The best part about being out of Kuoh for good, and there are few good parts if I'm being honest, is no more Issei. I'd pretty successfully managed to avoid him for the entire year I stayed there, so I guess he isn't really what I'm relieved about being absent. But while I was there he, or the harem protagonist effect, was a constant weight on my mind that I hadn't really noticed until I woke up the morning after I left, to find it gone. I was constantly analyzing my every thought and feeling, afraid that I'd find them changing. Now removed from the country, continent, and soon, planet and universe he occupies, it's like a giant weight has been lifted from me.
Sure, Vivain being absent from the island when I arrived to deliver the Fused Excalibur was a little frustrating. But honestly aside from my annoyance it affects very little. Apparently she's somewhere in Faerie pursuing the aftermath of the Burner's largely destroyed castle.
...Which couldn't have been made easier by the bomb I left underneath it, and then completely forgot about. What with the subsequent concussion, narrow survival, and making sure Cait was okay, and all.
Ah well, it's not my problem until somebody I can't argue with comes out of Faerie and tells me that it is.
In the moment though, the absence of the constant threat of mind control is such a relief that I find myself humming happily as I walk down the street in a little town in Mexico, looking for a particular dive bar. Which is an odd thing for me to be looking for, but is actually step one in my plan to infiltrate the Kaos Brigade for exactly as little time as I can get away with.
My first and largest hurdle to getting in, is that nobody volunteers for the Brigade. You get recruited, either by somebody who's already a member, or by Ophis herself. Nobody just walks up to the front door of their headquarters and asks to join. If for no other reason than because, as far as I'm aware, nobody knows where it is.
It's location, if it's ever revealed, is never mentioned in the part of the anime I saw. People just teleport there or from there. So if I want to get in I need somebody to take me. Fortunately a little under a year ago I happened to get the Yokai intelligence file on one Kuroka the Black Cat, stray devil, and member in good standing of the Kaos Brigade. More importantly than that, the file contained a list of her favorite places to hang around, and I have something I can bribe her with.
Which is why I'm here, in this little town in nowhere Mexico, looking for a bar that can only be called 'seedy' according to descriptions. Finding such a bar in this place isn't hard, unfortunately I'm looking for a specific one.
It takes me a surprising amount of time to actually locate the hole in the wall in question. It doesn't have a sign, or windows. It's just a door in an otherwise featureless wall halfway down an alleyway that smells of things that I don't want to think about.
I curse that my upgrades mean that I can actually identify most of what I'm smelling.
At first glance this place seems to be the last place one would expect to find somebody like Kuroka. She's a cat that likes the finer things in life. She's fastidious, and even without opening the door I can tell I'd never look for her here if I hadn't been told to.
Which is the point, I suspect.
This is the most likely place to find her, and given everything else, I'd bet money that this is where she comes when she can't stand the people around her any more. So she found the last place anybody would look for her, where she could be alone and get drunk. I'd feel bad about bothering her here, if I wasn't bringing good news.
I push open the door and find both exactly what I expected, and something very different.
The bar is dark, barely lit really, which isn't a problem for me, but would make identifying any of the other patrons next to impossible for a normal human. Everything in here is old, rough, and looks to be on the edge of falling apart. The bartender eyeing me from behind the bar is large enough, and muscled enough, that if somebody told me there was a troll or a giant in her ancestry, I would believe them. Which sadly comes with the look of having troll or giant ancestors. Finally, there are a number of patrons here despite it being the middle of the day, and all of them are drinking with a quiet determination.
On the other hand, the place is spotless. The little bit of light present shines off of polished wood floors. The tables, though they look like they're on the edge of falling apart, also look clean enough to eat off of. The patrons are also clean, dressed well, and generally keeping to themselves. There's no feeling of imminent violence or despair which is common in this sort of place. Or at least the sort of place I thought this was.
Now I'm even more certain that Kuroka comes here to hide and be left alone. It really seems like that's the entire purpose of this place. I'm certain enough that I'm not even going to bother showing the bartender the picture I cut out of Kuroka's wanted poster without her ears showing. The bartender wouldn't tell me anything and it might get me thrown out.
Which would be unfortunate, since a quick visual scan tells me that she's not here, nothing smells like cat, and I can't feel another sage interacting with the local mana. Which means I'm going to have to keep coming back here until she shows. Which would be harder if I got thrown out and banned.
So instead I find myself a table, set Sclamhaire next to me in her case, and settle in to wait.
I wonder if I can order anything non-alcoholic?
###
As it turns out, no I can't. So I get the least alcoholic thing they make and sip on it very slowly. Something I end up having to do several times since it's four days of staking out the very nice dive bar before Kuroka finally shows up.
I almost don't recognize her when she does.
In the anime she's always depicted in a classical Japanese kimono, worn off her shoulders and showing as much cleavage as possible without stripping. What comes through the door is a young woman with long black hair, in jeans, a t-shirt, and a feeling of exhausted frustration.
She makes her way to the bar, gets a drink, and heads for a table. It isn't until she turns around from the bar I figure out who I'm looking at. For just a moment her eyes catch one of the dim light sources inside the bar and her eyes shine. Then the effect is gone and she makes her way to a table in a dark out of the way corner.
Which somehow describes every table in this place so that description doesn't actually tell one much.
The table she selects is only two away from the dark corner table where I've been lurking. As soon as she takes her seat I stand and move over to her table, taking a seat without asking. Kuroka's head jerks up as soon as I pull the chair out and she almost snarls at me, but she stops short. Her eyes go wide as I sit down, and she sniffs the air several times.
After a moment of silence, "Princess?" She asks with more than a small amount of disbelief coloring her voice.
I give a nod and a smile, "Adopted, but yes. You're not the easiest person to find."
"You seem to have managed, nya." She smirks at me and leans forward in a way that would draw attention to and display her large amount of cleavage in her normal get up. The t-shirt she's wearing instead sort of ruins the effect.
"Access to Yokai intelligence reports helps." I tell her dryly.
She blinks, then sits back, "So what can I do for you, Princess? Nya."
"Okay, first off I have to ask. Is the 'nya' thing an actual verbal tic or an affectation. 'Cause you're the only cat I've ever heard do it."
Kuroka stares at me for a moment, then giggles. It's actually a very nice sound, "I'll nyaver tell." She smiles, relaxing slightly. She's actually a lot more attractive when she's not trying to be. Her seduction routine is so predatory that it's off putting in the extreme. This more relaxed and natural Kuroka is more than a little distracting.
I shake my head and smile back at her. I can't really help it; her happy is extremely contagious, "Fine. Keep your secrets. So I want something, obviously, and I have something to offer in return. It should be noted that I'll give you what I have whether you help me or not. Which do you want to hear about first?"
"Nya, you're not very good at negotiating are you? You're not supposed to give things away regardless of if you get what you want or not. And you're really not supposed to tell me about it. What are you offering, nya?"
"It's more that I wouldn't keep this from you." I tell her seriously, "I mentioned that I got my hands on your file with Yokai intelligence. Well, I didn't get it for myself, I got it for Shirone." Kuroka goes still at the mention of her sister's name, "What I'm offering to you is a method of meeting her again without anybody trying to kill you, or keep you apart. I'll even give you a letter to one of the local devil kings that might start getting your name cleared."
"Nya?" Is all she manages to get out.
"All you have to do is get in touch with the Queen. I've spent most of the last year teaching Shirone how to fight properly and how to cat again." I continue, "I can tell you how to get a message to Cait as well. You won't be able to take Shirone with you, she's a devil now, but..."
"How," Kuroka cuts me off, her voice thick. She's got unshed tears in her eyes which she's only just barely holding back, "would this devil be able to help clear my name?" Her hands are gripping the table hard enough that her fingers have turned white, leaving little discolored furrows from her claws behind.
I think she's looking for any hole in my story, because really what I'm offering must seem too good to be true. And she's been burned before, depending on how much she knows about what the Brigade is up to, possibly more than once.
"Sona Sitri is the Leviathan's little sister." I smile gently at Kuroka, "The other devil, and Shirone's king, is Lucifer's little sister. Gremory will act for her peerage member, and Sona and Serafall will listen to me."
"Why would they listen to you?" Kuroka asks softly, her voice shaky.
"Sona and I got pretty close while I was living there, and I've saved her life twice. Serafall... well I guest stared on her TV show for a season. We're about as close as a human and a Satan can realistically be."
"And she doesn't hate me?" Kuroka's lips are trembling now, her composure hanging on by a thread.
"Shirone? She's hurt and confused, but after she read about what really happened and why in the file I got her, no. She doesn't hate..." I'm cut off as Kuroka lunges across the table slamming my face into her generous chest and hugging me tightly. Her rumbling purr is almost deafening, and I can feel tears falling on the top of my head as she clutches me.
Not sure what else to do with myself, I pat her on the back and wait for the storm of emotions to run its course.
###
It takes almost twenty minutes for Kuroka to calm down. And then another ten to convince her to get off my lap so we can have a conversation. Once we do though she gets back on topic quicker than I would have thought.
"So what can I do for you, Princess, nya." Kuroka now has a big smile on her face and seems to be filled with energy. Her tail is out and waving back and forth happily, her ears are perked and focused on me, and a soft purring that hasn't stopped since she started hugging me is just barely audible. This apparently isn't a problem as nobody else in the bar has so much as blinked.
"I need an introduction to Ophis. I want to join the brigade." I tell her, and the purring stops.
"Nya, that's... not a great idea..." Kuroka tells me slowly, "The people in the Brigade are... not the best sorts. I wouldn't be there if I had anywhere else I could go."
I grimace, "Believe me I know. I stopped a couple of them from kidnapping Yasaka's kid a year ago."
Kuroka's eyes go wide and her mouth forms a silent, 'oh'. After mulling that over for several seconds she focuses again, "What exactly do you want out of this, nya? If there's another way..."
"Well first off, does Ophis really hand out bits of her power as a signing bonus?" It's best to make sure of my facts before I really fling myself into this snake pit.
Kuroka nods, "Nya, if she thinks you can be helpful enough, yes."
"What is she after anyway. I don't think I've ever heard." Depending on what she's after this could be easier or harder than I've been thinking it would be.
Kuroka shrugs, "She's got a grudge against the Great Red, nya. She's recruiting powerful people to help kick him out of... somewhere. She keeps saying the Gap, nya, but the Gap is infinite so she must be attached to her piece of it for some reason."
I could help with that. I know exactly what I'd offer her, and it would work well for what I wanted anyway. I'd be lying my ass off, but it should work.
"Well, I want a sample of her power and a meeting with Arthur Pendragon." I tell the devil Yokai.
Kuroka looks like she wants to ask more questions, but I can spot the moment she decides she doesn't actually want to know. After some more time considering she nods, "I can do that, nya. You'll forgive me if I insist on getting the letter and information up front." I shrug, that's a fair request. Given how likely getting killed by any of the people in the Brigade, especially given how crazy and powerful some of them are, I'd want to get paid up front as well. "Good, once I have the letter I can take you straight there, nya."
I shake my head, "Not quite, I have one stop I need to make first. A pet shop, if you know one close by?"
"I... Nya, why?" She looks so confused, it's kinda adorable really.
"I need a gerbil for the meeting with Ophis."
"...Nya?"
###
I end up with a hamster instead of a gerbil, but it'll still work.
Walking through the corridors of the Khaos Brigade headquarters carrying a hamster cage gets me some strange looks, but Kuroka's presence next to me keeps it at just the looks. The headquarters itself is a strange place. I had no idea where it was before I got here, and now that I've arrived I still have no idea.
There are no windows. The majority of the architecture, if it can be called that, is bare concrete and ninety degree angles. All the same solid grey, decorationless walls and bare rooms. A few glances through open doors as we walk from the arrival point to where Ophis is tells me that while some people have done their best to make the rooms seem more appealing, there's only so much that can be done.
Mostly.
There are a few rooms that I glance in that look like they're outdoors, vast swaths of natural landscape, and beautiful immaculately manicured gardens. In fact, I'd think that I'm looking at the outside through those doors if not for seeing a frigid snowy mountainside through one door, and then a dense tropical forest two doors later.
I have no idea who put these contained biomes together, but it's impressive as hell.
Kuroka doesn't let me pause to look though, and I can't really blame her. She's got Cait's phone number and a letter to Sona and Serafall burning holes in her pockets, but she'd promised to do this for me first. I can't really object to her wanting to get through it as quickly as possible.
The door to Ophis' throne room is only different from any other door in this place because it's at the end of a hallway as opposed to set into one of the walls. The room on the other side isn't too different either. Compared to the Burner's throne room it's rather underwhelming. It's the same bare concrete cube as every other room I've seen aside from the 'outside' rooms, just bigger. The throne at the far end of the room is a chair sized for a giant and made out of concrete slabs forming the roughest, most bare bones 'chair' possible.
What makes it impressive is the being sitting in the chair.
To my mana sense Ophis is a void. A piece of the Gap that's decided to pretend to be a person and so shaped itself to look like one. Beyond that there's nothing. No sense of power, or aura of might, or anything else. Just a fathomless sucking void compressed into a bipedal shape.
It takes me most of the way across the oversized room to work past the bizarre feedback my mana sense is giving me to register what my eyes are seeing. I'm not really sure how to react to the visual presented. The ancient Infinite Dragon has put together a human form that is... far too young. Especially for the topless gothic lolita dress with modesty preserving exes of what looks like electrical tape she's wearing.
I just.
What...?
You know what?
No.
I'm just going to affirm my desire to get out of this universe as quickly as possible and not think about it any further.
Gah!
Ophis looks us over. She examines me, Kuroka, and the hamster with the same dispassionate blank expression and the same amount of time devoted to each, then turns her gaze on the Black Cat, and waits.
Kuroka wastes no time in speaking up, which seems like a great idea. The Void, which makes up Ophis, makes me uncomfortable. "This is Ericka Rhostana nya, she expressed an interest in joining. I thought her skills worth checking with you."
Ophis' blank gaze turns to me, and I swallow slightly. My survival instincts are screaming in the back of my head that this is exactly the sort of person and attention that I swore way back at the beginning that I'd avoid like the plague that they are.
Why did I walk into her home and attract her attention? Deliberately no less?
I point out to that voice that that particular ship had already sailed when Lucifer and Leviathan showed up on my doorstep.
At least I'd managed to avoid dealing with any Angels.
I take a deep breath and answer as clearly as I can, "Well... with the limited amount of information I have, the easiest thing I can offer is preparing your troops for the Gap. If you, or whoever, don't have to waste energy ensuring they survive there, then they or you will have that much more power available to fight with."
Ophis' expression remains unchanged, but she does tilt her head to the side slightly which I interpret as interest, "How would you accomplish such a thing?" Her voice is simultaneously perfectly normal and utterly unnerving. My ears hear a voice like any other, flat and lacking emotion, but not unusual for all of that.
My mana sense shows something different. The Ophis shaped Void undulates, pulsing off little bits of itself which ripple through the air, creating sound. Or perhaps 'sound'. No matter what my ears insist, I'm not sure they're actually involved with the process of hearing Ophis speak at all.
I swallow nervously, "Well, at the moment I'm unsure. I've been studying the Gap in an effort to accomplish exactly what I'm describing, but so far have only succeeded in making something exposed to the Gap survive for a few seconds longer. Which is why I've approached you. As I understand things you're native to the Gap, so obviously unaffected by it. I'm hoping that by studying your power I'll be able to figure this out." Full disclosure seems like the best move here. Or at least something that looks like it. I have no intention of sharing my solution to the Gap with anybody. But by the time they figure that out I should be long gone.
I've always known that the end of my time in DxD would involve pissing off some powerful people and then running like hell. It seems like a different prospect while edging into the 'pissed off' portion of the plan.
Ophis studies me wordlessly for... well it feels like a small eternity. Finally though she nods, "This will be useful for regaining my silence." Her method of talking gets no less creepy with exposure, "You will have your sample. Do not fail in your task." The tone of her voice never changes, but the threat is very clear.
Still, something about what she just said strikes me as odd.
"I'm sorry... Just to make sure we're all on the same page, what you're after is silence?" I ask carefully.
Ophis tilts her head again, in the opposite direction this time, "Yes. I wish for my silence."
"So... hypothetically, if you could get the silence of the Gap... without fighting this other dragon, you'd go for it?"
The Infinite Dragon blinks once slowly, "Yes. I desire only my silence."
"Because in order to test various methods of Gap survivability I created a mini-Gap completely separate from the real thing." Kuroka is staring at me now and even Ophis seems to have widened her eyes a little.
"You can do such a thing?" There's a faint tinge of what might be called hope in Ophis' voice, and an expression that could almost be mistaken for interest.
"I can. In fact if you give me a little bit of time I can have it brought here for you." My Gap table would be a small price to pay for getting what I want without pissing off the one thing in this universe that might be able to follow me.
Ophis sits back, as much as she can in the wildly outsized throne, "Go. Now. Bring me my silence." I take it back. Her tone hadn't been threatening before, that had been a mild admonishment. The way she's commanded us now is a threat. I really wouldn't want to be the person to get her hopes up only to let them down.
Fortunately, I already have what I'd promised.
Kuroka and I turn almost in unison and hurry as much as we can out of the room while still technically 'walking'. I keep my peace, and Kuroka seems just as interested in speaking, until we've actually teleported out of the headquarters. Just in case Ophis had decided to listen in while we moved through her base.
Once we're out though, I can't really help myself, "Does the way she talks ever get less creepy?"
My fellow sage shudders, "Not in the least."
"Great." So glad I'm not sticking around.
###
I close the door to my new room behind me, slumping against it for a moment before putting my hamster down and slapping temporary Script wards for privacy and security on the door. Delivering the Gap table had gone without incident. I'd called Pua and she'd been nice enough to teleport it to a place I could pick it up. Then Kuroka and I took it back to the Brigade and put the thing in Ophis' throne room, turned it on, and that was that. Ophis barely paused long enough to send a snake of her power, no bigger than a hair, into the hamster before vanishing into the globe size ball of nothing.
And seeing a human sized body, if a small one, vanish into something that my brain insisted was too small to hold it was a little strange. Not nearly as strange as seeing somebody stick their head into the Gap and not immediately collapse dead though.
At least I have confirmation that Ophis is entirely capable of what I need her to be capable of.
After that, Kuroka stuck around just long enough to hand me off to the servants who maintain the Khaos headquarters. I hadn't actually expected there to be a dedicated serving staff, but thinking about it, I really shouldn't be surprised. With the number of huge egos in this place there's no way they're cleaning up after themselves and cooking their own meals.
So I got shown a room and left a message with the staff to be delivered to the Pendragon siblings as soon as possible. I had wanted to go straight from my meeting with Ophis to the one with Arthur, but apparently he and his sister were out somewhere doing something important for the Brigade, the servant's words not mine, and probably wouldn't be back for a few days.
Which is probably a good thing for me really. I can set up my escape plan, and start to analyze what's been done to the hamster. Most importantly, though, seeing how Ophis actually speaks has given me an idea for my project to let me return here when I want to. Pretty clearly Ophis' method of speaking is something designed to work in the Gap, so if I can do something similar...
Something to work on.
First though, a way out of here in a hurry.
###
I sit back and scrub my face with both hands. Putting together a travel Script on a piece of paper hadn't taken long. Getting it to work with a popsicle stick trigger so it doesn't take twenty minutes to activate took somewhat longer. The paper is important so that the Script will burn away after activating, just in case there's somebody here that knows enough Script to target the address Script it's set for.
After that I'd finished off my return plan. With the inspiration from Ophis it wasn't actually very hard. I kind of feel like beating my head against the desk over that one. It was so bloody obvious once I started thinking about it in the right way.
Finally, I got to the hamster. An analysis Script run on it gave me a huge amount to wade through. And really, it turns out that the delay before I could leave is a very good thing. One thing I quickly figured out analyzing the hamster and the way Ophis' power interacts with it is that it is still Ophis' power. Sure it's an integral part of the hamster now, but it still belongs to her. Certainly allowing her to find it wherever it is, and I wouldn't be surprised if she can rip it out of those she's given it to as well with a little effort. Which really wouldn't be good for the hamster at this point. So if I'd actually taken my super powered hamster back to Hawaii with me, all the effort that Pua had gone through to hide the village would have been rendered moot.
So yeah, very glad I had to wait around long enough to get that figured out.
On the other hand, I've had three days to work on figuring out what it is exactly that allows Ophis to survive and thrive in the Gap.
My conclusion?
I have no idea what more than half of the symbols in Ophis' make up mean. I can speak Script fluently, I've read my Script dictionary from cover to cover, and I've never seen anything like these Symbols before. I can't even begin to guess what they are. I think I've managed to isolate the part of the Script that provides the immunity. It's a symbol that is always paired with a very odd variation on the symbol for 'infinity'. This pair of symbols also seems to serve as Ophis' name when needed in the Script.
So really I have no idea what I'm looking at.
Which is a problem. A thought I've had more than a few times over the last few days. I...
My thoughts are interrupted by a knock at my door. Taking a break is probably a good idea for the moment. So I pick myself up and crack the door to see who's outside. On the other side of my door I find an attractive young woman wearing the uniform of the headquarters servants.
She blinks a little surprised to find me peeking through the door, but rallies quickly, "Miss, the Pendragons are back and ready to meet with you."
I blink back at her, then smile, "Sure, just give me a moment."
I turn back into the room and quickly start packing. Notes get stuffed into bags. Bags with my work and my armor are placed on the travel Script in advance. The only thing that I don't move is the hamster cage. I'm not really sure what to do with that just yet, so I leave it be for the moment.
Sclamhaire goes on my back, and then I open the door fully and step out, "I'm ready." I tell the servant.
I really hope I'm not lying.
###
The Pendragon siblings are seated in a gazebo in one of the 'outdoor' rooms. This particular one is a lovely English garden. Flowers, vines, and low shrubs create a picturesque vista that could be mistaken for someplace still wild, if one had never actually seen wilderness before. The siblings themselves are seated next to each other in white painted chairs facing an empty one on the opposite side of the table. Set out on the table is a tea service, the siblings' cups already steaming.
They both stand as I approach. Arthur is a tall man, though not quite as tall as I am. He's got a slim build and any muscle he might have is hidden beneath his excellently tailored suit. His blond hair is mildly shaggy, and comes with what I can only describe as a padawan braid hanging off the side of his head. For some reason the fact that he wears glasses really throws me. It's so against the image I had of him that every time I look away and look back I'm a little surprised all over again.
Le Fay Pendragon is much younger than her brother, and only comes up to his shoulder. She's got the same blonde hair as her brother, but hers is expertly cared for. The waterfall of curls falls to her shoulder and contrasts with large blue eyes that are just so happy I almost feel bad for what I'm about to do. Really, she's just adorable, the kind of girl I want to pat on the head and feed cookies to.
Arthur gives an English bow as I arrive in the gazebo, which after a year in Japan looks just slightly off, and Le Fay curtsies elegantly. I smile and, since I'm wearing pants, return the bow.
"Lady Rhostana," His voice is smooth and cultured, obviously trained. If he was a little older I'd suspect it of being the result of a Cambridge or Oxford education. He's got the same accent that you always hear in movies when some middle eastern or African prince says they've been 'educated abroad'. "welcome, have a seat."
I put Sclamhaire down leaning her against the chair and then take my seat. Only then do the two Pendragons sit, "Thank you for seeing me so quickly." I tell him as he pours me a cup of tea.
"I can't imagine you were surprised." Arthur says carefully leaning back in his chair, "There are certain names which are guaranteed to gain the undivided attention of anybody in my family. And you did drop one of them."
"Did you really meet the Lady of the Lake?" Le Fay cuts in, bouncing in her seat slightly in excitement. Her brother gives her a look of fond exasperation, but makes no indication that he objects to either the question, or her asking it.
"I did." I tell the little blond girl with a smile.
"What's she like?" Le Fay asks, her blue eyes going wide.
I ponder that for a moment, "Both exactly like and very different from what I expected." I tell them. Seeing their confused expressions, though Arthur's is very subtle, I expand on my statement, "When I first met her she was wearing jeans, work boots, a tank top and a jacket. It wasn't really the look I was expecting from a high lady of the Sidhe. On the other hand, she radiated power like a volcano radiates heat, and her voice sounded like hammer on anvil and the sort of pressure found in deep water. Which is exactly what I'd expect." Le Fay looked at me wide eyed and I couldn't help but smile at her, "Never dealt with a fae before?"
The girl shakes her head, "No, never. Mother and father would never let me meet them when one visited. They said it was too dangerous."
I nod, "A wise precaution on their part. I've met four high fae, and of those, three were pure Sidhe. Of those three, one tried to elf strike me and another tried to kill me. I barely escaped both times, and both times only thanks to help."
Le Fay is looking at me wide eyed and doesn't seem to be capable of formulating something else to say. Instead her brother speaks up again, "If it's not rude to ask, how did you escape the elf striking? I've never heard of a human throwing one off. Avoiding it all together yes, but never throwing it off once the process started."
I shrug, "I'm gay." Le Fay's mouth snaps shut and Arthur doesn't seem to know how to respond to that, "The act of being attracted to a male was so... jarring and unnatural to me that it snapped me out of the striking. Then I started punching him and he stopped trying."
Arthur coughs and takes another sip of tea, which prompts me to try mine. It's pretty good. Maybe I really should have given in and had one of those tea parties that Sarah always wanted when we were little.
Maybe something to do with her before I go.
As a goodbye.
"Well." Arthur's voice snaps me out of my slightly depressing introspection, "I suppose we should get to why you are here."
"Yes." I take another sip of tea and set the cup down, "I was charged by the Lady of the Lake to retrieve all the pieces of the True Excalibur. Currently you have the only piece I haven't collected."
The young man blinks, "I see. And you're here to...?"
"Well, I thought I'd start by asking for it." I tell him with a smile, "She hasn't said as much to me, but I have to assume that she means to reforge the original. I thought that might be something you could get behind, for when your ancestor finally gets around to the 'future' part of his title."
Arthur takes another sip of tea frowning in thought, "You think correctly that ensuring that my ancestor has his sword, intact and waiting for him when he returns, is something I would look favorably on." He says slowly, "That being said I can not in good conscience hand over one of the two swords that my family has guarded since just after the fall of Camelot." Never mind you basically stole both of them when you ran away, "We shed a great deal of blood to recover that one piece from the church once they started fielding their 'holy Excaliburs." There's more than a little venom in his voice when he refers to the church and their Excalibur imitations, "No I can't give Excalibur Ruler to you. Not without some proof that your story is true beyond your word."
I take a moment to think that over, "Well..." I carefully open Sclamhaire's case and pull her free of it, still in the sheath, "I have this. Forged for me by Vivain in return for the recovery of the Excalibur shards. If you can recognize her work?"
Both of the sibling's eyes go wide as they look at my sheathed sword, "I can not." Arthur says slowly, "My sister however?" He glances to his side at his sister.
The little blonde girl nods once seriously and stands motioning for me to hold the sword out. I hold Sclamhaire in both hands, one under her hilt the other supporting her blade. I'm really glad that troll muscle doesn't have the same weaknesses that human muscle does, otherwise there would be no way I could hold Sclamhaire's weight with my arms extended over the table the way I was for any length of time.
Le Fay begins to chant and draw magic circles in the air, but I interrupt her before she can really get going, "I would target the sheath if you want information. You're unlikely to learn anything from Sclamhaire herself."
The magical prodigy narrows her eyes at me for interrupting, but follows my advice. Moments later the spells finish and she sits back down. Her brother raises a curious eyebrow at her as I return Sclamhaire to her case.
"It's what she says." Le Fay says a little out of breath, "A sword forged for her, and her alone, to be the True Excalibur's equal."
"I see." Arthur is quiet for several more moments, then sighs, "I still can not simply hand it over. It is a relic of my family. If the Lady of the Lake were here in person asking it would be different. However as it is...?" He shrugs.
"I thought you might say something like that." I admit. Damn, after Xenovia I really hoped that just asking would work again. A visit with Vivain isn't going to happen since she's still missing in action. Also, Pua wouldn't let a stranger wait in the village, so even if I'm willing to let somebody with a mind control sword anywhere near my home, it couldn't happen, and I'm really not. I'm not hanging around here for however long it takes Vivain to get back. Aside from being exposed to Ruler myself, I'm kind of worried that Cao Cao and Hercules will show up and recognise me somehow. The longer I'm here, and the more I move around, the more likely that is to happen. There's a reason I've spent the last three days hiding in my room, and it's not just because of working on the hamster. Which means I have to go with Plan B. I hate going with plan B, "So instead, I challenge you to a duel for the sword. No magic swords or other powers. Just our native speed, strength, and skill."
Arthur lowers his tea cup to the table and looks something other than strictly controlled for the first time since I got here, "A duel of skill?" Yeah, he's definitely interested, "That... You would have to offer up something as well." Not quite as knightly pure as you like to pretend to be, are you?
Still not something outside of what I'd planned for.
"Of course. I'll set Sclamhaire next to Excalibur Ruler for the duel." I tell him with an easy smile, "A sword meant to be the True Excalibur's equal should more than balance the scales against a piece of one."
Arthur nods slowly, "Yes. Yes I believe it would."
I mentally wince slightly at him referring to Sclamhaire as an 'it', "Just don't touch her until the duel is done. She doesn't like being touched by anyone but her master." Technically true, which is the best kind of true. Sclamhaire does dislike being touched by anyone but me. If he assumes that it will be somehow different after the duel, well, that's his problem.
I'm walking out of here with that Excalibur one way or another, no matter what happens.
"Very well." Arthur nods and Le Fay looks somehow even more excited, "When would you wish for this duel to take place?"
"As soon as possible, if you don't mind." I reply and tap Sclamhaire again, "In debt to a fae isn't someplace that anybody likes to be. Resolving this as quickly as possible would be appreciated."
Arthur nods again in understanding, "Very well. It shouldn't be too difficult to find an empty practice room close by."
###
The practice room we find isn't empty, but the two people there are more than happy to let us use it. They just want to stick around and watch, maybe fight the winner. I really wish I could find a reason to get rid of the two of them.
Because one of them is Vali Lucifer, the holder of Divine Dividing.
And the other is a monkey Yokai with a size changing staff. I don't think he's actually Son Wukong, but the comparison is more than enough to make me nervous.
So now, not only am I going to fight a duel with one of the greatest human swordsmen alive, but I'm doing so with his sister, a prodigious mage, the White Dragon Emperor, and somebody who reminds me far too much of the Monkey King for my comfort in the audience.
And I'm planning to cheat.
Greaaaat.
Still there's nothing I can really do about it now so...
Sword fight.
Arthur produces the Excalibit from... somewhere and sets it against one wall. I put Sclamhaire, still in her sheath, next to it. With our forfeits set out we pick swords from the room's supply of practice weapons and set ourselves to begin.
"To first blood?" Arthur asks something that we really should have determined before we got this far. At least he forgot about it as well.
"I'd rather not lose to a nick; to surrender or incapacitation?" I counter offer. That would be to my advantage, I bet I'm much harder to incapacitate than he is.
"Hmm... I can't agree to something that would render me unable to perform my duties for a prolonged period of time. To checkmate?" Checkmate meaning continuing to the point where following through would result in death or incapacitation. The condition relies on the honor system to a certain extent, but it works for me.
"To checkmate." I agree. We both take a moment, then one at a time nod to Le Fay who's waiting for us to finish on the sidelines.
"Start!" Le Fay cheers, and Arthur rushes me.
Our first exchange is a rapid fire collection of probing strikes as we both try to get a feel for each other. Normally after this kind of exchange we would break apart to get a breather and analyze what we'd learned.
Normally.
Arthur tries to dart backwards to disengage. Instead of letting him or falling back myself, I chase after him. Hammering him with a series of increasingly powerful blows which he only barely manages to deflect. He's no Ku, but he's more skilled than I am, which makes sense I guess. He's had high quality training from a very young age, while I had to make do with HEMA schools of varying quality until I met Ku. That being said though, he's not so much better than I am that my strength and speed advantage is irrelevant. Something I'm pretty sure I have my sudden increase in talent and a year of sparing with Mia to thank for.
Arthur is no Ku, but he doesn't fight like a knight. Or rather he doesn't fight like the modern perception of knights. He fights the way the knights of old would have actually fought, the same way I was taught. He uses his whole body, feet, knees, elbows, he even tries a headbutt once. Something I obligingly meet him head on for, my skull is significantly harder than his after all.
He's also got to be using something to enhance himself physically, because while I'm faster and stronger than he is, the difference isn't nearly as large as it should be.
So far neither of us have managed to do more than bruise each other, but I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. I'm not burning through mana at a prohibitive speed, but I have the feeling of being maneuvered. With two combatants at our level, and as close to evenly matched as we are, a fight begins to look more like a chess game. Each of us are attacking less to do damage to each other, and more to force the other into a position where we can land one decisive hit.
A low kick forces him to move to the side where I can better leverage my strength. I press down hard trying to bind our swords together so that I can try for an elbow strike or maybe a hip throw. Except instead of trying to stop me he pivots to one side and lets his sword fall under my press, point down. His blade keeps mine from turning towards him, but otherwise not engaging me at all. Which also puts him inside my guard.
His off hand slaps my sword out of position hard enough that I feel a jarring thunk as my point hits the floor, even as he snaps his sword up to point at my head and thrusts forward. I only just manage to jerk my head to the side, his sword drawing a line of fire across my cheek. Literally, as a small tongue of flame burns away the injury.
I let go of my borrowed sword with my left hand and grab his wrist to keep his sword under control while I try to recover. Except he hasn't stopped advancing and stomps hard onto the flat of my blade ripping it from my hand. Simultaneously he lets the wrist of his sword hand go limp. His sword flops to one side, the blade smacking into his off hand about two thirds down its length. Letting go with the hand I have trapped, he swings his crosspiece to the side hooking it behind my neck. A quick jerk forces me to adjust my footing, and the both of us freeze as I feel the kiss of cold steel against my neck.
In the position we're in now all he has to do is yank me towards himself then lunge forward to lay open my throat. I think I might be able to actually survive that with my Phenex regeneration, but I'm not sure, and it would cost a lot of mana.
Besides I'm not sure I really want to admit to how good my regeneration is. It might become very important in a few moments.
I nod to him, and the both of us step back. Suddenly the outside world floods back in. Le Fay is cheering for her brother, the Monkey King look alike is just cheering for the fight in general. Vali is looking at me with a speculative look. Knowing what I do about him he's probably wondering how long it would take me to get good enough to give him a fight. Or possibly if I could do so now if I had my own sword in my hand.
I ignore all of them and walk next to Arthur to where we'd set the swords we were dueling over. He's talking about the fight going over what we each did and speculating on how things might have gone if we'd each made different choices at various points.
I keep quiet, carefully moving mana through my system to my throat, energizing a power I rarely use.
"It was a very good fight." Arthur says as we arrive at the swords and are joined by the spectators. I make sure I'm standing next to the monkey when we stop. "It was actually better than I thought it would be, you are very skilled Lady Rhostana. In light of that and the way things turned out I..." I think he's about to give me Sclamhaire back. Which makes me feel even worse about what I'm about to do.
Not bad enough to not do it though.
Back when I had just finished my first rush of supernatural trait acquisition, and Pua was helping me to control what I'd gained, one of our projects was my siren's voice. Specifically their ability to mesmerize and control people through their singing. I never got the hang of that. Or even got close to accomplishing anything with that facet of the ability. One thing I did discover though was the resonance frequency of the human inner ear.
So before Arthur can finish speaking I open my mouth and scream. Arthur and Le Fay drop like puppets with their strings cut, clutching their ears. I can smell the blood in the air from their eardrums bursting. Vali staggers into the wall, his balance obviously compromised, but not as affected as the Pendragons are.
The monkey yokai wobbles on his feet, clutching his ears from the volume, but not affected otherwise. Which is why I made sure I'm standing next to him. I stop screaming and he almost immediately straightens up, dropping his hands. Which is a mistake as I back fist him in the side of the head as hard as I can. I wish I could find a way to have slammed him into the wall with that strike, but our positioning isn't really good for it. I'm satisfied with hitting him hard enough to spin him all the way around once before he drops to the ground.
Two quick plucks of my mental bowstring launch Sclamhaire and the Excalibit into my hands, and without another word, or any pause at all, I spin on the ball of my foot and sprint for the door. I can hear Vali already starting to recover behind me, so I don't really have a lot of time.
Still, all I have to do now is get back to my room.
Out of the room I take a sharp turn down the way we came down the corridor. Vali's shouts of alarm are already filling the air behind me. Servants dart out of my way, pressing themselves against the walls as I go by.
It's a good thing I paid careful attention to how we got to the practice room and the route the servant took to lead me from my room to where I met the Pendragons. I'm sure there's a more efficient route from the practice room to my quarters, but I have no idea what it might be.
A few low level Brigade soldiers try to get in my way, but I run over them like speed bumps. I unfortunately don't have a hand free to draw Sclamhaire, but clubbing them with her in her sheath works just as well. Even if it doesn't restore any of my mana.
Everything seems to be going well, even with Vali pounding down the corridor behind me. Which is why I'm not really surprised to round a corner to find a mountain of muscle walking next to a smaller man with a spear leaning against one of his shoulders. The spear has a dust cover on it, but I still recognize it and the two men.
Cao Cao and Hercules.
The same two I'd played tag with in a dark warehouse over a year ago. Even if I didn't remember their look, sound or smell, the golden mana that spear is radiating like a star isn't something I'd ever forget.
The two of them can't have any idea what's going on, but apparently seeing somebody they don't know running, and being chased by Vali is enough for them to make some assumptions. Hercules steps forward pulling back a fist as I approach.
I really don't have time to play with these two. Vali is right behind me and fighting either of these guys is just a bad idea.
I feint towards Cao Cao, before bouncing off my forward foot back toward Hercules. I duck under the poorly aimed punch that Hercules throws at me, and leap at the wall on his side of the hallway. I plant one foot on the wall and ricochet off of it around the pair, conveniently keeping the muscle bound mountain in between me and Cao Cao and more importantly his spear.
I hit the ground and keep running without breaking stride. I haven't had much opportunity to use the parkour I learned in high school and kept up with mostly out of habit. My wings would seem to make it entirely superfluous. But here in narrow corridors where there isn't room for my wings it's perfect.
On the other hand I now have Cao Cao and Hercules chasing me in addition to Vali.
It doesn't matter though, I only have a little bit further to go.
Hercules is quickly left behind, too slow and clumsy to keep up with me as I run up the walls of the outside of turns so I don't have to slow down. Cao Cao and Vali don't have that problem, but I've hopefully got enough of a lead...
Suddenly my mana calcifies in my network. It no longer feeds my muscles, which means the massive collections of exotic carbon are running off calories.
I don't break stride though, I can keep this up for a little while at least. Just long enough really.
I round another turn and find myself in the corridor where my room is. I skid to a halt and dart through my door, slamming it behind me. The Script productions I put there are designed to let me through, but nobody else.
Two loud thuds hit the door only moments later and the tags I'd used to make my wards flare brightly. Being written on paper they won't last for long. Fortunately they don't have to.
It was a really good idea to pack and put everything on the transit Script before I left the room... Except for the hamster. I'd set it aside not really being sure what to do with it. I wonder if I'd done this subconsciously to force myself to make the choice I knew I'd have to.
I really thought I was past taking traits without having some idea what they are and how they work, but...?
Oh well.
The pounding on my door is getting louder and it's only a matter of time, seconds probably, before Cao Cao uses the True Longinus and rips through the door. No matter what protections are on it.
I tuck the Excalibit under my right arm, and draw my athame. With only a moment's hesitation I stab through the cage into the hamster...
To survive, thrive in the Gap.
...and rip free the trait Ophis had placed inside of the hamster with her power. Whatever it is slammed into me like a battering ram. It slides into my soul like a boulder dropping into a still pond at terminal velocity, and in the resulting waves and ripples, something in me far more fundamental than simply my soul, changes.
[What are you? What will I be?]
Then the world catches up with me as the head of a Roman spear punches through my door and the tags of my wards immolate like flash paper.
I slam my athame back into its sheath and rush to the transit Script. I fumble for a moment getting the popsicle stick out of my right pocket with my left hand, as my door is kicked open.
I really want to say something about this being the day that they almost caught... I'm not really sure.
But I don't really have time to think of something, and I'm not sure that movie's come out yet either. So instead I just smirk at Cao Cao as they force their way through the door and snap the stick. The Script I'm standing on flares to life even as what it's written on burns away and I vanish from the room, the Brigade HQ, and their reach.
And soon enough, from their universe all together.