Chapter Thirty-One

Coming Together

Aizawa along with the other students in the room stared at Musashi in disbelief at what she said. I mean it's understandable given how a lot of what the servant was saying would be something you would hear in a fantasy/magic base movie or anime. But given the situation they were in and what happened to Momo, they're…somewhat complying with the fact that what she was saying is the truth. There was an awkward air of silence hanging in the room they were in once Musashi finished explaining in great detail about servants, magic, divine spirits, and the beast. Though that silence was broken when Iida spoke up.

"There's something I need to ask." He said as Musashi turned her attention onto him. "How long had Lily been this…Grand Servant?"

"Hard to say. But given what I looked up in Momo's memories of her battle with Iida, Todoroki, and Bakugo. I would say about…her entire life, maybe?" She said while scratching the back of her head. "You're going to have to ask her if you can find her."

"I see…that would explain how she was efficient in using her quirk…erm…magic." He said with a somewhat shameful expression on his face.

"It would explain why my ability to cancel her quirk didn't work during the fight with Todoroki and Shoji," Aizawa said before looking at the heroic spirit. "Though I find it deplorable that you spirits would choose children as hosts instead of adults."

"Not like we have much of a choice in the matter. Not a lot of adults are compatible with us, and even if we did find one, it would be a problem. Specifically, not a lot of you so-called heroes aren't that strong in both physical and mental will. I mean look at what happened to you all during your time here?" She said before pointing outside. "Other than All Might who could stand toe-to-toe with Hercules in a match of strength during his prime, do you think any hero nowadays would stand a chance against a heroic spirit? I mean from what I can gather from Momo's memories, people see heroes as if they're gods that can do just about everything. Which is sad seeing how they put too much faith in them."

"And you choose children because?"

"They're young, full of potential, and more suitable to host a grand servant seeing how they have time to grow on their side," Musashi said before floating around the room. "Momo here chose this of her own free will. I mean it's no different than what you humans do when it comes to training young people in becoming heroes…just on a much greater scale and doesn't involve fame, fortune, or glory like most people would do on your planet."

"But wouldn't it be wise to tell a pro-hero about this kind of thing?" Toru asked.

"Hard to do that when you don't have much proof to back up what you're saying. I mean would anyone here believe what I told you without proof?"

"I…suppose you're right."

"It's up to you whether you want to believe me or not. Though I will give you all a fair warning. The Grand Servant's job is to eliminate the beast, but they're made as a counterforce to eliminate anything that is a threat to the planet. That also includes humans given how some will abuse their powers for their own need but at the consequence of the planet."

"You mean you're willing to kill people who stand in your way?" Aizawa asked as the heroic spirit nodded.

"Grand Servants are meant to save the planet, granted we can save people, but we can't save everyone we see in danger if the beast is around. This is a path of bloodshed to save the planet. We don't expect fame, glory, or praise for what we're doing. So long as humanity can survive, then we're fine with being hated by you humans of this planet."

"...And what would happen if we tried to stop you?" He asked as Musashi's cheerful expression turned into a serious one.

"I recommend not getting in our way, because unlike most heroic spirits I prefer not to spill the blood of the ignorant."

"Plus I doubt you'll be able to stop us, especially when you can't use those glowing eyes of yours to cancel out our magic as you tried with me," Surtr said while grinning.

"Not to interrupt, but shouldn't we be looking for our classmates?" Momo asked as Surtr shook her head.

"I wouldn't worry. If the grand servants are with your friends, then they'll be making their way over here to the school we're in. Plus I'm a bit tapped due to taking down lancer and using my noble phantasm to protect your classmates. Going out there with nothing to defend ourselves against a servant, the king, or both would get us killed."

"But wouldn't it be wise to go together as a group? Strength in numbers, right?" Iida asked as Fenrir shook his head.

"Not to sound like a dick, but I'm going to be blunt with you all. Other than Aizawa with some combat skills, you all are a bunch of inexperienced kids. You may have some training, but it's not enough to where you can survive long enough to last an hour or two against a servant. Not to mention, I know that the girl with weird-looking ears is on the verge of a mental breakdown after seeing her classmates getting killed in front of her. Though I suppose seeing you guys still alive and Momo being brought back to life helped a little if we were to meet the assassin that killed her friends…I'm pretty sure she wouldn't last long in keeping her sanity." Surtr said as she noticed Jirou looking off to the side while shaking a bit in fear.

"So all we can do is wait and hope that they'll be okay?" Toru said as the Surtr nodded.

"Pretty much. During which you guys can tell me a little more about where you come from and how you ended up here in this hell hole of a city." She said before grabbing a bag of candy from the pile of snacks that they found in the vending machines in the school. "We're gonna be stuck here for some time, so we might as well kill some time in getting to know each other, right?"


Elsewhere within the singularity, Lily along with the others was currently driving down the street in a surprisingly functional pickup truck that they were able to find around the area they were making their way down the street leading to the abandoned school. As they were driving, Lily looked over at the side mirror to see a few buildings off in the distance crashing down to the ground due to Berserker going on a rampage. She shivers at the thought of having to fight against him again, but she'll have to worry about it later. Right now she had to keep her remaining classmates alive for as long as she could…or try to.

"Since when can you drive a car?" Kirishima asked as the bunny girl turned her attention onto him through the mirror.

"Since I've been playing an arcade driving game from the age of ten and to sixteen…kind of the only thing that I could play at the time seeing how I couldn't buy any console games or consoles due to having to move around a lot when there were too many heroes within the same area."

"...Should I be worried that you only learn how to drive from video games?" Mina asked as she looked out the window while taking pictures of the scenery with her phone.

"Hey, I'm an excellent driver…when nothing is chasing after us."

"Not giving us that much confidence in your driving skills," Kaminari said as Lily deadpans at her.

"Fuck you, the point is we just need to get from point A to point B without getting into a fight with a servant. So keep your eyes on the scenery and let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary…besides burning buildings and skeleton armies moving around."

"Not like we have much of a choice seeing as we don't have the internet in this place. Seriously, you think this place would have that seeing how it's similar to our world, just different." She said while looking off into the distance. "You think we'll be able to escape this place?"

"I'm more worried about the Demon God Pillar than I am with this Corpse King," Lily said before hearing Kirishima speak up.

"Demon God Pillar? You mean that thing we saw at the USJ before we were sent here?" He asked as Lily nodded. "Just…what is it? I mean, is it a person who can transform into that thing with a quirk or something, or is it magic?"

"Magic in a way. For content. From the world where the servants come from where magic is real and all that jazz. There once was a man by the name of King Solomon. He was the third king of ancient Israel and was known as the king of magecraft due to his mastery of magic. Seems like during his lifespan he did a lot of things that granted him favor with god to the point where he would grant Solomon any wishes he wanted. Now you think a normal person would ask for power, gold, or something along the lines of that? But Solomon chose knowledge, which satisfied God as he gave Solomon ten rings upon both hands, proof of a wise man recognized by him. Those rings came to be recognized as the Rings of Solomon, the source of magecraft that employs angels and demons."

"So this Solomon person is behind all this?" He asked as the bunny girl shook her head.

"That would be Goetia who's behind all this," Artoria said as she appeared and showed him what he looks like, immature and adult form. "Solomon came to be known for employing seventy-two demon gods as his familiars. The seventy-two demons were a system to efficiently promote proper reason invented by Solomon to overlook mankind after his death. But that in turn backfired. Gortia grieved and raged against the relationship between King Solomon and the humans. It watched over the humans but was more focused on the horrors and atrocities of mankind. It soon became a threat to humanity. Wanting to conquer the imperfectness of humans that the king continued to ignore." She said before showing an image of a planet that was set ablaze, which took Kirishima, Kaminari, and Mina by surprise. "Instead of the human order correction ritual, it became the human order incineration ritual."

"Dear god…" Kaminari said while staring at the burning planet.

"How can one being do all this to a planet?" Mina asked.

"With the body of the king of mages," Artoria answered as she showed an image of Solomon and Goetia. "After King Solomon's death, the seventy-two demons that were sealed away inside his corpse awakened to their ideology swindled Solomon's name, and embarked on their journey through time to convert all humans into energy for his plan to return to the point of origin, to erase to the concept of death, and create better humans. The same plan that he's going to act on the very planet you four live on."

"And you expect us to take down some dude who has control over magic!?" Kaminari yelled in disbelief. "I mean I know you heroic spirits are going to help us, but we don't even know how to use most of the skills that we know now!"

"Because we have an uphill advantage," Lily answered as Kaminari looked over at her. "Artoria mentioned that this planet is limited on magic, so turning humans into magical energy sources won't be an easy task. Second, they're not in their adult forms when they appear in the world. So fighting them while they're in their immature state might be our best shot at killing them. Though it doesn't rule out the possibility that they can transform into their adult form for who knows how long. Could be a day, hours, maybe even minutes."

"She's not wrong," Magni said as she appeared on Kaminari's head. "Just like with us divine spirits even the Beast have limitations placed on them. To have a Beast make itself known in a weakened state is like putting a huge kick me sign on your back for everyone to see."

"Plus you won't be facing them all by yourselves," Kama said as she appeared on Mina's shoulder. "You'll be working together to bring them down. Also, you do have an expert with you~" She said before pointing at Lily.

"Which I have no problem doing, but that might be after we get the hell out of this singularity," Lily said before making a sharp left turn. "Though, I think that might change seeing how we might have to fight the demon god pillar along with the Corpse King. We're gonna have to think of a plan in case we have to fight against them both at the same time. But for the time being, we're gonna train once we find the others-"

Before Lily could finish her sentence, the same tingling sensation ran down her spine and it caused her to hit the brakes. The moment the truck stopped, a startling expression was on her face before looking at Mina and Kaminari who had the same expression as she does. "You two felt that, right?"

"Yeah, kind of hard not to when you feel it running down your spine," Mina said as Kaminari nodded.

"Wait, what's going on?" Kirishima asked as he looked over at Lily who was looking around to see where the sensation was coming from.

"Yeah, it's something that only Lily, Kaminari, and I have when we sense another grand servant nearby," Mina answered as she noticed Lily looking off to her left. She moved over to the side to see what Lily was looking at and her eyes widened. Kaminari and Kirishima raised an eyebrow at what they were looking at before looking over at the direction they were looking. Their eyes widened upon seeing Uraraka, Tsuyu, Todoroki, and Artemis carrying an unconscious Mineta, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Midoriya who was carrying a passed-out Bakugou. Though they were glad to see their classmate were alive, Mina, Kaminari, and Lily were more focused on Uraraka as she was giving off the same sensation as a grand servant would. "Wow…I was not expecting Uraraka to be a Grand Servant."

"I'm not complaining. Lord knows it would be awful if it was Bakugo who was the grand servant or Todoroki." Lily said before shivering at the thought of them being grand servants. "Hold on, I'll pull over next to them." She said before stepping on the gas pedal and heading over to where Midorya and the others were. The moment Midoriya heard the sound of the car heading towards them, he quickly looked over to the side and flinched in surprise upon seeing who was driving. Before he could say anything the car came to a screeching halt in front of the group as Lily popped her head out of the window of the car. "Hey, losers, nice to see you guys are alive."

"Lily? Is that you?" Midoriya asks as the bunny girl turns the engine off and hops out of the truck she was in. "Are the others with you as well?"

"You tell me?" She asked as she motions for the other to come. The doors to the truck opened up as Mina, Kaminari, and Kirishima hopped out and presented themselves to the other as they smiled. Though they would notice Lily making her way over to Mineta and his servants. She eyed the young man for a moment before smirking and looking at Artemis. "I get the feeling you guys fought against a servant from the Corpse King?"

"You know who sent that woman that attacked us?" Todoroki asked as Lily jerked a thumb over at Jack, who waved at them from inside the truck.

"You can thank Jackie for informing us about what's going on, at least for the most part. Still a bit fuzzy on the details, but I know of a way to get us out of this place. But before that." She said before examining Mineta for a moment as she looked over at Uraraka as U-Olga appeared on her shoulder with a smirk on her face. "So you're the fifth grand servant…not gonna lie, I was not expecting that to happen. But it's better than having Todoroki or Bakugo be it. Lord knows that would be a problem within itself."

"Yeah, she's the only one that was compatible with me…might've helped that the boy with the red and white hair and barking dog boy got her killed," U-Olga said which caused Lily to look over at Todoroki and a passed out Bakugo with a mix of a disappointed/angry expression before turning her gaze on U-Olga and Uraraka.

"Explain please?"

"Are you going to hurt them?" Uraraka asked.

"That would depend on how they got you killed. Now please explain to me how you ended up dead as a doorknob."

"The servant that attacked them warned them to go around her or turn away. I don't know what was going on in Todoroki or Bakugo's minds, but they thought they could get past her by freezing her in ice or blowing her away with explosions. Needless to say, it didn't turn out so well for them. If Mineta hadn't come and saved their asses, then they would've been dead."

"I see, and how did Uraraka become a grand servant?" Lily asked as she pointed over to Artemis and the other servants.

"It was thanks to Artoria's sword that we were able to perform the summoning. Though we weren't expecting her to be a host for the grand servant." Artemis said as she watched Lily move in front of the group and looked over at Bakugo.

"Mind waking the idiot up?" Lily asked as Aphrodite walked over to Midoriya and placed a hand on Bakugo's head.

"Wake up." She ordered as Bakugo's eyes shot open. He looked around to see where he was. Though upon seeing Midoriya carrying him, he quickly pulled himself and glared at Aphrodite.

"You old hag! You're to pay for doing that to me!"

"Much as I would love to see you lose a fight against a servant, now's not the time for that," Lily said as Bakugo looked over at her. "Nice to see you're alive…not gonna lie, I was expecting you to be the first to die given your personality."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

"It means because of what you and Todoroki did, it ended up getting your classmate killed or worse," Lily answered which caused him to flinch at what happened before Mineta came and saved them from Saber Alter. "Now while I would love to bash both of your heads in for doing something stupid and risking the lives of your classmates. I'm gonna have to hold off on that until we're at the school, but during the ride there I don't want to hear a word from you two fuck ups. Got it?"

"Who the hell put you in-" Before Bakugo could finish his sentence, he soon felt his mouth being covered by Lily's hand as she appeared in front of him in an instant and slammed him onto the ground on his back. The bunny girl soon summoned her sword into her hand and implanted it inches from his head.

"I don't need your overconfident prideful attitude, jackass. I need you to understand the situation we're in. We're currently trapped in this place, with no means of accessing the outside world to get help, three of our classmates are injured, Kota is dead, and you and Todoroki just got Uraraka killed. This is not some game, this is about survival and making it out of here. And I swear if you become a hindrance to us, I'll kill you right here right now." She said before taking her sword away from his head. "Now, blink twice if you understand what I'm saying."

There was a moment of silence hanging in the air upon hearing her question. Bakugo simply glared at her for a good few seconds before snorting in annoyance and blinked twice upon her question. A smile appeared on the bunny girl's face as she pulled her hand away from his mouth and moved from on top of him.

"Good, so you do have some kind of common sense. Now, everyone gets in the truck so we can head off to the abandoned school where everyone might be in." Lily said as she began to make her way to the truck, only to stop upon hearing Uraraka speak up.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking…but how long have you been a grand servant?" Uraraka asked as Lily dawned an "oh shit" expression on her face. She hadn't taken into account that seeing how Uraraka is a grand servant now, she knows that her quirk doesn't allow her to change a person's physiology. She soon looked over at Mina and Kaminari, who had the same facial expression before looking back at Uraraka with an awkward smile on her face.

"Perhaps it would be best if I give you guys a somewhat short rendition of the whole grand servant thing once we get on the road."

"Why not now?" Tsuyu asked as Lily was about to answer, only for the sound of Lancelot screaming in the distance to answer.

"ARRRRRRTTTTTHHHHHHUUUUUUURRRRR!" Lancelot yelled as the sounds of a building off in the stance collapsed to the ground followed by an explosion. The moment everyone looked back at Lily after watching the building in the distance collapse, she was instantly inside the truck as she honked the horn.

"That's the reason why! So get in the car so we can leave this place!"