6.1
[Ranma 1/2] [Fate Grand Order]
Fate Grand Ranma: Goetia
They were alone before the Grand Time Temple's gates. The 72 Demon Pillars all writhing in the background, reaching towards the endless sky of the Time Temple Salomon… Ritsuka stood with head held high. Mash with determined purpose, and their little friend Fou on her shoulder. Ranma himself, however, had his hands in his pockets as went over his plans again.
Ritsuka had informed him that backup would be coming, just in case. It was a Baseline thing that all the heroes they'd met would come to their aid, something that Mash referred to as a miracle in Baseline, as they'd all summoned themselves to provide them a path to Solomon's throne.
Ranma figured he didn't really need the help, but if they were going to come anyway he wasn't going to argue with it. Ritsuka had told him that fighting Goetia was always an endeavor he took on with just himself and Mash, with all the other heroes making sure to beat down his Pillars so he couldn't just redirect the damage to them, so he was still gonna get his chance to take on Goetia solo either way.
Ritsuka had asked Gilgamesh to lead the defense of Chaldea, alongside all the other summoned heroes. Ranma had felt they would be fine, especially with the variety of powerful Heroes they'd left in charge of said defense besides Gilgamesh. Normally not someone he would trust to have his back, but he was clearly a much more stable person in this half of the Branch.
Apparently, nearly losing one's kingdom and people forced a serious reality check. Or maybe facing off against the end of the world just tended to bring out the best in people. Either way, it seemed like even Gilgamesh wasn't immune to human nature and the desire to unite in the face of shared tragedy… heck, maybe that was why Ritsuka and Mash were still somewhat sane. They'd pretty obviously cracked a little from their experiences. One didn't get to be his age without picking up how to read people, and he could tell they were trying to stay strong for everyone else.
Well then, time to give the kids a bit of a reprieve.
"You two might want to stay back, I've got this," Ranma noted as Ritsuka shook his head.
"No way, we're coming along… we have to," the Anchor of the Grand Order said, putting his foot down as Ranma huffed, Mash coming up alongside him and hefting her shield.
"You're just going to end up being in the way. And if I'm going all out, that shield ain't going to save you," Ranma said as Mash glared at him.
"So long as I am certain it will defend us, nothing will get past me mister Saotome," Mash raised as she raised said shield up, Fou yipping in response to her proclamation as he took note of the wording and way she said it.
A shield powered by her belief in herself and determination. "That's how it works?" he asked, and she nodded. 'Huh. It's basically a slab of solid Spiral Power. Neat.'
"Well, let's put that to the test then, you might want to get it up," he ordered with a grin, before cracking his knuckles in anticipation and stepping forward, Mash Kyrielight and Ritsuka Fujimaru running past him up the stairs and through the gates of the Time Temple.
The moment they had passed through, Mash was forced to shield them against explosions directly on top of them, and with a shout she throw up Lord Camelot; the blue walls coming up as he walked down the provided hallway towards the gates, where Mash stood defending against an onslaught of spells from all angles, standing there as the walls of her castle shot back with the force being shot at them.
He just walked past both the Master and his Servant, through the shield before taking a deep breath as everyone and everything present immediately locked onto him, all of the Demon God Pillars aiming straight for him but not a single one firing.
"Well Solomon, it's been a hot fucking minute. But I'm back, you ready for our rematch!?" Ranma shouted to the air as, quite literally, all eyes were on him.
"Ranma Saotome… Class, Assassin. Recorded on the Throne of Heroes for his or her valiant efforts throughout China and Japan," Ranma turned towards the voice, seeing a man in a dapper green suit and a top hand walking towards him, clapping.
"Lev… you died in Septem," Ranma noted, recalling the man who, rather painfully, had gotten bisected while Ranma had been screwing around with Romulus.
"I did, but I am not constrained by the limits of mortality," he looked Ranma up and down. "I must say, you defy convention… for such a young Heroic Spirit, you boast such power that even the full might of our Noble Phantasm was unable to kill you," Lev noted as Ranma started walking towards the man. This guy was part of Goetia.
"Yeah, I'm the strongest person you're ever gonna meet, no contest," Ranma pointed out as Lev nodded.
"Oh without a doubt, you are a most interesting example of humanity… or so I would say, except you are rather obviously no mere human, now are you? Your abilities defy the conventions of any other Heroic Spirit and, after observing your history, we see that there is no record of many of the powers you have displayed. Neither the durability you showed taking our attack nor the power you displayed in destroying Tiamat. You, sir, are an anomaly," Lev tipped his hat to him. "One that we cannot allow."
"Well you're gonna have to, because I ain't going anywhere," Ranma got into a ready stance as Lev tapped his fingers against his hat.
"I can only posit that you are a Foreigner in an Assassin's skin. The abilities you displayed in London, your ability to survive space's vacuum. Indeed, you are no human, by any metric," Lev continued to talk before taking his hat off. "Hats off to you. Are you their vanguard?"
"What?" Ranma blinked in bemusement as Lev scoffed at his genuine confusion.
"I suppose not. An alien not aligned with the creature then. Very well, but let it be known we shall fight with everything we have to preserve our plans. And even you cannot reverse the Incineration of Humanity," Lev stood up straight as Ranma frowned.
"Yeah, but I'll get to that when I need to. Right now, your ass is grass," Ranma shot forward, Lev's body exploding into a Demon God Pillar, rising towards the stars, with Ranma noting one of them had vanished, the one that was now emerging right in front of him.
Ranma didn't even bother with holding back, and fired a single, overpowered Ki blast into the Demon God Pillar, causing it to explode instantly, and just as quickly regenerate.
"Designation: Flauros. Calculation… You are strong-" the voice was cut off as Ranma rushed the pillar and punched it again, utterly destroying it, only for it to once again reconstitute instantly. "But even you cannot kill us, not forever."
He scoffed. He'd seen what King Hassan had done, making sure that these bastards died was going to be easy enough. But he wanted to hammer it in that he was the strongest.
That he, Ranma Saotome, was the best.
He vanished, all the eyes looking around before Ranma ripped out one of his newest toys, straight from the treasury of Gilgamesh, Ig-Alima. A weapon of immense size.
He swung it once, and cleaved through no less than a third of the 72 pillars, who regenerated just as quickly as he began to teleport with the blade.
With each swing, there was a crack, the landscape of the Time Temple being torn to shreds as swing after swing, Demon Gods were struck down. Even as they continued to reform, he kept on swinging.
This went on for only ten seconds, and in that time, the 72 pillars had been slain over ten thousand times each. Even if they had regenerated nigh-instantly, it gave Ranma a good idea of what he was dealing with as he re-Pocketed the sword.
He warped away from a spell being fired at him from below. The King of Mages, Solomon, standing now, rather than sitting on his throne. He rocketed towards him, this time when he tried to punch the King of Mages, he made sure to pack as much power behind it as he could.
The man vanished before he could even start to throw the punch, that damn omniscience of his probably warning him just how much damage it would actually do if it connected. He could hear Ritsuka shouting as Heroic Spirits started to pour into the Time Temple, Jeanne d'Arc rallying them to begin assaulting the pillars already as Ritsuka was directing them as best he could from his position behind Lord Camelot.
Well, the reinforcements were here, and Ritsuka was trying to keep them out of the blasting zone, so it was time for action. He formed his hand seals, creating seventy-two shadow clones, one for each pillar, and sent them to wreak havoc, before going after Solomon himself. Within a single second the pillars were experiencing mass death, both by his own hands, and the hands of the artillery battery of Noble Phantasms Ritsuka had managed to rapidly coordinate.
He appeared behind Solomon, "Eyes open!" he punched, the mage vanishing a mere nanosecond before impact… damn his omniscience was good. He teleported after him, and began to fire a barrage of ki blasts at the King of Mages, never letting up the offensive as Solomon started firing back with every spell he could think of.
Ranma, not caring, just plowed through it all, going straight to Super Sayian two and attempting to kick the King of Mages' head off. Said King put up his hands, a pair of magical barriers formed from all the energy of history trapping his foot between them. Even as the King of Mages visibly struggled to hold back the kick, Ranma simply twisted around to deliver another with his other leg.
Solomon vanished just before impact, and Ranma was after him immediately after, following the trail of his energy signature. Neither was speaking, as the battle was going fast enough that talking would just slow one of them down and allow the other to land a blow. Of course, that only mattered for Solomon, as his 72 pillars were being bombarded and killed thousands of times a second each, leaving him with nowhere to redirect the damage if he took a hit.
Ranma, on the other hand, was unamused. "You really thought you could beat me, huh?"
Solomon, for his part, didn't respond, simply raising his hand as the nine rings on his fingers lit up, staring straight into Ranma's soul.
A soul so massive, so powerful, that even he recoiled back.
"What… are you?" Solomon questioned as Ranma took a single step forward, and the entire Time Temple quaked.
"I'm Ranma Saotome."
For Ritsuka Fujimaru… it was a familiar feeling.
Watching something, but being completely unable to describe it.
It had occurred before, in Shimosa, where they had borne witness to the duel of Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. The two were at the pinnacle of their craft. Zero versus Infinity.
...In a way this was similar. Goetia fighting Ranma.
The First Beast against the First Looper.
One of the few who could boast a 'victory' against the latter; a 'loss' which he was extremely eager to avenge.
In truth, this wasn't even a contest. For all of Goetia's power, the Beast was being torn apart. Even the other Servants had backed off by now and were simply observing the rather one sided beatdown, their own attacks against the Demon God Pillars doing more to get in Ranma's clones' way than actually helping at this point.
Toe to toe, fist to fist, however, he kept fighting. Even against the almighty power of the First Looper.
In a sense, even without becoming the King of Man, he had found Mortality. Against this monster that called itself a Man amongst Men, the First Beast was but a mere Mortal.
He hadn't even heard Roman walking up beside them, as he bore witness to Ranma's might.
"...It's truly amazing. Perhaps the pinnacle of Human achievement?" Roman asked as Ritsuka just vaguely nodded.
"Doctor," Mash offered, even as Fou sadly closed his eyes.
"Yep… there's something I have to do here. Even though he's fighting, even though he's winning. I still have to," Roman stated as he walked past the walls of Camelot, both Ritsuka and Mash watching as he transformed, returning to his true form as Solomon.
He joined the storm.
For a brief moment, it paused, Ranma standing victorious over his fallen foe. Whether the body before him was alive or not didn't matter. The shattered form of Goetia lay on the ground as Solomon walked towards them both.
"Roman," Ranma noted as the Servant smiled.
"I'm not surprised you've beaten him," Solomon noted as Goetia tried to pull himself back up, impressive for one currently lacking any limbs. "I am surprised that you have not killed him yet though."
"I wasn't done with his ass yet," Ranma admitted, already preparing his next strike as Solomon spoke.
"There is avenging one's defeats, and then there is pure cruelty Ranma. Are you truly so petty as to destroy someone completely and utterly for daring to defeat you?" Solomon asked as Ranma paused, and thought about that for several moments.
"Defeat, no. After that cheap-shot he pulled though? Definitely," he admitted after he had thought over his answer. Solomon shook his head.
"So rather than save the world because it was the right thing to do, you've saved it because you couldn't take the fact you lost to its destroyer laying down… A pity, fittingly the very Sin the being before you represents," Solomon noted.
"Go… to… hell… Solomon…" Goetia said, trying to pull himself up again, almost managing to reconstitute a limb before Ranma smashed it again without a second thought, the eye on his chest glowing before it, too, was smashed.
"Solomon, I'm older than even you can comprehend, so don't bother continuing with your lecture, it just ain't gonna stick," Ranma added as Solomon closed his eyes.
"...no, I suppose it wouldn't then. But it saddens me that this is Humanity's peak. Utterly powerful, beyond the comprehension even of God.… yet still ultimately unable to move on," Solomon amended as he raised his hands, the nine rings on the broken body Ranma had left behind rejoining him as Ranma turned towards the white-haired man.
"Nah, that's just me," Ranma noted as Solomon began to glow. 'Try saying that after meeting Usagi,' he thought to himself with a chuckle.
"Is it? Or are you just the end result?" He questioned rhetorically before taking a deep breath. "The Time of Parting Hath Come. Ars Nova."
Ranma watched as the heroic spirit vanished, glad that no one else had been around to hear their conversation as he turned to Goetia, who tried valiantly to get up one last time, only for Ranma's final blow, a simple punch, to obliterate both him and the island they were standing on. Letting out a breath, he turned to rejoin Ritsuka and Mash, as the many, many Heroic Spirits began to vanish, the play having drawn to a close.
Ranma was victorious.
"Ranma!"
He looked up, seeing Ritsuka and Mash, and even Fou, waving to him.
He smirked, and gave a quick thumbs-up, even as the Time Temple collapsed around them. Without even a hint of hesitation, he started running towards them…
Before the world gave a brief stutter, and the trio found themselves abruptly back in Chaldea.
"Wait what?" Ramna muttered as Ritsuka rubbed Fou under the chin, the little creature preening at the attention.
"Thanks Fou, even if you didn't need to," Ritsuka offered, the little beast getting into Mash's arms, yawning as he sat down.
"...What even is that little thing, you never told me," Ranma questioned as both Mash and Ritsuka smiled at him.
"You heard Merlin before, Fou is a Cath Palug, but he's also our friend."
"Ok, now how about you try again while making sense," Ranma started, watching as the little creature licked its paw… smugly?
"Beast Four," both Ritsuka and Mash started bluntly, without a care in the world as Ranma suddenly went wide-eyed, processing.
"You're telling me that little thing is one of the Seven Beasts," Ranma muttered with mild concern as he tensed in preparation for another possible fight.
"Yeah. Though he's also known as the Beast of Gaia," Ritsuka said with a smile, rubbing Fou on the head, rubbing his ears.
"...Ain't that Primate Murder?" Ranma asked, recalling with narrowed eyes the last time he'd gone up against the annoying sunovabitch hound-thing with 'absolute authority over the murder of any human or humanoid.'
"Yep," Again, neither of them seemed worried.
"Fou!" The smug little creature said, practically grinning at him.
"...Do you two tell him or is he Looping?" Ranma asked suspiciously.
"Oh, I just tell him," Mash admitted. After a moment, Ranma just shrugged… Ok, so they had Primate Murder as a friend.
Sure.
"So… what's next?" Ranma asked as he looked at the Anchor and the girl at his side as they led him towards Chaldea's entrance, Fou still in Mash's hands.
"After this? …Would it surprise you to learn Goetia is one of our easier foes to beat," Ritsuka noted as Ranma smirked.
Well, he did like a challenge.
"Indeed… I probably should write a warning or something. Our Branch seems to be amazingly lethal…" Mash noted softly as Ranma chuckled.
Well, it was certainly up there already, that was for sure.
As the three of them walked out into the snow, overlooking the mountains as the sun came up upon a brand new day, Ranma took a deep breath.
"So you two, what's all the fun stuff you've got coming. I ain't being taken by surprise again," Ranma started as Ritsuka took a very, very deep breath and let out an exceptionally long sigh.
"We're… going to need a few days."
Ranma was, surprisingly, not disappointed with what he found from this Loop. New toys, new friends, and new, powerful foes.
His adventures, in a way, were the stuff of legend.
He looked forward to his next go around the Grand Orders.
6.2
[Fate/Stay Night] [Fate Grand Order]
A Chance Meeting
'Why is it that I begin falling from the sky?' Ritsuka Fujimaru thought as she was falling headfirst through the sky, she looked downwards, seeing a city beneath as she tried to quickly process her memories.
'Ok so I'm a Servant this time, but… wait.' She looked at her hands as she fell through the sky… the familiar clothes she was wearing.
She had been summoned as herself?
'Class… Pretender, True Name, ok still Ritsuka, this is already odd.' Well, she'd been summoned as a Servant version of… herself… But why Pretender? That was Vortigern's thing. Questions for later.
She spun around, throwing herself into a star position from practice from her tens of thousands of dives from terminal velocity, as well as many, many other death defying leaps. She could feel the pull of mana, aiming towards a specific house. Her Master was in there somewhere… She needed a quick change.
Her body burned as she swapped around herself a bit, going from the body of herself to the body of Lotós, just so that she probably wouldn't be as useless as she would have been otherwise, even shifting her clothing mid flight
Just before she crashed through the roof, she teleported. The sort of short ranged teleport she and Zagreus used to dodge attacks as well as pass through things in their way. She landed, slamming into the floor with a powerful crunch. The wood bent, but didn't break thankfully.
Someone was running up the stairs, and from the tug of mana she could tell exactly who it had to be. Her Master.
The door was flung open, and the black haired girl stood in the door as Ritsuka blinked.
"Alright, who are you?" the girl asked, arms crossed. "Well at least you didn't break the room like he still does," she noted under her breath.
"Looper?" Ritsuka asked as the girl nodded slowly.
"Rin Tohsaka. Currently your Master." Rin looked her up and down. "...Are you from hell or something?"
"Well if we're talking about this identity I'd technically be from the Underworld, that count?" Ritsuka offered. "My original identity is Ritsuka Fujimaru, Anchor for Grand Order. This." she gestured to herself. "Is one of my alternate identities that I switched to just before I could crash through your roof. Lotós, Goddess of Flowers and Princess of the Underworld." she bowed. "It's good to meet you Master." she said with a giggle.
"Oh… you," Rin frowned and glared at her. "Altria mentioned you," she said, quickly pulling up her finger and aiming at Ritsuka before raising her other hand, marked with Command Seals. "I command you to stay still while I shoot you!" Rin ordered.
Ritsuka' eyes went wide as she fought the Command Seal, apparently she had a pretty damn good Magic Resistance or something, and probably Core of the Goddess from her quick identity swap too, because it wasn't that hard to mostly ignore, allowing her to summon Aegis just as the first Gandr fired, and then the rapid fire Gandrs.
About two seconds later a massive rainbow beam of light shot out of the Tohsaka manor, flinging Ritsuka through a wall. She was still holding up Aegis as she flipped through the air, fighting the Command Seal as Rin stood in the hole. "This is what you get for getting her looping!"
She called a Holy Grail from her Pocket, quickly subsuming it into herself for a boost in power, and because Rin was clearly not providing her mana anymore.
"What are you talking about Altria!?" Ritsuka shouted back, shifting the Aspect of Beowulf on Aegis to cover more of her body for the moment as another rainbow laser fired at her, nearly sending her through another building.
"YES!" Rin shouted, raising her two remaining Command Seals. "By my Command Seals I order you to TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT!"
'So wasteful,' Ritsuka thought, annoyed as she shrugged off these two as well, sure it was two command seals, but it seemed being an Pretender with varying skills mixed from her current identity and her original summoning that gave her a very high magical resistance. Which meant it was highly unlikely for Command Seals to affect her for very long.
Not that it helped, because the pain still hurt, but she was used to pain.
Swapping off the Aspect of Beowulf, she went for her own Aspect again, dashing out of the way of a barrage of homing shots before chucking the Aegis at Rin, and then continuing to run and dodge the still homing gems.
Rin raised her arm, knocking the Aegis away, but it boomeranged back towards Ritsuka. The Goddess of Flowers caught it as Rin shot out of the manor.
Ritsuka swapped to Malphon just as Rin came at her, arms aglow with blue as her magic Circuits lit up. Claws met fists, they clashed before breaking off, Rin clapping her hands together before opening fire once again, this time with a barrage of arrows made out of magical energy, and then she summoned Maana. Ritsuka spun around, dancing around the arrows before rushing at Rin.
The black haired girl snapped her fingers, Maana pulling back before firing a massive arrow at Ritsuka, who warped through it and closed the gap as the street behind them exploded from the arrow.
Neither girl spoke as Rin spun around, trying to kick Ritsuka as she met Rin's foot with Malphon's claws, with Ritsuka having to raise her other fist to block Maana attempting to ram into her. She dashed backwards, and then forwards again, swinging rapidly and dancing around Rin's Gandrs as the magus danced and dodged as well, neither of them hitting each other, but certainly tearing up the street as Rin thrust her hand forward.
And immense force hit Ritsuka, and she was flung backwards, before Rin clenched her fist, Ritsuka feeling a fist closing around her neck as she was lifted into the air.
"You're certainly disobedient. Ain't anyone ever told you to listen to your elders?" Rin questioned as she tightened her grip around Ritsuka' neck with the Force choke.
Unable to respond, Ritsuka simply swapped from Malphon to Exagryph, Rin's eyes going wide as she opened fire with one hand.
She dropped Ritsuka, raising her arms, and then gasping as the bullets from the divine rifle penetrated her current layer of protection, the bullets ripping at her skin and cutting her hair as Ritsuka rolled onto the ground, bringing up Exagryph and firing a grenade from it.
Rin threw out her hand again, catching the grenade midair with the Force before flinging it back, Ritsuka warping through the explosion before the two girls broke off into a run. Rin now pulling a pair of really big rifles from her own pocket, lined with magical runes as Ritsuka aimed with Exagryph.
As they were running, they were shooting at each other, Ritsuka warping through bullets with short range dashes as Rin just danced around them, flipping and firing all the while, Ritsuka spinning Exagryph when she had to reload as Rin just kept up her relentless fire, the magic on her guns likely imbuing unlimited ammo at minimum.
Swapping off Exagryph to Varatha, equipped with Achilles' aspect. She threw the spear mid-flip, Rin dodging it as it pierced the ground behind her.
Only for Ritsuka to warp to the spear and engage Rin up close and personal, forcing the Magus to drop her guns as she slashed the barrels, rendering them broken before Rin spun around, kicking off of Ritsuka' spear and landing several meters away, her magic circuits lighting up as Ritsuka threw the spear again.
This time Rin teleported out of the way as Ritsuka appeared behind Rin's former position, eyes going wide as a trap rune went off in front of her, blasting her into the sky with several minor burns… Thank goodness for really high Magic Resistance.
Rin appeared again, spinning with her leg engulfed in fire as Ritsuka raised Varatha, Rin impacting her spear and flinging the Goddess of Flowers down towards the ground and into a small crater.
She flipped out of said crater before Rin's follow up blast of that rainbow laser could harm her. She swapped off Varatha to Coronacht, and began running, pulling back on the string of the infernal bow and firing rapidly at the flying Magus as she summoned Maana again, and began raining down fire upon Ritsuka, blasting the street as Ritsuka lept from street level to on top of a roof, firing a heavily drawn shot that met Rin's own, causing a large explosion between them both as she swapped Aspects. Chiron would be her guide.
She fired multiple barrages of arrows, all of them twisting and spinning in the air, locking onto Rin. She huffed, a barrage of mirrors surrounding after a quick snap of her fingers. The arrows all impacting and the barrier just absorbing them as Rin teleported right next to Ritsuka.
Ritsuka warped just in time before the high power of the Reflect spell could hit her, but she quickly began blocking Rin's attacks with her bow, before teleporting through Rin and slashing her on the back with Coronacht.
The older Looper flipped away, ignoring the gash as her wounds were healing from something. Ritsuka was slowly accumulating injuries herself, but pulling another Grail out of her pocket and subsiming it into herself alongside the first fixed that problem real quick. Both of them still looked quite fine as they sized up each other.
Then it broke, Rin raising her hands and firing a pair of Master Sparks without a word, Ritsuka warping upwards and pulling back on Coronacht, firing down at Rin, who ducked her head backwards as Ritsuka swapped from Coronacht to Stygius, Poseidon's Aspect and fired a pair of Casts at Rin, who dodged them both as Ritsuka warped forward, stabbing with her warp and Rin flipping backwards pulling up two familiar blades, Kanshou and Bakuya as Ritsuka picked up both her missed casts, before launching her third and rushing forward after it.
Rin slashed the flower bullet out of the air before swinging at Ritsuka, who blocked with Styigus in one hand and fired a cast in the other, lodging it into Rin's side. The magus winced as she lept backwards, avoiding Ritsuka' follow up swing and throwing three pairs of Kanshou and Bakuya, all of them flying after Ritsuka as she warped backwards, slamming Sygrius into the ground with a shockwave, sending all of the blades flying into nearby walls as Rin began opening up on rapid fire Gandrs again.
Ritsuka rushed forward, slashing Gandrs out of the air with Stygius before swapping to Aegis mid swing, and bull rushing Rin, swapping right back to Stygius with Posideon's aspect and catching her in the side.
Blood exploded from Rin's opposite side, despite the minor wound, as the cast that had previously lodged itself into Rin's side was ripped out by the Aspect of Posideon's effect. The pain was enough to throw off Rin for a moment as Ritsuka kept swinging, slashing at her arms, and only getting small cuts and drops of blood as whatever healing Rin had was keeping her going.
Rin then teleported away before Ritsuka could stab her, and this time a large barrage of arrows from Maana nearly hit her. Ritsuka looked up to see Rin now commanding no less than five of the divine boat at once, snapping her fingers and unleashing her barrage.
"Sisyphus!" Ritsuka shouted mid dodge, hoping to hell that the Chthonic Companion would work at all.
There was a summon crack as Rin was smashed out of the air by a suddenly summoned shade with a massive boulder, both of them plummeting towards the ground. Rin being cratered as Ritsuka swapped to Exagryph with the Aspect of Lucifer, swiping the sky with beams of hellfire and sending all of the copies of Maana plummeting towards the ground from their new holes.
As the shade of Sisyphus vanished, Rin stood up, utterly annoyed as she cracked her back. Being smashed face fired into the dirt by a man with a massive boulder had not been expected. Ritsuka suddenly rushed in at her, Rin having to warp out of the way as she was nearly punched with Malphon, swapped to the Aspect of Talos. Ritsuka looked up, and then swapped instantly to Aegis with a look of utter shock as Rin and twenty copies of herself all opened up with twin Master Sparks, for a grand total of 44 rainbow lasers.
Ritsuka grit her teeth as she held up her shield, the Aspect of Chaos wasn't saving her as her skin burned from the pure concentrated barrage. The only thing saving her was the Grails… she needed a way out of this! She only wished for Mash's shield here!
Of course, Holy Grails, like the two currently inside her, were wish granting devices.
'I see you held aloft by a knight seeking a cup of wishes.'
The words rang in her head as she looked up at Aegis, even as her body was burning, she forced herself to speak.
"I see you held aloft by a knight seeking a cup of wishes!" she commanded and demanded of Aegis.
The shield warped, changing from the purple Aspect of Chaos into a familiar, and comforting shield, a blue barrier forming above it as the entire barrage, still ongoing, but now completely halted in its tracks. The heat was still there, but now it was bearable. Ritsuka grinned as her wounds were healed by her Holy Grails.
When the barrage cut off, she slowly lowered the shield, the Aspect of Galahad (She would call it Mash's anyway), and looked to Rin with a smirk, who didn't even seem surprised.
"You're tough for someone so young," Rin remarked as Ritsuka cracked her neck.
"Well I've been through a lot. An angry mage is the least of my worries," Ritsuka noted as she swapped off the Aegis and back to Exagryph, this time with the Aspect of Hestia, reloading and firing empowered bullets back at Rin, who threw up a simple magic barrier to block the shot before warping, appearing in front of Ritsuka already with a fist extended.
Fist met divine metal as Ritsuka swung Exagryph in turn, Rin's magically reinforced fist clanging against it, only for Ritsuka to swap it back to Aegis' new Aspect of Mash, Rin's next punch and several kicks with flames alight along her body smashed against the shield, not breaking her guard as Ritsuka spun around, and as she spun, swapping from Aegis to Varatha with Hades' Aspect, stabbing forward as Rin flipped backwards, grabbing the spear and trying to yank it from Ritsuka' grasp.
She let go, Rin yanking the divine armament away, only for her to suddenly drop, yelping as the spear, not accepting of her holding it as Ritsuka rushed forward, kneeing Rin in the nose, causing her to let go of Varatha as Ritsuka grabbed the still surprised Rin, and suplexed her, smashing her into the ground and causing a crater, as well as a massive cloud of dust as she and Rin suddenly were several hundred feet in the air, Rin kicking off her, Ritsuka beginning to fall as Rin's clones appeared again, all of them rapid firing dozens of different spells of all elements and types without a word spoken between then.
Ritsuka called Varatha back to her, and with a mighty swing from the Aspect of the Underworld's ruler, cleared most of the sky in front of her before swapping to Achilles' aspect, throwing the spear and warping to to before continuing to throw, warping around until she was above Rin and her clones.
Swapping back to Aegis' latest Aspect, she started blocking spells, being flung higher and higher before calling out for another companion. "Thanatos!"
The shade of the God of Death appeared, amid the clones of Rin, and Rin herself. Rin warped just as Thanatos' shade swung, all of her clones vanishing with a pop as the shade itself vanished. The black haired girl gritting her teeth as Ritsuka swapped to Malphon again, Aspect of Talos, and pulled.
Rin was pulled forward, and directly into Ritsuka's next punch, catching her and ripping her shirt even more as Rin kneed her arm, knocking her attack off balance before point blank Master Sparking Ritsuka.
She was flung with the laser, gritting her teeth before warping out of it and back into a freefall. If she hadn't been using her divine body of Lotós, she knew she would have been dead many times over at the point. And even then it was only the Grails keeping her going.
Rin appeared behind her, Ritsuka spinning around and blocking her next attempt at kicking her, but with the force behind it she was still flung into a nearby building and through a window, skidding to a stop in an empty office building as Rin dove in through the window, a pair of strange drone like devices flying around her and firing magical blasts as Ritsuka rushed forward, dodging the bullets as Rin herself fired another Master Spark.
She warped around it and then warped through a wall as Rin turned the laser. She then warped back through before another blast cut through where she had been running and kicked Rin in her stomach, sending her flying through the window again as Ritsuka swapped back to the Aspect of Beowulf, loading all three of her Casts into it and leaping out the window, bull rushing Rin.
The other Looper threw up her arms, reinforcing herself and bracing for impact as Ritsuka slammed into her, Rin shooting downward like a rocket, and spinning midair before skidding to a stop on the street, cars swerving around her as Ritsuka swapped back to Exagryph with her default Aspect, raining down divine bullets on Rin's position as the Looper warped away.
Ritsuka looked around before Rin slammed into her again, kicking her foot right into Ritsuka's stomach and launching her upwards before pulling out some sort of futuristic looking staff and locking onto Ritsuka.
Ritsuka swapped to the Aegis again, with Mash's Aspect, before Rin fired, an utterly gigantic laser firing from the staff and sending her even further skyward, up towards the stars as she held firm, the blue shield appearing before the Aspect of Mash keeping her safe, even if it wasn't negating any of this force.
She dashed out of the laser, which continued its ascent towards the stars before swapping to the Aspect of Zeus as she fell into a freefall again. Not having flight was a pain, but if Rin was going to keep knocking her skyward, who was she to argue.
Rin appeared again, only for Ritsuka to chuck the Aegis at her, Rin catching it, only for her to start plummeting again as lightning raced around her form, shocking her silly as Ritsuka recalled the Aegis, swapping to Varatha again and throwing the Aspect of Achilles, warping to it and kicking Rin downward again, diving after her before spinning into a freefall, swapping to the Coronacht and the Aspect of Chiron once more as Rin righted herself, firing off a barrage of fireballs as Ritsuka fired a barrage of arrows.
The divine arrows of Coronacht and Rin's fire met, explosions filling the air as they both neared the ground, Ritsuka warped to avoid being met with pain as Rin rolled both of them meeting each other, Rin aiming upward with a finger pointed at Ritsuka's head, and Rin had a fully charged arrow aimed at her face. Both of them breathing heavily as they were prepared to shoot each other.
Neither did as they both tilted their heads, the Gandr spell flying into the sky as the arrow shot into the ground, Ritsuka throwing Coronacht back into her pocket as Rin tried to grapple her, the two girls getting into a fist fight, and locking arms in the middle of the street, Rin reinforcing her limbs as Ritsuka grit her teeth, drawing on more power from the two grails inside her to match Rin's force.
They both broke away, teleporting through each other's positions before spinning around, Ritsuka meeting Rin's kick with her arm, blocking it before trying to slam Rin into the ground with a haymaker. Rin similarly dodged before straight up pulling out another gun and attempting to shoot Ritsuka.
She knocked the gun away and summoned Sytigius, attempting to stab Rin as she spun around and fired a point blank Master Spark, Ritsuka barely dodging as she tried to stab with Varatha now, Rin bending over it backwards and pointing a loaded Contender at Ritsuka, who swapped instantly to Malphon, slashing the bullet out of the air before blocking Rin's follow up kick with a low block, swapping to Coronacht and attempting to slash at Rin with the bow while also pulling back an arrow. Rin dodged the slash, and fired a Gandr point blank with the arrow, an explosion filling the air between them as Ritsuka swapped to Exagryph, firing a grenade.
This time both of them were flung back by the explosion, giving Ritsuka some space as both of them were still panting a little bit. Ritsuka's own wounds were being slow to heal… just keeping up with Rin was draining both dry.
Rin seemed to be faring better, other than the fatigue her own wounds were already gone, even if her clothing was a lost cause at this point.
Only Ritsuka to suddenly be surrounded by hundreds of blades, all poised to stab her, she froze as someone walked out of the nearby alleyway and onto the street.
Shirou Emiya, arm alight with blue as he spoke. "Well, you two had your fun… what the hell are you doing fighting her?"
"She started it!" Ritsuka spat out and swapped to the Aspect of Mash, raising it and just barely blocking the barrage of blades with the 360 degree shield, all of them impaling themselves into it as Shirou frowned.
"That's what they usually say. Rin," Shirou turned to Rin, who scoffed. "Who started it."
"She did," Rin lied, and Shirou raised an eyebrow before looking at Ritsuka, who was now still just standing there and taking more and more swords of rather low quality against her shield before he slowly lowered his hand, the barrage stopping as he spoke.
"Alright, I'm going to give you one chance to explain. Who the hell are you, and why did you attack Rin," Shirou ordered as Ritsuka slowly fell to her knees, feeling the grails empty now from Shirou Emiya's casual assault.
"She… wanted… to hurt me… for… Altria," Ritsuka said, panting in exhaustion before quickly dumping both grails out of her body, the golden cups clattering to the street and shattering as she pulled out a third Grail and put it into her, Shirou summoning a pair of swords and preparing to attack as she slowly and carefully stood up, raising the Aegis towards him.
"For Altria? You mean Saber Alter," Shirou noted, piecing together her identity in his head.
"Ritsuka Fujimaru, Anchor for Grand Order… and she's Altria," she shot back, shield still raised as he frowned.
"Rin, did she replace Archer?" he questioned and Rin slowly nodded, leaving him to groan.
"Of… course," he muttered before glaring at Ritsuka. "You know your 'friend' has been causing a lot of issues around here," Shirou said.
"Yeah what kind?" Ritsuka asked as Rin scoffed.
"Being a rude bitch for one," the magus noted and Ritsuka just blankly stared at her.
'Pot calling the kettle black much?' Ritsuka pondered as Shirou explained.
"Every time she's shown up, she's been wrecking her way through the Holy Grail War and causing general chaos in her attempts to destroy the Grail… and while she does succeed, it's not exactly something we prefer, as we have to deal with the cleanup once she leaves," Shirou noted as Rin muttered something under her breath.
"Did she really piss you two off that much?" Ritsuka asked as a third person suddenly joined them.
A man in a blue robe, carrying a wooden staff.
Cu Chulainn, in his Caster form.
"Well I'd say she has. Hey Rits, nice outfit. You get summoned at your alternate or you change into it?" Cu asked casually as Shirou frowned, Rin pulling up her hand as Cu stood beside Ritsuka.
"Changed into it," she admitted, and he just nodded before turning to Shirou.
"So, this your first time here Rits?" Cu asked as Ritsuka hummed. "Well I suppose you two haven't exactly been the most polite hosts then have you? By the way red, your girl's a little liar. I was watching, she's the one who blew Ritsuka out of her manor and tried to use all three of her Command Seals to force her to sit there and taking a beating. By the way, good fighting Rits, didn't know you had that in you yet," Cu noted before spinning his staff and aiming it at his Anchor.
"Do you really want to fight Cu?" Shirou asked, still holding both swords as Ritsuka got up next to the Caster.
"Not really, but I will if you two are going to hound my friend to death," he proclaimed as the four of them remained in a tense standoff.
Slowly, Shirou dropped his swords, and turned to Rin. "You seriously blew up at her the moment you met her?"
"I don't like her," Rin said bluntly as Ritsuka frowned as Cu scoffed.
"Well Rits, seeing as how you're currently with a Master, since missy here decided to waste all her spells trying to bind a Goddess to take a beating, you wanna come with me?" Cu asked as Ritsuka sighed.
"Yeah, I'd be glad to Cu," she said with a smile as Shirou frowned at her.
"We'll be speaking later, Ritsuka Fujimaru," he said coldly.
"Yeah I expect we will," Ritsuka returned as Cu grabbed her by the shoulder gently, before warping away with her in a teleport, leaving Rin and Shirou alone on the street to go return to their own residences.
Ritsuka and Cu appeared in a temple, where Cu quickly turned toward a purple haired woman who was sitting in a chair. "Oi Bazett, found out what was going on." Cu reported.
"What happened?" Bazett asked, looking Ritsuka up and down as she finally just shifted back from her identity of Lotós and into the body she'd been summoned in… which was just herself in her old Chaldean uniform. The woman in suit seemed a bit perplexed as Caster began to speak.
"Well, there was a bit of a fight going on, you know, standard Grail War fare. Apparently this girl here was attacked by her own Master for some reason, that Tohsaka girl," he looked to Ritsuka. "By the way, what Class are you?"
"Pretender, apparently," Ritsuka admitted as Bazett's eyebrow raised.
"Pretender?"
"Ah, an irregular Class," Cu mused to keep up appearances. They both knew damn well who the only other 'Pretenders' were when it came to Servants.
"So you're telling me this Servant was losing against her own Master?" Bazett asked as Cu nodded.
"Yeah, I watched the fight and everything. That Tohsaka girl, and another Magus, probably don't even need Servants to win the Grail war," Cu warned as Bazett slowly nodded, contemplating this. "Still, her contract was broken, the Tohsaka girl burned all of her Command Seals in her attempt to basically kill her own Servant," Cu continued.
"So what do you recommend, Caster?" Bazett asked.
"That depends on if she's willing to work with us?" Cu asked, and Ritsuka smiled.
"I'd be perfectly fine doing that," Ritsuka replied, and then frowned. "Better than them."
"Oh dear, off on the wrong foot with both of them already…" Cu muttered as Bazett walked up to Ritsuka.
"So Pretender… What is your True Name?" she asked.
"Ritsuka Fujimaru," she replied, and Bazett slowly nodded, holding out her hand.
With Cu's help the contract was made fairly easily, and Bazett had a second pair of Command Seals on her other hand.
About five seconds later there was a massive explosion outside, the building shaking as Cu groaned. All three of them ran outside to see a massive pillar of darkness shooting towards the sky, followed by a dark figure being launched skywards by something. "...And she got summoned too… great," Cu complained, before suddenly warping away.
Both Bazett and Ritsuka were left staring as Cu returned with an extremely badly burned, and heavily wounded Altria, who coughed up a bit of smoke before flopping on the ground.
"Altria!" Ritsuka was by the Saber's side in an instant, kneeling on the ground as Cu started erecting as many barriers as he could around the temple. They wouldn't do shit if Shirou got serious, but they might keep Tohsaka out. Might being the operative term.
"Damn she's pissed, what the hell happened?" Cu complained as Altria slowly sat up, Ritsuka dumping First Aid casts onto her as Altria coughed.
"Thank you Ritsuka," Altria noted as Ritsuka sighed, Bazett just looking confused as Cu sighed.
"What the hell did you do?" Cu asked as Altria scoffed.
"I did nothing this time. The girl blew up on me after I was summoned," Altria noted before pulling out a Rule Breaker from her pocket, and jabbing herself, before shoving it back into her pocket while also pulling out a grail and absorbing it.
"What in Helheim?" Bazett muttered as Cu looked to her.
"Long story Master, I've got this handled," Cu offered as Bazett nodded, slowly making a tactical withdrawal as Cu rounded on Altria.
"Do you have any idea why she's so mad this loop?" he questioned as Altria shrugged.
"I've had more than a few loops here recently, standard fare. Deal with the Grail War, leave and go do my own thing. I don't see what the problem is," Altria answered as Cu sighed.
"And how much collateral damage do you leave behind?" he asked.
"No more than usual," she responded with a snarky tone.
"So you leveled a couple blocks?" Ritsuka asked.
"About," Altria admitted bluntly.
"Well that answers part about why she's so pissed, but that can't be the only reason," Cu muttered before shaking his head. "Probably a question for Shirou then, but he doesn't seem to be in a great mood either,"
"They did not take very kindly to my presence," Altria noted.
"They never do Altria, they never do," Cu complained. Were those two that pent up from lacking Artoria, or were they coming off of the bad end of some nasty loops?
Probably both actually.
"So… what do we do now?" Ritsuka asked as Altria stood up, hefting Excalibur Morgan onto her shoulder.
"We deal with the Holy Grail and then fuck off, what else," Altria stated, not even caring that outside the bounded field Cu had erected lay a pair of individuals who probably wanted both her and Ritsuka… and possibly Cu dead for aid the pair of them.
"Just another day at the office then," Ritsuka noted as Cu chuckled.
"Well, shit then, let's make a plan first and hope we can avoid getting blown up… then again," Cu noted, before chuckling. "Seeing how I have the temple, and the grail's pretty close…"
"Inform Bazett, blow up the Grail and leave?" Ritsuka asked.
"Exactly what I was thinking. You two think the Caribbean would be nice this time of year?" Cu asked with a smirk.
"Probably," Altria offered, smirking as the trio went to go inform Bazett of their newest member of their little alliance… and to tell her about the Grail being a corrupted mess and their intention on blowing it up before going on vacation before the super-powered Magi in the city killed all of them.
She, unsurprisingly, agreed. Dealing with Servants was one thing. Dealing with a pair of apparent super-magi was another when they could throw around that sort of power.
About twenty minutes later they'd invaded the Grail's chamber, and Altria blew it up via one Excalibur, and about three minutes after that, they picked up Bazett and Cu teleported all of them away to the Caribbean for a nice long vacation.
"You know you all suck at hiding," Shirou Emiya noted as he sat across from Ritsuka, or rather a shadow clone of him did.
"I mean we aren't exactly trying to, just… staying away," Ritsuka noted, tipping up the brim of her hat to look at Shirou. "She doesn't seem to like me."
"We've had quite a few bad Loops recently. She just happened to explode on you. It just got worse when Altria appeared again," Shirou noted, unamused at said fact, and that she'd run off again.
Currently Cu, Altria and Bazett were all sitting on the nearby pier, fishing, while Ritsuka was talking with her fellow Anchor in some semblance of polite conversation.
"I don't appreciate you trying to stab me, I could have died," Ritsuka pointed out.
"You got into a fight with Rin, I assumed the worst, knowing what your place is like," Shirou noted, and Ritsuka tried not to scoff.
"Yeah, yours is much better," Ritsuka commented and Shirou frowned.
"If nearly anyone else had said that, I wouldn't believe them, but I know better," Shirou commented as he looked Ritsuka up and down. "You look different from before."
"Geez, wasn't like I was trying not to hide or anything," Ritsuka snarked before shaking her head. "I was using one of my Alternate Identities during that fight."
"What, that something from your Baseline I didn't pick up?" Shirou commented as Ritsuka spun the straw of her drink.
"Be glad you didn't. Still haven't figured out why I'm almost never human anymore… but my past is beyond fucked," she noted, and Shirou gave a sympathetic wince.
"I mean, my family changes every Loop, but I can-"
"Muramasa's somewhere in there, he confirmed it in Baseline," Ritsuka pointed out as Shirou blinked.
"Huh… that probably explains a lot actually," the other Anchor noted as he took a sip of his drink, something which was most certainly alcoholic compared to Ritsuka's punch.
Both of them sat there in uncomfortable silence for a little bit, even as nearby Cu was celebrating his new big catch.
"...How do you get along with so many people?" Shirou asked calmly, looking over his shoulder towards Altria, who was still trying to catch her own fish.
"Part of who I am, which is surprising, given that I've only kinda built up my Identity as Ritsuka Fujimaru around my time at Chaldea, rather than anything from before then," she noted. "I always try to see the best in people, give them a chance. I don't fault them for their choices… most of the time. Still there are those I can't be friends with, but I can tolerate," she offered as Shirou frowned.
"Even if they're a villain looking to destroy the world?" Shirou asked as Ritsuka's head shot up, glaring him down.
"You know what I have to do, Shirou Emiya," she said coldly as he glared at her in turn.
"Do you really have to destroy entire worlds and timelines? Don't you ever do anything to change that?"
"You think that I can," she admitted. "But the fact is that those timelines are a dead end… while I may love the people in them, they cannot leave those dead ends… They deserve to exist, but the world says they can't. To drag them out would just be… painful. Only one Lostbelt breaks this rule, and ironically… it's the one I both love and hate the most," she noted softly.
"That's quitter talk, Ritsuka Fujimaru. We've got the time, I'm certain you can come up with a solution." Shirou started before Ritsuka glared at him.
"You've been through my Loop. You're just telling me to do so because you know that you can't." Shirou was absolutely silent, eyes staring straight ahead as Ritsuka continued. "You're far, far, far older than me. And I know you've been through it, all the way to the end if Artoria is to be believed…" Ritsuka started as Shirou remained silent.
She continued. "I can't save them… no matter how much I want to, I can't save them… I can't save their worlds without dooming our own… its winner take all with the Lostbelts. If any of them 'win' or survive… then Proper Human History, all those timelines of it, goes away. In the Loops, if that occurs, it's only temporary, but…" she lowered her head.
They sat there for a good, long while.
"...You've tried to, haven't you?" Shirou asked softly as Ritsuka turned her head away.
"I've tried, the closest I've gotten was when mister Sanchez Looped in… even his own solution was only temporary… in the end, once it wore off."
She clenched her fist around her drink.
"Straight back to non-existence."
They remained sitting there as Shirou closed his eyes.
"...I can't forgive you for what you have to do, Ritsuka Fujimaru. I'll always try to save everyone."
"You think I don't hate what I have to do? But I still push onward, because no one else can or will," she noted.
"...What's the one where you can save people?" Shirou asked.
"Fairy Britain, the Lostworld… a timeline completely parallel to Human History, with no connection at all, because of that fact, despite being destined for destruction, either by itself or by the world, the inhabitants could exist… I wish that I could save them but…" she clenched her fist. "They don't deserve to be saved, not all of them, only very few among them."
"...You know what, that's something we can agree on," Shirou noted, taking a good, long drink of his alcoholic beverage.
Fairy Britain was a horrible, horrible self destructive world. One that went out of its way to tear apart and utterly destroy any lights that dared to shine within it. A world that was so hateful of itself, that it wanted nothing more than its own destruction.
"We don't have to like each other Shirou… but it is inevitable that we'll work with, and against each other," she noted. "We are very different people."
"In a way, we are also quite similar," Shirou noted, before vanishing, leaving Ritsuka to lean back and close her eyes.
"I suppose I truly am a villain, hero of justice." she commented to thin air, lifting up her drink by the rim. "But that won't stop me from trying to save the world."
She didn't like Rin though. Did she really have to be so rude and attack her just because she'd had a few bad Loops?
6.1: Round two Goetia!
6.2: People fight for stupid reasons all the time. Tis the human way of life.