magic. But, the kitsune was uncertain as to the abilities of the aliens to detect an Astralized Servant...
Hakuno had reduced equipment: Geronimo's fetish, a stick of dynamite, and a long knife that she could hide in her sleeve. That should be enough to protect her. Finally, this and the two Servants... after having so difficult accepted her presence at the height of the battle, Tamamo declared she was ready to chain herself to her "husband" so that Hakuno would not leave her protection!
While she was getting ready, the small "army" of Petrie-Smith had listened to the last instructions of the old archaeologist.
Apart from a few guards from the mine or the camp of archaeologists who had pistols, shotguns, and a few assault rifles, the others were not combatants and could only count on makeshift weapons.
Other survivors pushed a wagon full of dynamite...
As they walked away, Hakuno shuddered. It was her turn to leave.
The two Servants were invisible, but Tamamo did not cease to intervene through their mental bond, probably to reassure Hakuno and make her presence felt. The Victor of the Moon was pleased with this attention. In fact, she was terrorized by the mission she had been given and almost blamed herself for insisting on being a part of it.
Having followed the same path, the day before, Hakuno reached the ruins well before noon.
Hidden by a pile of rubble emptied by the mining train, the young Japanese girl had the first glimpse of Cibola. The activity is much lower than during her previous stay. She discovered only two Body Snatchers striking a pickaxe in front of the still closed entrance of a building emerging from a vast crater.
Various noises testified to intense activity, but from her observation post, Hakuno saw nothing of it. As she pondered how to cross the mist curtain still surrounding the site, Tamamo drew her attention to the train.
Advancing at a slow pace, the locomotive pulling wagons of scraps returned to empty the rubble extracted from the excavation site. Stopping near the pile that was used as a shelter for Hakuno, the driver began to unload. It was quick as each wagon had a tipping device on its side.
As the train resumed its course, Hakuno understood that she had to take advantage of this opportunity. Getting up, the teen girl began to run. Quickly climbing the slope, she reached the last mine wagon and climbed on board... just before the convoy left the curve of the railway! Luckily, the Body Snatchers on duty hadn't seen the brown-haired girl. Pressed to the bottom of the metal wagon, Kishinami was barely conscious of crossing an opening in the Bounded Field.
Without the need for distraction and ahead of schedule, Hakuno found herself in the ruined city... with her two still immaterial friends.
The locomotive maneuvered until it reached the siding where Hakuno had seen it the previous day. Without waiting for the arrival of the first slaves who came to load the wagons with debris extracted from the ruins, she jumped to the ground.
Between the wheels of the wagons, the Victor of the Moon saw the crowd of controlled humans digging the ground. They stopped searching the ruins and gathered around a huge hole.
She startled when a vibration shook the ruins of the ancient city of Cibola. Stones rolled into the open funnel in the ground and... a mass of something similar to mud rose up, emerging partly to the surface.
Tamamo's spiritual "voice" resonated in Hakuno's mind:
[They found Ubbo-Sathla, it's waking up! ]
The Old One shook itself even more violently, sending slaves rolling to the ground. The disgusting shape of the huge amoeba suddenly became luminous. Then orange lightnings were born of its disgusting shape to hit the rocks or run towards the sky...
The formless and foolish god had not yet regained consciousness that its destructive nature was already manifesting itself.
The rock that imprisoned the Old One began to darken and melt!
Hakuno's heart was racing!
Everything was going too fast. Even though she had infiltrated the ruins ahead of schedule, there was no time. She had to free the slaves and evacuate them before the Ancient One woke up. Because even two Servants as powerful as Caster and Ruler had no chance against such a monster!
Hakuno Kishinami looked around her. The Mighty Ones assembled around the hole. Without instructions, the slaves had gathered apart and waited like toys abandoned by a careless child.
It was a good thing they were all together, but going to see them would probably only serve to signal her presence to their masters.
Hakuno rose from the shadow of the train. Imitating the clumsy approach of the Body Snatchers, the Victor of the Moon crossed the empty space separating her from the slaves. Her throat was tied and a cold sweat ran down her neck. " I hope no one pays attention to me." The teenage girl mentally repeated this leitmotiv while moving forward. There were more than fifty meters... thirty... twenty...
Suddenly, a Mighty One left the band surrounding Ubbo-Sathla, the teen girl stopped...
[Keep moving! He's heading for the slaves, not you. If you stop, you'll get attention. Walk!]
The mental appeal of Caster calmed Hakuno a little, who resumed her march... but a little too fast.
This prompted Casko to intervene once again:
[You're going too fast. Don't run, the Body Snatchers are slow and clumsy. ]
She swallowed and nodded mentally, forcing herself to calm down.
Fortunately, the Mighty One was not interested in Hakuno. Stopping near the forced workers he strangely waved its tentacles. In response to an inaudible order, the prisoners advanced as one man. Obviously, the monster was giving them orders and that did not help the teen girl:
[Caster, skill!]
The kitsune materialized in a twitching of blue particles and seized an ofuda:
"Curse: Frigid Heaven!"
An iceberg seemed to come out of the ground, imprisoning the monster. The human slaves were instantly freed from the grip of the monster from deep space. Surprised, shocked, they looked around with a confused look. Some carried the hand to their head.
Hakuno began to run and took a man by the arm to force him to walk:
"Hurry, we have to go!"
Still stunned, men reacted slowly. However, a cataclysmic explosion suddenly occurred! Petrie-Smith's diversion had just begun! The first reaction of the prisoners was to run in a panic movement... But they all stopped at the same moment. Sensing the man she held by the arm had stopped running, Kishinami turned around.
A Mighty One approached and had just taken the slaves under its terrible psychic grip. Already two of his tentacles were tending towards each other and a flash of lightning brought them together... But the monster convulsed, pierced from side to side by a sword. Standing behind it, Jeanne d'Arc had just materialized!
"Run for the train! I'm holding our pursuers back!"
Sheathed her sword, Jeanne raised her standard, which surrounded itself with white light. Having no time to worry about what the French saint was preparing, Hakuno resumed her course. The prisoners were still stunned but they followed her to the train.
As they climbed into the wagons, an intense light was born in the sky... the instant after bright strokes fell like so many arrows, striking the ground and ravaging the cursed city. Ruler once again demonstrated her power.
Unfortunately, the Maid of Orleans alone could not stop all the enemies. A Body Snatcher seized Hakuno and struck her. The teenager rolled to the ground, but before the monster could attack her again a gracious gesture from Tamamo's hand directed her mirror towards the body thief and beat it violently, throwing the monster back.
"Goshujin-sama, use the fetish"
Hakuno pulled the wand out of her clothes. She clearly remembered Geronimo's instructions. "Spread the fetish over your enemies."
Many monsters came out of the ruins, a menagerie that seemed to emerge from the delusions of a hallucinate. The rain of arrows of light had thinned their rows, but they remained too numerous for two Servants. Standing up, Caster's Master threw the wand which flew away. A normal object would have fallen back. This one turned into a wheel of fire!
Suddenly, they were there, appearing out of nowhere.
Men wore war paintings on their faces. Some were shirtless, others had armor-plates formed of flint-blades. All had loincloths, some had leggings. Their weapons were knives, spears, and stone tomahawks.
These Apache warriors were translucent and slightly luminous!
On a loud cry, they rushed forward, full of hatred for the monsters who had forced them to wander between the world of the dead and that of the living without ever knowing rest.
The battle was immediately violent... but the Apaches were just able to contain the horde of monsters. The ghosts were not powerful enough to hope to defeat the gathering of horrors from another world.
However, Hakuno was panting. A formidable pressure pressed her chest...she fell to her knees. Her Magic Circuits seemed to howl with pain as the prana was torn from her body.
Her magic energy was used to feed this army, but the Master was too weak. She would never be able to provide enough prana!
Tamamo no Mae saw and understood instantly. Like any familiars, ghosts Apaches were fed magical energy by their summoner... and this swarm of vampires was killing her lovely husband!
Her mirror suddenly rose above the ground, rising ever higher before turning into a small sun. An incantation came out of the kitsune lips:
God who resides in Izumo.
Aesthetically certain,
Breath of the soul.
Residing in the mountains and watery heavens, Amaterasu.
Let this freely become the proof of purification.
Thy name is Weighted Stone of Tamamo.
Become the sacred treasure, Mirror of Uka!
Just kidding ~
Dozens of toriis of pink light suddenly emerged from the ground around Tamamo no Mae. It was a demonstration of her Noble Phantasm: Suiten NikkÅ Amaterasu Yano Shizu-Ishi or Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu on the Weight Stone under the Sunlit Watery Heavens. Considered an anti-army Noble Phantasm, it allowed Caster to use her Magecraft for a limited amount of time without spending any Prana.
But this power was not restricted to attack or even applied only to Caster...
Tamamo directed all this energy to Hakuno.
Her "husband" stopped panting and straightened her eyes surprised to feel suddenly relieved. The light from Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu and the presence of luminous torris made her understand what had happened.
As for the ghost Apaches, suddenly fed by inexhaustible energy, they rushed forward, slaughtering all the monsters who opposed them. The battle had changed in appearance. One after the other, the monstrous creatures of the Mighty Ones' army fell under ghostly weapons!
Tamamo took her Master under her arms and behind her knees:
"Let's get out!"
Caster summed up the situation. We had to leave as soon as possible!
The Bounded Field surrounding Cibola had collapsed after the massacre of its creators and the freed prisoners had left the ruins. Jeanne and Tamamo carrying her "husband" hastened to join them,
Seeing that his allies were safe, Petrie-Smith triggered the last stage of the plan. A succession of explosions undermined the base of the cliff. An entire section of the mountain seemed to leap forward, descending on the ruins of Cibola to bury it again.
Ubbo-Sathla was briefly visible before the avalanche closed the hole dug by the slaves. It probably took a lot more to kill him, but he was a prisoner again. Let us hope that the quest for gold never again threatens to unleash this threat and that the Old Ones remains forever a prisoner of the Superstition Mountains.
The survivors were there watching the heap of red rocks and the rusty-colored swirls of sand slowly falling back.
Except for a few stones that were still bouncing, the silence had returned...
Wherever you looked, things had returned to normality. The barriers of mist, the monsters from outer space had disappeared.
Guards, mercenaries, archaeologists, miners, and vagrants looked at each other. These men who didn't mingle had been briefly reunited by the events, but already they were beginning to separate.
Hakuno rose up on her shaky legs, supported by a very doting kitsune. Emptied of her Od, exhausted, the Victor of the Moon still had trouble believing that everything was over.
She looked at the landslide and folded her eyes, discerning an object that reflected the light.
"Caster, what is this?"
Tamamo no Mae looked at what her Master told her without distinguishing the object.
"I'll check it out. Miss Tohsaka, would you mind taking care of my Master?"
Tomoko nodded and let the teenager put an arm around her neck. As for Caster, fast and agile as she was, it only took her two jumps to arrive in front of the object that reflected the sun's rays.
Surprisingly, the kitsune discovered a blue triangle emerging from the ground. Its surface was so polished that it reflected the light. Grabbing the piece of stone, she lifted it up...
Tamamo no Mae's heart missed a beat when she understood what she was holding in her hand.
A stone tablet covered with vaguely familiar writing that also appeared - paradoxically - totally foreign...
One of the tablets containing the wisdom of the gods before the birth of the world!
It was one of those big snugs that fate sometimes offers us.
The French miners of the CFRT, the Mighty Ones sought the forgotten knowledge of Cibola. Even Llewelyn Petrie-Smith had no other goal in coming to the Superstition Mountains.
Only Hakuno Kishinami's group had come to protect humanity from the atrocity that could be found beneath the surface of this desert.
And it was they who discovered one of those tablets that had caused so many deaths over the centuries!
Although diminished by the loss of eight of his tails and his invocation as a Servant, Caster felt his divine part react with the contents of the tablet... She felt the irrepressible tension of hunger to understand what was written.
Deep down the Kitsune knew that the Elders Gods had shown wisdom in refusing to keep the tablets. These writings contained knowledge too vast, too foreign for a deity of this universe to understand without being changed. In the diminished state that was her, Tamamo would inevitably be consumed.
It was not for nothing that the tablets of the gods before the birth of the world had been entrusted to Ubbo-Sathla. It was a creature powerful enough to defend them against all lust... and too stupid to understand them!
Tamamo no Mae was the opposite of the Old One. All she has to do is thinking of her cute Master to repel the temptation to seize the knowledge that has been dormant for billions of years in the tablet. This attitude made her honor... Unfortunately, when I said it was "the opposite of the Old One", I also meant that Caster was not powerful enough to defend the tablet against those who coveted it.
An arrow pierced the shoulder of the Kitsune!
Even Heroic Spirit could be taken by surprise and take a few fractions of a second to react... only in these current circumstances, it was too much!
Two more arrows hit her belly and hip.
Her mirror appeared in front of her hand. Handling her Noble Phantasm with extraordinary dexterity, Casko blocked about twenty different projectiles.
Her opponent moved very fast, constantly changing position. He wouldn't come near her and shoot her at a very long distance... from so far away that Caster didn't even see him, so to retaliate...
She had only seen such talents with the bow in the Seraph...
As she repelled another shower of arrows, Tamamo looked at one of the projectiles that had just fallen to the ground. After a few moments, it disappeared into blue prana particles...
This last hint finally convinced her:
"A Servant of the Archer Class" murmured the kitsune.
She coughed then, spitting blood...
Only then did Caster feel the pain of the three arrows piercing her flesh. She was seriously wounded.
Her eyes drifted towards Hakuno.
Her Master had her eyes widened by horror and impotence...
In the real world, her adorable Master could not resort to Code Cast to protect her or an Ether shard to heal her. And the Archer was too far away for Hakuno to predict his attacks and besides she was completely exhausted...
Shocked, Hakuno Kishinami turned to Jeanne in hurry:
"Please, help Caster!"
But Ruler stood still and slowly shook her head, fleeing Hakuno gaze:
"I cannot... I am the arbiter of this Grail War. I have no right to take sides in a conflict between two Servants unless one of them violates the rules of that conflict."
Coughing again, Tamamo fell to her knees. Unable to get up, she struggled to remain conscious. One of her hands twitched on her belly, feeling a hot liquid running through her fingers. The bottom of her blood-soaked kimono had turned red.
In this state, a single arrow would have been enough to eliminate Caster. Yet death did not seem to be in a hurry.
The snoring of dozens of engines was heard.
Jeeps and Dune Buggies quickly appeared, encircling the survivors. On the doors and the hoods, there were... swastikas.
In a panic, Hakuno remembered the neo-Nazis who had attacked them. She had not seen them since the day of their arrival (1). Professor Petrie-Smith called them "Werewolves".
Jumping out of the vehicles, about thirty men, dirty and hirsute, dressed in filthy clothes, pointed at them assault rifles.
The scene froze because the neo-Nazis were content to remain there, without speaking and that no one dared to move. Ruler had made her standard appear but seemed uncertain.
This lasted until the arrival of a cloud of dust signaling a new vehicle...
Despite the situation, Hakuno goes wide-eyed.
A war-chariot like those she had seen in photos on ancient Egyptian monuments had just emerged. The vehicle, drawn by two white horses with an ornate blanket and a colored feather crest, was a Bronze Age's light chariot with several quivers on its sides.
The antic vehicle stopped and two men came down.
The first wore a white loincloth, sandals, light bronze chainmail, and a gold multi-row necklace adorned with lapis-lazuli.
His face was matte with an aquiline nose and thin lips over a false beard. He wore a blue helmet as high as a tiara and adorned on the forehead with a cobra head.
The bow, adorned with colored bands, left no doubt. Indeed, he was the Servant Archer of this Grail War.
The second man was less impressive... but much more terrifying.
He was dressed in worn-out clothes that had probably been splendid... a long time ago. Now they were nothing but the undone remnants of a garment that had been fashionable in the nineteenth century. The man... probably Archer's Master... had his face covered with gauze strips that showed only a little skin around his eyes... Or rather what remained of his skin. The man seemed to be no more than a sort of dried-up mummy.
He bowed to Ruler with antiquated politeness. When he spoke, his voice betrayed a slight German accent:
"Mademoiselle, it is a joy for me to meet the famous Jeanne d'Arc. Truly, the Grail War offers a unique opportunity to speak to individuals whose history has praised and whom people have revered as their protectors and greatest heroes."
The French saint bowed in return. After all, she had lived at the court of a king and knew how to be polite:
"I thank you for your kind words, may I ask who you are?"
"Oh, excuse me, where are my manners? I am the Freiherr (2) von Ausblach."
The German lord turned to the Victor of the Moon:
"I am also pleased to meet the first Master I have just defeated... Hakuno Kishinami. The youngest of the participants in the Grail War." He laughs a squeaky and humorless sound. " An easy victory, by the way. Even if her Servant is... Tamamo no Mae!"
Hakuno bit her lips in anger. She felt completely beaten and disarmed. She had never been in such a critical situation.
Her enemy seemed to know everything about her and Caster. His arrival just at the moment of their victory over the Mighty Ones could not be a coincidence. He must have been watching them, learning their weaknesses, waiting for the right time to strike.
Clenched fists, Hakuno was thinking fast. But the teen girl was unable to find anything that could save her. Baron Ausblach had all the advantages and she had no way of retaliating.
Endgame?
(1) I am sure you had forgotten them too. Let this be a lesson to you, I always have a reason to write something.
(2) German for "baron".
Author's note: Don't forget that "Hakuno and co" had come to the Superstition Mountains because the CFRT consortium was one of the creators of the Grail War and it had received on of the Servants of the War. So there was a chance that the CFRT Servant would be there...
Except it's not Archer.
By the way, do you have any idea who this Servant is? No, it is not Ozymandias... There is more than one pharaoh of Egypt who was a great warrior.