Chapter 67: The Beginning
It was just like the other day, no abnormal coverage so far that has been detected and as much as Kotori wanted it that way, it was making her feel uneasy for some reason even though this is how they wanted it to be.
No spacequakes threaten the peaceful place and yet Kotori has this gut feeling that this is just a calm before the storm.
So far, there is no spacequake alarm blaring at them.
Currently, she is on the ship Fraxinus overlooking the whole Tengu city. Her uniform draped over her shoulder the usual and the lollipop in her mouth. Kotori admitted that it made her relax for a little bit.
One of the video surveillance was seeing the Tohka twins practicing kendo together with one of Ritsuka's Servants. If one would look closely, she swore that the Servant might as well be identical to Tenka.
Kotori could only frown automatically from seeing them. She just shrugged and excused them as a sort of an exercise and a stress-relief. There is no such evidence that they will use it in accordance with their powers, barring Saber, right? Oh, how Kotori would wish that this is just an easy thought. She couldn't just ignore that her brother was capable of wielding Spirit's weapons from the Spirits that he managed to seal. She was wholly prepared to terminate her own precious brother if this somehow got out of hand, until the intervention of the group Chaldea.
It has reached to the point that the orders from the top were thrown out of the window. She can't afford to have loose ends at her realm of authority and she was confident that Chaldea can and will cooperate with them.
She still doesn't have any idea why Saber was not with her Master, besides from what Ritsuka and Mash has supplied her with information, which is some kind of a punishment for facing Tenka while she was at the height of her powers. Honestly, Kotori was too busy to care about the problems right now, not to mention that [Princess] was separated into two fully beings as Tohka and Tenka respectively.
They were somewhat aware of this phenomenon since the appearance of the Yamai Twins, only that it happened right in front of them unexpectedly. Is this how the Yamai's existence split into two? Who knows.
"Status Report!" Kotori suddenly barked a command, as she scanned her operators across the command room.
"Nothing happened so far, commander."
"Nothing unusual! Ma'm."
"All Green!"
All of her staff reported their current findings: Nothing extraordinary yet.
Kotori was supposed to feel at ease, and yet she found herself intrigued by the current situation. It is possible that they might have gotten used to encountering Spirits day by day to the point that this eerie silence was making her nervous ironically.
If this goes on for another hour, then Kotori could happily have some deserved break.
Too bad, their recording instruments picked up something right at the moment Kotori was thinking of having a break, which she blamed for herself for jinxing it.
*PLAK*
*KAPLAK*
Saber Alter easily parried Tenka's overhead strike while at the same step out once Tohka tried to reach for her legs.
"Too weak! Too sudden!" Saber barked some rough calculation, as she wielded a kendo stick against the two Spirits, who opted to use a similar stick. Saber Alter barely has any sweat on her skin thanks to her Servant nature and the two Yatogami were already drenched in sweat.
Not prepared for a sudden retort, Tenka found her head bonked by Saber and Tohka's shoulder tapped by the same stick. Despite the controlled strength alluded by Saber, they could feel the pain emanating from those spots.
"Argh!" Tenka could only groan in pain angrily.
"Ouch!" Tohka was on the verge of crying as she repeatedly caressed her sore shoulder.
Shidou meanwhile served as an audience to their power play. "Uhm, Saber? Can you please go easy on them?" He pleaded cautiously while rubbing the back of his head. Saber only watched him with mild amusement, despite not showing any emotion.
They might have started 30 minutes prior and that excludes their warm up but Saber was also aware of the difference in their physique; her being a Servant while the two becoming a human.
Saber just closed her eyes. "Fine, we'll have some break." She decided.
"Yay!" Tohka's tired expression turned into happiness.
"*tsk*" While Tenka was obviously disappointed in herself as she put the stick by her shoulder. She then glared toward Saber, who glared back at her, forming an invisible electric connection between their sights.
"I swear, I will defeat you one day…"
Saber just raised her left eyebrow. "I'm looking forward to it!"
Tohka was oblivious of their rivalry but Shidou was the one who felt the pressure from them and he was still contemplating what he will try to say next.
"Ne, Shidou! Shidou" Tohka childishly and immediately grabbed a handful of Shidou's T-shirt, which made Shidou drag toward Tohka. "I want to buy an ice cream!"
True enough. an ice cream truck not far from them was already roving the neighborhood with unnoticing if it weren't for Tohka's extreme sense of hunger.
"Huh! That's new…" Shidou admitted that the ice cream truck was a new sight here. Until now, both him and Kotori never encountered the ice cream truck passing by their home. a smaller half of his suspicion about the ice cream truck was that it might be Ratatoskr's secret operation. For a moment, he just wanted to play igno
Fortunately, Shidou has spare change in his pockets for some reason. Who is he to deny Tohka's desire? Naturally, Ratatoskr would readily back him up if they were currently connected to him.
Shidou just nodded to himself as he held Tohka's hand together as they walked toward the ice cream truck location… like a real couple no less.
Saber just gave them a piercing glare as their figures lessened in her line of sight and then toward the ice cream truck, or where its last location she had seen, as it might have been hidden by the ornamental plants not far from them.
Honestly, her gluttonous stomach already demanded for a taste of the triple combo flavored ice cream but something else is bothering her. Unlike Shidou who has a penchant for noticing his out of ordinaryness from his surroundings, Saber Alter doesn't care at all.
But right now, her guts were telling her that the ice cream truck itself is not right and her hand that was holding the kendo stick was trembling slightly.
"Hey, are we continuing or not?" Tenka herself asked. As much as she was tempted to startle with the kendo stick Saber while she was out of focus, she would rather grab her attention than to face an avenging strike to her own head.
Naturally, Tenka was still thirsty for some sparring, even if her opponent was stronger than her.
Meanwhile, despite already agreeing with Tohka's other half, Saber was still disturbed by an uncertain thought, even though her body was now already set in a fighting motion.
Should she continue to ignore that fleeting thought and just entertain Tenka or would she try to ruin Shidou and Tohka brief respite? It seemed that Saber already decided.
Kotori could only frown at the instruments showing the results for her. She never thought that the problem would arise today of all things. What's worse is that they can't just easily camouflage themselves just like that as even though they are already hidden from the individual's eyes, the anomaly was dead straight to them and knew where they are. Even more alarming is that it has energies equal to a Spirit.
Kotori couldn't imagine a Spirit so opposed to them at first sight. No, the commander of Fraxinus readily expected this situation, it is such a miracle that it hasn't happened yet until now.
There is no time to boggle for reasons why Kotori needs to focus on how to defend themselves.
"All units, prepare for impact! Shields for the right side, strength and density at maximum!"
The ship eventually sailed to the north at moderate speed lest risking revelation of a huge ship over the city. Kotori was too careful for that. glancing toward the radar, the anomaly too changed direction, much to her dismay.
The ship Fraxinus was really a target after all.
Even at a noticeable range, they couldn't exactly pinpoint what was chasing them. Is it a missile? Is it an actual Spirit as what they deduced? What is it? Kotori could only curse at discretion because she can't identify it all due to a heavy aura that was covering its figure.
At least, by the time it would make contact with the ship, they would already have been far from the city. While the Fraxinus is built for the Spirits, it was not meant to face off directly against the Spirit's themselves. Even fully armed, they couldn't necessarily risk targeting the Spirit right near the city. Besides, by the time they had already identified the danger, the anomaly was in their strongest cannon's minimum range.
"Imminent impact in 3..2..1.." Kyohei began the countdown. all of the staff and operators, including the commander herself, were feeling dread already.
*CRASH!*
Their forcefield tanked the impact and patterns of green hexagon's briefly became visible at the moment's force. Still, it managed to tilt the ship slightly to their right.
The inside of the command room briefly bathed in red light before reverting to their usual lighting and yet it seemed the occupants inside weren't pleased.
Automatically, a video feed showed who is the perpetrator and thankfully, it managed to filter the bright light that was currently covering her.
All Kotori could do was to widen her eyes in disbelief.
Of all the likelihood to be compared to a Spirit, the self-proclaimed humanity's strongest wizard was the one to who is trying to get in loudly.
*SLASH!*
..and with one swipe of her laser sword, their shield was very much dissipated. Kotori knew sooner or later, Ellen would try to cut them much to her gusto and has now immediately announced evacuation to their escape pod and set the airship to self-destruct in order to dissuade the mad Ellen.
She never expected that the DEM's finest would shut the shield just like that and made it a losing battle for them.
What's more agonizing was that her loyal compatriots won't budge under her scrutiny. Kotori could only groan.
"What the heck are you all doing?! I ordered you to get out and escape!"
Her second commander himself disapproved of that notion. "Unless our commander prioritizes her own safety, we won't leave you here whether you like it or not."
Kotori's eyes twitched. Even if she felt elated by them demonstrating their loyalty, it was really at a worst moment. Kotori, as much as she was a sadistic commander, valued her members more than her own life.
"Besides, we can't let Shidou go berserk if things go awry with you missing or hurt." Their analyst, Reine, supplied logically.
Kotori sweatdropped. "F-fine, I will be with you at the moment." Reine is right. It would be even worse if Shidou became an avatar of destruction just because he saw her missing, hurt or killed. Calamity after calamity, it seemed she was punished for some reason.
*WOOOOOOOOOH*
Alarms were blaring back and forth already as they retreated back to the rear part of the Fraxinus with Kotori leading them.
It was tense and yet they acted accordingly. The reddish light that was bathing them was not helping the atmosphere among them.
They have already practiced this drill now and then but now it has become real.
Kyohei checked the status of the ship on a tablet. With a couple finger taps, Kotori could sense that her next-in-command's voice was obviously strained.
"Command room has been breached, initiating a lockdown sequence." they knew it would be useless, but at least it will stall the perpetrator and give them some ample time. The command room after all was already rigged with traps to make Ellen busy herself.
Kotori, already eyed the pods to be used.
"Commander, we need to make sure you will be safe." Analyst officer Reine commented. "and as such you need to go in first."
Kotori's eyes twitched once more and felt her stomach pit. She figured out what they were trying to do as she was no flimsy fool. Acting defiant would be useless and they would be killed in one blow. As a commander, it is necessary to be safe from harm but as someone who had already formed a bond, it would really hurt her so much.
Having left no choice, Kotori proceeded to enter the pod on her own and before she could look back, she felt a sharp pain and was already locked inside her chamber.
Kotori just gasped as the last thing she saw before she fell unconscious was Reine in a troubled emotion holding a tranquilizer injection while computing the small screen beside the pods for locking directions. While felt forced, for Reine, it was logical as they didn't want Kotori to risk having turned to pseudo-Spirit once more.
In her fleeting thoughts, this is the first time she saw Reine showing a plethora of emotions, ranging from concern to relief, before her consciousness fell back.
The last thing Kotori felt was the heat from a nearby explosion as the pod dislodged from the main ship and escaped.
As of the moment, the ship Fraxinus has fallen.
The silence was deafening.
The heat was unbearing.
She blinked. Once. Twice. Sight is still blurry. Everything was orange.
Broken glasses near her face on the ground full of grass. She deduced that it might have aided her poor eyesight. She concluded that she suffered from a memory lapse.
The smell of sulfur and metal assaulted her nose immediately and she felt nauseous all of the sudden.
She tried to raise herself up but a sharp pain followed afterwards by a dull feeling interrupted her train of thoughts.
Her left arm was bloodied and crumpled, broken bone jutting out.
There is no time for gasping and crying for pain, no matter how her body relents. With her good right arm, she tried to drag herself away from the safe location, preferably, where she could withstand the heat. Lower part of her body seemed unresponsive, but she could feel her right leg bending in the wrong direction.
She's not burned thank goodness but then she felt another pain by her guts.
She could tell she was impaled by a matter, a metal pole perhaps, front to back, fortunately or unfortunately, it prevented the blood from leaking out.
Is she dying or not? Perhaps.
Her other compatriots could have been dead already.
Her good arm once again grabbed a fistful of grass and dirt and pulled.
Pain shot up on her guts once more but she kept going.
Through her focused sight towards an undisclosed location, she could see a pair of feet right in front of her.
Enemy or foe? She will still die no matter what.
She continued her pained destination when suddenly a gust of wind swept around her. It was so strong that she needed to bow down and use her good arm to anchor her useless body. It was then she realized that she had ruptured eardrums. She could feel the wetness inside her deaf ears. Blood, she concluded.
Well, good to know.
She became triple weary after forcing herself grounded.
A minute or less, she doesn't even know how much time has passed and she felt lightness.
She realized she was being cradled.
She looked at the individual who held her dearly, although with some difficulty.
Ruffled hair that is colored orange and she was able to pinpoint who it was.
Ritsuka. Ritsuka Fujimaru. Well known ally of them. She was shouting something somewhere then at her.
At least, being in the hands of someone she trusted dearly, she can rest a bit more for real.
Ritsuka couldn't believe it. It just happened so fast that she couldn't act in response accordingly.
Right in the broad daylight, the Fraxinus was obliterated at the instance and Ritsuka was one of the witnesses.
She, together with her Servants, gathered at the crash site, which is very far from the city right now. where they spotted a lone DEM wizard that seemed to be searching for something. Saber, who already joined her Master at the moment's notice, decided to engage her with such fury.
Ritsuka already ordered her to drag the fight away from the site.
At a glance, Saber could tell that the wizard was exceptionally strong, to the point she could fight her on without restriction. Saber readied her sword like a bat and with a huge swing, batted the wizard out of existence and produced violent winds in response.
*KABOOM!*
A shock wave followed.
Saber followed after the wizard's successful forced ejection.
Meanwhile, Ritsuka already rummaged through the wreckage and exhumed the fires already with the help of her Servants.
Rider, Assassin, Shielder and Berserker were already gathering the found bodies and it wasn't pretty at all.
"S-Senpai…" Mashu was unsure what to do. It was too late to save them all. Ritsuka could tell them one by one, even with their few encounters.
Ritsuka could feel her heart beating rapidly, and then slow down in response. Mashu subconsciously accompanied her in order to make her feel at ease.
The Master of Chaldea could only breathe heavily. This was too insane as it was reminding her of the experience she had when she encountered those damn Lostbelts. It made her feel callous at the sight of death.
Here, almost all of the members of the Ratatoskr are dead, save for one identified as Miss Reine, who was on the verge of dying.
It was lucky that they found her grasping for life. Ritsuka took the initiative to examine her whole body condition first. Well, she wanted to ask for some confirmation.
But the problem is that she was unresponsive all the time and she let Berserker heal at the instant in tandem with Assassin's crude healing techniques.
They managed to salvage the majority of her body and she survived but unfortunately, she fell unconscious the moment Ritsuka handled her and Nightingale wouldn't dare to try to wake her up or lest they would feel her wrath or amputations as how she would threaten anyone. Not that Ritsuka would try to wake her up to tell her where Kotori is.
Amongst the dead,, they couldn't quite find her body and it would be probably worse for Shidou if he were to find it out. They were sure because the bodies they have found so far came from the adults.
Ritsuka still contemplates whether they would bury the bodies on the spot or bring them to the authorities, which they didn't know who.
But as of the moment, they have someone they need to worry about.
Ellen needed to wipe off the blood running from her nose but it seemed that she was left with no choice.
Her 2nd laser sword was easily destroyed by the blackened blade wielded by Saber Alter and she was looking forward to slay her at instant and she has full permission from her Master to do it.
The strongest Wizard was ridiculously good at fighting Spirits directly but she didn't expect to be used as a baseball initially. She blamed it to herself as she was busy cleaning up the mess she made with the Ratatoskr, whom she presumed were now gladly eviscerated by her own power.
Saber Alter wasn't giving her some time to reconsider anything as it seemed her every slash had the intent on putting her down for good, which is a tad worrying for an ordinary individual.
The 'Spirit' Ellen was currently facing was rather good at fighting her and, she admitted, in some sense that she has difficulty making herself advantageous at this fight. Her laser blades could do nothing but scratch at her Spirit Armor and skin. For some reason, her weapons, specially manufactured to combat Spirits, weren't working perfectly as intended.
And she was already on her 3rd weapon already. Glancing back at Saber, it seemed she was already dedicated to killing her.
She had already cornered her like a little rat and she was running out of tricks as a wizard but she smiled evilly, one that made Saber Alter flinch and paid attention.
Afterall, what more can she lose?
A light then fully covered her, from head to toe. temporarily blinding Saber.
Saber didn't waste a moment and propped a blade toward her, but not before it was blocked by a light pillar.
Saber Alter already confirmed her suspicions; her enemy was indeed a Spirit.
Once the light was gone, Ellen's physique changed, or rather her clothing was. Instead of a CR-Unit armor, she instead looked like a bride ready to marry, completed with a transparent veil draped over her visibly angered face.
Six pillars of sorts were currently revolving around her, as if she were a sun herself. Saber immediately engaged and found herself being held off by a barrier created by Ellen.
With a quick Mana Burst, it gave way, but Ellen was already gone, or more like teleported a short distance by turning into a surge of light.
After teleporting several meters away from Saber, her pillars already formed into a column and fired a beam, which Saber barely dodged, a slight burn by her shoulder.
Saber rushed toward her with the same fury, but Ellen just teleported and did the same gig, which Saber avoided in an instant.
If Ellen thought that fighting her at melee is bad, then this being at range could be preferable for her but too bad, Saber learned that quickly.
With a quick push from her sword using a Mana Burst, Saber too can create miniscule beams that are also damaging as the same as swinging her vile hammer. Ellen managed to teleport but not before it hit her by her thighs. It penetrated through her Astral Dress with ease.
It hurts. It hurts so much that Ellen falters her concentration a little bit. biting her lips in pain so much that it bled.
No. She somehow expected it. Even if empowered by the core of a Spirit, it is still not enough, especially with the likes of Saber. Even if this were going on, there is no doubt that she would be able to overwhelm her one way or another.
Yes, she was ultimately aware that there is something different about them than not being a usual Spirit and being able to face one of them was enough proof. She was badly losing, even with her newfound powers.
So it wasn't enough, huh?
She laughed so hard at her own irony.
*SHLUCK!*
She was laughing at her own misery that she didn't mind having her own chest stabbed through by the cold tyrant, pushing it burst it out of her back. It doesn't matter anymore, it was obvious that she was greatly holding herself back and that she didn't even notice her approach.
Those cold yellow eyes would forever etched in her mind but she just smiled with her bloody teeth.
Warm blood was already flowing freely out of her. Her Astral Dress was just as useless as her own clothes.
Saber was certain that her darkened sword stabbed through her heart clean and this means that Ellen was as good as dead right at the moment she faced Saber and yet that same feeling of uneasiness still won't go away.
Ellen's grin was everlasting and she uttered something for herself.
Saber could only widen her eyes in realization.
But it was too late. Too late.
There was a deafening explosion followed by the whole world that was consumed by twilight.