Fourth Singularity, Part 5: Downtown Destruction
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"Try and hold still, and make sure to slow your breathing." Kagiso ordered the disheveled looking old man who was stifling a cough, one of the few that they had unearthed from the rubble. "Ayako, have you found a building?"
"Down the block, we have to move!" the Puppeteer appeared close by, taking two children into her arms, with another wrapping his arms around her neck. Her red coat was given to Mash, for the Demi-Servant to look after even as she held her Noble Phantasm up. "It's an emptied warehouse, undefended but we can barricade it!"
The children screamed as another explosion erupted around them. The three tanks that had bombarded the building were already dealt with, but more of them began closing in on their group. The Shadow of Sanson stood stalwart, dealing with the stragglers that had bypassed Mash's defenses. Ritsuka was helping a man up with the man's arm around his shoulder, while Eve carried two women; one on her back, and another in her arms. Fou was still standing in her peach colored hair, looking quite attentive.
"I don't want anything touching us!" Ayako ordered. She didn't call out anyone specifically, but the Shadow of Cú Chulainn responded by hovering above them on the rooftops. "Let's go, we got cover!"
Kagiso stood up, carrying the old man in his arms, the white smoke that covered his body blanketing over the wounded man. Without another word, the four of them rushed down the cobblestone path, fire coming from their side raining down on their enemies. The children kept on screaming from the destruction and mayhem. They shouldn't, since that meant they were inhaling more of the poisonous fog around them, but he couldn't blame them. As hellish as it was for the living conditions of this age, especially compared to theirs, all out warfare like this was still something they had no exposure to.
Splinters of puppets and dolls landed near them, shattered by Shadow Sanson's blade. The movements were only half of what the actual Servant could reach, yet they were still fast for his unreinforced eyes.
"Over there, the corner!" Ayako called out again, and his eyes found the target they were heading towards. "Let's go, people! Double time!"
The picked it up with a burst of speed, even as mayhem was occurring right beside them. With haste, they arrived at the building, the door already opened thanks to Ayako's earlier reconnaissance. One by one, with the people they were carrying, they filed in the abandoned warehouse. The two male Masters and Eve followed Ayako towards the middle of the empty lot, being as careful as they could be in letting down the civilians. When the people they have saved were grouped up together, he got immediately to work. He pulled out his ceremonial dagger and sliced his hand, letting his blood coat the piece of amber that was his fetish.
The smoke intensified, distinct from the fog that suffocated the city. His brown eyes became milky white, as he channeled the fetish in his bloodied hand. "Wazazi, ninatafuta msaada wako."
He could see the look of fear in their eyes, but the old man raising his hand calmed them down, even amidst the chaos. "Kuwaweka hai hawa watu."
Smoke began pouring out of his hand, out of the amber fetish, as a voice spoke, coming from all around them. It sounded like a matronly woman with a gravelly voice. "Wataishi."
The smoke began circling around the people, not unlike the poisonous fog. The coughs of the children lessened, as his ancestors helped him along.
"Ritsu-chan, you and I will be boarding this whole place up." Ayako said to her fellow Japanese Master.
"With what?" he asked her, looking around their surroundings.
"The crates. No one's using them." The Puppeteer said, gesturing with a nod to the many crates that were using the warehouse. "Not anymore."
"Alright." He nodded, as he rushed towards one of them.
"Eve, you help Kags out, alright?" she asked the daughter of Frankenstein.
"Uhn." The tall bride nodded, and got down to her knees beside him.
"We need something to cover their mouths with." He said to her. "I can hold back the fog, but only so much. Find some cloth, please."
"Uhm…" he heard her reply, but he didn't hear her get up off the floor. What he did however, was hear tearing coming from beside him. He glanced to Eve, seeing her rip her bridal gown, from at least where her thigh was. He looked at her with surprise, before quelling the bewilderment and accepting the torn skirt from her.
The both of them tore and cut them into smaller sizes, before giving each seven people the makeshift facemask. "Wrap these around your mouths and noses, it will hold back the poison."
The children were hesitant, but the old man once again took the lead, taking the offered strips of cloth and handing them out to the others. He kept channeling the fetish while they busied themselves, doing what he had told them to do. He silently thanked the fact that Circe had given them a lasting enchantment to weather this fog on their own. Even so, he can still taste the horrid toxic fog on his tongue. There was a part of him that was tempted to ask Ayako for a new tongue, but every time that thought cropped up he snuffed it just as quickly.
Amidst his channeling, he glanced around the rather sparse warehouse. He saw Ritsuka trying to board up the building as fast as he could; the young man was reinforcing himself, so his limits were that of a baseline human's. Ayako didn't have such compunctions. With her superhuman puppet body, she was almost like a blur running around the building. He caught glances of her pushing the nails into the board and walls with her fingers. With the way things are progressing for them, for Chaldea, he was certain that she will only grow stronger as the day goes by.
Eventually, Ayako approached the assembled civilians, with Ritsuka following behind her, struggling for breath. "This should be enough." She said, wiping the dust off her hands. "When it all settles, we'll finish this place up. For the moment, it'll do." She turned to Ritsuka, glancing behind her. "How're you holding up, Ritsu-chan?"
He didn't answer her. Not immediately, at least. He pushed himself up, and shook his head. "My heart's going to explode." He said with a raspy voice.
She nodded in understanding. "Then you stay here with Kags. Eve, we'll head back. The neighboring buildings are falling apart, and we need to get them here as fast as possible."
The daughter of Frankenstein stood up, nodding vidurously. "Uhm!"
"Hold the fort down, gents, we'll be out for a second!" Ayako said before she rushed out of the warehouse, with Eve following behind, closing the door after her.
Silence filled the warehouse, with the sounds of battle coming from outside. When he closed his eyes, it reminded him of home, of his childhood. Too close, in fact. The explosions. The gunfire. The only thing missing, was the death, because at the very least, their enemy was holding back in a sense. He knew they wouldn't for long, however. They were willing to strike at Dr. Jekyll's home, an apartment complex he shared with a few other people. And of course, whatever happened to the Scotland Yard. He didn't count the Clock Tower, they were essentially another army. An army that lost, in this case.
As he ruminated on these memories, his thoughts briefly turned back to the last Singularity. The first Singularity he was a part of. The telltale triggers were there as well, though because of the drastically different environment, it didn't really connect with him, not unlike here in the late 1800s of London. Even though this polluted urban landscape was still vastly different than the shanty towns he grew up in. He was fortunate that, with the help of his mentor, that through the years he was able to heal. Physically, mentally, spiritually.
His eyes opened again, seeing the civilians they had saved. The children were whimpering. If he was being honest, he was quite surprised. He's read how the day to day lives of children during this age, how in his eyes they seemed to be working adults before they even reached two digits. And yet right now, all he was seeing were children, being children.
The adults seemed to close themselves off, eyes wide and their expressions shock-ridden. They looked well to-do, though he really shouldn't be surprised. They shared a mostly empty apartment with an Alchemist. Their clothes seemed far better put together. He couldn't exactly judge where they stood on the social ladder, but they were definitely in the upper side of said ladder.
The elderly man, seemed well at ease, staring at him. Understanding. "Is th' world goin' ta 'ell?"
Kagiso smirked. "Not the whole world." He answered with a smile. "Just a few people, and we're trying to stop it."
"An' th' Alchemis' wit ya?" he asked again. That confirms it for him, that these people at least knew who Jekyll was.
"Yes, although it seems like he is in way over his head."
The old man chuckled himself. "Lacked world experience tha' one."
"It really did seem like it." Ritsuka said, his voice back steady.
"We know he at least has an ace up his sleeve." Kagiso wasn't much for fiction growing up, but even he knew the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. From what they have witnessed so far, Hyde's existence was unconfirmed, yet there were telltale signs on Jekyll's body language. "Where's Sanson's Shadow?" he asked his fellow Master.
"Standing guard on the roof." Ritsuka answered. "We don't really get much from them, but I can still see through his eyes."
"That's good." Kagiso nodded, and was about to continue when the door suddenly opened again.
Ayako had returned, and was only carrying one person in her arms. A young man around his age, with a bloodied and mangled leg. "Kags, we got wounded."
"Bring him here." He turned around on the floor, and picked out another fetish from his pocket. "How is the battle outside?" he asked her.
She sighed, grimacing at the question. "They're handling it, but it's taking a lot out of them." She said with frown. "These numbers are insane. And since we're in a well populated area, our guys can't just unleash their big guns."
"So they also have to hold back, that's unfortunate." He responded, as Ayako placed the injured man on the floor. The man whimpered in pain, struggling to hold himself. "Ritsuka, help cover the man, we don't want him to inhale the poison. What's left of it."
"On it." Ritsuka picked the scraps of cloth left behind by Eve and went to where the man's head was. He shifted his blue eyes towards their leader with a question in mind. "Is there no one else?"
"Eve's checking out the other building. The building I went to, everyone else had locked up further." Ayako answered him with a sigh. "This man's apartment was just the one that got caught in the blast. I'm heading out again, I'll see if Eve or Jekyll are having any difficulty."
She did not wait for any sort of reply from them, leaving through the door with a sense of urgency, closing it behind her. The ground rumbled with tremors as the battle outside carried on. Kagiso shook his head with a hard grunt, trying to focus on tending to the wounded man before him. The longer this battle, this ambush/invasion carries on, the more familiar it becomes for him. He breathed through gritted teeth, bringing his ancestors through with his shamanism. It seemed like the sounds were getting louder and louder.
He felt the insides of his mouth beginning to clam up, drying up as the sounds of gunfire erupted around him, louder and louder as the second passes. He smells the gunpowder smothering his nostrils, his left hand tightening into a fist, so tight that the whites of his knuckles were visible. And ash. He was tasting ash. Why was he tasting ash?
"Kagiso-san."
He opened the eyes he didn't even realize were closed. His chest hurt from hyperventilating. He blinked when he realized what had occurred. He looked down to the wounded man, seeing him settle as the injury had been tended. He didn't even notice his own work.
He sat back and shook his head, rubbing his eyes tiredly as things returned to a semblance of normalcy. "I thought I had handled this." He said to his fellow Master.
"Is it something like PTSD?" Ritsuka asked with concern in his voice. "I can imagine something like that taking forever, especially if it's from when you were a child. The more I hear about it, the more horrifying it becomes."
"It is the reality for most of my people." He said with a tired sigh, feeling far more exhausted than what he thought he would be feeling. "A peaceful life is a rarity."
"Perhaps you can meditate?" Ritsuka suggested, nodding towards him. "With your ancestors, it should be helpful, right?"
"Huh…" he placed the fetish that he was holding back into his pocket, and searched for another one. He pulled it out, seeing the bent and flattened bullet. He held it in his hand carefully. "I guess I should. But not now." He said, as he replaced it back. "We have a job to do." He said as he stood up.
"That we do." Ritsuka nodded, joining Kagiso.
The door opened again, both young men turning to see Eve carrying an older woman in her arms. The older woman looked disheveled, but was otherwise unharmed. Kagiso also noticed that Fou was no longer on her hair. Dr. Jekyll came in behind her, helping another young woman along with an arm around his shoulder. Kagiso got moving when he noticed that she was bleeding from the side of her head. Unlike the well-dressed folk that they had brought here initially, she seemed to be of a lower class. Perhaps she was the housekeeper of sorts?
"I'm sorry, it was quite difficult to get down." The Alchemist said, helping the woman up to Kagiso's side. "The stairs were completely destroyed."
Eve moved to close the door when she had placed the older woman with the others while Kagiso began tending to the woman. Ritsuka was already ripping up more pieces of the fabric for the last batch of people.
"Where's Ayako?" Kagiso asked the Alchemist.
"She's assisting with the fight outside." Was the reply they got from him. "It's clearing out, but I don't know how long it'll last." The slightly shorter man said with a sigh.
Kagiso nodded himself. "Hopefully soon." He repeated, before he fully focused his attention on healing the injured woman.
Ayako fell to her knees, slightly nauseated, as she appeared above the apartment complex, still standing on the last of its foundations. The fact that she hadn't expected it was what made it worse, feeling her stomach lurch. She looked to her shoulder, seeing the small form of Fou looking back at her. She was sure that if the small creature could properly show emotion, he would be smirking at her.
She chuckled.
"Could you always do that?" she asked.
"Fou."
She blinked her eyes. She didn't understand him, and shook her head at the incredulity of it. "Alright. Does it take a lot out of you?"
He tilted his head at her. "Fou?"
She sighed. "Listen, big guy. If you get remotely tired, if whatever you're doing takes even a little smidgen out of you, I want you to stop, alright?"
Fou looked back at her with his small eyes, and nodded. "Fou!"
Ayako sighed with relief. "Thank you." She said to the small Phantasmal creature. She pulled out three runestones in each hand, letting them float around her digits. "Let's get dirty."
"Fou."
The runestones weaved through her fingers, glowing in power as her hair shifted into a snowy white. She held her hands apart, where the runestones shattered and seeped into her skin.
ᚦ ᛇ ᛉ
ᛗ ᛁ ᚦ
"Thurisaz, of the God Thor. Laguz, of Water. Algiz, of Protection. Mannaz, of Man. Isaz, of Ice. And Thurisaz, of the Giants." Her limbs turned into a sickly blue, as her entire body held a strength unimagined. "Strykr Jötunn!"
Her heart was beating steadily, putting herself at ease. She turned to the small creature on her shoulder, and smiled. "Drop me?"
"Fou."
This time, she was prepared, as she found herself appearing just a bit higher than where she was before. She felt Fou move onto her neck, as they both began freefalling down. Her fists tightened, with her one leg raised ready to strike like a falling star. Her descent was quiet, but there were those that still managed to catch sight of her. The steampunk robots began firing at her, but with her body currently, she was able to shrug them off. The tanks that had arrived as backup had no way of aiming their barrels that high, what with her coming down from directly above them.
A forceful explosion of dust and ash erupted when she landed upon it, striking the tanks beside it in a chain reaction. She didn't slow down, already moving towards the closest thing she could see. Another one of those robots, the bulky steampunk monstrosities, approached her with its large cleaver. She sidestepped it with a pirouette. With a spin into a powerful back kick, she shot its head off its shoulders. She planted her raised foot on what remained of the robot, and flipped herself over it, launching herself towards the rest of its group.
Bullets rippled through the air, with her enhanced senses already detecting them before they left the barrels. She danced her way, circumventing their aim with an agility that would make a world-class ballerina proud. She was never a fighter, even as she dipped her toes into various forms of martial arts and self-defense. The truth of the matter was that she always felt at home on the dance floor. Her maneuverability and dexterity had been more than enough in the face of danger. And now, further empowered by her runes, alongside her new body, she got to fully unleash her strength through the magic of dance, as another strike of an open palm caved in the chest of the robot.
She felt Fou maneuver himself around her, moving to her front, and for the briefest of moments she wondered why, when she felt a large weight slam itself onto her back, almost bringing her to her knees. She gritted her teeth when she felt a wetness form on her back. Fuck, she thought, cursing to herself at having underestimated the steampunk robots, simply because she was carrying the will of the Jötunn. She pushed the cleaver aside with her elbow, turning around to land a devastating kick onto the construct that had attacked her.
As it shattered beneath her attack, she took the massive cleaver into her own hands, and swung it around her own body. It was, admittedly, difficult. But it wasn't long until it became just another prop for her performance. As if it was a baton, she began wielding it to combat the foes that surrounded them. The steampunk robots began thinning in number, but they were rapidly replaced by the encroaching mass of inferior puppets. Ayako could only shake her head at these attempts. Even at her worst days, she could create far more magnificent dolls than these travesties. Their limbs spun like drills and hammers, trying to aim for her most vital of parts, yet they crumbled all the same to the massive cleaver in her hands.
She lost count as to how many she had felled with the cleaver she had taken, but the lighter weight she was feeling was a good indicator as to how long the battle had lasted for her. More than half an hour had elapsed since she was dropped by Fou. When the horde that surrounded her began to lessen, she noticed the invading force moving away, retreating. The sounds of battle had begun to lessen as well, leading to her smiling at their prospects. She hefted the cleaver up above her head, and threw it as hard as she could at the retreating mass, taking out as much as she could with her final attack. Only a handful had survived, rushing out of her view and reach.
She looked around herself, trying to assess the field and to see where she was needed the most. Her golden narrowed at the carnage, seeing the street and its surrounding buildings be so destroyed and torn apart, but there was nothing left of the enemy forces. Whatever was left was finished off by the Servants, cleaning the mess that had fallen on their doorstep. Her breathing was becoming steadier, but when she was certain that the worst- for this particular engagement at least- had passed. She sighed as she felt the effects of her spell receding, her blue limbs returning to their normal color, and her hair becoming the beautiful red that it always was.
Fou crawled back up her head, nestling into it as if she was a nest. She shook her head with a light smile on her face, before she moved to find the Servants that were around. It wasn't hard to find the Sabers, along with the small Caster and Martha's Shadow. Arturia looked completely disheveled. She was unharmed, but the destruction and debris had marred her otherwise perfect form. Her white dress was stained with dirt and ash, and her hair was frayed. Mordred was the same, her armor at least, since the helmet prevented Ayako from telling whether it was just as frayed or not. The small Caster looked relatively clean than the other two, dusting off the ash from her black dress as she floated between them. At the very same moment, the Shadow of Cú Chulainn dropped by beside them all, joining the group.
Instead of any of the three, Ayako made her way to the Shadow Servants, who took notice of her approach, standing at attention before her. "Return to Kags, and convey to him that the battle is over." Martha's Shadow didn't give an outward response, but did turn on her heel towards the warehouse.
"Your services are done, for the moment. Thank you." she said to the Shadow Druid. The answer she got was the Shadow slowly dissipating, feeling the weight on her shoulders lighten. She looked down to her Command Spells, and saw the faded Command Spell beginning to light back up with latent power.
She turned to the Sabers, seeing the two blondes look to her expectantly. "Arturia, go back to what remains of Jekyll's apartment. Get any sort of food and drink, supplies that you can, and bring it to the warehouse. Kags and Ritsu-chan are there. Tell Mash to also help you out."
The blonde King nodded. "Understood, Master." She left with haste, leaping away from them.
"How about me?" Mordred asked.
Ayako turned to the Red Knight with a raised brow. "Do you want to be a gopher?"
They stared at each other silently for a long moment, before she finally got an answer. "No, thank you."
"Exactly." She nodded with internal satisfaction. "We need to regroup, and get the hell out of here."
"Sounds like a plan." Mordred nodded.
"Do you have something in mind?" the little Caster asked, floating down to her level.
Ayako nodded again. "Yes, I'll explain it at the warehouse. Shakespeare!"
"The Valkyrie calls?" he appeared behind her, looking far worse than the Sabers. His clothes were singed and burnt here and there, with ash staining his face.
Ayako's brows furrowed at the nickname that she's heard before. "We're heading out. Thanks by the way."
"Your gratitude is appreciated." He replied with a flourish of his cape. And she wasn't lying. His eyes were what made sure the rest of the Servants were ahead of the enemy, constantly relaying the changes that happened throughout the battlefield.
She nodded back, and without another word, made her way back to the warehouse where the rest of her friends were. She looked around, seeing the devastation that had occurred in the battle. They have kept the other buildings standing, but the damage was very much evident. The people that were still inside have further sheltered themselves deeper. What was once a full apartment, was now a single closet for them to bunker down at. The same could not be said for the apartment complex that served as their temporary base. Dr. Jekyll's home. Bits and pieces of brick and mortar still fell with each passing second. It wouldn't take long for the building itself to fully fall apart.
She shook her head as she closed the distance towards the warehouse, the Servants following closely behind her. Her hand reached the haphazard looking wooden door, and for a second she paused, sighing tiredly after what they have been through. She pushed the door and finally entered.
Her golden eyes immediately centered in on the people they had saved. Most of them were understandably apprehensive, with only one of them seemingly calm about the situation. She internally sighed with relief, before finally stepping inside the warehouse herself. Her half of the party stood up from the floor, looking to her with relieved expressions.
"Have you guys dismissed your Shadows?" she asked them.
"Yes, we have." Kagiso replied, looking paler than he usually is. Ayako's brows furrowed in worry. "Are you wounded?"
No doubt he was referring to the dark red stain that came from her back. She waved him off. "We can hold this off till later."
He nodded, as the both of them pushed past their own worries. "We need to move."
"I know." She replied back. "When Arturia and Mash get here with supplies, we're heading to the Clock Tower."
Most of them turned to her with varying expressions. "Clock Tower? Are you sure?" the Shaman asked back, with an emotion she couldn't quite place. "That place has already been attacked by them, if our scouting is accurate."
"That's true, but if we're there, we wouldn't be in the middle of a bunch of residences." She told him with sharp eyes. "The enemy's focus was entirely on us, and yet there were still some casualties, of people who had nothing to do with this mess." She sighed bitterly. "The building was relatively empty, but the tenants of the apartment aren't all here, if you haven't noticed."
"I have."
"And should they attack us again, we'll be even better prepared." She continued with little pause. "We can reinforce whatever's left of the Clock Tower's defenses. And the Servants won't have to hold back, because there won't be any bystanders around us."
"It's a sound strategy." Shakespeare added with a nod. "It would also give us a much easier time to scour their tomes for anything and everything. Although the question remains, are we heading to the British Museum, or perhaps one of the other departments?"
"The British Museum. It's nothing but rubble, but that also puts us right at the center." She answered.
Kagiso nodded in understanding, seeing the logic in her choice. "And it will also mean that we can send things back to Chaldea without resistance."
A smirk formed on Ayako's face. "Exactly." She said, placing her hand on his shoulder. "As soon as we drop the supplies here for these people, we'll move out immediately."
"Where did you get these supplies?" Ritsuka asked as he got closer. "And, where's Mash and Saber?"
"From the remains of Jekyll's apartment, and those two are the ones getting them." She turned to the Alchemist with a brief glance. "Hope you don't mind."
"It will be better put to use." He said with a relenting shrug. "It is as you said. The complex is compromised, so it would be better if we leave. We didn't even get a chance to discuss what Ritsuka found at Victor's home."
"Uhn." The taller peach haired babe spoke up, grunt as per her usual way.
Ayako turned around, meeting everyone's gaze one at a time. She clapped her hands once, just to emphasize her next words. "Great, we're all on the same page, so let's fix this place up, and then get the hell outta here."
"What's wrong, Koleen?" the Blonde Witch looked up, seeing the bespectacled Caster staring down at her. She had secluded herself for just a second, under the pretense of personal space.
Which was the truth. After that hectic engagement in the Scotland Yard, she needed just some place quiet to unwind, without anyone disturbing her. A simple closet in an abandoned house. And she had plenty of Casters as well to watch her back. And front. And sides. And everything else in between. But it was during this quiet reprieve that she got a message from Ayako. Her brief elation at her friend's recovery had been quashed by the news of their attack. And that though they had managed to repel the attack, the apartment was lost, and that they were forced to relocate.
She sighed, shaking her head before she straightened her back. "Do you know where the Clock Tower is?"
His eyes narrowed, and for a second his brow twitched. He sighed. "I assume there were complications." He guessed accurately.
She nodded. "Apparently, Soho's been thrashed, and now they're heading towards the Clock Tower." She said, standing back up from the chair she had taken.
He nodded in understanding. "It makes sense. And yes, I do know the way."
"Good. What do you think of us taking a short detour?" She told the taller man.
"Detour?" he asked back, moving away to give her space to leave the closet.
She nodded as she walked passed him. "I want to see the damage with my own eyes."
"To be quite honest, I am quite apprehensive." El-Melloi said, following behind her as they exited the house she tucked herself in for a second. "We may be plenty, but if our enemy managed to do that much damage to the base team, then I am hesitant to stay so long anywhere unsheltered."
"I am of the same mind." Circe said, as they stepped out onto the street, with her hands on her hips.
"You know?" she asked, stopping before the shorter Servant.
Circe nodded. "There were sounds and signs of conflict coming for that direction."
"And no one told me about this?" she asked, turning to the other Casters that came with her.
"It wasn't the only thing that came to us through the winds." Andersen said, his deep voice drawing her pink eyes to him. "There were conflicts happening around the city."
"But this was the largest one so far." Tamamo added with a knowing smirk. "Nothing else in the city came close to that so far. It's as if all their attention was focused there."
"It was that bad?" Lord El-Melloi II asked with bewilderment showing on his face, that shifted to frustration, as he silently cursed to himself.
Koleen briefly glanced to the Japanese Caster, seeing Kintoki approach from behind the fox youkai. "Tamamo…"
The Blonde Witch shifted her gaze back to where the apartment block was, her brows furrowing in frustration. She sighed bitterly, shaking her head as she held back the irritation she felt. "What's done is done. Alright then, we'll head straight for the Clock Tower."
The Clock Tower Lord nodded in agreement, taking the lead for the group as he guided them through the maze that is the old streets of London. Being a relatively ancient city, it meant that not many had changed from here to the modern times. And as they walked down these winding paths, Koleen began to truly notice just how quiet things have gotten around them. It was, to put it mildly, disconcerting. She moved herself closer to Circe, being the Servant that was directly bonded to her for this Singularity. The Enchantress would have no doubt noticed, yet she didn't voice any sort of comment.
Eventually, after half an hour of light sprinting, they came out of the harried buildings that shadowed them, into a massive open area, with nothing but ruins before her eyes.
Koleen looked around the area, brows furrowed as she tried to recall where they were. "Isn't this… where the British Museum is supposed to be?"
"That's right." El-Melloi replied, as they walked towards the fresh ruins. "The Clock Tower's main entrance is underneath the museum."
"Oh." A look of disappointment flashed on her face. "I expected a university of some sort."
"The other departments are probably what you're picturing." He answered her. "Large college towns all on their own, around London."
When their feet stepped onto where the museum would be, Koleen couldn't help but cringe at the thought of the countless historical pieces of human history that was now lost. Reduced to nothing but dust. Preposterous, she thought to herself. Such disgraceful disregard of what has been human civilization had cultivated and accomplished over the millions of years of its existence. She felt something curl around her hand, her eyes blinking rapidly at the sudden sensation. She looked down, not even realizing that her hand had closed to a fist, one so tight that there were traces of red on her nails. She must have been incredibly frustrated that she didn't even notice it in the first place. The hand that had wrapped around it belonged to the Enchantress that she was walking besides.
Despite the callous image of a magus that she embodied, every once in a while something like this emerges, and it does plenty in assuaging Koleen's heart.
"There it is." The Lord said, his voice drawing her attention towards a cleared area, showing of all things what looked like a makeshift trapdoor.
"Please tell me there used to be an actual door here." She said, cringing at the thought of magi going down a hole like a meerkat.
"Yes, we use doors like actual civilized people." The Lord said with an amused chuckle. He paused when he took another step towards it, almost flinching. "Ha, looks like they've already erected powerful bounded fields."
"Is that so?" Tamamo said with a quirked brow, moving forward from the back as she joined the modern Caster. Her hand seemed to be feeling for the unseen bounded field. "Hm, not bad, for something to keep insects back."
"Considering the insects that are littering this city, it's unsurprising." Circe said the rest of the group reached the bounded field. "Come on then, we don't have all day."
"Allow me." Kintoki said, pushing past them to lift the trapdoor for the rest of them. "I can cover the rear."
"Excellent." Andersen almost seemed to rush forward, being the first to take a step down towards the underground facility.
They all followed behind him, the eerie smog infested overworld being replaced by the dark and dreary dungeon that spanned the entirety of London's underneath. A maze-like series of tunnels that have existed for centuries, an ant farm on a massive scale that Koleen had difficulty in truly imagining. No matter how many times both Ayako and Lord El-Melloi II explained it to her, the scope of it all was still beyond what she could fully comprehend.
And then they went deeper.
At least down two more levels.
She was never claustrophobic, but she would be lying if she said that this damp and dreary stone brick wasn't getting to her. As if the stone brick walls seemed to get tighter and tighter, constricting around them.
"They should be here." El-Melloi said, stopping at a closed and boarded door that would not look out of place in some high fantasy setting, which stood out compared to the other rooms they passed by, all caved in and destroyed. "I can sense the other three Masters."
"And some other potent Servant energies." Tamamo commented. "What, you guys have Sabers here?"
"Two." He answered, stepping aside to allow Koleen to take the lead.
She was about to knock, when a more sensible thought came to her. She brought her communicator close to her, and spoke. "Guys, its Koleen. I'm outside."
"Oh, thank god." Ritsuka responded almost immediately. Around less than a minute of silence followed, before the thick wooden and steel door glowed a light blue. It flashed as if a key had unlocked it, before finally opening for them.
Ritsuka was there, looking disheveled and harried, specs of dirt lingering on his face even though there was an attempt to clean it. He smiled at them with relief. "You guys are alright." His blue eyes then shifted to their newest additions. "Oh, you got new people as well, that's great. Come in, come in. We've tried to make it hospitable for all of us." He said, taking a step back to give them room to enter.
Koleen was first, and her pink eyes immediately scanned the room. The left corner of the room has Jekyll, back leaning against the wall with his legs relaxed. Next to him was Shakespeare, writing into his book with an intensity that she had come to expect from a Caster. Koleen's brows furrowed in confusion when she noticed beside them was a tall young woman, wearing a torn up wedding gown. On the other side of the room, was Kagiso, meditating with a layer of white smoke covering his body. She also found Ayako not too far from him, her red coat spread on the floor with parts of her rifle that she was putting back together. Floating behind her, looking over the Puppeteer's work, was a small girl that was clad in a black gothic dress.
Mash was at the center, her shield laid on the ground, glowing. Her lavender eyes were looking back at her. "You guys are safe?"
"Fared better than us, at least." Ayako said, standing up and leaving her unfinished rifle on the coat.
"Sorry we weren't there to help out." The Witch said with a hard frown on her face.
"It's fine." Ayako waved her hand to her. "We got complacent, and left ourselves open to attack."
"At the very least, we have more people to help alleviate any sort of subsequent attack from now." Ritsuka said with a smile.
She nodded, and was about to voice a reply, before the shield lit up before them. All eyes, including that of the Servants', turned to it as a holographic display of Chaldea appeared before them. Olga, standing with her arms crossed over her chest, tense before their very eyes. The Doctor, his hand on his cheek, his eyes looking at them with relief as well. Da Vinci, her smile lacking its usual color to it. Cú Chulainn, standing behind all of them, his wooden staff on his shoulder, his red eyes sharp as he stared at them. The door to the Control Room opened, as Medea entered the room to join them.
When the first Greek Caster stopped beside her fellow Casters, the Director spoke up. "Ground Team. Report."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
i finished this chapter far quicker than i usually do, enough that i had time to start up on a backlog again. that was nice.
and let me tell you, i also had trouble trying to determine when actually the 2nd week of April fell. i had to go back to a month with a similar layout of days, which was January, to see where it fell, and that chapter was released on the 19th (back when i released in the 3rd week of the month). so, that settled it for April 13th then.
there's also not really much to talk about this chapter, everything is pretty straightforward. it was going to be longer, but i cut out the faff rather than further bloat the chapter, 'cause it felt like we were reaching that level. for example, that detour mentioned above? i initially planned it on being fleshed out, but aside from the bloat i mentioned, i felt like it would have just been mostly an expositional repeat of the fight.
we are about to see things unravel in the next chapter though, so things are about to get interesting.
also, let's address our newest addition to the fanfic, by way of a slightly updated cover, ya'll know what that is up there?
it's a command spell! specifically, Ayako's!
quite difficult, because i only had access to microsoft paint. around the earlier parts of the story i tried to make it then, but it was difficult to fine tune it exactly how i want it, so i stopped.
i tried again around the end of March, having gotten better at using paint, and i can say that i'm happy with it. (man, i remember i was quite proficient in photoshop when i was a kid.)
is it perfect? no. is it exactly to how i want it, exactly? not really. but for a second go at making command spells, it's nice. and also, i did them for Koleen and Kagiso as well, which you guys can check here: meganz (put a dot between A and N) (slash) folder (slash) geoRjLCK#JTuK47X5TF9pLKxDKGlTRA
it's the same link that i gave you guys for my personal Servants list. that part's not updated yet, but there should be a new picture with the three command spells, so why don't we go through them again?
Ayako's command spell is situated on her inner wrist, below her palm. it contains the Othala rune in the middle, the three braided lines on the right, and then the outline of a face on the left. the Othala and the face outline is perfect, but i wished i could be more fine with the braids. i pictured it to be thicker near the rune, and thinning to tips near the end of the braid.
Koleen's command spell is on the back of her right hand, though it reaches her fingers. it has an old fashion key in the middle coming from her knuckle, chains coming from the key to her forefinger joint, and chaining butterflies from the key to her ringfinger joint. as you guys can see, the butterflies don't look like butterflies. paint doesn't have butterfly stamps, so i had to settle with four pointed stars.
Kagiso's command spell is on his left pec. the smallest crescent shape, misshapen and curved to give the rough silhouette of an animal, the second shape above it is one that looks like a dagger, while the biggest crescent shape gives the image of a sun. this one i'm most happy with, because it's the one i have issues the least. the animal shape could be less ridiculous, but it's good.
and i know what question you guys will have after seeing that picture.
the answer is yes.
so, with that out of the way, let's get to the reviews!
Quartermass: Eve is such a fitting name for her, nothing else comes close.
Addicted2fanfics: damn, that's rough dude.
Lia Angelique: thanks!
Harlequin320: Tamamo really gets shafted in anything that gives her a chance to shine.
King0fP0wers: oh man, Moriarty and Holmes being here would have been insanity. and Evil Waver would have been something. he sorta was there in the game's Septem Singularity.
TalonScythe: Da Vinci feels so underutilized in Part 1 of FGO, not until Camelot and even then she disappeared for most of it. with the added reasoning i had, i feel like this would be an interesting development for everyone involved, including Da Vinci herself.
and thanks! this interview's gonna be useful.
i feel like, with the rush of Arcade content, that they're really just going to let it be Part 1 unlike mobile. we're really rushing through it like no tomorrow.
well, with that out of the way, once again thanks again everyone for reading through this!
leave a review if you don't mind, and i'll see you all next time!