21.1
[Fate/Grand Order]
Head Hunt
Some Loops were harder than others. And despite having a literal vault full of Catalysts, Ritsuka still felt the need to spin the wheel and roll the dice more often than not. Mostly because it was more fun and interesting to actually deal with whatever the world tended to throw at her. More often than not, letting lady luck take the wheel rather than forcing a particular summon early on tended to tell her just how hard things were gonna be.
The stronger the Servant, the more she knew things were either going to be stupidly easy, or ungodly hard.
So when the light cleared upon the Summoning Chamber this Loop, heralding the very first Servant this time around, Ritsuka knew it was going to be one of those Loops.
"Fear not, contractor." The robed Assassin began, his sword planted in front of him, piercing the podium of the Summoning Chamber. Two blue lights flickered behind the mask that he would never remove. "The Old Man of the Mountain hath come in answer to thy summons. I have no name. Address me as thou wilt."
"Senpai…" Mash looked a bit Concerned, but Ritsuka just smirked. This was either going to be amazingly easy early on, or stupidly hard.
"Status report!" Jeanne Alter demanded, the dark Ruler growling as Gilles hummed.
"The Servant of Chaldea is cutting his way through all of our forces with ease. Nothing is stopping him," the Caster reported, before his eyes went… derpy. "NOTHING CAN STOP DEATH ITSELF!"
The copy of Jeanne d'Arc groaned, laying an armored hand upon her face and groaning.
As she was muttering obscenities to herself… the bells began to chime. She raised her head, confused as Gilles began rambling further. "Quiet you fucking moron!"
"Be silent, witch of wrath."
Jeanne Alter tried to turn her head to speak at her assailant, flames already erupting from her arm before she was beheaded with a single swing.
"Okay, so our target is Lev Lanuer Flarous… King Hassan, do you think you can deal with him?"
"Thou doubt mine ability contractor?" the Old Man of the Mountain questioned, but Ritsuka shook his head.
"More of a concern of just how he is holding the Grail, those things can give some crazy regeneration," Ritsuka cautioned, choosing her words carefully to avoid Goetia coming to claim her life.
"There is no such thing as a 'Holy Grail'. Confuse not fantasy and fanaticism," the King cautioned, Roman deciding to pipe up from across the holographic feed.
"It's the designation we have for these magical artifacts that are holding the Singularities together, it's what Lev called them, so it's what we're going with unless things change… is that alright? The good doctor provided
"A practical sentiment," the Assassin said calmly, before gripping the handle of his blade. "I depart contractor." He vanished in a pillar of flame.
"...So how much do you want to bet he comes back with Lev's head and no Grail?" Ritsuka asked, looking at her current companions.
"That's not even a bet," Altria snarked.
"Um… I don't think he'll come back with Lev's head…" Mash muttered, shaking her head.
"The founder will find a way," Cursed Arm commented, one of their summoned allies from Chaldea this Loop.
"While he's doing that, let's get on with finding Nero. Heck if I know why we're in Mexico, but she's gotta be around here somewhere," Ritsuka ordered. That tended to be how this went. Nero Claudius being the one consistent factor of the second singularity.
Turned out, King Hassan did come back with Lev's head. In two pieces, as he'd somehow been bisected vertically at one point… Ritsuka had seen weirder.
"This is cruel and unusual," Mash muttered as Sir Gawain, the Lion King's Knight of the Sun was angrily trying to fight off King Hassan… and King Hassan.
There was two of the Old Man of the Mountain, and they were taking the strongest of the Lion King's knights and practically toying with him.
"Let him have this, we're going after the Lion King," Ritsuka ordered. She was well aware how King Hassan operated. He did his own cryptic, but often helpful thing, and she actually got the work done alongside everyone else. Usually what he did was, go figure, assassination.
Of course killing Tristan's Curse of Reversal had been perhaps the weirdest boon so far, and the Archer had practically shut down for hours… before returning to their aid with utter vengeance in his eyes. Actually getting one of the Lion King's knights to swap sides (that wasn't Lancelot), was not something that happened every Loop.
As usual, Bedivere returned Excalibur in suitable fashion, stabbing it directly into Rhongomyniad's heart. King Hassan (The Chaldean one), returned to them as the Singularity was ending… holding Gawain's head.
Ritsuka was starting to see a theme regarding just how head happy he was.
Ritsuka breathed heavily as she took in the sight before her with both fear and awe.
King Hassan, standing tall. His shield raised, clashed against Goetia's fist. The King of Demons hadn't been playing around this time, assaulting them directly before reinforcements from the Throne could arrive.
King Hassan however was having none of it. "Thou thinks they can strike mine contractor?"
"Foolish Servant," Goetia warped backwards, King Hassan raising his shield again as the king of demons held out his arms, his massive form towering even over King Hassan. "You cannot harm me!" his arms flashed, the eyes on them glowing as lasers began rapidly firing.
King Hassan merely raised his sword, swiping through the air, slashing the lasers that would have actually hit either himself or Ritsuka, destroying them… Killing them. Goetia put his hands together, firing off a massive beam of energy. The King shifted his tower shield, blocking, and then partially deflecting the beam of power towards a nearby rock formation before speaking.
"Correct. Harm I cannot, thine life is not mine to take. The Bell shall toll for thou, thine life taken by another's hand," the King stood tall, flames bleeding off him, a pillar of blue fire erupting around the Old Man of the Mountain like an aura of power, Goetia channeling a purple aura of his own as King Hassan raised his broadsword, Azreal. "But thou are unable to bring harm to mine self, nor shall thou bring harm to mine contractor."
"You… What are you?" Goetia questioned before rushing forward, rapidly beating at King Hassan, who shifted his shield to block before he slashed in turn. The King's blade caused no harm, even as blue flames licked at Goetia's arm. The force however, pushed Goetia back, causing him to skid across the ground in surprise from the power this one Servant was packing.
"I am Hassan-i-Sabbah. God will thou shall die this day. The Evening Bell has tolled thine name." King Hassan was completely, and utterly calm, in comparison to the King of Demons.
"You gave up your title of Grand? How are you, this strong Servant!?" Goetia demanded an answer that his omniscience could not provide.
The King looked back, towards his contractor, and the girl who was now back at her side, content that she would be guarded, he returned his blue eyed gaze to Goetia. "I am in accordance to God's will and judgement. I battle not for glory, but for the survival of man. Mine simple goal gives purpose. The trust put in this body gives me strength. Knoweth this Goetia, thou sin is thine undoing." He raised his blade, and teleported, Goetia tanking the blade as King Hassan appeared, and blocked a punch with his shield in turn. Yet the blue flames continued to linger.
The King's eyes flashed between red and blue, Goetia suddenly being forced into a duel of strikes faster than human eyes could witness, punching in tandem with the slashes of a sword, from angles not possible with Hassan's position. "By mine contractor's will, the path to thine demise shalt be revealed."
As he said this, Goetia and King Hassan started rapidly teleporting around, flue flames and flashes of purple clashing in various locations, traveling through the temple of time. Servants began to pour in, assaulting the 72 Demon Pillars. The heroes of the throne would destroy. The King would distract.
Goetia was on his knees, not from battle, but from Romani, from Solomon's act of sacrifice. Ritsuka coming forward, King Hassan bleeding blue flames, injured, but unstoppable. "The way is lit contractor," he spoke, the soft sound of bells filling the air. "The bell tolls for the king of Demon-kind."
"Thank you, King Hassan," Ritsuka said with a smile and a nod to him as Mash jointed them, having spent most of the battle jumping between locations to block any attempts by Goetia to wipe out not only King Hassan, but the other Servants with his Noble Phantasm.
"I can still make it work!" Goetia roared, instantly shooting to his feet. Mash tossed her shield, Ritsuka catching it with not even a glance and raising it as Goetia warped forward, cracked fist met determined steel. Ritsuka grunted, pushing Goetia off before rushing forward, slamming into the King of Demon's chest, forcing him back as King Hassan merely watched.
A pity. He wished to claim the King of Demon's head himself. But if God willed for the contractor to claim this one's soul, he would abide by that will.
Such was how King Hassan, Chaldea's Angel of Death (for that Loop), would act, in accordance to his Master's, and God's will… mostly by killing a lot of problematic people and abstract concepts that got in the way of his duty.
21.2
[Fate Grand Order]
A Chaldean's Guide to the Grand Order 6
Chapter 1.12: Kirschtaria Wodime - Leader of the Crypters
To those reading this, you are probably wondering why, after literal gods, conceptually powerful Beasts, world destroying threats, monsters from beyond the stars and literal Outer Gods (Who are not the Mythos Hackers), a mere human man is on this list of the 'Most Powerful Beings that can kill you'.
Simple. He can, in fact he outright surpasses many of these beings when it comes to pure raw power, though he lacks many of the problematic conceptual abilities that make the others so dangerous. What I am speaking of is a mere Magus who has reached the absolute pinnacle of his craft.
How dangerous can such a thing be? How does he have so much power? Well, allow me to put it bluntly. The Animusphere Magecraft is an old one from the Age of Gods, that relies upon the power of the universe. No, not just the stars, the entire universe. Usagi Tsukino put it best I believe.
"Wodime holds power within his hands nigh unrivaled by anyone in this Loop as far as I know, maybe the Dyson Sphere has more power than him. In fact, I'm pretty sure he'd be able to stare down and face most other universes with no issues, so long as the universe itself is willing to give him it's aid. He's on a level with me and Galaxia, if we're talking pure baseline, perhaps greater. His only real limit is how much his body can take."
And before you ask if this isn't something special, like say an ability unique to him. It isn't, he's just studied the Animusphere Magecraft to its peak, and has honed it to a T. Many would go as far as to say he is, bar none, the most powerful human in our Loop. It just so happens his power tends to fluctuate.
Wodime has three major weaknesses. The first being that he's at his strongest in the Olympus Lostbelt. Due to the Greek world view of the stars, as well as the Greek Gods being literal starships, and the mana so abundant in the air it's practically a death sentence for any normal human to stand within the Lostbelt, he has a lot of boons on his side.
The Greek world view adds Mystery, which increases his power further as it is not understood. The Olympians being starships increases his range, proving that interstellar and even interdimensional travel is possible, and thus within human grasp (as Magecraft can perform acts that are humanly possible), and the abundant mana allows him to reinforce his body to be able to take more energy than it could otherwise hold. Outside of this Lostbelt, his power drops significantly… due to all of the above factors being turned from 'true' to 'false', save the thing about starships, that still makes the range of power he can draw from insane. The drop in both Mystery and mana are quite crippling, since the Animusphere Magecraft requires a lot of both to function properly. It's still powerful, but without the Olympian Lostbelt, his danger level drops significantly. He's probably still be incredibly powerful anywhere he has mana to burn for his Magecraft.
His second major weakness is his physical condition. Note absolutely everything above, and then factor in this. He has an Origin Bullet in his body, and his magic circuits have been otherwise heavily damaged beyond just that. Note that with those two problems he's still stronger than Lostbelt Zeus in raw power, and many other people and things as well. That and, well, comparatively, he's still just a normal human with a lot of defensive spells in place. In Baseline, he died to being quite literally stabbed in the back.
His third weakness is actually to do with his lack of something. As noted, he packs the raw power that outdoes even the strongest of gods, and he has actually killed multiple Loopers in combat before, mostly because they didn't take it seriously with him after everything else the Loop has thrown at them. No, his biggest problem is that his power is just that. It's the raw power of the Universe, rather than the power of a Planet. No conceptual advantages or disadvantages at all. And that's the problem, he can be easily neutered by conceptual defenses or advantages. Koyanskya's Nega Weapon ability allows her to easily best him, and the Alien God similarly can tank his attacks with no injury just due to likely possessing many of the same very simple conceptual defenses the other Beasts do, as well as whatever her unique Nega skill is. Of course when you're weaponizing concepts, that's a pretty high bar.
His combat capabilities out of the way, many of you are probably asking 'why not just deal with him then?' He's an enemy in Baseline, and compared to a lot of other things we have to deal with, he's infinitely easier to reach and beat than a majority of them. To put it bluntly, his antagonism is actually a conflict of interest, not a simple good versus evil debate. As mentioned above, despite being one of the Crypters, he's actually fully against the Alien God. His plan is to turn his Lostbelt into New-Human History, and to elevate all of humanity to the status of Gods. He believes doing so will achieve not just world peace, but enable humanity to fight back against the Alien God and win. There is precedent to this, and we've seen it. He's fully capable of doing exactly this if allowed to, Rick Sanchez pretty much stopped us from stopping him just so he could get easy godhood.
The problem is he's idealistic, something pointed out to him by Holmes, and various others. While I personally would love to believe the same as him that all of humanity being equal would lead to peace, factually that isn't true for our world. It doesn't make his ideal any less admirable, and just how far he is willing to go for this is similarly admirable. He fully plans of facing down Zeus and the Alien God, perhaps at the same time, killing the first and stalling the later for his plan to be completed, well aware that the Alien God can and will kill him by revoking his revival. As he put it 'The last of the Old humanity making way for the new.'
He's also a friend. Ritsuka regularly attempts to save his life, since our battle with him is again, a conflict of interest. Our goal is to save Pan-Human history, his is to create a new history, and we're both trying to save the world. In Baseline, he's the one who gives Ritsuka back their will to not just continue onward, but fight their hardest for our world's survival… It is actually rather telling that Kamina once compared the man to himself. He even gets back up after his death in Baseline to save our lives one last time… He also happens to be a massive dork.
21.3
[Fate/Grand Order] [Fate/Stay Night]
Duplicates
"Senpai." Mash began, concerned in her voice.
"Yes Mash?" Ritsuka returned, admittedly already expecting the question.
"Why are there ten Ushiwakamaru running around?"
That was pretty much the same question Ritsuka had going on through her head. She was used to summoning a Servant once, maybe a few times if they had multiple possible classes (Cu was particularly egregious with his five different possibilities).
Having ten of the same exact Servant on the other hand was… not normal. All of said Ushiwakamaru did indeed look exactly the same, but at the same time, did not seem to share memories between each other. "I have no idea," Ritsuka admitted, before smacking the console for the summoning chamber. It was probably on the fritz this Loop. Or it was just a Variant. They didn't tend to get a lot of those, but they happened to usually be weird.
"Do… Do we summon anymore Servants?" Mash asked, rather concerned. Da Vinci wasn't Awake this Loop, so no one had beefed up the power generator yet.
"I say… we do an experiment," Ritsuka began, and did something she rarely ever did. Pull out Holy Grails from her Pocket to fix the generators. It was time to see just how badly they could break this.
One of the many, many Rins that had been summoned (This one was an Ereshkigal), frowned as she was standing alongside Ritsuka and Mash. "Ritsuka, what the fuck."
"I regret nothing," she declared, and Rin had to take a very, deep and long breath to avoid throttling the Chaldean Anchor… even if she wasn't sure it would work given the obvious ball joints on Ritsuka's body, it would be cathartic after witnessing this.
"MONGREL!" Was the one thing Rin heard, the source of her current frustration and no less than ten Gilgameshs were standing before the Goddess Rhongomyniad, who was wrapped up in chains and being forced to endure the scathing remarks of ten egotistic golden kings while poor Bedivere was awaiting his chance to free her from this torment.
"You're going to attempt to bring entire armies to your foes' doorstep aren't you?" Rin questioned.
"She is," Mash admitted, Ritsuka chuckling as the Gilgameshs were still dealing with the goddess.
She personally could not wait to face off with the Olympians this Loop, among other things.
Shirou Emiya had a… predicament.
Namely, there were quite literally twelve versions of his Muramasa form all assembled in this one singularity, generously provided by an L.R.G (Logos React Generic) for this very purpose. Across from him, fifteen EMIYAs, with seven EMIYA Alters off to the side as well.
"This is going to go very poorly for all of us, I hope you realize," Shirou noted, and all of the EMIYAs huffed.
"And how often do we get the chance to do something this stupid?" One of them provided, the 'leader' as they had deigned for themselves.
"Fair. So then, are you ready for this?" Shirou commented, his various alternates joining him as the EMIYAs all prepared themselves.
Many would assume this would be a duel to the death.
What it actually was, was a cooking contest, being held with no less than fifty Artorias and thirteen Altrias in audience, awaiting the best of the best when it came to food. Also an additional twenty seven Rins, and forteen Sakuras, all Awake, and all awaiting an epic meal.
"No, but we're doing it anyway. So," The EMIYAs pulled out all sorts of cooking utensils, and dressed themselves in pink aprons and chef's hats. "Do you have enough ingredients in stock?"
The Shirous assembled, pulling out their kitchen from his Pockets and preparing to trace any utensils they could, alongside the EMIYA Alters preparing to serve as waiters. "Probably not, but damn if we ain't going to try to."
Thus, the epic cooking contest began. If it would actually sate those in the audience, they would find out shortly.
Either way, it was an epic meal time to remember.
21.4
[Fate/Grand Order] [Soul Eater]
EXCALIBURRRR!
"What… the fuck," Those were the words that came out of Ritsuka's mouth as he, Merlin, Artoria Caster and Mash were all looking at the little… thing that had been created by Murasama's sacrifice.
A little white creature wearing a top hat and carrying a cane. Whatever it was, it was sitting in Artoria's arms (They really needed a different name for her), looking around at everyone before speaking.
"How odd… It seems I have just been created. No legend whatsoever," the creature tilted its head. "I am Excalibur, yes… yes! I am this newly forged Excalibur!" the creature leapt out of her arms.
"...Uh, hmm," Merlin put a finger to his chin. "You know what, I'm stumped."
"This is Excalibur!?" Artoria questioned, bending down slowly.
"WHY YES!" The little creature raised its cane, and began wildly spinning. "I AM! EXCALLIIBUUUURRR!"
"Senpai, I don't know what to make of this," Mash muttered, utterly confused. She hadn't been a Looper for long at this point, but… this was pretty bizarre.
"Why young lady I will have you know- Wait, nevermind can't use that one, hmm. I shall go with this one!" The creature spun its cane around and began singing. "My legend dates back to two minutes ago~ Brought forth by the Planet oh what ho! To sing the song of SALVATIONNN~"
Ritsuka could already feel the fucking migrane, which was impressive, given he was supposed to a 'doll' this Loop for some reason. His magecraft processors were getting a migraine.
That was a very interesting face Merlin was making now, and Artoria was joining in on it… and the more Excalibur kept singing, the more he wanted to make it.
"Ring the bell of reform! EXCALIBUR! From the inner sea of the Planet! I'm going to Fairy Britaiiinnnn!"
"Oh what are you doing lady Caster?" Excalibur questioned, standing alongside Artoria Caster as they were looking towards Cernunnos. The great Horned God's corpse still lumbering towards them.
"The Rhongomyniads didn't work… we need a new strategy."
"Hmm, well even on my lonesome I have doubts I will pierce this creature's flesh and fur, which is saying something on how tough this creature is," Excalibur admitted. It was a Null Loop, and while he would easily be able to do it with his Looping powers… probably, he wasn't sure on his lonesome he could match an entire array of weapons meant to be on par with this body. "But I shall endeavor to do so anyway! Come Artoria, wield my power!"
As Excalibur spun his cane, ready to face the end of the world with this alternate Morgan (Which had been a surprise honestly, she was quite nice). "Wield your power…" Artoria looked at her staff, and then at the throne behind them. "Good idea."
"Well of course it-" Excalibur started, before he felt the glow of magic surrounding him, he spun around, looking to Artoria who was alight with energy, far more than her body could safely channel. Raising her staff to the air she stared down Cernunnos one more time.
As she channeled, he watched as twelve copies of himself formed, all of them spinning into existence. Excalibur would have grinned if he had a mouth, as he floated into the air alongside his duplicates. "Alright boys~ Let's put on a show!" He declared, shifting to weapon form alongside all of his duplicates, who gave their own affirmations.
Artoria Caster fired… and the thirteen Excaliburs began their horrible off-key, and extraordinary loud singing. They spun together in a circle, rainbows trailing behind them with sparkles in the sky above. Together they leveled out into a flying V Formation… before beginning to spin together like a drill, singing all the while. The original in the lead, both in song and in the drill.
"OOOOHHHHH! EXCALIBUR! EXCALIBUR! FROM WITHIN THE INNER SEA! WE STRIKE DOWN THE GOD OF EARTH! WE'RE LOOKING FOR HEAVENNNN! GOING TO CALIFORNIA! EXCALIBUR! EXCALIBURRRR! TALLY HOOO"
The rainbow Excali-drill pierced the god Cernunnos. It roared in pain, but as the singers continued, their rainbow of doom also crashed into the corpse of the god. The resulting explosion from the thirteen Excaliburs and the rainbow trail was quieter than their combined singing.
"I think Liz's singing was better," Mash admitted, already not ever wanting to hear that again.
"Agreed," Ritsuka muttered as the Black Barrel was charging to fire.
"What ho!" something dropped in from above, the little white being known as Excalibur. "Oh that was fun! Seems my friends didn't make it though, oh well!" he boasted as Mash cringed, but Ritsuka turned towards the whole blown in Cernunnos.
"Mash!"
"Firing!"
"Firing w-" Excalibur's question was drowned out by the sound that inverted, the Black Barrel firing and destroying Cernunnos. Utter obliteration of the God's core. When the colors came back, Excalibur blinked as his hearing returned. "Oh. Bully!"
"Right, just one last thing," Ritsuka muttered, looking at Excalibur, and holding out his hand. "You're Looping right."
"Very much so! Why I'll-" Excalibur started, but Ritsuka cut him off.
"We're about to fight Vortigern," that shut Excalibur up real quick.
"I see. I, EXCALIBUR! Shall offer you my might for this battle. The evil dragon shall be slain! Boy what is your name!" Excalibur ordered, pointing his cane at Ritsuka.
"Ritsuka Fujimaru," Excalibur tipped his hat to him.
"A pleasure to work with you my boy, now then! Let's show Vortigern what for!" he flipped into the air, transforming into his weapon state for this Loop, which was the Sword of the Planet rather than his normal form. Ritsuka caught the golden blade, Mash refolding the Black Barrel.
"All combatants to the top deck, we're about to have company," Ritsuka ordered as he and Mash watched the Vile King form upon the horizon, Oberon-Vortigern flying down towards them, still in his Oberon guise. He could feel Excalibur shaking in his hands at this.
"The fiend, even in another world, I recognize this might! Join King Arthur boy, and make that girl proud," Excalibur ordered, Ritsuka holding the blade like she would Styigius.
"I see you were expecting me," Oberon-Vortigern started as Ritsuka, Mash, Napoleon, Mandricardo, Jekyll, Okita and Nobunaga all raised their weapons. "So it seems you figured me out, Fujimaru?"
"We're ready for you… Bring it on."
Oberon-Vortigern just grinned, the Vile King flying towards them and beginning to suck up the Storm Border. The final battle of the Loop began.
Excalibur in hand, he joined his Servants for it, facing off against the Vile King alongside them, and Artoria Avalon when she arrived.
A battle for the ages, as it always was.
Ritsuka sighed as he, Mash and Excalibur all sat atop the Storm Border, everyone else having gone inside after the epic battle. Together they were sharing a cup of tea before it could end.
"I see. A pity I only came along here at the end. But it shall be glorious the next time I arrive! You should improve further with the blade, Fujimaru!" Excalibur reprimanded, Ritsuka just nodding in acceptance. He did have to keep up his weapons practice afterall.
Mash was politely keeping out of the conversation, mostly because she'd already decided she didn't want to deal with Excalibur anymore than she had to. That her Senpai had the patience of a saint and the ability to get along with almost anyone was probably the only reason the conversation was being kept civil.
That and dealing with Elizabeth's singing, which Excalibur's was comparable to.
"I'll tell you both all about my legend later. But I must ask, are you normally a doll?" Excalibur asked quite bluntly.
"No, I change species every Loop," Ritsuka muttered, a bit annoyed about that fact still. This Null loop meant he hadn't been able to swap at all, but that really only matter if he was a fairy like those in Fairy Britain.
"Hmm, that condition sounds familiar, but I cannot recall where from…" Excalibur tapped his tree arm to the side of his head. "Ah well, I'm sure it's not too much of a problem. You handle yourself well. Continue to do so and we'll be just fine." Excalibur stood up. "And now, one last song for the road!"
Ritsuka merely sighed as Mash grimaced. She was making the same face Merlin and Artoria Caster had been making… and as the little white creature began his song, Ritsuka did not join her in that.
He was annoying… very, very annoying, but at least somewhat tolerable… probably only because of his immense experience in dealing with people, working with people, and just leading them. It was part of the job description anyway.
21.5
[Fate/Grand Order]
Pandamonium Cetus (bLuewErewOlf25)
Ritsuka and Mash were in the Babylonia Singularity once more, fighting off Kingu in the ruins of Nippur. It was a Null Loop, so they were somewhat going through the motions for now. Luckily they had brought Atalante and an early-summoned Lakshimibai to the singularity with them. Between their efforts, Merlin and Mash, they were able to prevent Kingu from seriously injuring Ana much to his obvious frustration.
"Ghhk…! Why won't you just die already!?" Kingu bit out, sending a flurry of sharp chains towards the tiny Greek Servant. But Lakshimibai quickly pointed at Ana, manifesting a shield around her person via her 'Assault on Sipahi' skill. It nullified the attack before disappearing in a shower of sparks.
"Apologies, but you will not be killing our dear friend today. As the Rani of Jhansi, I will—Oh!" She then took a step forward and tripped over nothing. Her resulting stumble prevented her head from being taken off by their opponent's chain.
"I'm okay!" The chain ricocheted off the wall behind her, dislodging a chunk of debris that promptly fell on her back. "Owww…."
Kingu huffed, about to launch another assault when the ground began to tremble. Ritsuka grimaced. It seems like Gorgon finally decided to approach them. A quick glance at Kingu showed the clay doll with surprise on his face… and… a bit of embarrassment?
"No… she came straight here!? This wasn't part of the plan. Has she no restraint…!?"
"Everyone, be ready for anything!"
The forces of Uruk braced themselves as a ginormous shadow burst out of the ground. Ritsuka laid his eyes upon the great monster before them: The upper body of a woman with the lower half of a serpent, two large wings heralding an angel of death. Scales as black as night covered most of her appearance. A beautiful face with cruel eyes, gazing upon the bite-sized morsels laid out before her. Long, flowing hair with strands intertwined to form the heads of many venomous serpents. A white fluffy headband with two equally fluffy black ears on top…
"Wait, what?"
What.
Kingu sighed. "Tiamat…"
There was indeed a fluffy headband on Gorgon's head. Further inspection also showed that each serpent head had its own fluffy headband on top of it. Parts of her body that would normally have a gold coloring were now as white as snow.
"What?" Roman gaped from his seat in Chaldea's Command Center, while Da Vinci laughed herself silly behind him.
Mash, Merlin and the surviving soldiers of Uruk were all equally baffled. Atalante, curiously, had a look of comprehension on her face.
"Ah, I had been wondering why the demonic beasts looked a little more on the ursine side of things." The huntress remarked, as if that explained everything.
As for Ana… her hood had been knocked down during the fight. She noticed Ritsuka staring at her, blushed, and quickly pulled up her hood. But not before the Master of Chaldea noticed a similar animal headband on her head.
Gorgon frowned as she noticed everyone staring at her in incomprehension. "…You're all judging me, aren't you? Me, Tiamat, Mother of All Beasts…"
Her eyes flashed as she began to call upon enormous her magical energy, her serpents hissing in fury.
"So what if I want to look even more pretty!? I will extinguish you all, insects!"
Merlin blanched. "Watch out! Her magic output is spiking! She's going to use her—"
"PANDAMONIUM CETUS!"
Gorgon coiled upon herself as a mage circle appeared underneath her. A black, tarlike substance flowed out as it began to coalesce into many different forms. Tooth, fur and claw of various beasts quickly took shape, hungry gazes focused on Ritsuka's group. Ailuropoda melanoleuca, Ursus americanus, and even Ursus arctos horribilis were present…
"…Did she just say-?" Ritsuka asked intelligently, as Mash grabbed her master and vaulted away from Gorgon along with the other Servants. The soldiers were not as lucky as they got trampled and devoured by a tidal wave of bears.
"Ah, yes, you probably wouldn't know this Master…but in the later stages of her life, Gorgon had a bit of a bear fascination." Atalante said casually, drawing her bow. "Apparently she had met Callisto while the latter had been stuck as a bear, and two hit off…"
She shot an arrow at one of the leading bears, piercing its skull. The bear gave a low groan and slumped to the ground, before its body was run over by its living fellows.
"The good news is that unlike her other Noble Phantasm with a similar name, it is usually easier to deal with. We can keep killing the bears until she runs out of energy." She looked over at the raging goddess, her ever-growing army of ursines rampaging through the streets of the city. "The bad news is that with how she is now, it is unlikely that she'll run out of energy before the bears overwhelm us."
Ritsuka groaned. "Seriously?"
"Cheer up Master! Look on the bright side!" Atalante said cheerfully, shooting down more bears as the Servants and their Master ran for their lives. "At least we'll never have to worry about a lack of pelts ever again!"
21.6
[Fate/Grand Order]
It's Possibly Pirates
Ritsuka was quiet as he nursed a glass of lemonade, sitting in front of several people at the moment. The fact that, as usual, things had gone horribly wrong did not really disturb him. The swimsuit-clad Master of Chaldea merely looked between this week's suspects while off in the distance, Odysseus' Trojan Horse was fighting against a mech that had somehow been built out of pirate ships.
Edison was involved at some point, he was certain of it. "Why is it whenever something goes wrong," he pointed a single finger at the trio before him. "It always involves at least one of you three?" he questioned, before taking a drink of his lemonade. Rather well made at that.
Before him stood the three most probable culprits to the current instance of Pirates versus Mecha, version 7.4 (7th time it had happened this loop, fourth time this singularity). Nobunaga Oda, who was clearly far more interested in watching the ongoing battle across the deserted island than listening to him. Astolfo, who looked sheepish and had probably caused this entire mess by accident… and Elisabeth Báthory.
"Wasn't me this time, wish I could take credit for this," Nobunaga said bluntly. Ritsuka rolled his eyes. He figured as much, but she was probably involved somehow.
"And how many ideas did you give Edison?" Ritsuka questioned, the warlord scoffing.
"Please, that plagarist was the one who copied me," Nobunaga grinned. There it was.
"And which of you two unleashed the pirates and or Edison?" Ritsuka crossed his legs, taking another sip of his lemonade.
"I only asked mister Edison to build me a new microphone," Elisabeth said with a raised hand.
"I told Anne about the treasure in the moon's reflection!" Astolfo raised their hand.
"So you both had some hand in this," Ritsuka muttered, ignoring the explosion that went off behind him from a stray cannonball. "Once Odysseus and Edmond deal with the pirate ship mecha, we'll find Edison and get the full story."
"Eh, it was probably the pirate's fault anyway," Nobunaga commented, pulling a musket out of thin air and taking casual aim at the mecha, firing a laser from said musket right in front of the wooden machine's viewports, probably blinding the crew and allowing the Trojan Horse to grapple the other mecha finally.
"Nice shot," Ritsuka admitted, Nobunaga resting the musket across her shoulder and laughing.
It was… possibly the pirates' fault.
21.7
[Fate/Zero]
Simple... We're fighting the Moon
Kiritsugu Emiya hummed as he looked his Servant up and down, the bemused smirk on her face evident that she was, indeed, Awake. "Altria."
"Kiritsugu, what an unexpected Awakening. It's not often I get to participate in this war," Altria mused. "Tell me, is your son Awake yet?" she reached her hand behind her head, flicking her hair back as the Magus Killer huffed.
"Not yet." he lit up a cigarette. "At the moment, it's just us." He looked at the Saber, and cracked his neck.
"You require something of me, Kiritsugu Emiya?" Altira mused as the man looked her up and down.
"I understand you and my son don't get along," he noted, and she nodded. No point in denying the truth there.
"We have our differences when it comes to the Greater Grail. That, and unlike my sibling, I have no love for him. I do have respect for his cooking however." Altria admitted, taking a seat upon the stairs of stone she had been summoned upon.
"So I've heard, and seen." He took a puff of his cigarette. "He already has enough girlfriends in my opinion." Kiritsugu shook his head before pointing the cigarette at Altria. "Instead I want to make a proposal. Me and Artoria still have our differences, when it comes to how we fight the Grail War here. On the other hand…"
"You believe my methods are more suitable for you?" she questioned, and he smirked.
"We're Loopers, technically any method could be performed. I've destroyed this war more times than I care to count. I know you're fully capable of wrecking the Grail all on your own, and even winning this war if Gilgamesh isn't trying. I want to see what we can do together."
"We've fought together before under Ritsuka's command," she noted, and he nodded.
"That we have. But this time… We shall do it as Master and Servant," he raised his hand, revealing his command spells. "Do you accept a provisional contract?"
"I will accept such a thing. Do you expect me to defer to your orders?" she questioned, and he nodded.
"I do, but I also trust you can make judgments on your own. I'm well aware you can." He raised the cigarette again and took a puff of it. "You probably haven't noticed yet, but this is a null Loop."
"Then all we have is our wits and our skills. Very well then, Kiritsugu Emiya. I, Saber, will assist you in winning this War. Shall we destroy the corrupted cup, source of all the Evils of the World?" She questioned, summoning Excalibur Morgan as she stood up, and then pointing it at him.
The Magus killer huffed, taking a moment to slick back his hair. "We're going to be attempting something far greater than just that. That's step one."
"Then I look forward to whatever you have planned, 'Master'," Altria said with a smirk as Kiritsugu held out his hand. She lowered her blade, and shook his hand. And with that, they sealed the world's fate.
"That was seven years ago at this point," Kiritsugu finished explaining to Shirou, who had awoken quite recently, within the hour at that.
"So, to recap, in a Null Loop, with only yourself and her Awake… you won the Fourth War, destroyed the Greater Grail, managed to take over Fuyuki, and now you and her have spent the past seven years, doing what, exactly?" Shirou questioned.
"We've already destroyed the Einzberns and Maotu families, made sure that Clock Tower is never setting foot in Japan again and we've taken control of the rest of the country via politics."
"How did you get Altria elected as Prime Minister of the Diet!?" Shirou asked, baffled that she was still even around, nevermind she was Prime Minister.
"We came up with a very convincing platform," he didn't elaborate on that, and Shirou frankly did not want to know.
"And where are things going from here?" Shirou asked, actually wondering what the point of this was.
"Simple," Kiritisugu looked towards the stars, the two of them sitting in their house as the Magus Killer huffed. "We're going to take on the Moon."
Shirou had to wonder just why his dad was pissed at the moon. It would probably be either good for a laugh, or an epic battle for the fate of humanity yet again.
At least Rin and Illya got a good kick out of it when they Awoke… and Illya was also all for fighting the Moon.
Seriously, what had the Moon done to piss so many people off?
21.8
[Fate/Grand Order]
Terminal Velocity
Terminal velocity is not a speed most people regularly experience. The maximum attainable speed by falling and nothing else. Typically, this speed would be lethal without some way to slow down, the most common being a simple parachute. Those that failed to find such a way to slow themselves typically found a new intimate relationship with the dirt.
Ritsuka Fujimaru's relationship with terminal velocity was an intimate one, because more often than not they had to experience it. Not only did multiple Singularities begin with such a fall, she regularly had to experience it mid-adventure, such as atmospheric re-entry on Texas Beyond or the Justice Bomb to impressive Quetzacoatl. Or 'Arash Airlines', falling from the Hanging Gardens… or a myriad of other ways.
More impressively, she'd survived every last one of these falls without so much as a parachute, even if most of them involved someone catching her on the way down.
Keyword most.
Altria winced as she saw the cloud of dust in the distance. This supply run to the Caribbean was already proving to be one of those Singularities, given she'd dropped out of Rayshift at about ten thousand feet up. She'd decided to get around the minor thing known as falling by simply using Farore's Wind to teleport to the ground to get her bearings.
Thankfully most of the team for this Rayshift had some way of either flying, stalling or otherwise stopping themselves from impacting either the sea or the ground… including Ritsuka if she would have actually bothered.
But the Rayshift had somehow split them up, likely part of the Singularity's anomaly. Of course that also meant no one was with Ritsuka… given there was only one cloud of dust, she had a fair guess as to who had just made impact.
Another cast of Farore's Wind and she was waltzing up a small hill atop a nearby island. Upon cresting the hill, she came upon what she was looking for. The impact crater her wayward Master had left.
Said crater was fairly deep, and of course there was an indent where Ritsuka had been. It had been maybe thirty seconds since impact and she saw that Ritsuka was already leaning against a nearby tree, cracking her back and stretching. "Damn that smarts."
"You are aware you have a myriad of ways to avoid slamming face first into the ground?" Altria offered, taking a seat at the top of the hill she'd just climbed, Ritsuka turning towards her at the sound of her voice. She idly noted Ritsuka was bleeding lightly from her forehead, but that probable concussion didn't seem to be impeding her at all.
"Force of habit Altira," Ritsuka muttered, wiping her hand against her head and pulling it away, looking at the blood. The Master clenched her fist as Altria sighed, shaking her head.
"It's a very bad habit. Your self-preservation is already absolute shite." Altria stood up, walking towards Ritsuka, noting that despite wiping it away, more blood was dripping down her face. "And don't bring up the excuses, this one has no excuse. You have a myriad of ways to stop yourself from smashing into the ground, and just as many to prevent your own death. Use them." she tapped Ritsuka on the chest. She would have gone for the forehead, but she didn't want to make the likely concussion Ritsuka was likely ignoring any worse.
"I'll fix it-" Ritsuka tried to start, only for Altira to bop her on the shoulder and a metal fist.
"You are actually going to fix this. We have enough ways to die on the regular already. I- WE don't need you dying from something actually preventable!" Altria groaned before looking Ritsuka up and down. "Why are you so difficult…"
"If I knew I'd probably tell you," the Anchor admitted, Altira shaking her head. Oh she knew very well why her friend was like this. It was certainly a problem that 'Ritsuka Fujimaru' was not human. It was odd, that so many could hold her as the epitome of being human, a shining example of humanity… When she almost never was truly human…
Then again Kintoki was similarly a shining example of being human, and he didn't have a drop of human blood in him. That still didn't stop him from being himself, not act like some powerless, weak, only good for her tactics and command spells human. It annoyed Altira just how much she had to poke and prod her friend to get her to use her abilities outside of Chaldea.
Oh sure, Ritsuka trained her bloody abilities like shapeshifting and swordplay, or her various martial arts. She even experimented constantly with that magic between light and dark (It wasn't like Ritsuka was going to get anywhere with Magecraft anyway, she was shite at anything that wasn't at one point attached to a Mystic Code), but she needed to actually use those abilities to make like just a little bit easier.
"You're making that face again Altria," Ritsuka pointed out, the black Saber blinking before huffing and crossing her arms. She'd lost herself in thought again about her friend's issues.
"One of these days we're going to break those bad habits…" Altria mumbled. Ritsuka had a lot of bad habits, and she'd need to get Mash and Da Vinci to help her get rid of them. However that went.
"Can we save it for later? We've got to get supplies and regroup with everyone… and figure out what's up with this Singularity," Ritsuka started, only for Altria to finally bop her on the noggin, not hard, but causing Ritsuka to flinch. She followed that up by wiping away the blood.
"Oh we're going to do that alright, but you are going to be participating, Master. And not merely as support. Pick a gun, a sword, a spear, or your own two fists. Perhaps your favored magicks. The point stands-" She raised her sword at Ritsuka, who didn't even look the least bit concerned how close the glowing blade was to her chin. "You will be joining the fight."
There was a few moments of silence before Ritsuka let out a deep breath, Altria lowering her blade as the Anchor put her hand behind her. A second later, a familiar spear appeared in her hand, the Varatha. "I'm not getting out of this am I?"
"No, no you aren't. Now raise your weapon," she spun around both of them going back to back as the island came alive with activity. They'd both been ignoring the creatures slowly surrounding them for far to long. "We fight our way back to our comrades. Try to keep up."
"A competition then?" Ritsuka asked, Altria feeling the heat emanating from her Master, evidence of swapping forms, likely to the body of the demigoddess.
"Indeed, and I do not intend to lose," Altria snarked as demonic boars began to stalk out of the brush, miasma flying from their snouts.
"We then… neither do I!" They below shot from each other to engage the enemy. The battle of the Caribbean Sea, year 1457, began with a bang. A competition between various Servants, the Master, and the monsters for survival, to protect native civilization from phantasmal beasts from the American lands.
Altria had always wanted to hunt a Thunderbird.
21.1: Fool, bringth thine head.
21.2: As many of you should know, Wodime is pretty dang strong. Atlantis is pain.
21.3: "Legends have it that the Hunger of the Saberface tide was not quelled that day, and that the horde grew threefold by the time the Loop ended. The despair on the faces of the many beings sharing the name Shirou Emiya was nearly palpable, remembering the whims of the King with an Empty Stomach." - High Priest of Ereshkigal
21.4: Tally-ho! You know the face
21.5: A bear-ly handled situation.
21.6: Pirates, it's always pirates.
21.7: The Moon pisses off a lot of people.
21.8: Does this surprise anyone?
Consider all these my gift for being on Hiatus for so long. Take care everyone, I hope you've enjoyed, and there is certainly even more to come.