She wasn't sure what force kept throwing her to apocalyptic situations, the devil in the deeps? God? Both?
'I suppose it doesn't matter, I'm here after all'
She just wished she knew who planned this so she could punch the one who made her first time being summoned happen in a place without a damn sun. She had been really looking forward to that.
She ducked instinctively missing Excalibur Morgana by a few meters, lightning curled at the butt of her staff and when it struck the saber's breastplate so did the lightning sending her flying back into the muck. She had believed Caster when he noted the corrupted sabers strength, still did despite the ease of her battle, Artoria was an exceptionally skilled opponent that forced Cessair to dig into her bag of tricks, but the thing was that she was used to fighting unpredictable, unknowable eldritch abominations who were quite literally incapable of thinking like humans and winning. Going from that to a swordsman's art was- well it wasn't simple, but Cessair had survived the flood era for a reason.
She unleashed a blast of sea water that knocked saber back allowing her to move in sweeping her ankle with the end of her staff, with a blast of mana she managed to get herself into standing position but was quickly shoved off balance as Cessair refused to let her have a moment of respite sending a lightning charged staff to crack her ribs only foiled by Saber's quick footwork. With a huff Cessair unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts to chase down the mud tainted servant.
"Damn-"
She flipped over her opponent her staff swinging like a rotor, the knight dodged the staff but misjudged the length of the chain and her neck was caught up on it making her choke as Cessair swung the pole swinging Artoria into the air right into the lightning bolt called to Cessair's hand. Stabbing her staff into the sky so it stabbed right into Saber's stomach, she sent the corrupted servant flying into the heavens once more where she was knocked down by a blast of flood water. Rolling to her feet she tried to gather herself but had her arm torn off by the burning lantern swinging for her head like a baseball, since she was a spiritual being it reformed but damn If it didn't hurt.
"You-" She tried to glare and curse out the water only to get hit by a highly pressurized stream of sea water. Did you know that if water pressure is high enough it can tear off somebody's flesh? Saber does.
"Best close your mouth, don't want sludge going down your throat now do we?" She flipped over a desperate mana burst swing and smashed her head in with the butt of her staff ending the threat to her boat.
She turned around to see the fire storm surrounding her boat and raised her brow.
'Seems like they beat their servant, but if they burned my boat…'
She was protective of that old thing, oh she knew it was a piece of shit especially compared to her grandfather's ship, but it had carried her through dark times, even when she didn't want it too.
Launching herself into the air she landed on the slightly soot covered deck where a bruised Marie was currently berating her master.
She couldn't really blame her for doing so, she could understand the pale haired woman's distaste with being thrown into the hull because she would just be a liability, but at the same time she couldn't really blame her master considering that she was in fact a massive liability considering her crippled form that exacerbated her human vulnerability.
"If you throw me one more time! -" She moved to the side, content to simply watch this play out. The other two servants seemed eager to do the same.
"You'll what? put me in a time out corner!?" She shook her head, the two had such a dichotomy that it must have simply felt more natural to argue, than acknowledge their similarities.
Leading the refugee fleet had taught her a lot about how people hid from both the world and themselves, she had done it herself through burying her doubts and fears beneath work but those two had done it by creating a mask.
That pride and sense of noblesse oblige the woman had hid a deeply rooted loneliness and need for affection, while her master hid his regret behind layers and layers of sarcasm and apathy (though both things were rather real even if used to create a mask).
Perhaps it was deserved, perhaps it wasn't, it didn't matter right now they had enough danger to deal with and those facades will keep their minds together in this hell. Subtly she tapped the deck to get ship moving again.
"Rider?" The shielder the color of bone walks up to her side; her legs were a bit wobbly though she did her best to hide that.
"Yes Shielder?"
"What do you believe we should do next?" She hummed softly, something the seemed to put the shielder at unease.
"Should that not be a question for Harker?" The young girl stilled quietly but noticeably.
"I-" She tilted her head to her junior, smiling without much humor. She was never quite sure where that habit started and frankly never had the time to fix it and when she finally did the reasons she had to try and truly smile were gone.
"Don't trust him, do you?" She weakly nodded to the statement but didn't say another word.
"..."
She let the silence between them remain, just choosing to watch Cu Chulainn bemusedly hold the two apart as they spit verbal daggers at one another.
"Not going to ask why?" She implored her elder eyes full of confusion, all the cheap romance novels she took from Roman never really went like this, usually the characters dramatically asked why and got great big speeches in return. In life it seemed like it was the exact opposite.
"Barely know him" At first glance he seemed like a suicidal ass, at second he merely looked like an ass. Cessair knew there had to be more to his story, but this was not the time and certainly not the place, so for now the image of his cynical, uncaring nature would remain.
"You or me?" She paused for a moment before realizing what she meant.
"Both"
"That's- true"
"Indeed" Kyrielight turned to her with something approaching exasperation, it almost made Cessair smile in remembrance of her grandfather. She knew he had adored her but the number of questions she asked, and her youthful energy had undoubtedly annoyed him.
"You don't like to talk all that much do you"
"To those who aren't my captain, yes" Mash's brow raised at the rider.
"Captain" Cessair cursed in in her head, she'd held back that instinct for a bit unsure how the others would take it but to herself the leader would always be a captain.
"Master"
"Ah" She looked down, a look of shame crossing her delicate features.
"How do you do it?"
"Hmm?" She looked back at the shielder.
"Fight with someone you don't trust and who doesn't respect you?"
"You don't?"
"No, I don't, how could I? Yes, he's survived against all odds but he's cold and scornful with nothing but cutting words for everyone around him" She crossed her arms and huffed in frustration.
"You can't even look at his actions to look beneath because all that lies beneath them is a stubborn, prideful, apathetic, self-serving bastard doing whatever it takes to secure his survival!" Mash froze as she realized she shouted that last part. Turning her head her lip trembled ever so slightly as the other three occupants of the ship stared at her, Caster in slight amusement and surprise, Marie in shock, and Harker in pure apathy.
"You going to continue?" His bland voice cut through the silence.
"What?"
"Well, you aren't really wrong and compared to Animusphere here you at least stuck to adjectives that actually could be used to describe a personality" He turned his head slightly to Marie who just looked at him incredulously, a look largely shared by Mash.
"You- you don't care?" The man simply stared at the young girl, neither amused nor angry, spiteful or hurt. His voice was the most monotone Cessair had ever heard and somehow, she knew that it would just make it worse for the young girl beside her.
"Tell me, why would a girl who hates me so desperately need my acceptance?" Silence filled the air as Kyrielight slowly sat down, her eyes planted on the ground. Cessair watched her master turn away and knew he'd continue.
"And why should I lose any sleep over you?" She said nothing in return, he noticed and snorted.
He looked down at the girl from the corner of his eye and with an almost amused look he spoke once more.
"You're just an empty little puppet" Cu Chulainn finally moved with a hiss grabbing his shoulder.
"Right then it seems like you forgot our previous conversation about you being an asshole" Marie dragged herself over to Mash and put a hand on her shoulder, yet the shielder didn't respond.
"I remember Caster" She had to admit he had some serious balls to roll his eyes at the goddamn hound of the red plains, especially since it just made him even more mad.
"And so, you decided to set fire to another bridge anyways?!" His head tipped side to side as he seemed to wheedle between answers before finally choosing one.
"I'd rather put it as a bomb but essentially correct" Caster grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted him up to which the tired master simply gave a lax smirk.
"Do not get smart with me" He rolled his eyes again.
"Never dream of it hound" She looked down to the shielder who now held her knees close to her chest, this needed to stop.
"You-!" She grabbed the Casters arm just as it was pulled back.
"Cu Chulainn, enough" The red eyed servant stared at her before growling in frustration releasing Harker so he could land painfully on the deck.
Still, he brushed himself off, coughing and nonchalantly putting his fingers back in position. She wasn't disturbed as the others when they noticed this uncaring trait of his, didn't mean she liked it, but she could understand in a twisted way why he wouldn't.
She grabbed his broken hand and pulled him up. He winced slightly but nodded to her.
"Thanks" She waved for him to come along with her, somewhere away from the others. Finally stopping at the front of the ship she turned to her captain and finally asked her query.
"Why do you dislike her?" He raised his brow.
"Excuse me?" She nodded to the young girl on the opposite side of the ship.
"Something about her puts you off otherwise you wouldn't act like this" He scoffed contemptuously, crossing his arms.
"What, you believe my assholery is fake?" She grinned with him, more honestly but still.
"Oh, it's real and in fact made it easier for you to act on your impulse but you don't strike me as actively malicious" His muddy eyes fell flat as they bored into her own.
"Really" The skepticism in his voice was blatant but she wasn't in the mood to take it from him.
"Yes really, I've seen a few of your interactions and while you give of the impression that you'd insult the very heavens themselves you lack any real heat or harm behind them when talking to Director Aminusphere, The Doctor or Caster" She looked to the curled up shielder and shook her head.
"Those words back there? Even if they were largely apathetic, on some level they were meant to hurt, so tell me what makes you so innately hostile?" He stared at her for a long moment until finally looking away, was that shame flickering across his face?
"There's something wrong with her" That answered absolutely nothing.
"...?" She motioned for him to go on which he did so with both reluctance and oddly enough nostalgia.
"We all live for something, we all have a- dream for a lack of a better word, even if it's a stolen one, or just living to the next day or some stupid bullshit like having a harem. We all dream of something" Safety, a home. That had been what she had dreamed of as did so many of those who chose to follow her. Such a simple thing yet...
"But not her?" He nodded, his voice low and quiet.
"She exists for nothing, she lives because she doesn't know what else to do, if she were to on the floor dying the only thought going through her head would be "oh, okay" she is just an empty shell, a puppet without strings or a will of its own, just lying there and moving only when it remembers that someone once gave it a tug" His voice grew more tense as he continued on.
"An emptiness behind those eyes, a hollowness to her voice even while she screams in fear, a jerkiness in her movements reminiscent of a puppet. Why should a literal homunculus have more of a soul than she?" His eyes flitted to hers with a smirk on his face.
"Ignore it then, it should be simple right? Maybe for someone else but not for me, never for me, even if I wanted to I simply can't" She has quite the certain master doesn't she but still she had to ask.
"And this bothers you?" He looked at her and spoke with a voice of almost surprised honesty.
"Yes. It does."
"Why?"
"Because it was never something I had a choice in, the more someone is empty the more I simply cannot understand them" He looked upset. Why did he look upset?
"It grates on me, like a whisper at the edge of my mind that I just can't hear. But only while they are near, I was serious Cessair. I'm not going to lose any sleep over her" His face turned flat again and all she could do in response was sigh.
"You are a fucked-up man Harker Aldain" He laughed
"Tell me something I don't know" She smiled at him and sat down; her back leaning against a set of stairs onboard. Harker joined her, the battle evidently draining a good deal of the energy he got from her potions.
"Hmm" he blinked his blurry eyes and looked to the other side of the ship where the young Shielder was being comforted by the others and the hologram. Funny, looking at him now you wouldn't be able to tell that this was the smartass cynic who mouthed off without any fear to Cu Chulainn and faced down death's door with a bloody chuckle, instead he just looked tired and sad. She wondered what led him to this moment, what led him here; not to this hellish sea but to this point in his life where his personality twisted into this. Surely no one starts out this way, right?
"You were humming something earlier, what was it?" She stared at him in confusion before her pale face bloomed like a rose and she quickly looked away. She really thought she kicked that habit after several crew members started complaining about a new set of ghosts, even with all the horrors about them she didn't have the courage to tell them.
"I'm sorry Cap-master, just a little quirk I'll make sure to keep a lid on it" He blinked at her rather surprised.
"Wasn't what I meant at all, it was actually quite pretty"
"Oh" She awkwardly tapped her fingers together.
"Just an old tune my mother sang to me as a babe, I'm afraid I don't remember the words" She cursed her father for what seemed like the millionth time, the damn devil worshiper took so much from her.
"Shame, it'd seem like it would have been a nice song to listen too" He yawned and when he realized what he did, he frowned.
"Do you happen to have any more of that energy potion?"
She looked at him up and down, he looked like he was barely holding himself together, like one more push and he'd fall asleep and perhaps that would be best.
"I think it'd be best for me to conserve energy and for you to let your body rest Master.
"I don't want to go to sleep Cessair" His glare turned into a blink of realization.
"Oh god, I sounded like a toddler there didn't I?" He snorted ruefully, she smiled with him and nodded.
"I can wake you when we reach the mountain master" He hugged himself, shivering in the cold dark night. The others had told her that it was quite hot earlier with a city completely on fire but right now those flames were gone (Along with the city) and without them the temperature had dropped significantly.
"But-" His face sank into his hands, the nails digging into his skin.
"I'm scared" Barely a whisper. She reached out for his shoulder, but he caught it with his broken hand grasping it tightly and keeping her hand from reaching any further.
"Don't" She pulled it back and he let go, his hand falling harshly on the ground. He sighed and put the shifted bones back into what should've been there natural place.
"A fucked-up man indeed" He gave her a tired smile.
"Never claimed to be anything else, never will" She placed her hand over his and let a soft glow envelope it. He lifted it to his face to find it healing, though in complete and utter agony as the sensation of bones regrowing and popping into place made itself very known to him.
"It gets tiring, doesn't it?" The hand fell back down.
"Yes"
"We could all use some sleep, don't we?"
"Yet the world just won't let us go" He looked up into the smog and shuddered, his breath forming a mist.
"Yet we try nonetheless" He grunted softly and his head leaned to the side ever so slightly, the day finally taking its full toll.
"So long as I am near no harm shall come to you my captain" His half-lidded eyes stared at her in trepidation.
"You can't promise that" She softly smiled.
"Perhaps not but I can make sure you're safe while you sleep and wake you when you are needed" His muddy eyes looked down to his healed hand.
"Promise-" His voice was barely audible, so he breathed in and tried again.
"Promise me I'll wake up"
"Please?" She nodded and with a soft sigh he at last he closed his eyes, his body slumped on her shoulder unable to take anything more. She lowered her gaze to his sleeping face and softly caressed his forehead, humming all the while.
"Sleep dreamlessly Captain, please"
(Linebreak)
Alien ice clashed against fae like steel as the siblings danced across the room. She grunted in exertion, admittedly she might have underestimated him a bit. Kay slashed the alien blade up sending a wave of ice to impale her from below, she skidded to the side and swung Requiem only to be immediately blocked, she could feel the black ice scream as it touched the blade. She ignored going into a series of slashes covered by the memory of Gawain's flame as she tried to combat the wintery blade.
"RAAH!"
She ducked under his cleave only to have her knee kicked back, this did not faze her as with her left leg she pushed forward and landed a haymaker across his helm.
Not even a grunt escaped his lips as his blood speckled the air from a skyward slash, instead he quickly trailed his fingers across the runes of his blade and unleashed a blast of freezing rune light. She countered with a memory of the strange light of the forest hermit's sword.
The blast pushed them both back but with the strength of Rience she pushed through and tried to impale him. He slammed the sword down upon her's and a crack appeared in the air, yet she cut it aside with a swish of her foul blade.
Not a word had been spoken since the two had begun this dance and not a word will until it is done. So, they continue until at last one falls.
(Linebreak)
Harker opened his eyes to a psychedelic nightmare, what was that old painting in that art museum he saw with Goredolf and Ophelia? Ah yes, Relativity. It was a maddening beauty of colors and images that could only exist in the figments of your imagination, a kaleidoscopic chaos that had no way of existing in reality. A place where anything was possible.
He hated this place. With a sigh he focused forth a platform into existence and sat upon it, his legs hanging off the edge kicking into the darkness.
He remembered how terrified he was of this place in his childhood, how alien it was to his young mind. He got over it eventually and learned to control this realm and truth be told it was far easier for him than it would have been for anyone else. With his one "gift" he explored the reaches of this realm, but the place soon lost its wonder for him, for even if you could fly one wrong movement and you could end up in a true nightmare for dreams forget nothing and even dead gods still touch Morpheus's realm.
For that's what this place was, the dreaming, the realm of twilight, oneiros, a thousand more names from cultures all around the world. It didn't really matter, to him this place would always be the river. His nightmare.
The realm was coming into focus now with his presence being fully established, less of a pain on his eyes (And his mind) but now he could hear it, the calls and beckoning from the depths of the rivers and what lies beneath. Sometimes it was the literal boogey man and sometimes it was something with tentacles. He didn't want to fucking know.
'Seven billion people and almost all of them can just go to sleep, to rest. I am envious Ophelia'
Her image fluttered by like a mirage in the winds, he looked down. That didn't bode well, caught in the corridor between dream and death, perhaps he could enter that thread, grant some support or comfort to help her pull through? Did she even want to pull through?
'You can't save anyone in the coffins…'
He curled his fists at the memory. He had wanted to, if there was anyone, he would have saved it would have been her. He could have said it was because it was a debt or out of spite (and neither of those were completely wrong) but he always was bad at lying.
She was his friend, even if she denied it, even if it started badly, even if it ended even worse, she was his friend.
"And yet you left" he didn't turn his head, it wasn't her. Goredolf and Ophelia had no skill with dream walking and technically neither did he but that was irrelevant for now.
"Do you intend to ignore me like you did the bodies?" So many faces they would take, all to drag him under yet he couldn't help but notice something was off.
"It's the right thing to do, just like it was the right thing to do back then" He could hear it growl under her voice.
"You are pathetic Harker, to be given such power and run away when it all became too hard for you!" His face twisted in confusion, usually it was more intuitive than that.
"It wasn't that it was too hard Aυτο Aηδία it was that it was too e-" he swiveled his head to see a black-eyed Ophelia sitting by him. He never liked how it wasn't just a pupil change, but the entire damn eye would go monochrome. Still, it could not hurt him and it had no power other than that which he gave it.
"What's wrong Aυτο Aηδία you're not normally this desperate" It's hideous face twisted into something akin to discomfort, it was always hard to tell with the denizens of this realm, they were always shifting according to whatever dreamer was nearest which it made even more troubling when it was only this knowledge that was making him doubt about its emotion.
"You really haven't noticed have you dreamer" it waved his hand to the river and the runoffs that would lead to other people's dreams. He never really explored them in his youth or otherwise, seeing it as an invasion of privacy and a betrayal of his morals. That was not the thought ringing through his head though as he gazed upon the river.
"They… what?" His voice went weak,
"So… few" Faux Ophelia nodded
"We starve dreamer, many of us will die in the coming days" Another day, another time he would have celebrated that, they were annoying parasites after all who cared about little more than hunger to the point of stupidity, but this… this should not be.
"What happened Αυτο αηδία?"
"I know not, dreamer, it was as if in one moment things were fine and the next a great calamity occurred that wiped the slate clean instantly" his eyes looked out with a horrified clarity now, the largely psychedelic background was hollow and only remaining out of expectation and experience. The billions of conflicting views that turned this place into a caustic cesspool were now gone.
All but seventy streams were little more than mirages and of those seventy, forty-seven of them were on the edge. He learned when that meant for it to be a mirage when he tried traveling down one of them years ago out of curiosity and guilt. It had left him bedridden for months; the living were not supposed to walk past the door of death and return.
He moved his platform to an old familiar stream, he would sometimes go down this stream to play pranks on the dreamer, but his was faded as the rest.
'Louis…'
He sped up caring little for the squawk of faux-Ophelia. Georgia, Sirris, Mother, Father, Goredolf, Mari. All dead and all gone. He held his head in his hands, unable to cover up the look of horror on his face.
'Was this the calamity you foresaw Einstein?'
His platform went to his father's thread, he reached out. He could travel down there he could say goodbye, dream was close enough to death that it was possible but-
A single tear fell from his eyes as he let the hand fall, he didn't want to die, if he had enough will, boundless duty or love, he could make it through , he could sail across the endless sea of death but- he didn't want to die.
"You solve nothing by dying, dreamer" He backhanded the parasite into the pseudo river and moved back to the living streams. Three of them were rather strange, the one he somewhat recognized as Akuta Hinako (which felt far more familiar than it should have) felt tinged with blood and obsession, best not to go down that route.
The other two felt connected to him on a spiritual level, the servants perhaps? He moved to the edge of one of them, it seemed to call to him more than the other.
'Father please!'
'I will make sure you survive if it is the last thing I do!'
His mind was assaulted by images, a bloody dagger carving a painful rune onto his chest, fear, panic, horror and a statue with the wings of a dragon? Strange and likely private. He moved away from both.
What does he do now, what could possibly be done now? He can't bring back the dead, he can't turn back the clock, perhaps Einstein could but from the implications the foe they faced could do same as well.
To fight it was to die horribly, anything with the power to wipe out the entirety of human civilization in one go was more than powerful enough to squash him like a maniacal microbiologist and their petri dish.
And he still clung to life like a child to a blanket, that had always been his father's strongest criticism and now he was- He was- He knew why it was bad for a shaman to cling to life, but life was life. Even confronted with death and agony he would struggle and thrash until it was no longer even a choice, and even then, he would spit in their face desperate to cling to himself even in his last moments, to cling to what made him… him.
Because if he gave that up… if he gave that up then what was he?
'You're a coward Harker, you were never scared of what was or what will but what you could be'
He smiled ruefully, not a parasite this time. Just a memory, He turned his head to a familiar stream, and with but a thought he sailed down it. He needed to know or vent or something. She was his friend after all.
'Another lie, Harker'
'I know'
Linebreak
Darkness here and nothing more, flames had begun to lick her body and then…
Nothing.
Was this death? If so, then the church owed her an apology; this was nothing like the three destinations they so advertised. If she had a face, she would have smiled, that thought was positively Alva levels of sarcasm.
The mental smile faded. Four years, it had been four years since she said some words she could not take back, though she knew she was not alone in that. After that it seemed like her life went sideways, the Sundays she had begun to cherish went back to being nothing more than a miserable colorless day, the strange friendship she had forged with Goredolf turned to ash as she simply cut off contact with him just like Alva did. At least she said goodbye to the lard ball, though perhaps the way she did it wasn't the best.
As for Alva… she knew what he did and why. The deal the two families had kept her informed of the duties of his, but her knowledge of him clued her in to the truth, that the killing wasn't what bothered him. She was ashamed of the part of her that was glad to hear of this problem. She took it as a chance to help the friend who had dragged her out the silent grey world she had inhabited, a way to give back. It seemed like a chance from the heavens and then she found out that he decided to just leave it all behind.
She had not taken it well.
Alva once said there was a lot he regretted but nothing he'd really take back, she however did not share that trait. She regretted not taking the phone he had bought it as a way to keep in touch, she regretted screaming at him, she regretted not even trying to talk him out of it or even summoning up some courage and maybe even following him.
Because from there she started to slip back, back into the person she once was before Alva nearly killed her and her family with a simple boulder trap and she was dragged into a go-kart race with a surprisingly compassionate lard-ball and a cynical child. A person who could not live for herself despite despising that she couldn't, it wasn't a complete slip however the hobbies she picked up alongside the two gave her some joy though they were now tinged with bitterness.
When Chaldea had sent her an offer, she had seen it as a second chance to be alive or at least the spark she needed to finally move on and for a while it worked her world began to fill with color again. She had made new friends, she made new discoveries and with Mash she finally began to understand a bit of Alva's initial frustration with her.
Even more she found that she could be a hero.
And then he came back to this world, not for her- or Goredolf, not out of a sense of decency or even spite, he came because of duty and nothing else. He did not want to be here, he did not want to be near her, he did not want anything to do with her world, he'd sooner be gone then stay.
With but a glance it seemed nothing about him had changed, he was just the same old sarcastic, cynical Alva as if their fight and his abandonment of his entire world didn't affect him at all.
And like that all the words she planned to say, the reconciliation and return to friendship she thought about for years faded away and, in their place, stepped rage.
And even then, not a hint of regret showed on his face.
Same old Alva.
She planned on marshaling her will after the singularity to confront him in earnest, to truly try to reclaim a bit of the only thing that made her childhood bearable, to finally make amends but now…
Darkness there and nothing more.
.
.
.
.
.
.
It was lonely in the dark but then it had always been lonely in the light as well.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Out of nowhere a pressure began to appear in her mind.
'What?'
"Are you there?"
'Harker? How are you-'
"Or have you faded into the void?"She could see him; she could see him. How? He floated amidst the black void of her… consciousness? Frankly he looked like shit, torn clothes, burnt, bruised and bloodied skin, his usually unflappable demeanor was now hunched over and horrified?
"Can you answer? Please?" She wanted to, if only to shout at him for somehow entering her mind. But she had no mouth to speak or hands to tap or really any appendage to communicate with and apparently, he couldn't hear her thoughts.
"(Sigh) Guess not then, don't know what I expected" He rubbed his face and with a flick of his hand a cliff face formed for him to sit upon. It was disquieting to say the least. Though perhaps it was the unease of him even being here, his presence always did stir the more volatile side of her emotions though she never really understood why.
"That's fine, probably easier then" He sighed and kicked his legs in the void, it was a strange habit of his that he never seemed to notice.
'The hell would it be easier for?'
"So, my life just got overturned in a matter of days and… you've almost- nope" His voice lilted with false humor before just cutting off.
"Weird story- hell no" He rolled his eyes in a way that made her want to slap him, just out of instinct really. He gave a heavy sigh and paused like the words that would come out of his mouth physically harmed him.
"Fuck it. I'm scared, Ophelia, I'm scared. I'm in a hellish city fighting a god of evil and I've just found out that even worse has happened-" He rubbed his face and opened his mouth only to freeze and shake his head. His voice trembled and shook as words finally fell out of his mouth.
"What do you do when the entire world comes crashing down around you? What do you do when an enemy appears and you know there's no chance in hell you can beat him, even a defiant end would just be paltry and pathetic" He held his head in his hands shuddering but refusing to let any tears fall.
"The fires are so high Ophelia, and I don't know what to do" Closing his eyes his hands became fists as they pulled on his face/
"I don't know what to do" His voice was barely a whisper.
'He's not talking to me, is he?'
"Two servants and a nearly useless shielder. A crippled mage and an apprentice shaman who had already pushed his stupid body beyond its fucking limits" His laughter was almost always bitter, but she had never heard it so forced, even when she had witnessed those few times where he pushed his body beyond its limits.
"The final battle of this singularity approaches and I don't know how we are supposed to survive this one much less the countless battles that are sure to come afterwards"
"I need help. Gods that feels like ash on my tongue but I do, your magical know how and Goredolf's bullshit punches. Something, anything to help turn the tides but you're in a coffin and he's- he's-" They both paused one out of grief and the other out of horror, one does not say something like that if there wasn't something terrible that has occurred.
'What happened to him, Alva? What happened to all of us! I know Levanuir had something to do with it but… stop dancing around it damnit and just tell me!"
Resentment began to bloom in her heart despite her best efforts, Alva always did have a talent for making her emotions go out of whack. The not-knowing, going from agony to a void with no knowledge of what was happening in the outside world combined with Alva's never-ending ability to make his very existence aggravating drove her bitterness to boiling point.
It sounded amusing to her, but it rang truer than she would have liked, she couldn't communicate to him, hell she didn't even know how he was here in the first place, to leave obviously horrifying things unsaid was something that logically could be accepted but with Alva… Logic never really did apply.
"What is left for me to do, Ophelia? I was never the kind of person who'd be picked to be a hero much less want to be one and now I'm here and- I don't know how to be a hero" He wasn't wrong, even when they were young, he never held any notions of chivalry or even the desire to fight and bleed. He was a sarcastic cynical boy who never excelled at the magical disciplines that anyone introduced to him. He was a kid who would rather trick his foe into a trap than meet them out in the field. He wasn't a hero, he never seemed like a person who wanted to save others instead choosing to let others save themselves with him just there to give some help.
But still… that was not what most "heroes" were known for, and she knew what he shou-would do because that's what he's always done, no matter what.
'You keep going, just like always you selfish bastard'
She internally cringed at the angry words but at least this time she knew that they were something he'd accept with a smile.
'Even if your legs are broken and hell stares you in the eye, even should you be left behind and the apth is unpaved. A bastard man who picks his baleful road and continues on no matter what foes lie before him and however many broken bodies may lie in his wake'
He didn't hear her thoughts instead sighing and coming to his own reluctant yet similar conclusion.
"The hard road then, I don't want this, I never did but if all that's left to me is a single path then I'll keep my promise and I'll keep moving until I can find someone else to take my post"
'Because no matter much I hate it, that is you'
Strangely enough as he turned to leave, he looked back into the void for a silent moment and then looked down.
'And you will never change'
"… I'm sorry Ophelia"
Not for anyone, not even yourself'
And then he was gone as was the bitterness that had begun to overcome her, in its place was a void and regret but then that was nothing new for Ophelia Phamrsolone
With the pressure gone her mind finally began to feel the weariness of consciousness and slowly began to slip back into what could be described as rest. And as all returned to blackness and her consciousness at last began to slip, one last thought tried to permeate her mind.
'I wish I could have-'
Linebreak
Harker woke to Cessair shocking his cheek. He cursed and lurched back before opening his eyes and inwardly cringing. He was refusing to acknowledge how close her face was to his or the fact he had slept on her shoulder, at least he didn't-
"Has anyone ever told you that you hug in your sleep?" He looked down and groaned.
"Quite the tight grasp captain"
'God damnit'
He stood up rather quickly, refusing to look in her direction or acknowledge what just happened (Or her amused chuckle), instead he let his eyes be drawn to the demonic mountain hanging over them. Soon they'd be within its open mouth. How bad must have been the pressure to blow the mountain wide open?
Real stygian vibes here.
"Abandon all hope ye who enter here" Roman's hologram popped up right next to him.
"Never did like Dante's work" He shrugged at Roman.
"We got a plan for this?"
"Nope"
"Right then" Roman chuckled a bit hollowly before turning around to see the two arrivals.
Cu Chulainn and Mash stood to either side both pointedly not looking at him, Harker turned back to the mountain, his circuits were still shot and an hour or so's sleep definitely wouldn't be enough to clear out the damage, then again it wasn't like he would have been able to do much even if he could.
"So, this is it then" The gruff hound responded as he continued to stare into the maw of damnation.
"Yep"
"Mind telling me where the director is Caster?"
"Below deck, wasn't happy about it but couldn't argue that she can't do much right now"
"Good"
"…" Harker let out a long breath and turned to the caster and Rider.
"Cessair, Cu Chulainn when you see the new servant you unleash your strongest attacks on it, don't want it to even be given a chance to strike back" The two nodded leaving the shielder with the elephant in the room.
"And the god that is quite literally an ocean now?" Harker scratched his head awkwardly.
"We'll cross that road when we get to it"
"I think we've barreled over that road a few miles back" He smirked at her and turned back to the mountain, he could sense something awaiting them, not the foul evil of Ahriman but… cold and unyielding, like shadow and the grave. And like mad men they were heading right toward it.
'Just keep moving, just keep moving'
"We're entering the mountain now master" Cessair tapped her lantern staff against his shoulder.
"Wonderful"
They passed the boundary entering the heart of the mountain. The rock formations had become a caldera with rather high walls that shot up into the sky like jagged teeth.
The middle of the vile caldera, stone rose up to make a platform and just below it sat a throne. A golden grail, from which seemed like the mud ocean spilled from, floated overhead the platform. Cu Chulainn had told him how it was befouled by the wars before and the greed of men, all of it making the grail a monkey's paw.
Would he wish upon it still? His suffering was practically guaranteed so perhaps the grail would be satisfied with that? To kill Ahriman or to bring back the other candidates to take his place.
'No, it will never be that easy, Murphy won't let it'
He looked up to the figure on the throne, a figure in black armor with trails of bluish flame, it rested with an expression of tired apathy and absolute pride that nothing here could hurt it.
"There it is…" The hound hummed with anticipation and dread.
"Two times the charm?"
"That isn't the saying Harker" Mash raised her hand sharply.
"Quiet both of you" He could see the figure shift a bit, to raise its head at them, maybe it was planning to make a speech or insult them or whatever.
Harker didn't care, he wasn't planning on giving them anytime to talk at all.
"Hit it with everything you've got!" Arcs of lightning and flame spilled forth from the two servants and obliterated the throne with a thundering explosion that sent a shard of stone slicing into his cheek ever so slightly.
The smoke cleared and no one stood in the dust.
"Did we get-" Mash turned to him with a look of panic and shoved him into the mast saving his life as the dark blade nearly cleaved him in two.
Cessair and Caster launched their own salvos trying to catch and crush the Saber but with a twirl of her sword and a backflip out of a rune cage that hope was crushed. The dark blade impaled itself into the ground and she landed on its hilt in a crouch. He could not help but feel the sense of awe one feels when seeing a predator in the wild.
"…" It made quite the figure as it stood up to its full height, a tall dark knight clad in black ice, the only indication of eyes were the two blue flames where a knight's visor slits would be.
"Thrash, flee, it all ends the same" The Saber raised its fist to the sky and a swirling mist of souls came into being, surrounding it in a rising spiral.
A scream slammed him back into the mast and knocked the other servants back a few meters. Flipping off the greatsword and it took it in hand, a freezing mist began to creep about, and the mud sea began to churn.
"Forget about me old chums?" His laughter was coming from every direction even though he took no physical form. If he was trying to intimidate Harker than it was working, the red eyed mud demons forming all over the caldera walls were certainly not helping.
'Flying by the seat of my pants again, you'd think I'd learn'
He forced himself to his feet and wiped his lips with the back of his hand, the knight staring at him with blatant indifference.
'But I never do because here I stand scared enough to shit myself while this death knight looking mother fucker looks like the only reason why it hasn't reaped me yet is that I'm too insignificant to bother and what is my instinctual response?'
He raised a single finger to the nightmarish audience. Silence filled the air before it was broken as the mud demons began to howl with laughter as one, filling the caldera with a maniacal cacophony. The knight however began to glare with anger of a grizzly bear that was just randomly run into by a hiker.
'And I've made things worse, great'
His eyes floated over to the giant man behind the knight, he wasn't really there, Harker knew that and yet…
'You still fear death child?'
'I doubt that will ever change Father'
'Yet you still fight with little regard to your life when your tricks and plans fail'
'Yes'
'Why?'
"You waiting for me to die of old age, spooky!?" He forced a manic grin onto his face, his tired cheeks protesting such a wide action.
'Because no matter how afraid of death I am, I fear betraying myself even more'
Harker flared his command seals, the mud demon's laugh sloughing together in a demonic choir and the knight pointed its blade at the last master of Chaldea.
'That's what keeps me going when all else fails!'
"It's time for this tale to come to a end!"
(Linebreak)
It was done.
No matter the strength of Kay's blade it could not match the benefits Requiem gave her, that and the fact he had never really recovered from his wounds all those years ago had not helped his situation.
A glimmer of memory came to the forefront of her mind, once Kay could've parried everyone one of her blows without flinching but now, she had easily overwhelmed her old sparring partner. Kay had set her onto the path of the woman she has become and now he it was time he paid in full for it.
He held himself up with all his remaining strength glaring at the tyrant king with bitter sorrow. Gritting her teeth in rage she backhanded him into the wall.
"Your rebellion is done" The former seneschal shakily lifted himself up with his sword, thrusting his free hand forth letting loose a ray of cold that was crushed easily with the mere memory of fire. She swiped away his sword, sending it skittering across the floor. He collapsed hard against the ground, his right eye filling with blood the result of the right hook that broke his helm.
"Pathetic, is this the knight who halted Palag's Cat's rampage?"
He said nothing, instead choosing to gasp for air, she grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground, walking to the open ledge and hanging him over the edge.
"Say something acid tongue! A rebuke, a plea, anything! Anything at all!" She roared in his face only to face his continued silence. With a horrid scream she pulled Requiem to claim his soul and garnish whatever truth laid hidden within.
At last, he finally reacted.
A burning fist broke her nose and sent her stumbling back, placing his feet on the edge he barreled into her and rolled over to where his sword lay, that damn bitter sword. She cursed, kicking herself up and grabbing her own blade, turning to swing at whatever attack would surely come.
None did.
She looks back and froze staring at the scene before her.
She stared at him, she stared at the wound, she stared at the strange alien sword in his chest. He peered at her and simply sighed, the sword disappearing into a snow flurry as his face hit the ground. And there he lay, dead and cold as if warmth was nothing more than a dream.
She shuddered and stumbled over to his corpse almost in disbelief before screaming in fury, and in denied vengeance, answers or simple hurt pride she butchered his corpse with the black sword in hopes of tying down his soul with something, but it was just… gone. Gone as if it had never been.
A blast of ghostly fire burned away the corpse in an attempt to at least mollify her, but it did nothing to quell the growing wrath within her heart. How dare he, how dare he rebel against her, how dare he deny her victory! How dare he die without even explaining why…
She turned her head to the last door, the last room. Had he sat out here to get her attention? Yes, that must be it, he was hoping to draw her ire away from the room to protect it. Was it a weapon, a secret box, a treasure of olden days?! A family, a wife, a child?! What was it?!
She threw open the final door with bloody murder in her eyes, she walked down the hall looking more like a vengeful shade than a woman. She entered the room.
And Requiem slipped from her fingers as her knees met the ground.
(Linebreak)
Cu Chulainn's arms howled as his staff barely held the dark Saber's sword at bay, the little shit just had to flip off an evil horde of monsters. He chuckled a little, wasn't really in a position to judge after all but still the situation was shit enough as it was.
A spike of ice tried to lodge in the knight's skull while Cessair struck from behind with fire and lightning. It did the splits to dodge both then let loose a wave of fire around itself.
Throwing a bolt of thunder, he grabbed Harker and ducked behind the mast letting the flames wash over.
"Was she fire based last time?" He looked down to the teen resting back against his chest.
"Nope" Last time it was oddly familiar spectral shadows that could come from all directions and shifting blade techniques that kept them off balance, right now she seemed to be in the mood for elemental stuff.
"Great" He turned to face the flame with a scowl, he still flinched at the heat, but he refused to look away. Joining him he could see Mash try to force her way through only to be caught fighting back the mud demons that were pushing past the ship's defenses. Cessair was doing her best to tie up Saber but the erratic move set that availed her victory against Salter just wasn't working as every time Cessair tried to pull out some new trick Saber had an answer and riposte.
"Got some plan to pull out your ass?" They moved back behind the mast.
"Well feels like my bowels are empty so I'm going to have to disappoint you with that" The two laughed maniacally and they looked back at the chaos happening behind them as the fire began to die.
"We are so fucking screwed" Flood water rushed slammed into muddy figures while the rider's cuts began to pile on. Harker jumped up pulling Caster along with him. A blast of Sowilo sent a trio of beasts back into the mud. Harker ran up and grabbed an oar on the ship and slammed it against a beast face knocking it down the side.
'Why the hell does the ship have oars but no rowers?'
"Yeah, well that means any stupid ideas we have can't possibly be worse" Sending a round of Thurisaz and a liberal application of Hagalaz to give it some spice, called a thunderstorm to strike the surface of the ship blasting both mud demons and nearly the saber. Caster didn't miss the ugly look Cessair gave him though. He turned back to his master and saw him block a burning beast's jaws with the oar which proceeded to snap in half, Harker went on to nonchalantly slug it in the face and Cu Chulainn impaled it with an ice spike.
"You really tempting Murphy there master" The two laughed again as they charged to Cessair's defense.
"It's practically my hobby at this point!" His oar broke over Saber back as she blocked both Rider's lantern and Caster's flame wrapped staff. Undeterred he leapt on its back trying to choke the Saber much to its exasperated indifference continuing to fight as if he wasn't there at all.
"You're making this harder, captain!" Rider bent backwards ducking beneath the black greatsword, Caster managed to stop it with a rather draining shield ward, the sword seemed to devour the energy. Harker managed to get a grunt out of it when he grabbed Cessair's burning lantern in hand and smashed it against its helm.
He never did like the smell of burning flesh.
With an enraged grunt she tore him off her back and threw him into the ground/deck. Caster and Cessair capitalized on this weakness, but it didn't last; they were still being pushed back.
Mash slammed into Saber sliding her against the deck.
"Still got mud demons crawling on board, none will make it to the Director, but we need a plan"
"Got enough juice for your phantasms?" All three servants nodded but Mash and Cessair looked concerned.
"Mine is assumedly defensive, I don't actually know what it does"
"And mine will take too long to bring to bear" He felt an old savage grin light up his face. The thrum of battle was calling once more (also vengeance but who cares right now)
"Well then it's all up to me" the other three nodded.
"Get going hound, we'll see if we can't piss on this Saber's day" Harker looked to Cessair who rolled her eyes and they charged. Caster smirked and sat down on the deck, he wasn't entirely sure why this part was fused with him, or if it was a fusion at all. There would be a price to activate this dormant power but eh fuck it, his life had always been a shooting star and it's about time he started burning.
'Wakey wakey you whimsical bastard'
The butt of his staff slammed against the ground, runes began to circle around him and rise in the air. From the corner of his eye, he could see Ahriman creating shapes from the mud Waters to strike against the ship.
Mash blocked a great blast of mud with a burst of light from her shield, not the full level of her phantasm but enough to repel it. He smiled unlike last time he wasn't absolutely exhausted and caught off guard, unlike with Herakles he wasn't constantly being pushed by a rampaging beast. Right here right now, he had time and the will to let this phantasm loose. He hit the butt of staff against the deck and pulled at the sealed matrix within his soul as the memories of someone else began to appear in his mind.
"Eihwaz the Ash Tree"
'The branches of a newly born Ash tree planted with the blood of his two brothers was connecting realms that should have never been connected yet granting the world greater stability than it had known so to his regret he lets it stand'
"Raido the Rider"
'An endless lonely journey trying to keep the world together on his own'
"Kaen the Wildfire"
'A laughing trickster standing by his side with a genuine smile, drawn in by promises of family'
"Gebo the Brotherhood"
'A bond formed in blood and hope, a promise to stand by each other's side, the smile of someone he dearly loved and never saw again'
"Jeraz the Harvest"
'Finding others to stand by his side, the years becoming better and safer not just for himself but for the humans below as well'
"Ansuz the Heavens"
'A great city resting in firmament, a hawk flying overhead and soon a promise of true order'
"Uruz the Mighty Ox"
'Tested again and again yet still he rose higher and higher, observing all before him with a clairvoyant eye yet still he could not see'
"Ehwaz the Uniter"
'The pantheon united in truth, his dream accomplished'
"Dagaz the Dawn"
'Legends sprouting below and heroes rising to take their place in the heavens'
"Fehu the Fortune"
'WIth prophecy, might, and his sibling at his side no force could challenge his rule'
"Wunjo the Delirium"
'Prophecy was blinding him, might was making him grow arrogant and he failed to notice the one he bonded himself to in blood's suffering in the shadows'
"Sowilo the Shining Sun"
'They were worshiped and the light they shed had great hope for the future'
"Laguz the Great Deep"
'The counsel of an old friend, he speaks what he must and will not be silent, would that one were deaf and the other mute, for despite having one eye left he is more blind than ever'
"Thurisaz the Giant of Thorns"
'Trouble and strife rose again and again, more oft than not by his own failings trying to fight against a fate that never was, his sibling pulling them out of the fires countless times even though all they had ever earned was scorn from those they saved while he simply sat by and did nothing'
"Ingwaz the Seed of Growth"
'Greater legends rose, Sigurd, Hogni, Modgudr, Hromundar, Orvar-oddr, Almleth and more, facing threats that they never should've had to'
"Algiz the Defender"
'And what once was a gift became a necessity, such tragedies does he spin now to gain the greatest warriors to face a threat of his own making. What crimes he makes the Wand Wielder do'
"Isaz the Creeping Cold"
'Stagnation begins to set it as he ignores sound counsel for a whisper only, he could hear'
"Naudiz the Binder"
'Now comes the choice that cannot be unmade, the choice that secures what may be as what will be, and he turns his truest ally into his worst enemy'
"Tiwaz the Warrior"
'He realizes and screams yet what is done cannot be undone, all that is left is the doom that he crafted with his own two hands'
"Hagalaz the Destroyer"
'And doom arrives, and he faces it with no fear, the shepherd has led his innocent flock to safety and justice at last had been served, as for his death... it is what he deserves and perhaps what he craves'
"Berkanan the Rebirth"
'A measure of peace granted through one final vision before the dragon's shadow falls over him, many times had the world "ended" and many more would it meet another end only to begin again'
"Mannaz the Folk"
'His flock is safe and would grow and become something more'
"Othalan the Homeland"
'One day they would inherit this world of pain and misery'
"Perth the Laughing Game"
'And just perhaps be better than all the other who had come before'
"Let the matrix carved into my core tell one last tale!" The runes gathered in the heavens forming a great circle in the sky above the Caldera like a ring of light.
"Unleash this final seal" He raised his staff high and the sky right beneath the rapidly spinning circle of runes.
"Ochd Deug Odin:Great God Carved Seal!"
Runelight poured down like an orbital laser as it came screaming to obliterate and for a moment it would seem like nothing would be able to stop it. That with one fell stroke they'd be done but the scapegoat refused to fall, not now, not ever. In another world Angra Mainyu was a mere victim given a name of a demon to save a little town, he was not the god of evil, he was not a destructive spirit he was just a boy pushed beyond the limits of human suffering and in this world, it was much the same except the Ahriman summoned had a chance to something no other did. Catalyze fully. Whether it connected to the idea known as Ahriman, finally became what they had all said he was or was granted power by the actual Ahriman it did not matter.
Right here, right now he was Angra Mainyu the lord of darkness, death and deceit.
And he would not fall to no god especially not a king of them.
They could all feel the seething hatred in the air as the dark beast discarded any semblance of humanity and struck up against the heavens. The tendrils of mud and wrath pushing back against the power of the entire Elder Script and succeeding.
With a howl of agony, the darkness overwhelmed the runes with a scream that almost sounded like the sky was splitting in half. The caldera shook with backlash and Cu Chulainn fell to his knees at the drain. Cessair forced Saber to move back in the confusion and they all stared at the sky where the mud warped and distorted into a giant unsightly demon. A great maw lined with jagged fangs, swirling eyes that were only dark mud, but you could clearly see the hate and pain in his eyes, and thick arms that ended in taloned claws. It opened its crooked jaws and in a cracked voice that screamed of suffering and anguish both his and what would be given to his enemies, he made his intentions clear.
"No more jokes, no more games, you all die now" This was quite possibly the truest representation of the broken being.
Yet he did not feel fear; he had faced too many abominations to be sacred, Mash certainly did, Cessair seemed enraged considering how she glared and tightened her grip on her staff, and Harker… for a moment his eyes lit up with fear and then he did something he did not expect (though perhaps he should have), he laughed.
"You forgot the dick snake Ahriman"
The devil stood before him and he laughed, this snarky shit laughed and he couldn't help but join in. Angra Mainyu howled in rage and tried to slam his fists down on the ship.
"Lord Chaldea!" The young Shielder threw herself before the man she hated activating her phantasm of her own will. Harker grunted his thanks, and she didn't even acknowledge that it happened. Ahriman fell back into his muck with his flesh burning and a scream that shook the caldera to its core.
"That was amusing" The first real sentence was heard from the knight, yet they had no time to deal with that as tendril began to strike the ship rapidly and they were violently shaken about.
Yet they were largely unconcerned as Cessair smiled and cut about the tendril easily, even the group's steps were largely untroubled.
"You think you're the first god to try and take my ship down?! Think again!" That was of course when black lightning began to split the air and div's started to fill the skies.
Saber was mostly content to simply be a nuisance for the group seeing them mostly as pests, he did note a sense of concern when he was using his phantasm but with the fact that she has a god at her back protecting her likely diminished whatever threat level he gained. As such she leapt back to figurehead to let the group deal with the onslaught for now.
Lightning and runes filled the air as the ancient creatures fell and rose simultaneously. Dark lightning seemed to dance and duel with between Cessair and Ahriman while Caster had to replace his staff multiple times as they were either stolen or broken against a mud demon or div's hide.
"We need to pull something fast or else we're dead… it's disturbing how often that could be applied here" Harker called to him kneeling under the shelter of Mash's shield.
"Really not the time for idle thoughts Master!" He carved Hagalaz into the div's skull and threw it into a horde above where it proceeded to blow up scattering them. He jumped as a tendril slammed across the deck laughing all the while. This was what he was made for, fighting and killing monsters, none of the moral quandaries here just kill or be killed, would've been better if he was a lancer but oh well.
Still the cynical bastard was right, they were being worn down by a seemingly endless horde and Cessair wouldn't be allowed any time to use her supposedly powerful phantasm as Saber would be sure to cut in. Ochd Deug Odin was sadly far more detrimental as it caused the angry mango to lose his shit.
All he had left was the Wickerman and what was it going to do stomp… on…
The Wickerman.
'Archer you shifty eyed bastard!'
It made sense in the weird conceptual space that mystics often occupied, a being of sin and a Wickerman. He remembered how Ahriman screamed in pain the last time the Wickerman touched it, it had harmed the bastard far more than the other phantasms that were used that day, but it only managed to weaken Ahriman to a somewhat more manageable state, it was still an uphill battle from there.
This was of course discounting the fact that Angra Mainyu was far, far stronger than he was back then and once he found out that they could hurt him with it would immediately go for him so the standard phantasm.
'Standard phantasm…'
Strange statement on its own that was sure to require a bad plan to change but considering how his whole life was a series of bad plans he wasn't particularly put off.
What were his options to increase the power? Command seal and that was about it, Cu Chulainn couldn't help but feel like that wouldn't be enough though.
It would need something else. Like-
Like a sacrifice. He made up his mind but even then, he thought it best not to rely on just that.
He blasted a div off Harker's shoulder and pulled him into relative cover. A bit more bloodied and scratched up but overall, he was fine.
"Harker use your command seal to boost my phantasm" He ducked beneath a stray fireball and turned back to the servant.
"Think it'll work this time?" He nodded while sending a chain of lightning to strike a group down.
"Yep, will burn the bastard right out" He turned back to his master when he didn't hear a response.
"…" Harker looked at him and somehow knew. He didn't say anything in opposition or try to stop him, he just stared and nodded. He then ran to the Shielder's side grabbing her shoulder, she almost took his head off with an elbow strike out of shock and twitchiness.
"Get this done Cu Chulainn, by my command seal I order you to destroy Angra Mainyu… die well" The girl turned to him with a look of shock and horror.
"Chulainn!" She reached out to him, but Harker grabbed it and pulled her in his nose almost touching hers, in another situation this would have been call for romantic tension and teasing but both seemed like they were trying to kill each other with only their eyes.
"Pull up your phantasm to give him time Mash" He ignored the two and tried to clear a space so he could use the damn phantasm.
"We can't let him-"
"We can and we will!"
"You're a heartless bastard Harker"
"And you will live knowing that, my condolences" She gritted her teeth and threw off his arm
"Cu Chulainn you-" He turned away knowing what Harker would do and despite being distasteful it wouldn't be wrong.
"Kyrielight by my command seal allow Cu Chulainn to use his phantasm without interruption from yourself or the enemy forces" She turned back to Mash with gritted teeth and tears in her eyes before involuntarily slamming her shield down throwing back the foes around them, including Saber who was in the middle of trying to kill Cessair. She turned back to them and quickly guessed the situation before re-engaging.
"Don't waste your chance Caster" He nodded to her.
Sacrifice. Such a strange word that inspired such varied emotions, horror, ecstasy, sadness and acceptance amongst others. All really relied on context for whatever reason though he supposed sadness made more sense.
A sacrifice always had a payment and rarely was that payment easy.
He accepted it, he knew it, sacrifice had always been part of celtic culture after all, so it was something he was accustomed to, besides how was this different from the rest of his life? This short, brutal, violent summoning was full of glory and pain. Yes, he fell down time and time again, yes, he killed friends and lovers. But he kept moving because he remembered.
When he was a young boy, he saw a shining comet. It was fast and unwavering leaving behind only a faint trail as it vanished into the starry night. Amergin, Findchoem and Connal were sad once it disappeared, wishing the glory of the sight lasted for just a little bit longer.
But he couldn't help but smile because somewhere deep inside he knew that that would be his destiny. Burning brightly across the sky before fading away quickly into the night.
And that was fine, he may have been just a boy and that fate was only fit for the greatest of warriors, but he accepted it all the same.
So, what did it matter if he would never be summoned again? A comet would shine again tonight.
He had no sky and had no stars, but he has his soul.
And that was more than enough.
(Linebreak)
What was a Wickerman?
Supposedly it was a wicker statue where a human would be placed within its chest and together they would be burned alive in sacrifice, but a sacrifice is always for something whether for a god, demon or something else.
It had been postulated that it was for victory, but The Morrigan cares not for such actions in her name. Curse upon their foes then, the cultists of the fomorians where never organized enough to create a site where Caesar who neither knew nor cared for the purpose behind such sacrifices would witness it.
The truth was that it wasn't a ritual to harm, not truly. It was a ritual to let go. A sacrifice at the end of a year to let go of sins and grudges so that people may begin again to face the new year. They would cast their sins in the fire so that they relinquish there burdens.
So that they could be forgiven.
That was the true power of this fire that lifted it beyond a simply flaming monstrosity (Though it cannot be denied that's how it was typically used in fights). A power that made it the true antithesis to the broken scapegoat that screamed as it tried to wrestle away from Cu Chulainn's burning grip. Not the pinning of the sins onto a single boy so they could act like their sin had never existed but a burning flame so they could be forgiven and begin anew to try again.
That's why the broken boy who was forced to become the evil that everyone despised and feared, wept as he was burned away along with all the evil he spread and unleashed on this singularity.
The ocean, to the div, to the mud demons, even the very grail above seemed to release a sigh of relief as after an entire existence of pain it finally ended as it all washed away in the flames of forgiveness.
A final rush fire filled the caldera as the burning giant exploded in a great conflagration.
The bloody hero and broken demon would burn together, neither would return to the throne though something like them would. Though in this case one would be little more than just another mask and name and the other would know what it was like to be loved.
Neither of them cared. For this was enough for them both. A glorious end to a glorious fight and a plea for death at long last answered.
All that was left of this scene was the ship with no liquid to hold it up, its exhausted passengers, the dark knight who still had a job to do and the no longer tainted grail floating down to rest upon the throne.
After multiple writer's blocks and head smashing we finally enter the endgame, barring some unforeseen catastrophe the next chapter will be the last for this singularity and then my hell begins once more.
I'll post my explanations for the runes and phantasm in a separate chapter.
This story is now cross-posted on spacebattles