Chapter 30: Test of Faith
"For the fifth time, she's not dead."
It was the next day after the long night spent fighting for their lives in the streets of Gangnam-gu, and they were both still exhausted. The night had drained them of all strength and spirit, both physically and mentally. Mina still possessed the captured bian, professing her eventual desire to investigate it in the hopes of determining the origins of its insidious curse. But such an undertaking would be arduous and time-consuming, which she could not begin to attempt at the moment.
Alex was equally unwilling to do any sort of strenuous activity, despite his wounds healing overnight thanks to the latent power of the khopesh. His mind could not shake the scathing words uttered by their enemy in the heat of battle,
"You are not worth saving."
It was obvious that she only said those words to throw him off balance, to make him doubt and question his place. He wasn't sure which part he hated more: the fact that she was smart enough to utter the words, or the fact that her ploy had worked. He had chewed on those words all night, debating their authenticity long past sunrise. Clearly, an answer would need to be taken straight from the Pharaoh's mouth. But that was a confrontation he both anticipated and dreaded in equal measure, for it seemed that Ozymandias was only growing more and more reclusive as time passed.
There was another thing he could not get out of his head, that being the heartbroken expression that was on Mina's face when Saber gave herself up in order to protect them. It was the first and only time he had ever seen her in despair. He told himself that he would give anything to never see that face of hers again, he couldn't bear to see it again. Out of everything that had happened the night before, that image had stuck deeper than all the rest.
They were sitting opposite one another at the large dining room table that had seen so many of their conversations up to now. Yet despite the shining sun, their moods were dark enough to chill the very air. With so much to process, it was only natural that they might be more reticent to speak than normal. Because of that, Alex had been trying to understand the most pertinent moment of the night, Saber's survival.
"So, she isn't dead then? Because it seemed like she disappeared after blowing Assassin and Lancer away."
Mina answered without looking at him, "Of course she's still alive, my Command Seals are still here, which means my role as a Master is still active. Besides, I can feel the bond we share. She's here right now, even if we can't see her."
"The thought of being watched by an invisible Roman emperor is more than a little concerning, but I suppose there's not much to be done about it. But I still don't get how she survived all of that. Carmilla's Noble Phantasm aside, the fact that we're facing off against the Scáthach…that's horrific on so many levels I don't know where to begin."
"You seem to know more about this figure than I do. Maybe you start where you can, and then I'll explain why Saber lived through all of it."
"That's odd. She's rarely so conditional. Well, I guess I can't blame her too much. A lot has happened, after all."
Alex took a moment to collect his thoughts, "I won't say that I'm an expert on Celtic mythology, it can get pretty complex from what I've heard. Only reason I know of Scáthach is because I ran across her name when I was studying runecraft back home. According to myth, Scáthach was one of the great teachers of heroes for the Celts, kind of like Chiron was for the ancient Greeks. Only difference is, Scáthach wasn't exactly the kind of person to welcome potentials with open arms. She was a warrior queen, ruling the island of Skye, the gateway to the underworld. Scáthach was also a deft user of runic magic, which explains the encounter on Ozymandias' sphinx."
"How so?"
"Think about it. Lancer was able to not only fend off Saber with ease, but she also destroyed Ozymandias' hieroglyphs without issue. Only an insanely powerful rune user could possibly undo his glyphs, and seeing as Scáthach received her runic techniques directly from the Celtic gods, it makes perfect sense."
"So she's a figure from the Age of the Gods?"
He shrugged, "Honestly, no idea. The myths aren't clear about her origin, or perhaps I just didn't read much into that part. Either way, she's no joke, as I'm sure you're well aware after last night. She wields the Gáe Bolg, probably the most famous weapon to emerge from Celtic myth. Scáthach was the one to create it, and the one who taught Cu Chulainn how to use it. It's also incredibly cursed, and legend has it that the only way to remove it from a body is to cut it out. The Gáe Bolg is brutal, no way around it, and since she's the original user of the weapon, I have a bad feeling that we only witnessed a fraction of its power last night."
Mina sighed heavily, rubbing her face as she absorbed his words, "I was hoping to hear some positives. I don't suppose you know of any weaknesses from her myth? Like Achilles' heel or something?"
Alex wracked his brain for something akin to that, but came up empty, "No clue. To be honest, I can't remember reading anything about how she died. All that's mentioned is that she takes up the mantle of the Queen of Dún Scáith, the Celtic underworld, at some point. then she just kind of…vanishes."
She appeared mollified by the response, though it was equally obvious that she would have preferred a more constructive answer. He wished that he could provide more, but that was all he had to give. Perhaps if they could make some time for research, they could find something more tangible that could help them. Knowing a Servant's True Name was akin to knowing everything about them, meaning that all cards were now on the table for both sides. As far as he was concerned, Alex had few, if any, cards left to play at all.
They lapsed into silence for some time, the air growing stale in the wake of the burst of conversation. Alex waited for Mina to uphold her end of the agreement, for he was growing curious to hear how Saber apparently managed to survive two Noble Phantasms.
"And this Carmilla figure, what do you know about her? I think I heard you call her by another name?"
A twinge of irritation flickered through him, now she was just being pushy. But once again he pushed those feelings to the side. It was only natural that she wanted to know more about the Servants that nearly destroyed Saber and caused her so much grief. Taking a calming breath, he pulled on what knowledge he had on the subject,
"Yeah, I did. Her historical name is Elisabeth Báthory, I have absolutely no idea why she chose the name Carmilla to represent herself. Have you never heard of her? She's infamous in the West."
"Say I haven't. Who is, or should I say, was she?"
"A Hungarian noble woman from the 16th century, her claim to fame is the systematic torture and murder of over a hundred young women, all virgins if that means anything to you. According to legend, she lured the young girls to their deaths and bathed in their blood, hoping to keep herself young. She was eventually caught, but never actually paid for her crimes. Many believe that she was one of the inspirations for the figure of Dracula, well, her and Vlad the Impaler. To say that she's bad news is putting it lightly."
Mina went very quiet, then asked, "And that thing she summoned as her Noble Phantasm? Was that what she used?"
"Well, yes and no? See, that thing is called an iron maiden, but it never really existed in reality. People just associated the design with Elisabeth because its design matched her cruelty. But the reality of it is that some movie or book writer probably invented it and people just accepted the correlation as fact. The only historical fact about it was that Elisabeth never used one."
"So, the myth influenced her manifestation…curious. Does that mean all exaggerations that humankind has attributed to historical figures alter how a Servant manifests?"
The question felt a bit out of place to him, "I mean…maybe? I have no idea how close or far Servants stray from fact. Maybe a lot of it depends on how well their lives or myths were recorded, or how much they got changed as time went on."
He had hoped that the answer was satisfactory, it was the best he could come up with in the moment and it sounded like it made sense, or at least it did in his head. It didn't appear that Mina was about to reject it outright, as the only indication that she offered that she had heard him was a slight bob of her head.
"There's no two ways about it, she's obviously distracted by something. Should I ask her about what? Probably shouldn't, I feel like she'd just bite my head off if I did."
Another bout of one-sided silence settled over the bright interior. Alex simply had no idea how to move the conversation forward without dropping his original question, which he very much wanted to know. He knew that Ozymandias was basically immortal while inside his temple, which made at least some sense when one thought about it for a bit. But Saber was completely exposed for the duration, only activating her Noble Phantasm after the damage had already been done. There was something else to Saber, something that allowed her to survive where others would have been obliterated. He even harbored doubts that the fusillade would have killed Ozymandias, if he had been caught outside his temple.
"Exaggeration of myth…"
Mina's hazy remark once more drew his attention, and this time she raised her head to look him in the eye. He was taken aback by the look in her eyes, both far away and yet fixated on something he could not see. They were determined, that much he could see, but there was no telling what fueled such desire.
"Do you know much about Nero?"
"Finally, we're getting somewhere." Alex shook his head, "Not as much as I probably should, to be honest. I know the basic facts; that Nero was the fifth Roman Emperor, had the textbook definition of a tumultuous reign, may or may not have burned down a good section of Rome to further his building projects, martyred lots of Christians…yeah, that's about all I got off the top of my head."
She gave him a sharp look, "While it's true that Nero presided over an exceptionally difficult time for the Roman Empire, not everything about her reign was negative. But I won't debate the authenticity of ancient sources, especially seeing as we could just speak to her whenever we desire. What's important here is how Nero died, do you know that much?"
"I don't. Wasn't she removed from power during a coup?"
"Something like that. When Nero faced insurrection, she was slowly abandoned by any and all allies, until only a handful remained. Forced to flee Rome itself, Nero had no avenues to return to power. Abandoned and alone, the only option left was to commit suicide, as was the Roman way. Except that she failed to die, even after performing the act. It is said that Nero lingered on the brink of death for two whole days, without the strength to finish herself or a friend to aid her. At sunrise on the third day, a soldier that was part of a mission to locate the Emperor stumbled across her remains. Taking pity on her, the soldier covered her body in his cloak. Nero then opened her eyes to thank the soldier for this last act of kindness, passing away immediately afterwards."
Alex listened to her story carefully, wondering where she was getting at with postulating this version of the infamous Emperor Nero. Until now, he had paid the identity of Mina's Servant little heed, it had seemed rather irrelevant for the longest time. This discussion had begun to remind him of the terrors that Nero had imposed upon the people of the Roman Empire and the selfishness that drove the civilization to the brink of destruction. The thought began to occur to him, just how stable was this incarnation of Nero?
Mina continued after a brief pause, speaking slowly and clearly as if explaining a subject that she herself was not entirely familiar with,
"That legend is the reason she still exists. Her survival even after invoking death has allowed her to remain alive as a Servant even after suffering a deathblow."
It was a stunning revelation to Alex. It was one thing to be impervious to attacks or utilize a weapon that is guaranteed to bring death, but to completely ignore death itself was a tremendous ability. In terms of cards to play, it felt like a trump card that one could always fall back on when things went bad. A guaranteed ace in the hole.
As he was thinking on the absurd strength of this trait of Saber's, a thought occurred to him,
"Wait, if what you're saying is true and Saber can survive death, then does that mean –?"
"Yeah, she died last night. Twice, to be specific."
A bitter edge had crept into her voice as she confirmed what Alex had been thinking. The thought of dying not once, but twice in rapid and brutal succession, only to then turn the tables on the ones that killed you was the stuff of pure power fantasy. In a way, Alex had to respect the sheer disdain towards dying when there were enemies to get even with. The concept was very berserker-like; through sheer willpower alone, Saber was able to shrug off the mightiest attacks that their enemies could throw at them. But it all seemed too good to be true,
"Don't tell me she can do this indefinitely?"
Mina rolled her eyes, "Of course not, idiot. Weren't you listening at all? In life, Nero died on the third day. Since she died twice and then came back, the next time she faces death, she won't be able to resist it. In more poetic terms, the third day has already dawned for her. The next time she dies, she's gone for good."
It was a sobering statement, even though it made perfect sense. Nothing escaped death forever, no matter how obstinate one might be. Eventually, death comes for everyone, and Saber was apparently staring death in the face as they spoke. Alex began to comprehend just why Mina was acting so strangely, now that he knew of Saber's full condition. The loss of such a powerful trait would certainly ruin any kind of surprise strategy that she might have had. That, and the fact that Saber suffered tremendously in their defense, must weigh heavily on her shoulders.
Reaching this conclusion, Alex tried to assuage her worries, "Try not to worry too much, Mina. We'll just need to be mindful of these things in the future, that's all."
Her eyes sparked dangerously, "We? And just what do you mean by that? Far as I can tell, it was Saber that did most of the work last night, not your pharaoh. It was my Saber that fought all night, my Saber that held off the enemy to keep us alive, my Saber that died to save us!"
Mina's voice rose considerably, mirroring her inner frustrations that now manifested in a torrent of anger. The sudden outburst of aggression shocked him into silence, he had never seen her in such a state. This was no false frustration or momentary anger; this was the kind of emotion that boiled up straight from the pit of the stomach. An anger that could not be sated through words, at least not easily. A tiny mote of nervousness formed within his chest, if he didn't solve this fast, their alliance could fall apart right here, right now.
But what was he to do? He was smart enough to know that trying to reason with a person in this state was a fool's errand. Typically, one solved a problem like this by simply letting the other vent until they got the anger out of their system. Once that was done, they could be reasoned with once again.
But he was reticent to allow Mina to continue in putting down Ozymandias, no matter how much of a point she had. His ire provoked, he retorted swiftly,
"Now hang on a moment, we have no idea what was going on behind the scenes. For all we know, he was aiding Saber somehow in a way that we couldn't see."
Her lips curled into a derisive sneer, "Oh, of course! How could I not foresee such a thing! Whatever did he do then? Did he alter fate itself to prevent Saber from getting impaled a single time? Or perhaps he made the Sun rise to blind one of them? Do tell me, so I might understand the great enigma that is your Servant."
It didn't take a genius to tell that her words were positively drenched in sarcasm. It was obvious she held Ozymandias partly responsible for the damage endured by Saber. Alex refused to stand for it,
"I'll have you know that he was holding back, for the sake of the city! He could've blown everyone away, but he didn't because then he would've put innocents in danger! There was never an opportunity where it was only our enemies!"
"Oh really? So, you're telling me that Saber had to die, twice, because your Servant can't control his power!? What a shoddy excuse! It might be more accurate to say that he was too lazy! Or worse, that he wanted Saber to die! Get rid of another competitor, right?"
"How dare you! That's a baseless accusation, and you know it! If he wanted your Servant dead, he would've said it in no uncertain terms!"
"So you're saying it's a possibility?!"
"There you go, saying things that you know aren't true."
"And how do I know that? Am I supposed to just believe that you know everything that goes on in his head?"
"You're supposed to trust me!"
"How am I supposed to do that when this is the result!? I almost lost everything last night, and all I'm hearing from you are bullshit excuses!"
"I'm trying my best!"
"It isn't good enough!"
They were shouting now, leaning far over the table nearly to the point where their heads were pressed together. Anger, frustration and fear all collided in a whirlwind of rising tension as the two neared the verge of collapse. He could see her emotions swirling behind her eyes, reason having long left for greener pastures. His hands had balled into fists at some point along the way, his mouth long having bared its fangs against her. The very air around them crackled and sparked with tension.
"Why am I so angry?"
The thought meekly questioned his current state, and it made an excellent point. As if someone had removed a blanket from his eyes, the rage faded as quickly as it arrived. It left him feeling drained and empty, and very embarrassed.
His hands slowly uncurled as he felt his heartbeat return to normal. Dropping his gaze, he turned his head to hide the shame that spread across his face,
"I'm sorry."
It came as a nothing more than a whisper, but it was as genuine an apology as he could muster. He wasn't sure what else he could say, because he simply did not know what could make things better. Swallowing hard, he nervously wondered if it was even possible to it better.
"I'm sorry too."
Hers was even softer, like a falling leaf floating gently on an autumn wind. She too, looked down and away, perhaps ashamed of herself as much as he was in himself. In this moment of mutual shame, the threat of a storm faded away into nothingness.
There was nothing else to say, no excuse for such an unbecoming and uncharacteristic outburst. He had never once raised his voice in ager against her, the feeling of which left a bitter aftertaste in his throat. An awkward, thick silence pressed down upon them with a new and terrifying weight. The thinnest of wires kept them suspended above the chasm that now yawned beneath, neither desiring to make the fatal move that would push them over the edge. But one of them had to do something, anything to pull back from the edge. Alex didn't know where the anger had stemmed from, except that it was his, which meant he needed to own it.
"You're right…it isn't good enough. Nothing I've done up to now has been good enough." The words stuck in his throat as he fought to voice them, pushing through the pride that deemed them foolish. But he felt they had to be said, because it was the honest truth. The statement left him feeling vulnerable and exposed, as if a suit of armor was dropping away piece by piece.
And so, he simply stopped trying to hold them all in place and allowed them to simply fall away in a cavalcade of tumbling words,
"I know what I'm doing isn't anywhere close to being good enough, that things aren't going well. That no matter what we do, it may never be enough…but I don't know what else to do. I wish I did; I wish I could simply skip to the end of this and ignore the pain. If I could do that, I would in a heartbeat. But I can't…and I don't know what to do next…"
He heard Mina take a deep, shuddering breath as she collected herself to respond, "What is there to do? Is there really any more we can do? I keep asking myself these questions, and I'm no closer to an answer no matter how long I agonize. I wonder…I wonder just what purpose this all has. If there is a reason to everything that has happened, that there is some purpose to all this death and suffering."
"There better be, otherwise I'm gonna have serious words for whoever started this crap."
Mina snorted at his bluntness, a wavering shadow of a smirk playing at the edges of her lips. It was an olive branch, one that Alex gratefully accepted with a hopeful smile of his own. Relief flooded his system; it would seem even a gap like this was surmountable. Still, her questions bore serious merit that he could not dismiss out of hand. Did all of their trials carry some kind of greater meaning? Such a question could easily expand into some massive debate over the worthwhileness of life and the human condition, so he decided to explore such topics at a later time and with a more level head.
"Well, I don't really know what to say to that," he picked up after the releasing of the tense silence, "but I do think I know one thing."
"And what's that?"
Without looking away, he gently moved his hand forward until it crept over hers, partially enveloping it,
"That there's nobody else I'd rather go through hell with."
Her fingers twitched underneath his palm, then wove into his until they were interlocked. She relaxed her shoulders, easing the tension in her own body, "I'm sorry for saying those things, that was really unfair. I guess recent events had shaken me more than I had first thought."
Alex felt her fingers shudder between his own, "I never thought being helpless could be so terrifying…"
His only response was to tighten his grip, a reminder that the terror was over and done, at least for now. She took a breath and the shaking stopped,
"It's just, frustrating, I guess that's the best word for it, when all I see is Saber bearing the brunt of combat. It just doesn't seem fair to me. With all that power at his beck and call, wouldn't it make more sense to use it?"
As much as he hated to admit it, Mina had a good point. Alex began to wonder just what Ozymandias had been up to lately, and now she had given him the opportunity to find out.
"How about I go talk to him about it? There are some things I'd like to figure out myself, so maybe I can glean a thing or two about what's been keeping him from being as active as he used to be."
She nodded her agreement, seemingly relieved at his own desire to learn more about the mercurial pharaoh. Feeling her gently sliding her hand from his, he removed his hand and carefully lowered himself back into his seat, now very aware that they were still leaning into each other. Mina likewise returned to her seat as a more pleasant atmosphere began to blossom within the warm, sunlit room.
As nice as it would be to simply enjoy the relaxed air, there were still pressing matters to get to. Reluctantly, Alex voiced the obvious,
"So, what do we do now?"
A loaded question if there ever was one, but it still needed to be addressed. Knowing this, Mina pressed two fingers to her temple as she wrapped her head around the impossibly large task before them,
"A good question, let's start with what we know. We know our opponents; the Queen of Dún Scáith, Scáthach and the Blood Countess, Carmilla. We also know their Noble Phantasms and how they operate. Basically, we know everything important about them, well, everything except how to beat them."
Alex added his own observations, "Well, maybe they're only built for offense. They did take Saber's Noble Phantasm, which I want to hear more about, right to the face. Isn't that why they vanished right afterwards?"
Mina gave him a slightly impatient look, but acquiesced all the same, "Oh, very well, I explain it to you in brief terms. Nero's Noble Phantasm is the Domus Aurea, the Golden Palace that was erected following the Great Fire in 64 A.D. Basically, it works like a Reality Marble, a place where Nero can fight at above peak capacity and where her enemies are weakened. The fact that she treats it like a grand stage is just a choice of hers that I have no intention of challenging."
"So, it's just like Ozymandias' Noble Phantasm?"
"It would appear so. The only obvious difference is that Ozymandias can maintain his Reality Marble indefinitely, or at least it seems that he can. Even if she wanted to, Nero would eventually have to dismiss it, mostly due to the massive drain on magical energy it takes to create it. Also, to clarify, only Carmilla took the full force of Nero's attack. Scáthach managed to dodge most of it, at least from what I could tell."
Alex clicked his tongue in a frustrated gesture, it wasn't the perfect counterattack he had hoped it was, but it was better than absolutely nothing.
"So maybe Carmilla is at least down for the count?"
Mina shrugged, "That's possible, I don't think an Assassin is meant to take a direct hit from a Noble Phantasm of that caliber. But if she's not dead, then she's definitely wounded badly, which means she's probably vulnerable."
Excitement surged within him, "Then now's the chance to strike! If she's recovering then she won't be able to fight back, we could get our vengeance on her right now!"
Mina gave him a blunt look, "With what Servant, Alex? Saber will need time to recuperate before she can fight again, and it's taking more than half of my magical reserves just to keep her from fading away. As much as I'd like to, and boy do I want to knock that bloodsucking bitch down a level or nine, I can't do much fighting right now. I'm really sorry, but for the moment, you're own your own."
She was being completely honest with him, that much was certain. Without any magic to draw upon, Mina was no more than an ordinary human. Avoiding combat with other mages at that point was most certainly the right call, and he wasn't about to criticize. There was no doubt in his mind that Mina had earned a rest, so he needed to do whatever he could to prepare for when she was ready to return to action.
His mind made up, he rose from his seat, "Alright. You get some rest and recover; we don't want to give them too much time to recuperate. Let's push our advantage while we have it and end this."
She gave him an exaggerated salute, "Aye-aye Captain. So, what will you be up to while I'm laid up?"
He grimaced, "I have a meeting with the good Pharaoh. I just hope I live through it."
Mina offered a sympathetic nod, "Good luck with that. Maybe you can get some answers out of him, I don't think he'd appreciate hearing this from me, y'know?"
Alex definitely wanted to keep them apart, now that he understood just how pissed off Mina was at Ozymandias. Hopefully, he could find some common ground to stand on and explain away the entirety of the previous night's inaction. But somehow, he had a sinking feeling that accomplishing such a thing would be extremely difficult. Nevertheless, he couldn't be deterred now. He wanted an explanation, both for her sake and his.
Bidding her farewell, he left the mansion and trod the by now familiar path that led up the nearby hill where the Ramesseum kept its silent watch. The pyramid at its heart shimmered in the early afternoon sun, reflecting the sinking rays in a prismatic display. Without breaking his stride, Alex passed through the initial temple walkway, the doors opening automatically as he approached them.
Taking this as a positive sign, Alex wondered if the Pharaoh was in a particularly receptive mood today. Though he had passed through these hallways before, the sheer majesty and power that radiated from the ancient walls never ceased to astound and amaze him. Yet the walls seemed colder, less awe-inspiring and more foreboding than the previous visits. Even the statues depicting the ancient gods felt peculiarly alien, their blank and empty stares sent a shiver up his spine as he passed under their eternal glares.
The massive twin doors of shining gold swung open at his touch, yet their luster was not as great as he had come to expect. The moment he crossed the final threshold into the throne room, all the warmth in his extremities left him,
"Something is wrong, I can feel it."
Within the throne room, a dozen fires burned within their ensorcelled braziers, filling the interior with their flickering light and dancing shadows. At the far end of the long approach sat the Pharaoh himself, perched atop his throne of stone as if he were carved from the same block. Believing that this was not the moment to stand on ceremony, Alex continued his march forward.
The Pharaoh raised his head a fraction, holding Alex in his golden gaze,
"Oh? You approach a Pharaoh without the proper deference?"
"I can't speak to you properly without getting closer."
"Very well then, come as close as you'd like."
Such an open invitation was certainly out of the ordinary, Ozymandias was always one to stand on the importance of ceremony. Alex began to wonder if he was truly so distracted that he could not be bothered with the usual rituals. With concern growing once more in his mind, Alex ceased his approach at the foot of the dais, the closest he had ever gotten.
Alex took stock of the Pharaoh's features, hoping to pinpoint what his prevailing mood was. To a casual observer, from the nonchalant way that he reclined on his throne, it might appear that he was simply bored. But Alex had been around him long enough to know that this was not quite the case. His back seemed unusually stiff, making his posture strangely rigid, much like the statues in the prior hallway. Then there was the finger movement, so slight one might mistake it for a shiver or muscle tick, but to Alex it appeared rhythmic and purposeful. Most telling of all were the motes of molten gold that were the Pharaoh's eyes; they typically burned with the ferocity of the living sun, but now they flickered with barely contained intensity, like a wildfire seen from a great distance.
None of this made sense to Alex, he could imagine nothing that might cause such a marked shift in Ozymandias' attitude or demeanor. This all made him more determined than ever to reach an understanding with Pharaoh. Unwilling to waste more time, Alex boldly broached the subject,
"Great Pharaoh, what troubles you so? You appear greatly distracted; in a way I have never seen before."
Ozymandias raised a singular eyebrow, "You come to inquire regarding the matter of my seeming lack of involvement in your last bout, do you not? It is disrespectful to dance around one's true intentions."
"Crap, he saw right through me." Alex cleared his throat to hide his discomfort, "That's right, I will be honest. Your absence was sorely felt on the battlefield, we only survived through a fluke and a stroke of good fortune. I must ask you, Pharaoh. Why did you not aid us? Any small amount would have been sufficient enough to make a difference, so close was the margin between victory and defeat."
"Yet I did offer assistance, and it was you who chose not to accept." The Pharaoh's baritone voice swept forward like a wave, engulfing him in its sonorous tone, "This being the case, I fail to understand where your complaints originate from."
"I fail to understand how destroying half a city counts as assistance." Alex countered quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly, as the Pharaoh's eyes smoldered with a hint of danger. But he was undeterred,
"I've seen what you can do, the things you're capable of. Something, anything would have been better than nothing! I need to ask why, I need to know why! Tell me you didn't just ignore us, that our struggles didn't fall on deaf ears! Why, Pharaoh? Why didn't you help us?"
There was a moment of deafening silence, where naught but a heartbeat could be heard within the vacuum of the space. Ozymandias moved slowly and purposefully, shifting his form so that he leaned forward with one arm hanging loosely across his knee. It was a singular and looming position, his long shadow engulfing Alex where he stood.
Pharaoh spoke with words of grinding sandstone, carefully shaping each word with the precision of a master stonemason,
"Since when am I beholden to the whims of one such as you?
Alex physically recoiled, completely taken aback by the grating harshness of the reply. This was nothing like the typical brush-offs or backhanded encouragements that he had received from Ozymandias in the past. If anything, this was far closer to what his true nature was like. This was Ozymandias the tyrant, the penultimate lord of Egypt and the incarnation of Ra, conqueror of the Hittites and enslaver of Nubia.
Those were the words that belonged to a ruler without equal, whose fury toppled whole nations. A fury that could now easily be unleased upon the unfortunate supplicant before him. Alex had faced death on multiple occasions before, but this situation was wholly unique in the act that he could not even compel assistance. The use of a Command Spell to force Ozymandias to see his point of view would guarantee his demise, of this he was certain. He had wandered willingly into the lion's den, and now the lion was very much awake.
More grinding speech poured down upon his shoulders like bags of sand, as if to bury him,
"I am Pharaoh. It is obvious that the implication of those words has left your mind, but I am generous. Know this, child, know that I am absolute. There is nothing that escapes my eye, nothing that eludes my grasp. To even suggest that my eternal watch has dimmed is tantamount to heresy. You have yet to achieve enough of an understanding to approach me in such a manner, perhaps you should ruminate on that. Once you achieve clarity, reason will follow shortly thereafter. Such is the way of kingship."
Alex was aghast, "What the hell does that mean? Are you just saying that you didn't do anything because you didn't want to?"
Ozymandias frowned in the manner of a disappointed professor, "Tell me, just what did you manage to accomplish during your engagement?"
His answer came quickly on a barbed tongue, "We learned the True Names of our remaining opponents, including their Noble Phantasms. With that information, we can develop a plan to defeat them once and for all?"
"And what was the cost?"
"The cost? Well…that's…"
He hadn't thought much about what it took to retrieve those brief moments of insight, and as he reviewed the lengths to which they had to go, he wished that he hadn't considered the costs. Sure, they achieved potentially damming information on their enemies, but they had traded equally by giving away Saber's True Name as well as burning away her hidden ability. Then there was the aftermath, the argument with Mina was still fresh in his mind and he still bore bitter regret that they had come so close to blows at all. Looking at the whole of the previous night from a more objective standpoint, the field was his but he had gained no ground in the tactical situation. Presuming that both Assassin and Saber were in similar conditions, there wasn't even a numerical victory.
Once he saw this, the feelings of victory turned into hollow pangs of regret. There was really no winner at all, and if anything, he rather felt the loser overall. In no way did he come out on top, with the lone exception being that his Servant sustained no damage whatsoever. But this was hardly a consolation, as now Mina's arguments held even more weight than they already did. Though his anger did not dissipate, those callous thoughts were enough to cow his emotions and he dipped his head in shame.
"I guess the battle was meaningless then."
Ozymandias drummed his fingers upon the arm of his throne, "A battle only has as much meaning as one grants it. Should you wish to partake in a moral victory, then you have permission to do so. I, however, cannot afford to waste precious time upon such miniscule adjustments in battle lines. Were you able to achieve your main objective at all?"
Alex had to think as to what their main objective had been, it took him far longer than it should have. When he remembered, his embarrassment only grew,
"Ah…well…sort of?"
The Pharaoh's gaze was absolutely withering. He shrugged helplessly, "We had hoped to find information on the missing women, but we got ambushed. That place is probably connected somehow, but we just didn't have the time…to…"
He trailed off, suddenly sick of his own excuses. They had failed to acquire any solid proof of The Masquerade's involvement in the disappearances, plain and simple. Even worse, they had been unable to learn anything new about the missing women, which meant that they were basically still at square one. All that effort and bloodshed, wasted.
It was a disgusting thought, but one that felt the most realistic. While he still simmered at Pharaoh's inaction, there was no doubting the cold logic behind it. There was no way that he could suggest that Ozymandias was either ignorant or lazy, he simply seemed to not care for pointless conflict.
But was that all there was to it?
Something about the Pharaoh's attitude felt manufactured, closer akin to a mask that one wears to hide their true emotions. He was not exactly sure if that was an accurate assessment either, seeing as Ozymandias was clearly capable at hiding his intentions if he so desired. It was difficult at times to determine his true thoughts even when he was being open and obvious. Even without evidence, the thought gnawed at the edges of his consciousness to the point of irritation. To attempt such a thing was mostly pointless, or so it felt. He wondered if it was even possible to understand the mind of the ancient king, the gap between them simply felt insurmountable. Even so, he at least understood that something had altered the Pharaoh's mood. Should that be the case, the big question then would be to determine exactly what had done so. He wasn't quite sure which unnerved him more; the fact that his mood had clearly darkened, or that something significant enough had happened to cause such a change.
Curious as he was, a part of him was uneasy at the notion of something that might shake the usually infallible Pharaoh. He wondered if he might coax something out of him, given enough time. Just he was wondering how he might go about this, Ozymandias raised his head to look beyond him towards the door to the throne room,
"It would appear another wishes to approach. I suppose I will allow it this once, go and see them in."
His body responded to the command as if it were second nature, moving in a purposeful stride towards the golden door without giving the reasoning much thought. By the time he reached the doors, he had given up on trying to reason it out, it was just a waste of energy. The doors slowly groaned open at his touch, only to be pushed the rest of the way by a blur of red. A small but powerful body rushed straight into Alex, bowling him over and sending him crashing to the ground. The body tumbled over him, catching itself just inches above his own.
His vision spinning slightly, he recognized Saber, only she appeared to be in quite the state. Her fair skin was paler than usual, with an unhealthy pallor that emanated an aura of a difficult convalescence. She was breathing heavily, a light sheen of sweat across her brow as if she had just run a great distance. When she at last caught her breath, she nearly shouted into his ear,
"Big…big trouble! Very bad, exceedingly bad!"
Alex tried to adopt a calming tone, but the sheer desperation in her voice made doing so difficult,
"Saber, what's going on? I thought you were supposed to be recovering?"
"It's Master! She's been taken!"
Cold, iron dread sunk deep into the pit of his stomach, "What!? How could that happen?"
"I don't know, you must come quickly!" Saber's eyes were brimming with tears, obviously she was not joking. Extricating himself from beneath her, he ran without thinking out the door.
"Are you sure that is wise?" A low voice intoned from the throne, pausing his motion momentarily. He looked back over his shoulder,
"I'm going."
He took off once more with Saber close behind, not once looking back even as the golden doors shut behind him. As he approached the house, he realized something that chilled his very bones,
"The Bounded Field…it's been breached! Damn it! Did the density of magical energy from that temple prevent me from sensing it?" His pace accelerated to a dead sprint as he raced up the path to the front door. Pulling it aside, he skidded to a halt in the foyer, stunned by the absolute silence that oppressed the interior. He called out to her, only to be met with silence and his own breathing.
Summoning the khopesh brought him a measure of calm as he carefully stepped through the entryway and through the rooms as he searched for signs of her whereabouts. He met with no success until he reached the dining room, where he at last found signs of a struggle.
The interior of the dining room was utterly trashed, the floor covered in the scattered remains of dinnerware and glass. His feet crunched on the shattered remains of plates and glassware, a cold breeze blowing in from a massive breach in the central window.
Then he found the blood. Large slashes of drying blood crossed the floor and the walls at various points, lending weight to the obvious struggle that had taken place here. Bitter anger mixed with the fear of the unknown, there was no sign of Mina anywhere. As he blindly staggered through the aftermath, hoping to find some sign of her, Saber quietly spoke up,
"Look…there, on the table."
Alex rushed to the point in question, only to have his heart frozen and his breath seize in his chest.
There on the table, was the torn and bloody rose pendant that Alex had gotten for Mina for the school dance. An accessory that he had seen her wear every day since then, never once removing it when they were together. And now, here it was, a clear message meant to be delivered directly to him.
With shaking hand, he took up the pendant, the blood still warm as it dripped from the bleeding rose at its center. Rage flared within his chest, burning away all other thoughts until it was all he could think of. His fist clenched around the pendant, a few drops of blood oozing from the sides of his palm as he addressed Saber,
"I'm going to get her back. Come with me, if you can."
He marched past her, oblivious in his anger as he headed up the main staircase. Saber called out to him,
"Do you know where she is?"
Without answering, he kicked open the door to his room and dropped to one knee by the bedside. Reaching underneath, he felt his fingers grasp around a cold object that fit well into the palm of his hand. Removing his hand, he drew forth the handgun that he had stolen from the false guardsmen during their infiltration of Archer's high-rise base.
His fist curled around the grip, feeling the weight settle into his palm with an almost unsettling ease. There was no doubt in his mind as to where Mina was, and he was going to find her and bring her back, no matter what it took.
