His body was sore all over. Calling Amako energetic was an understatement. Pankration. Chinese Martial Arts. Baritsu. Whatever tiny bits Ritsuka picked up, he was forced to show them off and then promptly used as a rag doll. Not the Demi-Servant that was conveniently there. Him. 'You need all the training you can get', she said, smiling, as she supplexed him into the ground.
Still, as dead as a corpse he was, he was pretty satisfied. Working up a good sweat was a good way to get some stress out. Not to mention, he was pretty happy for Amako. She soaked up the martial arts and the history he could tell her like a sponge. Already, she was beginning to figure out what other moves existed that Ritsuka only knew from seeing. Yet again, she would deny being a genius. With a tired sigh, he slowly began to feel his mind drift away to proper sleep.
Of course it was in that moment that an explosion sounded, rattling the entire base. Long ingrained instincts forced him to shoot up, at the same time as Mash. And just as he expected, the screaming started.
"We're under attack!"
"Of course we are!" Ritsuka hissed under his breath, adjusting his gloves. He barely got a couple minutes of sleep in at best! Rushing out of the room, they arrived outside at the same time as Amako did. The sight was not encouraging whatsoever.
The soldiers were fighting valiantly. Holding the line to keep the wailing ghosts away, as they floated and flew down to assault them. The refugees and the supplies were protected by lines of valor and experience. Still, it were too many. If this kept on, the warriors would soon be too exhausted. But as much as he wanted to help, he had another place to be. Sharing a look with Amako, she thought the same.
"I have to meet up with Lord Takeda!"
"Master, Kagetora and Nobunaga are that way!"
The three raised their fist and hit them in the middle, encouraging smiles on their face.
"See ya later!"
"You too!"
With that, they split up, Ritsuka running behind Mash. It didn't take them long to reach their servants. The gun shots could not be mistaken, as they sounded from within the arena.
"Excuse me, senpai!"
Grabbing her master, Mash leaped over the walls. He couldn't help but gape. What Ritsuka saw was borderline bizarre and he's seen a lot.
A palm that was too big to be human slammed straight into Kagetora's face. She flew against the wall, crashing through it. Then, the massive body of the sumo wrestler, for what else could that top knot and fundoshi mean, somehow exploded away from the shots of Nobu, only a few grazing him. The Demon King clicked her tongue in annoyance as she grabbed onto one of her muskets and flew up, avoiding a headbutt wrapped in lightning. It exploded the ground, whirling dust up. Nobu landed next to Ritsuka on the tribune, focusing her sight on the enemy.
"Status report!" Ritsuka shouted.
"Two servant level opponents came in from above! Second one is moving all over the place, summoning wraiths!" She cracked her neck with a snarl. "Fat man is definitely divine!"
"It's called muscle mass, girl!" The massive man responded with a huff, steam coming out of his nostrils. Ritsuka stared warily at him before glancing back at his servants.
"You sure?"
In response, Kagetora came out of the hole she created, spitting out blood before wiping her mouth. At the same time, Nobu pointed at the attacker's wounds, practically sizzling. Yet if it hurt him, the sumo fighter didn't let it show on his face, instead leaning forward with one arm resting on his leg.
"Yeah, pretty sure!" Nobu snarked, reloading one of her many muskets in her hand. It was more out of habit than any practical choice. YEt even as the guns floated around her, and Kagetora had two naginatas in her hands, a feral look on her face, the sumo fighter was not intimidated. The opposite actually. With a hearty laugh, he raised his leg high up.
"As expected of the ones who would call themselves Takeda's rivals! You are good opponents!"
Kagetora's eyebrow twitched as she leaned forward with a snarl, her smile twisted.
"I'm his only rival!"
"I pretty much kicked his clan's ass unlike you!" Nobu commented, taking aim. Yet before either could attack, the sumo fighter crashed his foot down. The air itself began to shake. But beyond that, it seemed to affect Chaldea's servants more than that. They visibly flinched, as if stunned. In that opening, the sumo fighter rushed forward with a palm towards Kagetora. But before it could reach her, it met solid steel. Mash grit her teeth, her feet grinding over the ground, being pushed back from the sheer force. The enemy laughed, nodding in approval.
"Very good! What should I call you?"
No harm in introducing oneself, Ritsuka thought with a small smile. He always had something for those that were somewhat nice to them, even if they tried to kill everyone. With determination and his hands curled into fists, he stepped forward.
"Ritsuka Fujimaru!"
"Mash Kyrielight!" She shouted equally as loud, calming her shaking arms from his strike as she glared at the wrestler. He hummed lightheartedly.
"Hm! A fine expression!" He put his left palm in front of him, like a target sight for his right palm that he reeled back. "Have at thee!"
With that, he began to hit away on Mash's shield like a drum. The shockwaves, filled with electricity like his own hands, slowly but surely pushed Mash away. His hands moved faster than a machine gun. But he was not as mono focus as expected. When Kagetora came in from behind, crossing her arms with he naginatas, the man moved way too fast for his body structure. Before she could finish uncrossing her arms, his massive body slammed into her. Grabbing her from behind, he took a deep breath and spun with a massive shout, a wide grin on his face. When she slammed on the ground, violently, Kagetora screamed in pain, her body convulsing as thunder ran through her veins.
Like a flying rock, he then proceeded to weave around Nobu's shots. They were grazing him, but he was in an armor of thunder when he bursted and stopped right in front of her. Before Nobu could process that speed, she was shot up by a kick. However, with his leg high in the air, Mash jumped him, hitting the man in the face and knocking him off balance. Increasing her assault, she swung her shield repeatedly. Yet despite the clean hits she was landing, the enemy only smiled widely, barely bleeding from his lip. In that moment, Ritsuka recognized it.
His love. The man loved sumo, in the way Quetz loved lucha. For a moment he imagined it, the dream main card of Japan vs South America wrestling each other in their respective style. Still, as much he would love to see that and as much he was in awe of the mastery of martial art he was seeing, he had to focus. Nobu landed right next to him, working her jaw with a hiss. At the same time, Kagetora struggled to get up, using a katana as a support. He noticed how much damage they suffered. It made sense, with the force behind those attacks. Yet something bothered him. He glanced at Mash's fight, whose shield was knocked away. Grabbed by her collar, the sumo wrestler raised her up before slamming her down like a rugby ball. While she yelled in pain, bouncing off the ground, she quickly landed on her feet, breathing heavily. It was then he noticed.
The amount of damage was different. More so than usual with the classes. While Mash was the sturdier of the three, the different was too great to be normal. Because of that, Ritsuka raised his voice with worry.
"What's wrong?!"
"It burns!" Nobu replied, revealing her chin steaming. Kagetora was the same as she grit her teeth in order to focus. Glancing at Mash, he could see she had no such issue. So it couldn't be the lightning, as they were all hit by the same Mana Burst. So...
"Why is Mash not affected by this?" Ritsuka muttered under his breath. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long for the answer. The sumo wrestler himself slapped his hands together, before moving dramatically slow as he took on his palm hitting position.
"Sumo is the art that wrestles with the kami. Our every move is a Shinto Ritual." He rolled his head with a hearty laugh. "Mere spirits cannot hope to defend against it!"
Ritsuka clicked his tongue in annoyance. Goddamnit, he hoped it wasn't that literal! With what meager knowledge he had of his country's magecraft, he knew the basics of Shinto.
"Great, anti-spirit…!" He muttered, causing Nobu to snort as she began to shoot again. At least Mash was "alive" enough that she wasn't as affected. Still, this was going rather south at the moment. He was too fast and too strong, his latest head butt shaking the area with its force, which Mash barely blocked for Kagetora.
"Yes, it was a good thing that I came here! Many new opponents to test my skills!" He shouted with almost no pain as he was slashed up by Kagetora, parrying and hitting back with fast arm movements. With a click of her tongue, the Avatar of Bishamonten ducked away, causing the fighter to receive the full blunt of Nobu's shots. He protected his face with crossed arms, but he hissed as the bullets hit true, the Tenka Fubu skill causing his face to distort in agony.
"At least tell us who you are, jackass!" Nobu asked, not stopping her rain of fire. With a loud shout, the thunder around him intensified, causing the shots of Nobu to be diverted. With some free room, he began to dodge once again. As he did so, he pointed at himself with a proud laugh.
"I am Raiden, the strongest Rikishi!"
Realization seemed to dawn on his servants faces. The god Raiden. But he dismissed it almost immediately. Their opponent was lacking too many of the characteristics. No drums, no arrows, he wasn't summoning forth any thunder that could be thrown. At least he wasn't aware of any anecdotes that had such an emphasis on su...mo... A faint memory clicked in his head. Strongest Rikishi. He immediately blurted it out in shock.
"Raiden Tameemon?!"
"Indeed!" Raiden responded without a hint of hesitation. As their eyes widened in shock, it was Nobu who snarled.
"Bullshit! If he's anything like our Raiden, he should not have Mana Burst or that high level of Divinity!"
It was true. Raiden Tameemon wasn't known to be deified after death. Nor for his lightning. While the name did indicate that, first and foremost, it was sumo. So while he could believe the sumo skill, the other traits didn't add up. At least not at the level they were seeing.
"Normally you would be right." His smile disappeared for the first time in this battle, a glare directed at Ritsuka. "But this isn't normal... or should I say, Panhuman?"
"Wha-!?"
"This is my home. You outsiders have no right to be in here." He growled as he spread his arms. "This Lostbelt shall not be erased, Chaldea!"
Ritsuka grit his teeth. It wasn't like he wanted to do this! But faced with such determination, he couldn't help but feel the guilt well up. However, before he could say anything, Kagetora tilted her head, her eyes wide.
"Master. He's holding back." Her smile twitched when she glanced back, towards the rest of the base. "He's stalling."
"And stalled I have." He gave them a smirk. "May we meet under better conditions next time!"
"Like hell you wi-"
Nobunaga never got to finish her sentence. Magical energy exploded violently, when Raiden clapped his hands together. Mash was already in front of him, so he couldn't see what happened. But he could see the after effects. A blinding light, as if a flashbang went off. Then an ear shattering explosion sounded, as if thunder went off right next to them. Temporarily deaf, Ritsuka fell on his knees, trying to regain his senses. Slowly but surely, he managed to register sound again and looked up. There was a hole in the ceiling, scorched even.
Raiden escaped. But even more importantly... he used a Noble Phantasm to do so. With panic, he patted Mash on the shoulder, who collapsed out of exhaustion and looked at the other two servants.
They were paralysed. Shaking as they were rooted on the ground. Even worse, they were bleeding from the eyes and ears, the light in their eyes almost entirely gone. Quickly, he activated his Mystic Code, trying to heal them up as much as possible. Slowly but surely, life returned to them and they both fell down, gasping for air. Their shock and exhaustion were quickly replaced by anger, as they both hit the ground.
"We'll see how the rematch goes, asshole... !"
As they both had a grin filled with rage on their faces, Ritsuka shook his head. Next time would be different. In this fight, Raiden had the momentum on his side the entire time. Now the two could be prepared. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep to his positive thoughts.
"The supplies!"
His heart fell at the sound of those words.