He hated falling. He hated that it happened a lot. He especially hated falling from great heights which once more happened a lot more than he had ever wanted and he- he cursed in his head. He was just repeating himself at this point and he really needed to move.
"Cessair you're closest to the Director! Ensure her survival! Mash, try not to die" He wanted to ask her to catch him, but he also knew she wasn't going to reach him in time considering they were on opposite sides of the ship, and it was already flipping over. Also, he'd rather not entrust his life to someone who hated him.
He may have been a bad acrobat, but he would have died a long time ago if he wasn't at the very least passable at parkour, still jumping on falling rocks blown off by Caster's explosion was a rather difficult task for an extremely skilled parkourist much less him.
'Cmon, focus. Remember how she moved, remember how she danced…'
A laughing figure that rode the winds, his first contracted elemental. If she were here, she could take over his body and dance through this maelstrom of rocks and gravity and land on the ground effortlessly. Part of the powers of a shaman was a certain degree of possession but right now all he had was a memory, the residue of the wind.
'Now!'
He did not jump, he flew. The memory of wind was barely enough to give him the strength to do this, but it was indeed enough granting him the speed, strength, and dexterity to leap across the gaps of the falling rocks and towards his target. The cold dark knight falling right before him. This wasn't quite a spell so much as a slight tug on his core, a thin residue that was being used up with this slight and desperate action, he wouldn't be able to do this again, on the plus side his circuits weren't even being used so they weren't going to start blowing up. Again.
He screamed a bit as he collided harshly with the rather surprised knight, and while a little miffed he supposed he couldn't really blame the surprise, this was stupid beyond belief, after all, an exhausted child leaping on the back of a very powerful knight with unknown powers? Laughable, not even to be considered a threat, hell it was the incredulity of the situation that made it shocking and nothing else
He hissed at his broken nose and the blood leaking out of it, thinking quickly he wiped blood across its visor causing the knight to growl with deathly cold tones. He ignored it as he did his best to dodge the hands reaching to pop his head between its fist.
Despite somehow evading its hands they were still falling and while the knight would be fine, he most certainly would not. Finding out if your spine really can be compressed like an accordion was not something he was curious to know. They approached the ground and he tried to jump just before impact, but they grabbed his leg and threw him backwards attempting to splat him against the ground. Barely thinking he grabbed onto her helmet and the force pulled it along as well sending its helmet straight into the ground shattering it with a sound like an iceberg cracking off. The force and the energy blasted Harker back to where the ship just crashed and shattered. That ship was invincible on the seas for what it endured but without water beneath it, it was simply an ancient shitty ship.
He screamed soundlessly as all the air was thrown out of his lungs on impact, he could feel his right arm snap in two and a warm sensation on his left thigh. He instinctively looked down and threw his head back with gritted teeth as he did his best to staunch the bleeding in his thigh caused by the large piece of wood impaling it and the proverbial wooden mallet driving it through his flesh and into the ground. He forced his eyes open to where he started his stupid attempt to land.
'Nailed it… ah fuck you Mari'
He looked to the saber who was now squashed beneath a good chunk of the caldera.
'Really hope that does the trick'
"Captain" The willowy woman touched down gently with Marie in her arms and Mash by her side. He looked up and tried to smile mockingly but it hurt to move... everything.
'At the very least I'm not going through circuit overload'
He somehow managed to smirk mirthlessly and somehow it turned genuine with the sense of triumph he got from moving his face at all.
(Linebreak)
"What the hell were you thinking!" The director wanted to slap him once Cessair sat her down next to him, but he looked like his face might shatter if she did. Strange to see his usual sharp and proud features turned bruised and bloodied.
"W-was-n-t re(Cough) ally" she scoffed as she did her best to put the bones of his arm into place.
"Here I thought that was obvious Master" Cessair knelt down to him and began to heal his arm. She turned away as he gritted his teeth, she never did like seeing true pain.
"A-nd the rest?" She shook her head.
"Healing is not my forte Master I can knit bone back together sometimes but wounds like your leg are beyond me, I just can't replace that much flesh"
"F-fine" She rolled his eyes at his terse voice.
'What are you complaining about? One of my legs is gone and the other is a damn stump!'
She turned around with a heavy lurch in her heart when a banshee-like shriek came from beneath the boulder blowing it straight to hell sending javelins of stone everywhere. Harker thrust out his arm catching a jagged spike screaming for her head in his flesh. Marie felt her heart freeze as the blood splattered against her face.
He had only one thing to say.
"Shit"
She barely trusted herself to look at him without something in her snapping, she'd been holding it back for so long, the pain of the burns, the pain of the beating's her body had received in their desperate escapes, the phantom echoes of her lost limbs, the horror of everything surrounding her and the trauma of knowing once again She. Has. Failed.
Her father's life work, barely functional. The people who placed their trust in her, dead, dying or desperately trying to hold things together. The very legacy she tried to uphold! She. Has. Failed.
'Bury it, we-we can't afford to dwell on any of this, we can't…"
She could feel her very heart freezing as the dark figure stepped out of the dust with a cold, cold hatred consuming its eyes. They were- she was beautiful, possessing patrician, noble features they stared down at her like an insect with chilling blue eyes like the heart of winter.
"You've scurried about for far too long" She raised her blade and with a sound like scraping ice, chilled shadowy light? Burst forth from the black blade. Images- no mirages appeared behind her a lucid clarity that she could barely make out their features. A giant knight with armor carved in the likeness of a wolf, a shirtless savage bearing two blades dripping with blood, a sunlit knight, a fairy blessed warrior, more, more, too many, so many souls some didn't even look remotely human. Were they all trapped in that accursed blade?
"Die"
The ghosts howled in rage before disappearing into her, increasing the chilling pressure around her tenfold. charging forth the knight clashed against Rider and shielder with a resounding boom, knocking the two mortals back against the wall.
Marie opened her eyes and immediately felt her blood run cold, where before Cessair had been able to hold her own to a degree she was now barely staying alive in the face of this knight's onslaught, Kyrielight passed on whatever buffs she could, but it was making little difference; the Demi servant was simply to weak and new. Even as the tattoos scattered across Rider's body in strange non-Euclidean formations began to glow a baleful green the rider was simply unable to create enough distance to truly let loose her growing power.
She had come so far, made it through such terrible odds and now she was going to…
Was this better? Would he be proud?
'No. No, he isn't, he never would be proud of me, not for this, not for anything...'
She wanted somebody to… no what she wanted more than anything would be to save herself but here she lay crippled, bloodied, broken. A fitting end for such a pathetic life.
'Would you have been surprised father?'
She gave in closing her eyes trying to ignore the roar of battle before her. She didn't want to see it; she didn't want to see the look on the faces that would accuse and hate as they die.
"…"
She opened her eyes without thinking, Aldain- Harker, was standing up. He was- how? That chunk of wood was still sticking straight through his thigh he shouldn't be able to-
He grunted and started walking, one arm hanging uselessly and one leg dragging behind but still he managed to walk, not out of the caldera, not in the middle of the fight but up the set of stairs, where a throne lay at the top.
Was there a plan? Was this an ill-thought-out suicide attempt had he gone mad- er more insane?
She didn't say anything, she couldn't do anything. All she could do is watch And so she did, she watched him climb up the stairs bleeding and grunting; unnoticed by everyone but the one person who could do nothing but weep at her own uselessness.
(Linebreak)
She hated this place; the pathetic little goat may have been purged along with his taint, but it was still a chaotic mess that still brought to mind the suffering for the sake of suffering mindset Ahriman had forced upon this singularity. At least when she made someone suffer it was for some greater purpose. She ignored the echo at the back of her mind and punched the bone-white shielder in the face.
Ignoring the tinge of satisfaction that came from the sound of crunching bone she landed a roundhouse kick to her ribs sending her into a wall. She turned sideways dodging a lightning bolt, they had definitely increased in strength since Rider had started glowing but after all the spell casters she had killed, lightning was far from a difficult thing to tackle.
She weaved between the bolts and slashing her way through the waves landing a cut down the rider's face. Ducking under the staff swing she hits Rider's ribs in a one-two punch lifting her into the air. She grabbed her legs and threw them down causing Rider's chin to meet Sabers knee with a brutal crunch. The shielder managed to pull the rider back and the two tried to pull together.
Ghostly fire climbed along the blade as she swiped it down, sending her opponents jumping desperately back. Using this gap, she grasped her blade, and with a flash of cold light the dark blade split into two bases of similar length but thin and fanged.
Taking up a familiar if bitter stance she spun into the two like a hurricane with a focus as cold as steel. Knocking them near off their feet and off-balance
"Your adaptability must have made you great at killing monsters, but you never really fought someone with any true skill in your life, have you?"
She didn't smirk as Rider's eyes lit up with the confirmation to the question. Not only did she consider that beneath her, but it would also have wasted time. Time that could be used to cast a spell
And so, she did, shadow hands sprouted forth to try and grasp at the sailor and knight, however, they only succeeded in impeding them somewhat (Or heavily in the case of the shielder). That was enough. Uniting the blade again Artoria lunged forward, her sword ready to impale the willowy woman's body. Her brow raised in surprise when Rider managed to catch the greatsword between her palms. Panic rushing into the servants' eyes she did her best to ignore the cutting cold as the blade started to inch closer and closer to her chest.
Her arms straining to hold back the blade, she quickly began to whisper the words of her phantasm. Of course, Artoria noticed the buildup of mana and sent a surge of ghostly flame through the blade scorching the servant, but Rider pushed through the pain. Respectable but not acceptable. Tearing the blade free by slashing up, destroying rider's eye in the process, she raised Requiem to cleave Rider's head from her shoulders only for Mash to jump on her back pulling her off balance for but a moment before the night threw her off. It still Rider enough time to complete enough of her chant to bring this battle elsewhere
"DROWN!"
A flash of light filled the caldera and suddenly she was sinking beneath the waves before immediately being thrown up into the heavens. People have long spoken about a strange beauty to be found in storms, the way the sky changes in the light, the sounds of rain and lightning, the awe-inspiring majesty of nature. There is none of that here, this place is not one of balance or whim or even differential pressures. This is merely wrath, a lightless abyss that seeks to scour any trace of human life, and despite everything she knew that she was still human.
"THIS IS THE FURY THAT SUNDERED THE SEA AND SKY!"
lightning ripped through the aether striking at Knight, again and again, cracking and scarring the armor.
"THIS IS THE STORM OF JUDGEMENT THAT RAGED ACROSS THE WORLD!"
Blades of pressurized water began to stab into Artoria making her howl in agony. The pressure of the deepest abysses making a mockery of any armor. The blades continued to lacerate and tear her armor to pieces as she fell, somehow, she knew that if she fell beneath the waves that would be it, a presence beneath would claim her as its prey. The very thought made her grit her teeth in fury
"BREAK, DROWN, STARVE, BURN, IT MATTERS NOT!"
Artoria growled kicking off the water's surface, the tempest beneath may have been too fast for the water to freeze under the supernatural cold of her blade but she was still fast enough to run across the waves and dodge the lightning.
"THE FATE OF THE UNWORTHY IS DEATH!"
Would it really be her fate to fall here? After everything she had done, everything she had forsaken? Would it really end here? No, she wouldn't accept that, she couldn't accept that. So, she pushed further, past the storm walls and mountainous waves to the heart of the storm. With a pained roar, she pushed through the final wall between the two servants.
"THIS IS- HRRK!"
The rider's face became strained as she reached out and focus the storm about her to try and block the dark blade; she succeeded, falling to her knees as the blade strained and ate away at the raging winds trying to push it back.
"This- IS- Ugh!"
She was already dead, and they both knew it, the blade was inching closer and closer, and it was taking all of Rider's focus to merely stall its advance, damned if you do damned if you don't. The tyrant looked into her foes' glowing eyes and felt her own widened.
"RAAGH!"
The world exploded in light as The last of her armor imploded into her chest as the rider let the blade fall to let loose one last blow of pure might and spite. Not the true power of her phantasm, not by a long shot but a focused blast of lightning from the age of the flood.
But it wasn't enough.
"Gackh! (Cough, Cough)"
When was the last time she was in this much pain? Was it when Galehaut broke her back? Morgan's Homunculus stabbing her in the heart with that blasted lightning sword? The forest Hermit? The Savage? She growled with an undertone of pain and outage. Even as the unnatural energies of the blade knit her body together pain was still pain and to be brought down to this level should have been beneath her. But they were back and she had won.
She stood up, sword planted in the ground to support her while everything was healing, but still, she stood. The only pieces of her armor that she used the onslaught were her greaves and a sole arm and pauldron. Her foe was in a much worse condition.
Requiem had cleaved through the left side of her body, the two limbs sliced off and the rest of that part a bloody ruin. Even her face wasn't left untouched as that blade manage to tear into both her eye remaining socket and jaw.
Artoria walked closer, her blade dragging behind her until at last, she stood right before Rider.
Silence.
Rider shakily looked up with her empty eye sockets and sighed.
"End this"
She raised her dark blade and swung.
"And yet again I-"
And it was over.
Artoria grunted in disappointment due to being a servant; her soul couldn't be trapped by Requiem and give her the fuel she dearly needed to remake her armor, though looking around her it seemed like he really didn't need her armor in the first place. What was left to stop her? A weeping paraplegic and a beaten and broken child?
Not nearly enough, not by a long-
Her head snapped to the pulsing source of mana far above. The grail had been activated.
'The master! Is he insane? The corruption- has been purified!'
She pulled at the souls in her soul and burst forth running up the stairs at great speed, her blade ready to kill the foolish boy. A few more feet and she could cleave his head from his shoulders and then the light of the grail flared, and she pushed further hoping to stop him before he could do whatever his wish involved.
She burst through the light and… that blade… that cold light chilling her soul... Kay?
Her mind was forced back into a past she had desperately been avoiding. She remembered that terrible day, she remembered the wolf maiden and her brother. She remembered what was in that last room.
(Linebreak)
Her knights had always said her heart was carved from stone; she hadn't cared partly because for the most part, it was true. Embracing the joy of- well everything ironically killed any joy at all as it all became so boring, just like everything else eventually did. A heart of stone and yet right now it trembled
The room about her was small, it had only one object within.
An old poorly carven throne, the lions looked like cows, the wood was badly chosen, and it was badly carved and somewhat lopsided. Yet it was hers.
It was hers, her very first throne. He had kept it, all this time he had kept it as a reminder of a better time when she was just a little girl dreaming of truth and justice, from when she had been true to herself. In seeking power and joy with reckless abandon. Even if it wasn't decadent, even if she remained a good administrator, she had still betrayed that beautiful dream
She had betrayed herself…
This blade, the joy, the pride… was this the true cost? No, it couldn't have been… freedom…
She just sat there kneeling, even as her soldiers marched up the tower in search of her, she just sat there unmoving until at last, they dragged her away
"I forgot. That's all it was. What I was fighting for, why I decided to fight in the first place. I forgot what made my friends gather about and fight for that dream. In doing so I lost everything that ever really mattered to me and all I had to show for it was blood and mettle, by the time I realized what I had done it was too late to go back.
There was no one left to go back to…
Funny, it was only in this moment that I realized that all this time I was just a sullen little girl sitting in the ruins of her own dream"
(linebreak)
Harker dryly chuckled as he stumbled his way up the set of stairs. He really felt like he should be dead by now or was that just what his body really wanted at this point? All this time walking and he still didn't know what to wish for, the other masters to come back or maybe for Saber to drop dead?
He'd have to choose soon, Cessair was doing her best to buy him time, but he saw how that fight was going when Saber wasn't taking this seriously. He tried going faster but he nearly fell as his body tried to collapse beneath him
A second flash filled the caldera making his teetering mind give out briefly making him fall against the stairs. His mind shot back to consciousness with a scream of muffled agony as the shards in his flesh dug deeper. Gritting his teeth, he tried to stand but he just didn't have the energy or ability.
'Then crawl'
The harsh voice cleared the haze and he reached out with his one good arm and started moving, he was too close to give up now. So, inch by bloody inch he climbed closer and closer to his goal even when it felt like he was going to leave pieces of himself behind until at last-
The grail.
Floating above that stone throne was a once pure golden cup singed with ash and flame. He grabbed the grail and collapsed upon the throne. He could feel the mana stored within start to stir with an unspoken question.
What do you wish for?
He- he wasn't sure, you'd think that it would be easier to come up with an idea, but his mind right now was just empty. He looked down below, Saber had noticed and was rushing up the stairs to stop him, it made sense.
What do you wish for?
In a few seconds it would all be over, no more pain, he could just sleep. But was this really the way he wanted to die? Was this really the way it would end? No.
'I- I made a promise, I. Will. Keep it'
What do you wish for?!
Quiet words made their way out of his broken lips. He was not sure where they come from, but it did not matter. They did
"I wish for a sword to strike down this twisted thing"
The grail dissolved and his will was done. Light flashed but he didn't reel back in pain, weight fell into his hands, and he instinctively gripped the hilt. It- felt perfect yet terrifying.
Cold silvery light shone before his face; it was like the chill of snow. Etched along the blade were fae runes, he couldn't understand but something about it felt restful, like sleep.
Or the end. Why did it feel like an end?
He lifted this heavy? greatsword as best as he could with one functional arm and pointed at the rapidly approaching enemy.
He was dead but at least now it was with a weapon in hand not begging for mercy. She burst through the light and prepared to swing and then- froze. She froze as she continued to fly through the air and impaled herself on the blade of cold light.
His back slammed into the throne and he clearly saw this servant for the first time… she was beautiful but so cold and harsh, even now as she died her face only softened a tiny bit. Her head fell onto his shoulder, and he felt tears fall on his skin.
"… Was it really so wrong, I just wanted to be happy…"
He stilled. A simple choice that changed everything, a decision to live for yourself. He made the same choice, didn't he? How far down this road did she go? Was he far along himself?
No. Whatever kind of asshole he was he never put on airs; he never forgot the reasons why.
"Did you forget that was what you were trying to do?"
He felt her smile.
"I did"
"Then maybe you just need to try again"
She quietly laughed as she began to disappear.
"Oh, you little fool" 'It's-' "-Far-" '-Too-' "-Late…"
'For both of us'
That one terrifying thought why did feel so true… Harker stood up from the throne and began the long walk down. His mind was silent as he steadily stumbled his way down until his body finally failed him, and he began to topple only to be caught by a set of gauntleted hands.
"Kyrielight?"
"... Yes?"
"I don't think I can stand"
"…"
The bone-white servant picked him up and carried him down the stairs. Silence reigned for a time before it became too much for one of them to bear.
"Cessair is dead"
"...I know, I felt it"
Like a snap in his soul, a severing of the link. It hurt in a way, she seemed like a nice person after all, a better person than he at the very least
"Then… why don't you grieve?"
Strange her voice lacked accusation, just genuine confusion. It changed nothing.
"Because nothing would change, nothing would change…"
She stayed silent as they reached the bottom. He… was thankful for that, he didn't want to speak those vulnerable words; not now at least, the day had been won and he had more than earned his rest.
"… the interference has been cleared we should be able to bring you all back soon enough"
Roman. He was admittedly a little bitter that the doctor did nothing to help but honestly there really wasn't anything he could have done in the first place. So, he just huffed and let it go
"Good to hear that doctor"
He gave a little wave to the Director who softly smiled and waved back.
"Good to see you're still conscious- what the hell is that!"
Harker looked at the greatsword resting against his chest.
"I have no idea"
"Where- where did it come from"
"The grail"
"You wished for that?"
"I wished for a sword Roman, I wasn't exactly specific"
Mash set him down next to the Director, sticking the blade in the ground he forced himself up into standing position with his arms and the wall. The two women rolled their eyes at him.
"Is there something wrong Roman?"
"It's- just weird, it's scrambling our sensors to a degree but is bonded to Harker so it won't actually cause any problem but still we can't even identify the damn thing"
"We can deal with it later Roman just bring us home"
"You're right, director, starting the callback in 3. 2. Wait- Something is-"
Harker's heart fell as Roman's hologram went static. Marie panicked and tried to call him back, but he heard its footsteps, felt its presence.
"Well, I certainly didn't expect you to get this far, especially with how badly this singularity went"
Marie looked to the voice and her face lit up like the sun as she tearfully smiled
"Lev…"
He felt a laugh build in his bloody chest when he saw the Professor with the stupidest hair he's ever seen.
"As soon as I saw you in that tacky ass suit back at the mountain I knew. I KNEW you were going to end up screwing me over somehow!"
It was really hurting to laugh right now but he just couldn't help it. The situation wasn't even all that funny to him, but he still couldn't help but laugh. The man? Sneered at him with a look that promised death. Kyrielight surprisingly moved in front of him shield at the ready evidently sensing the danger within
"How you of all people survived infuriates me Aldain, we did not predict that…"
Harker narrowed his eyes at the green-suited man scratching his chin in irritation. That statement… he was forced out of his musement when he noticed Marie reaching out to him with tears in her eyes.
"Lev, I thought you were… Thank god… I-"
The humor in his chest died.
"Marie"
She turned to him, shaking and afraid. She could sense the truth but...
"This is his fault"
Her face broke down into an ugly rage at the accusation
"How dare you! First, you laugh and then you-"
Lev's laugh rang out, cutting her off.
"Perceptive individual, aren't you Mr. Aldain?"
Marie froze and the tears began to fall with abandon.
"Lev- Why?"
Mash flinched at her sobbing but did not move, she wasn't sure if she really could move at all right now.
"Why? You people sicken me that's why. Stupid little rats that scurry about trying to avoid their pointless little existences in the foulest ways possible!"
Marie didn't respond but just continued to sob curling up in herself as best she could. This man wasn't human he couldn't be, he spoke too divorced from it to possibly be a member of this admittedly stupid family
"You a vamp or an elemental, wig man?"
He turned to him with a vile hiss.
"Neither you little shit. I am beyond your comprehension, you insipid little mayfly!"
Harker grinned at the "incomprehensible" being.
"And evidently so am I"
His face turned demonic and twisted. Harker instinctively tried to lash out but instead just tripped and fell backwards, his limbs too tired and weak to even try such movement.
"This is your fault you know; I placed the bomb right under her feet and then you go and tackle her out of the way! And if that wasn't enough, she escaped death by suffocation and blood loss by leaching off your aptitude!"
Harker felt something akin to rage spark in him and stood up, impalations and all. Sword in hand he walked forward and pointed it at the other man and growled
"Oh bitch, bitch, bitch!"
Mash flinched and tried to pull him back.
"Master…"
He slapped her hand away and growled, fury burning in his eyes
"What gives you the right!"
He tried to swing it, but Lainur grabbed his arm and forced him to throw it to the side. Grabbing him by the neck Lev raised him into the air with a curious smile
"You've seen it haven't you little shaman"
He kicked and thrashed but whatever strange energy that filled him was quickly fading with the loss of the sword. He didn't care all he knew was the instinctual rage of a man who lost everything.
"WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO EXTERMINATE MY ENTIRE SPECIES!"
Mash and Marie froze in horror upon hearing that and Lev's smile turned rapturous.
"Oh, little rat, I didn't exterminate your species"
He almost looked kind at that moment.
"I exterminated your entire history"
His face turned demonic again and Harker knew he was dead as the man raised his fist but then everything froze. Everything.
"Einstein"
He fell through his own body taking on an ethereal form as he hit the ground. The pain and weariness was gone.
"More comfortable isn't that-"
The old man reeled back as Harker socked him across the face.
"YOU MOTHER-"
He grabbed him and tried to hit him again, but he suddenly found himself where he was a few seconds before. He tried to rush him, but the same thing occurred.
"I know you're upset-"
"Upset? UPSET!"
Harker managed to reach (or perhaps was let to reach) him and slammed the old man against the wall only to beat his forehead against the old man's chest, spectral tears falling to the ground.
"I JUST LOST- I lost- Everything"
He let him go and fell on his own ass. HE held his face as tears slipped between his fingers
"This- this is what you saw didn't you?"
"Yes"
"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING!?"
Harker roared at him, only to pause at the soft voice of the scientist.
"I brought you, didn't I?"
Harker fell silent, unable to properly respond to that.
Einstein's hand fell in front of his face, and he grabbed it. Pulled up he met his golden eyes and looked away. Even as the scientist put his hand on his shoulder, he couldn't meet those sympathetic eyes
"I'm a servant that shouldn't exist, Harker. Hell, the main me on the throne doesn't even know I exist but I was happy with that, happy floating free across the universe watching all of time"
He let go and then pointed to the demon holding his true body up, sighed.
"And then they destroyed us, destroyed humanity, I watched their master seed his worms across time and space bringing ruin to the world I loved all for some sick twisted form of love"
He walked away looking down ashamed, yet Harker could have sworn he saw something move in his shadow.
"I tried to stop them, Alva, with all my cunning and power I sent waves through time hoping to make those worms pop like the boils they were but all I did was make things worse, I tried intervening myself but that made things worse as time tried to erase my presence and action. After that I… So many scenarios and so many what if's Harker, I've lived through them all trying to find a way… this is that way though it may be where a single misstep brings this all crashing down this was the only way I could see…"
His cane began to fracture and reform in strange Chrono illogical patterns.
"I am sorrier than you can ever know Aldain, these singularities were reborn into something worse by my hand and not the worm writhing within the corpse of a king.
His golden eyes turned glassy and distant, lost in the images of what could have been. His form flickered and it looked like there was something under- overlapping- behind- almost, he could almost see it but…
"This is my fault, and I can't even fix it with my own two hands…"
He shuddered once and then stilled, quiet and cold.
"I- I don't want to be a hero Albert, I don't even know how"
"And yet you're the one we need Harker. Taught by mages, taught by shamans, raised around spirits, embraced by humanity. You know both worlds and in your own strange way love them both"
Einstein took a deep breath and pointed to the sword.
"And then there is that"
He looked at the cold blade and felt his chest still in calmness?
"What is it?"
Einstein's voice was quiet and unsure as if talking about a rumor instead of something he knew to be true
"I once heard a man say that no matter what advice you give it will never really click until that one day comes, that blade is much like that but far more terrifying"
He looked to Einstein with widened eyes only for the servant to not notice at all merely mumbling about the blade.
"…made only for human hands yet so antithetical…"
"Bah"
The old man waved away the delirium and refocused onto reality
"No matter what I say it won't make a lick of sense and the true might of the blade will remain locked"
Einstein looked to the clearing night sky and sighed.
"Harker the dark has already begun its howling and humanity teeters on the abyss, there is no time for doubt, no time for weakness or a compassionate fool who could embrace all with love and friendship. we need a bitter bastard who would hold onto that last shred of light even as the maggots started to eat the flesh on his bones. if the master who should have been was humanity's heart then you are its grim resolution. So, push ever on with that stubborn ferocity that's kept you alive all this while and remember that in the defense of existence itself even the most bitter of Victories is preferable to defeat"
Harker clenched his fists before sighing and hesitantly nodded. Smiling softly, Einstein called an image of the syringe to his hand.
"In a world that might have been this would have been an olive branch given to you by Ophelia"
Harker blanched and looked away.
"What wou- does it do"
"Reinforce your circuits so they could handle more spells, you just need to inject it into your leg"
He gingerly touched the syringe and an image came to his mind, a much older Harker and Ophelia simply talking without expectation or hostility. They looked happy. He closed his eyes and walked to where his body was being held.
"How is he interrupting the connection between us and Chaldea"
Einstein smiled in his approval.
"A simple if powerful fugue spell over the area, you just need to clear it"
"Good"
"One last thing Harker"
"?"
"That sword is yours now and no one else's, you cannot be separated not truly, and should you simply call then it will come"
He looked over his beaten form and tiredly beamed. He looked back to the dissipating man.
"Einstein, one day you will give me the answers to my questions"
The old man smiled back at him.
"I await that day with bated breath Alva"
And then he was gone.
Harker turned back to the demon and his smile vanished as his ethereal form started to drift into his body.
"Time to finish this then"
everything snapped back into place, and he was once again being held aloft by this madman.
"I'm going to enjoy this Rat"
He smirked at him and reached out his hand
"Sure, you are"
He reached to the connection between himself and the sword and pulled. The sword came flying in and cut off Lev's arms before falling into his right hand. The sword pulsed and they were both blown back.
"Ackgh! You stupid monkey!"
Rolling to his feet he quickly lunged for the syringe that had been rolling on the floor in the confusion and stabbed it straight in his leg. He could feel it, more than the pain he could feel it, the pulsing energy forming around his circuits. Like a wall or concrete filling, the cracks
'I can do this, I can do this'
He raised his blade into the air and started to push his Prana into the sword, he didn't know why he knew it would work but it did, and its cold light began to spread
"Do you really think you can kill me in the state you're in rat!"
With a simple flex of his stumps, Lainur's arms were instantly regrown. Pressure not of his own filled the air as fleshy? Pillars covered in eyes started to appear all around them growing into the very sky. Quickly reading the situation Mash dragged Marie right behind him and then moved to stand at his back.
"We can barely stand Master please tell me you have a plan"
She noticed the trembling of his legs then. He couldn't exactly tell her that it was lie his ass off while he cleared the interference, because she was right even with his circuits being reinforced there wasn't going to be much he could do at this point if whatever Lev was tried to kill them and if he bothered to try to explain the blood god complex bastard would see through it, he helped execute the death of humanity, after all, underestimating him seemed stupid at best.
Forcing himself to smirk cockily he raised the blade higher he pulled further both on his circuits and the blade and began to see shades all around him, was his mind hallucinating? He ignored it and pushed.
"All I need is a single strike, you bastard"
The man? Scowled as looked at the sword, Harker wondered what he saw when he looked at it, something untraceable shifted across his eyes and he glowered.
"It won't even scratch me you damn monkey, give me your best shot!"
Arrogance and pride won over as he felt any true observation fall away from his spell, fall away from Chaldea and focus on creating a wall between him and the blade. Harker felt his smirk turn savage.
'Let's give them a show!'
Unlike his sister, his spells were never particularly flashy due to not having all that much skill but that didn't mean he didn't know how to make them look threatening. He weaved the river in his mind and unleashed a cascade of blue fire behind his sword and swung the blade down releasing a howling conflagration of cold flame that railed against the wall of demonic flesh blinded the many eyes of the bastard.
"You call this fire! Pathetic!"
He began to exert his pressure on the illusory flames, slowly extinguishing them but Harker created more and more. He had to hold on for long enough, he fed actual cold flame into the illusion to begin to scour. Walking the thin line of making this convincing and annoying him enough for the Lainur to forget his pride and just kill him.
He made the fires roar louder as Roman's hologram finally cut through the interference, quickly assessing the situation and disappearing though the sound of typing quickly flitted to his ears.
'Just a little bit longer, please just a little bit longer!'
He pulsed the sword and put more mana into it despite his circuits starting to burn through the added walls poking through in tiny spots. It hurt in A way it never did before like a small focused branded scoring into his marrow.
'Just hold!
"Wait. You-!"
The pressure subsided and then spiked to murderous levels as the tentacles started surging through the false flames.
'Shit!'
The jig was up and like a tide of flesh and hate, Lainur sent forth his wrath.
"YOU DARE!"
Whenever humans were faced with a danger that their minds couldn't properly react there existed two basic fallbacks that every human fell into one or the other, flee (Those tended to live longer) or fight(Those tended to die horribly). Harker had always, always fell into the latter much to his detriment so when he panicked his primitive monkey brain reacted and he swung
Ironically this thing that had gotten him in trouble so many damn times is what saved them, because instead of the fire he'd been channeling through the blade like a conduit, a cold light extended from the sword and burned through the tide. It- it felt like burning away something rotten and sick and the howl of agony that came from Lainur… What was this blade? The last of the artificial circuit walls collapsed and the pain once focused exploded across his body, yet his circuits remained intact.
"I've got you!"
He grinned with bloody teeth and gazed at the screaming chthonic figure of Lainur, eyes across its flesh desperately trying to knit itself together until it looked like something from John Carpenter.
"I win"
Somehow that scream from Lev as everything went black was more rewarding than anything else in his life had ever been.
Alright this took a while but the final chapter for the Fuyuki singularity is done, after this is the epilogue which should be pretty short. Onto France and the burning skies.
Something I want to cover is that when I use non-Euclidean in this story, I'm using it in the lovecraftian sense not the actual one. Because actual non-Euclidean geometry is very boring and very common, it's pretty much just any architecture on the surface of the Earth. Lovecraft wasn't exactly the most academically read individual. Hell, his story Cool Air was all about the horrors of an air conditioner
Noble Phantasm
Ochd Deug Odin
This comes from the wiki which apparently comes from the first Materials book. That's pretty much it, though I did in all the runes rather than just the original 18 to give a fuller account of Odin's story as I have interpreted him. Really there's not much too this phantasm.
The Wickerman
When I first seriously started to consider writing this story I initially tried to replace Cu Chulainn(Caster) with a Medea(Rider) and to give a proper threat I came up with the whole Ahriman sea thing but I eventually decided to discard Medea(Rider) due to thinking her character just wouldn't be able to hold up for a lack of a better word. I mean it just wouldn't have enough evidence behind her story to support the existence of the servant. (I later changed my mind but that's beside the point). Anyways, the ending for her character was supposed to be her using her phantasm to blow away the foul sea in an explosion of sunfire ala Phaethon and looking at Cu Chulainn I realized I didn't have to change that ending too much. It also gave me the chance to apply more meaning behind it rather than it just looks cool. The phantasm mostly remains the same as in game just with added fires of forgiveness which came about when my mind immediately connected it to WoW due to years of playing that game, basically during hallows eve the Wickerman was a scapegoat to try and cast aside the burdens of yesteryear and face whatever tomorrow may bring. That idea stuck with me even after I realized that it was something created solely by Warcraft so when I found out that there was really no reason given to why these sacrifices happened in reality, I added this factor to the wickerman under the cover of seasonal change and it's a genuine tradition to symbolically let the past go as seasons change
Now a hint of the nightmare to come
"The broken scapegoat lies dead amidst the fires of forgiveness and doom has been postponed for a little while longer, yet the path is not clear watcher, Seven Singularities still stand in the way of salvation and the last master still has yet to embrace death.
We look to France; the false mirror leads an army of flame and bone across the country to sate a rage that was never hers. We see her foes fight against the burning sky, the saint that laughed and the bandit that cared nothing for riches, Dark wings now shroud our sight, and we see nothing more
In Rome, barbarians march against the gates to take revenge upon the empire that so cruelly broke them over its knee. Blood and death rose this empire and by blood and death shall it fall. We see the Horseman at its head and scream. How was this beast of vengeance slain? How could the legions conquer such a terrifying force? A cynic glares and knows the truth.
Our gaze trembles as it slides to the great deep, such monsters lay beneath and greater ones that lay above. The golden fool sails upon the sea, a dream of salvation guiding his every move, but he has been lied to and his dreams are no longer his own. Such days in which we live where a serpent whispers in a hero's ear and it is in criminals that we find salvation
We see London, his contempt for their kind is cruel Einstein but here and now it is dearly deserved. The fools in their clocktower believed they were the masters but so easily had they fallen to one they sought to control. Now the smith is the master, a golden cup in his hands he summons that which was born of humanity to destroy it, such misery has he suffered Watcher and such horror shall he inflict in the hopes that at last his tears may end.
In America, the whore queen has had her dearest wish accomplished in the most horrid way, in asking for a mad king and she got one where its humanity is barely a translucent mask. Heroes rise against him but how can they kill the living sun? Even the enemy fights against him yet in this war the enemy of my enemy cannot be our friend. We despair at the weakness of the forces rallied against him and yet... We see the butcher stand at his side, cold logic as always guiding his path, perhaps there is a chance there; emotion broke him before but now maybe it will be emotions that shall save him. An image appears in our mind as we ponder a bloodied sword present on every battlefield that humans could still remember and many more they did not. We turn away as the sun burns our eyes
In another world the swordbearer still walks in shadowed paths, such wonders has he seen and such pain has endured for a chance to at last uphold his oath. It will not be easy; the table might be broken but it still stands, and its knights gather around the one who calls itself their king. More answer the call now, the Last, the Reflection, the Changeling, the Lion, and the Wayfarer. Another arises to strike down a king, two blades bathed in blood and a spear to pierce the heart of a god. He is a savage that cares for nothing of magic and fae but he is loyal and will not abide this insult to his only friend. Yet the dragon roars, its red wings beating to the rhythm of war.
The very first of the worm king's sins lies in this most ancient of kingdoms and the armies that fought across fight once more. The King of Light and the Slayer of kings, the Impossible Hero, and the Reluctant Champion, those who defended their homes against all odds victory or death. I cannot tell if this will be enough to beat the demons before them, the hordes are unending and there is more than one mother of monsters. An oath remains an oath and a king remains a king. Separate the Earth from the Underworld and silence the song of the deep at last or all will be lost.
These are the battlefields you have created Einstein, the pyres upon which all mankind shall burn. Do you truly believe a failure of a shaman can stop them? Even with it?"
"Yes"
"So be it, we shall wander the skeins and see what shall become of this world. The Dragon of Greed, Conquest, The false Ouroboros, The White Dragon, The Burning Sun, The Goddess at the End, and the Beast of Regression. One would be more than enough to end this tale but seven?"
"Then hope"
"Aye let us hope that when the end comes it drags suffering and pain into the fires as well. What else is there to hope for?"
"Victory, there is always the hope of the victory known as life"
"A fool's belief old friend"
"That fool's belief is all mankind ever truly had"