Next Chapter guys! I know I promised fights and it's near the end, but I realized that if I completely finished this part in one chapter it would be near 5,000 words so I split it into two parts. The next part will have the blood and gore! Though the end has blood too.
Please review to give feedback!
Chapter 9- Journey to Revelations
Jeanne POV
Jeanne and Siegfried hurried through the trees of the forest, the leaves blurring around them. After Siegfried had gotten the alert from Ariene the two had taken off. Jeanne was especially anxious because as they had moved to meet Ariene, she had told them her theory of what was going on in this world and how their senses to magic was being muted. She did not know of a mage or servant who could have done that. If they could, they would have to be extremely powerful or have help from powerful people.
"Jeanne. How are you holding up with that body?" Siegfried asked, pulling her from her thoughts. "Your body is still mortal after all."
"It's fine." Jeanne promised, giving him a soft smile. She felt touched by his worry. "I can still go."
Siegfried nodded but she could still see uncertainty in his teal eyes as he looked at her. "Maybe you should stay near the back with the Masters. You don't want to stress your magical power like you did in Trifas.
Jeanne winced as she remembered the Grail War in Trifas, her spiritual body had disappeared after her battle with Shirou Amakusa and the mortal body of Laeticia had been preserved.
"That will not happen again." Jeanne promised as she looked at Siegfried. "This time, we have many servants to help us and from what I understand, Issie and Cleo can summon more if need be."
Siegfried just nodded as the two of them finally cleared the trees in the forest that separated them from the rest of the group.
Ayaka was standing with Arthur, who was fussing over her, probably because she was the only one could properly feel the magic from the cave; Gawain and Rin were also standing close by.
Ariene herself was talking to Issie near the entrance of the cave itself, both of them occasionally peering into the pitch blackness of the cave and discussing something in hushed voices. Cleo was with Boudica and Atalanta under one of the trees farther away, rummaging through the packs that they had brought with them.
Jeanne landed on the ground with Siegfried near Ayaka's group, quickly catching the rest of the groups attention.
"You know, if I think about it, the magic that is coming from here does make my skin feel a bit sticky." Issie said.
"Are you ready to go?" Jeanne asked, ignoring Issie's remark, but it did cause Cleo to roll her eyes.
"Not yet. Issie, come with me." Cleo snapped, marching over to Issie and pulling her towards an area where the trees and bushes were really thick, Atalanta following after them.
Jeanne watched with raise brows as the rest of the group made their way over.
"So, do we have a plan?" Boudica asked as she joined, going to Ariene's side and tossing her two golden apples before tossing Siegfried two as well.
Jeanne shook her head, feeling frustration build in her. She did not have a plan that would ensure minimal casualties because she thought finding the magic would be a long shot and so did the others. They couldn't retreat and come back another day either because the source of the mana and magic might have been moved by then.
"The best we can do is have a solid formation." Arthur spoke up, meeting each of their eyes. "A formation and keep it as long as possible."
Gawain immediately nodded in agreement. "If we can hold a strong front, we can take any enemy."
"Not so sure about that." Rin said, looking doubtful.
It was at that moment that Jeanne saw Cleo and Issie both make their way back to the group. To her surprised, they had both changed to what looked like combat suits that were of the same design just different colors. Cleo's was mostly black and purple with gray accents and Issie's was white and orange with black accents.
"What are you two wearing?!" Rin demanded taking in their attire.
"We couldn't wear this in the woods in modern Japan since others might cross our paths." Cleo revealed, a hint of annoyance in her voice. At least it was easier to hide in the past singularities since they wore cloaks that covered most of their bodied a lot.
"It helps with the casting of spells and helps them keep their mana and od better." Atalanta revealed. "Spells don't drain them as much when they fire either."
Jeanne nodded, that would help a lot. "What about the apples?" She asked as Siegfried handed his two to her when Atalanta gave him two more before giving some to Arthur and Gawain as well. She even gave one to Ayaka and Rin.
Ariene put the apples away. "They replenish the mana reserved and od."
Jeanne' eyes widened, now that was amazing. She wanted to question them about it but they had bigger issues. "Before you came back, we were wondering about how to do a formation while you were changing.
Before either Chaldean Master could speak the intercom around Issie's wrist beeped and the holographic from of Roman popped out. "I think you should have the strongest in front and back."
"Do you even know what's happening?" Ayaka asked, face red at having jumped in shock when Roman appeared.
Roman nodded, "I'm always monitoring your conversations. We don't know what's in that cave. you should have Arthur, Gawain and Ariene in the front of the formation, Atalanta, Boudica and Siegfried at the back. Of course, the Masters should be in the center of the formation and Jeanne should be with them."
There was a pause as everyone considered the plan before Jeanne nodded. "It's a sound plan."
Roman nodded back before looking at the Chaldean Masters, "Stay safe and keep me informed as much as possible. Kakeru is optimistic that they'll finish in London soon, he'll come help if he can. Good luck." Roman said again before blinking out.
"Lets go!" Issie said immediately.
Jeanne nodded and soon she found herself running through the darkness of the cave next to the four female Masters who were jogging behind the three Knight servants. The only light was coming from a silvery orb of light that Ariene had summoned.
Gawain POV
"I can definitely feel the magic now." Gawain heard Issie mutter from behind him. "How much further till the source?"
It was Jeanne who answered the question. "About a mile or two."
Gawain nodded, they had been walking for a good twenty minutes, but he bet it must have felt longer for the Masters, they weren't as coordinated as servants, even with the orb of light Ariene had summoned.
They walked for a few more minutes before Gawain began to hear a rather ominous sound, it was the sound of something rubbing against the harsh stone of the cave. Next came the ragged gurgling breaths.
He heard a stifled cry of surprise from Ayaka as skeletal figures suddenly charged at them through the darkness of the cave.
Gawain cursed, pulling out his sword and parrying the blow by a skeletal figure with the top part of its skull missing. It somehow hissed and pushed back at him. He grunted as his blade locked with a ragged and rusted sword that the Skeleton held. He kicked the Skeleton back and charged, slicing Excalibur Galatine clean through and making the bones crumble to the ground.
All around him, he heard Servants fight all around him, meaning that the Skeletons had come from the back of the group too. He watched as his King sliced through one Skeleton before pivoting to his left to dodge a strike from a second that charged at him; Arthur brought down his sword as he turned, cleaving through the rather breakable bones.
Green eyes met blue as they nodded at each other. Gawain resumed his own fight, easily cutting down Skeleton after Skeleton as they charged at him. His blade cut the head off his latest opponent when he realized that the waves of enemies weren't stopping. He even noticed that corpses with rotten grayish flesh had joined in with the skeletons in attacking them. They were Ghouls, no doubt.
Gawain scowled, with the Ghouls came a foul smell that even threatened to make him choke. He had always hated the smell of rotting flesh.
"This stinks." He heard Issie grumble.
He would have smiled if not for the crazed Ghoul rushing at him, the Ghoul's mouth gaping open as it charged at him. He parried the Ghoul's blade in a series of strikes before decapitating its head, causing black blood to gush out of his head, and increasing the smell of corpses.
"Oh," Gawain spun around to see Cleo closer to him than he expected as she peered over his shoulder, her nose scrunched up in disgust. "That's gross."
"Get back!" He snapped, pushing her back as he twisted to block the downward strike a Ghoul was aiming at him. He grunted. This Ghoul was different. It was much larger than the other ones and seemed to have more muscle. He hated to say it, but this particular Ghoul was able to keep him at a stand-still.
"Down!" Gawain acted before thinking at the harsh, commanding tone. He With a final shove, he was able to send the large Ghoul staggering back a couple feet before throwing his body to the ground just as an attack comprising of pressurized invisible air and fiery light shot past him, completely vaporizing what was left of the Skeletons and Ghouls.
He raised his head to see Ariene and Arthur standing back to back, their swords in a position showing that they had both just swung down. Arthur's sword was still hidden by invisible air.
However, the sword in Ariene's hands was glorious. It shape itself looked like it was a few inches shorter than a typical western sword but it was beautiful; the blade was made out of a brilliant white-gold steel, there were gleaming jewels of rubies and topazes in the fuller of the blade and on the right side of the blade there was ancient writing that he couldn't understand. Near the guard of the sword the steel was adorned with tiny emeralds and jades, the guard itself twisting to look like thick intricate flames. The handle looked as if it was molten gold, with hints of hues of fire, and the pummel was a beautiful citrine stone; and more than anything, the sword seemed to have fiery light dancing across the steel.
"Is that Excordius?" Jeanne asked stunned from her position between Rin and Ayaka.
"It's beautiful." Ayaka said softly, looking at awe at the blade.
Gawain watched as Ariene adjusted her grip on the blade and in a flash of light, the beautiful sword was replaced with what looked like a halberd mixed with a sword. It was a darker silver with black highlights on the metal and emerald gems at the handle. It was still beautiful, just not as much as Excordius.
"No, it was not Excordius. That sword was called Soláiris." Ariene answered. "This one right now is called Lamarís, the sword of the Queen before me, Aithne."
"We should get going," Atalanta finally spoke up, her archer eyes scanning the dark cave. "Before the Skeletons and Ghouls come back."
"Right." Jeanne said and the group started to pick up their pace, instead of jogging at a fast pace the group had started to run at a near sprint, trying to reach the end of the cave sooner than later.
Nothing else attacked them as they started to see a blue light coming from the end of the cave tunnel that they were in, it didn't look very inviting, the blue light being near the color of a dead corpse.
"The stench is getting worse!" This time it was Rin who complained and judging by the muffled sound of her voice, she had covered her mouth and nose.
"Almost there!" Boudica encouraged from the back.
"Just keep going." Siegfried added, as they ran, he was helping Ayaka along now, out of all the Masters she had the least stamina and was struggling to keep up with the fast pace.
Finally, the group reached the end of the tunnel of the cave and staggered to a stop, stunned at what they were seeing. The tunnel of the cave had turned into a larger open space that seemed to stretch out in all directions.
The red light was emitting from cracks in the ground and along with the red lights there seemed to be roots or tentacles all around the floor, leading to a large, grotesque pod that stretched all the way to the roof of the cave's ceiling and if that wasn't bad enough the enormous structure seemed to beat.
"Are those... bodies?" Ayaka looked deathly sick a she gazed at the ground. She had a feeling that all this was extremely familiar, she just didn't know why.
The rest of them looked down and saw that Ayaka was right, they had assumed that it was all grounds but it looked like there was a thick pile of bodies as well.
While everyone was looking down in horrified awe, no one was more sickened or horrified than Arthur.
Arthur stared in absolute horror. This could not be happening. Why was this happening?! Why was it happening again?!
"My King..." Gawain said, feeling dread pool in him, he barely saw such an open look of terror on his King's face. What could make him react in such a way?
"Arthur?" Ariene also noted his state. She reached out and firmly gripped his arm, causing him to turn his stricken green eyes towards her. "Arthur? What is it?"
"Ayaka..." He spoke out, his voice hoarse as he struggled in vain to regain his composure.
"My Prince!" A cheerful, childish voice rang out through the cave, causing everyone, especially Arthur and Ayaka to stiffen; they recognized that voice.
A petite blonde girl suddenly danced into view in a blue dress covered in blood danced and twirled around, happiness dancing in her pale blue eyes. The dress itself was unbuttoned, revealing her chest and on he chest, here were command seals; meaning that she was a Master.
"Saber! Saber!" Her pale blue eyes were set on Arthur with a sort of manic glee. "My Knight!"
"My King... who is she?" Gawain asked, just the sight of her unnerved him and it was made even worse by the fact that she seemed obsessed with his King.
"That's my Sister. Manaka Sajyou." Ayaka said, unable to believe her eyes. "... I thought she was dead."
"She is." Jeanne said, narrowing her eyes, "Some other force is keeping her moving."
"Arthur, why does she know you?" Ariene asked, her hand still on his arm as she gazed at the blonde now known as Manaka.
"She was my Master for the last Holy Grail War here." Arthur spoke, "You even mentioned it when we first met Jeanne. I destroyed the Grail during the last War."
Rin gasped as she looked at Arthur stunned. "I remember Jeanne telling me that. So she's your past Master?" There was genuine fear in her voice, even the humans could tell that something was wrong with her.
Even Ayaka could tell that there was something wrong with the sister she once knew; if she ever knew her at all.
"Why is her dress covered in blood?" Issie asked the most pressing question, at least to her.
"Manaka fooled me." Arthur revealed. "She became obsessed with me and wanted nothing more to fulfill my wish for me. I didn't realize until too late what that really meant. She started to kill people, mostly young girls as sacrifices to the Grail, or more importantly, the Beast. We had made it to the end of the war when I realized what she had done. Manaka had just killed her Father and was about to sacrifice Ayaka when I stopped her through the chest."
"You did...?" Ayaka asked softly, trying to absorb this new information but being unable to. Her world was spinning out of control.
"My Prince!" Manaka drew their attention back towards her as she smiled sweetly at Arthur, she could have looked like an angel if not for all the gore. "I still intent to keep my promise! By the end, all of humanity will be gone and it will only be you and me!"
End! Even more blood and gore will come in the next chapter!
Please review for feedback!
NEXT Chapter: Cave of Corruption
