Chapter 54: The Dragon of Echigo
"Well, that was disorienting," Z grumbled, getting her bearings.
Tyler regarded her with a look of concern. "Did something happen?" They'd just been walking along the road when the bounty hunter had suddenly stumbled.
"I think we just skipped a chapter. Or maybe we weren't in it? It is annoyingly hard to tell from here,"
"A . . chapter?" Tyler parroted. "What do you mean by that?"
"Beats me, ever since coming here my sense of Servant Universe time has been completely messed up," Z admitted with a groan.
"Um. How so?"
"Did I ever explain to you the seasons and episodes we have in the Servant Universe?" Z checked.
". . not in a way that made sense," Tyler admitted, wincing apologetically.
"Tell me! I'll probably understand!" Sanzang endorsed the idea with a wide smile.
"Everyone in my universe has a sort of natural sense for our system of timekeeping. Where I'm from, we measure time in episodes. And episodes are grouped up into seasons, and everyone just knows when an episode ends and a new one begins, and the same with seasons. But it's not a fixed amount of time in the way that this world measures time, it's more about the beginning and end of a thing that happens. And then season changes tend to have big events that change the world in some big way that everyone has to deal with. But occasionally we get periods between seasons, and we call those OVAs,"
"Yep. I knew it would be something to do with television," Tyler groused.
"But for some reason, in this universe, instead of seasons and episodes, it's telling me when things called 'chapters' begin and end?" Z grimaced, tilting her head in a lopsided shrug. "Which seems to be entirely arbitrary - they're usually only a couple of hours, but I've had a couple of times where one of them lasted for more than a month. Like, pretty much everything between you waking up from that Prison Tower coma and us getting sucked into this place was one chapter, but it's been another five since we got here last week. And it's extra weird because not much has happened. Unless we just missed it. The last time chapters came this fast was when the girls were in London, after all,"
She recognised the confusion on her Master's face. "Don't look at me, I don't know what that's supposed to mean either. My best guess is that there's something about this universe causing a weird interaction with my sense of time. It's not a big deal, it's sort of . . imagine, just randomly, a flash of light at the edge of your vision, only the light is words. That's the best comparison I can make. It's annoying but it's not concerning, you know?"
Tyler considered this, then glanced at Sanzang. The monk shrugged.
"Alright. I'll chalk that up to aliens and leave it there,"
"Smart. You can explain pretty much anything with the word 'alien'," Z agreed. "Oh look, I think we're at the town!"
"Oh good," Tyler nodded, casting a sidelong glance at Sanzang. "I need a break from the world's most charismatic monk,"
"Aw, thanks! You don't have to flatter me like that," Sanzang beamed as they entered down.
As if on cue, a man gasped as soon as he took in the sight of the approaching entourage. "It's the Buddha of Glorious Sandalwood! She's here at last!" Before their eyes, the town exploded into action, people emerging from buildings and streaming down the street to greet them.
"The Buddha of Sandlewood is here!"
"Welcome, great and wonderful Buddha!"
"She's come to save us!"
"Thank you for answering our cries for help!"
"Wait, what?" Sanzang stopped. "What was that about cries for help?"
The crowd's furore faded, and a thin and wizened man pushed out of the throng, eyebrows raised. "Great Buddha of Glorious Sandalwood . . surely you have come here to save us from the mogwai?"
Sanzang blinked.
Tyler glanced at her. This had just been the next village along the road. They hadn't heard anything about a mogwai.
"Yes! That is exactly why we are here!" Sanzang immediately declared, to audible expressions of relief from the audience. "Right then! Who here knows the most about this mogwai?"
The village elder smiled, looking like he didn't quite believe her but wasn't going to protest. "Come! There is a monster hunter who has been guarding our borders. I shall introduce you to him!"
X
Tyler only had to take one look at the so-called monster hunter to conclude; 'Yep, this guy's a Servant.'
He was tall and broad-shouldered, with a gaunt and triangular face that ended in a chin so sharp you could cut butter with it, framed by messy red hair tied back into an untidy red ribbon of a ponytail. A faded white tunic and black pants were enough cover for him, and an ornate black lance rested against the back of his seat, within easy grabbing distance at a moment's notice. His eyes were bright and alert, constantly watching his surroundings but mostly focused on the newcomers, and a slight but predatory smile tugged at his lips.
There was also the fact that the elder introduced him as, "This is Li Shuwen. Though he insists on being referred to as Lancer while he's on the job,"
"Sup. Caster, Assassin," He cast a confused look at Ammit, who regarded him with equal balefulness. ". . Whatever you are. And," Li Shuwen's eyebrows inched upwards as he caught sight of the red sphere framed by shockwave shapes on Tyler's hand. "Master? Well, that's interesting,"
The elder looked confused. "Um, is this some sort of courtesy among travellers?"
"Yep, basically. Hi!" Sanzang grinned as Li Shuwen rose from the bench. "So you know all about this mogwai, huh?"
"Nope, not in the slightest," He looked them up and down, eyebrows raised. "I got here three days ago. Some kind of demonic figure's been terrorising this village at night, slaughtering livestock, so I figured I might have some fun killing it for these guys. Been setting traps and keeping watch at night, but it's a smart bugger, giving me the runaround,"
"Why haven't you gone on the offensive?" Z questioned.
"Tried. Tracked it back to a cave about an hour from this village. Didn't think it was smart to confront it on its home turf," Li Shuwen rumbled.
"What about if all four of us go there?" Sanzang suggested.
Ammit growled and grumpily farted in her direction. "Oh, sorry, five,"
Tyler grimaced and shifted position so that he was upwind. "Um, yeah, I'd like to see the demon that could stand up to three Servants with a Master backing them,"
The village elder, who was still watching this interaction, frowned a bit, but immediately realised that the Buddha of Glorious Sandalwood was surely the master the boy spoke of, meaning he, the girl in the strange armour and their strange pet were probably the servants of the Buddha. At no point did anyone correct him.
"Hah, can't say fairer than that," Li Shuwen rose to his feet. "But I get first dibs, kay? I was here first, you lot only get involved if it looks like I'm about to bite it,"
"Sure!" Sanzang nodded.
"Oh great, you're a shounen protagonist type," Z mumbled. "I hope that makes you a reliable sort of guy,"
"Should we do anything here before heading out?" Tyler checked, looking around.
"Nothing that can't wait until after we bring back the beast's head! I'm sure our buddies here will prepare a celebratory feast in our honour?" Li Shuwen grinned at the elder.
"Oh, uh, yes, of course! I'll inform my wife, I'm sure she and the other women will be able to come up with something suitable,"
"That's really not necessary," Tyler tried to tell him.
He was promptly overridden by Sanzang's hearty endorsement. "I love a good meal after a fight!"
"In that case, let's get going," Z agreed.
"Alright! GO! WEST!" Sanzang cheered, already making for the western horizon.
"What? No, no, the mogwai's been coming from the south!" Shuwen corrected her, gesturing in a different direction. "Follow me!
X
It wasn't long until the motley collection of (time) travellers were making their way down an overgrown game trail that led in the general direction of the purported monster's lair. Li Shuwen took the lead, and his lance whipped around, sending leaves and branches flying out of their path. Tyler couldn't help but flash back to wilderness survival training he'd done on school camp; most notably a half-remembered anecdote about how one should do their best to prevent a trail from forming, for the sake of preserving the environment.
Given that it looked like someone could drive a truck down the route Li Shuwen was carving for them, he decided to hope that Chinese spearmen knew more about wilderness survival than modern camp councillors.
"So, Sanzang, how do you think we should handle this? What does Buddhist wisdom say? Do we open a dialogue? Quote the teachings of the Buddha? Show this mogwai monster the error of his ways?" Tyler wryly questioned, searching for a distraction.
"Nah, I'm just going to punch him," Sanzang assured him.
Tyler blinked, successfully distracted. "You're going to what?"
"Punch him!"
"But, you're a Caster,"
"I'm the punchy kind of Caster!" Sanzang beamed. "What do we know about this mogwai, anyway?"
"A mogwai's a kind of demonic spirit of a dead person, ain't it?" Li Shuwen shrugged. "Shouldn't be too hard, I just have to kill a ghost,"
Tyler considered this. Spirit of a dead person . . wait. "Hang on! Doesn't that just sound like a Servant to you all?"
All three of his companions stopped dead, and Ammit bumped into Sanzang's shins with an irritated growl. "Hey! Yeah! You're right!" the monk exclaimed.
Tyler's eyes brightened. "It could be one of our missing friends from Chaldea!"
At the same moment, Li Shuwen grinned. "That means I'm definitely going to get a great fight out of this!"
"No!" the Master corrected him. "No no no, we talk first and only attack if they prove to be hostile!"
"I'm with Master here. This might be one of our missing friends. We can't go in guns blazing and accidentally hurt an ally," Z added.
"Tch, fine. Guess that makes sense," Li Shuwen grumbled.
"Really? We're gonna talk? Not fight?" Sanzang looked almost disappointed.
"This is the way," the Sundalorian assured her with an expression of perfect solemnity.
". . What way?"
"The way Chaldea does things!"
Li Shuwen stalked ahead, still grumbling to himself as his lance whipped back and forth, clearing through the undergrowth. Tyler cast Z a confused look. "Y'now, it occurs to me that I should really ask. You call yourself 'a Sundalorian', right?"
"I'm not a Sundalorian. I'm the Sundalorian. It's a space title, we can't have more than one," Z shrugged. ". . Wait, actually, we can. They all think I'm dead back home. I've probably been replaced," She hummed. "Oh well, it's still my space title so I'm gonna keep using it,"
"Fair enough. I just need to ask, is that a reference to Star Wars? Mandalorians?" Tyler checked, frowning.
"Huh? Do you mean the Moondalorian?" Z frowned at him.
"The what?"
"My polar opposite and archenemy. A legendary figure who stalks the moonlit night. Someday, we shall have our fated clash to determine the true meaning of night and day!"
". . won't that only be possible if you manage to get back to your universe?"
"Sure, but I have to say that every time I bring it up. By the laws of narrative causality, the more I insist that I shall someday face my probably-fictional rival, the less likely it is that it'll ever actually happen," Z nodded to herself.
". . Go back to the part where the terms 'Sundalorian' and 'Moondalorian' came about entirely separately to the fictional Mandalorians of theStar Wars franchise,"
"Well, I dunno about your Mandy-whatevers, but my title comes from the phrase 'The Sun, the Lore, the One.' That is, the One who guards the secret Lore of the Sun," Z looked smug. "It was a very prestigious title on Planet Nile. Eventually the words got blended together into 'Sundalorian'. It was what made my family rich and famous before my dad got so heavily in debt and my mum divorced him,"
"Ah. That's actually fascinating!" An eager smile tugged at Tyler's lips. "So then the Moondalorian is -"
"The One guarding the Lore of the Moon. Yep," she nodded. "The tradition of the Moondalorian has been lost for a long time, though. The history books say they were all wiped out after the fall of the Moon Empire. But there are space ghost stories telling of space warriors whose armour glows like the moon, who wield the lost space techniques of Moon-Jitsu, and still pass the space mantle of the Moondalorian on through the generations," Z hummed. "I always figured I'd eventually find out that the Moondalorian does still exist and I'd have to fight them to save Planet Nile, but then my family went bankrupt and I had to leave home, and then I ended up here. So I've completely lost track of where this plot thread is supposed to be going," she admitted.
"So what's the secret lore of the Sun?" Li Shuwen asked over his shoulder.
"I can't tell you! Duh! It's a secret!" the bounty hunter protested.
Sanzang hummed as she processes the information. ". . Did it occur to you that maybe this is all foreshadowing a clash between the Moondalorian and whoever your replacement as Sundalorian turns out to be? And part of their plot involves you coming back from the dead to challenge them for the title, and you spend some time as rivals before reconciling as good friends?"
"Oh!" Z beamed. "You might be on to something! I'll remember that, that way I'll be prepared!"
The monk offered her a cheerful smile, clearly happy to have contributed. "I think I like the way your universe sounds like it works. Very sensible,"
Tyler was still trying to wrap his head around 'Moon-Jitsu', and wasn't even ready to touch the way Z was attempting to predict her future through narrative tropes, let alone how easily Sanzang had fallen into helping her puzzle it out. ". . Historians in your universe must lead really interesting lives," he finally decided.
"Oh they totally do. Let me tell you about this guy I used to know, TOKIOMI,"
"Tokiomi?" Tyler questioned.
"No, TOKIOMI. The block capital letters are an important part of his name," Tyler couldn't for the life of him tell the difference between what he'd said and what she was saying, but decided to go along with it regardless. "So he was trying to find this ancient space shrine from like five billion years ago,"
"I really hope that's an exaggeration because there's no possible way anything could not turn to dustafter five billion years,"
"Stop interrupting! I want to hear this story!" Sanzang chided him, looking back at Z.
"Thank you! So he was just looking for clues about the Goddess Civilisation, but as soon as he found the place, it turned out that the Goddess was still alive and trying to wake back up!"
"After five billion years?!" Tyler spluttered, gesturing at the ground beneath them. "Am I the only one who realises that's more time than this planet has existed?"
"Stop interrupting!"
"Right, sorry, continue,"
Z nodded. "And it turned out that the Goddess was super pissed at the fact that no one worshipped her anymore. So she wanted to destroy the universe. And obviously TOKIOMI wasn't going to allow that, so he started putting together a crack team of the best of the best to kill the Goddess Astaroth. That's where I come in! Along with . ."
X (A/N - Why yes, I did make all this up on the basis of a bad pun that I originally came up with just to make Zeetocris sound more impressive. And yes, I am mocking Saber Wars II a bit. I am a historian.)
"And then Ishtar Ashtart hit Astaroth with, like, all of the lasers and she died and the Master from another world got to go back home and everyone lived happily ever after!" Z finished.
". . how do you know the second half of that story if you died halfway through it?" Tyler spluttered.
"Mysterious Heroine XX told me all about it! She was there apparently. Well, mostly. She redacted the Master's name, something about space confidentiality," Z explained. "But other than that I have all her space logs from it. I should put them up on the big screen when we get home, we could have space movie night,"
". . well, now I know that I could have a long and exciting career as a historian in your universe if I ever manage to wrap my head around what passes for logic there," Tyler murmured.
"Great story, but I think we're here," Li Shuwen interrupted, gesturing at a cliff face that loomed over them. It seemed like a mountain had been split in half and the other half ferried away somewhere, leaving an almost sheer cliff face with a large cave inside it.
"Let me go first. If this is one of our friends, they might not react well to a couple of punch-happy strangers," Tyler cautioned his allies, walking into the cave.
"And if it's not?" Li Shuwen checked.
"Then I'm confident in my ability to take a hit and run away," Tyler told him as the Armour of Fafnir rippled across his skin. He stepped into the shadows, scrutinising the darkness. "Hello? It's Tyler! Is anyone there?"
A figure appeared in the shadows, stumbling towards him. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Tyler squinted, and made out a familiar mop of platinum hair. "Joan! You're okay! I'm glad you're here, I've missed you,"
Joan didn't say anything, continuing to stumble towards him, head lowered. Tyler tilted his head, his smile slipping. "Joan?"
She looked up.
Tyler had half a second to notice that her yellow eyes were obscured by a white glow.
Then the Avenger released a bestial snarl and lunged at him, her spear aimed straight at his heart.
X
Back in America, the Servants of Chaldea were reacting to Scathach's declaration of war against Japan.
"I'm glad you're on board," Nightingale declared, cracking her knuckles.
"We had to attack Japan eventually. They're probably an easier target than Macedonia or the Celts. I'll support it," Atalante determined.
"We should probably see if any of them want to join us. But if they say no then they have to die," Era concurred.
"Now, hold on. I want a piece of Kagetora just as much as the rest of ya, but I'm not so sure we actually should be fighting her," Tarquinius interjected. "She said something real interesting while she was brawling with Nightingale," he told the group, gingerly nursing his still-healing arms as he made finger-quotes. "We can't judge her while we're fighting for Edison,"
Their Master frowned in confusion. "We're not fighting for Edison, though?"
"Does she know that?" Tarquinius questioned.
A moment of silence fell over the group as they realised that Kagetora - and by extension, the entire Japanese faction - was under the impression that they were working towards Edison's 'destroy the world for a new America' plan.
"That means we just have to tell her that she's got the wrong idea and we should be able to team up, right?" Era asked.
"That might have worked, if we'd tried that before she saw Tarquinius and Edison fighting side by side," Scathach shook her head. "Now she's hostile to us, and will be coming at us on the offensive. There's no way to avoid fighting her,"
"Why are you so sure she'll come back for another round?" Sita questioned.
"Because we just won a major victory by eliminating the Chinese faction. The observed behaviour of the Japanese is to prevent any of the major groups that are struggling for dominance over America from coming out on top, by attacking anyone who seems likely to win. With the Chinese all captured or dead, we now represent a merger of three out of the six factions. If the Japanese want to continue to propagate the stalemate, they have no choice but to launch an offensive against us," Scathach explained.
"And you're sure there's mo way we can talk her down, Shishou?" Era asked again.
"At best, we can hope to convince her that we oughtn't be enemies while trading blows with her. It's much more likely that we'll only be able to assure her of our good intentions by defeating her and then showing her mercy,"
"Then there's no way around it, we need to defeat Nagao Kagetora," Atalante agreed. "That means we need to determine her weaknesses,"
"Well, that's easy," Carmilla shrugged. "We know her True Name. We can consult her legend and see how she died,"
"Okay! Did you hear that, Dr. Roman?" Era turned on her communicator, and the holographic doctor was already nodding. "Magi-Mari already has an answer for us,"
"Romani! What did I say about consulting hololive girls?" Olga-Marie snapped from the background.
"I know, I know, Director, but I think this is really useful information! Look! Magi-Mari knows how Kagetora died!"
"She does? How? Can we use it?" Era eagerly asked.
"According to Magi-Mari, she was assassinated while on the toilet. Therefore our weapon of choice to deploy against Kagetora should be a toilet!" Dr. Roman crowed.
There was a beat of silence.
"Romani," Olga-Marie hissed, spluttering and finding herself entirely at a loss for words. ". . ROMANI!"
"Actually, Director, he and his hololive girls are correct. According to our records, Kagetora did indeed die while on the toilet," Da Vinci weighed in.
". . You're joking,"
"I'm sorry to disappoint, Director,"
"Magi-Mona thinks we should get Edison to build toilet robot soldiers that you can deploy against her," Dr. Roman informed Era and her Servants.
Atalante frowned and wondered how a V-Tuber AI knew about Edison, but based on the way that her Master was already nodding cheerily and getting up to go and find the King of Presidents, she had more immediate concerns. Dr. Roman had probably given his internet idols an exhaustive report on their situation. "Um, Master. Don't you think we should maybe explore more . . practical avenues of attack than . . toilet robots?"
"Nikki says we should always have as many plans as possible. So how about you go figure out something practical and I'll help Mr. Lion make toilet robots," Era instructed, already making for Edison's temporary workshop.
Atalante blinked after her. ". . Alright then," She glanced at Scathach. "You don't have anything to say about . . that?"
"If it's a stupid plan and it works, then it's not stupid," she shrugged. "Either way, this will be a learning experience for her. Taking refuge in audacity is hardly a bad strategy. But be that as it may, we should come up with different ones. Kagetora is a Lancer, which means endurance will be a strong point of hers. She's also demonstrated herself to be extremely skilled with the martial arts,"
"She's darn mobile, too," Tarquinius agreed. "Ranged attacks will be a bad call, she'll be able to chase our Archers down quick as you please,"
"Her defence is her weak point. She musters powerful offences with ease, but if you can land a blow, she will feel it," Nightingale added her own assessment. "I would prescribe overwhelming her with numbers. If there are more people attacking her than she can defend against, it will eventually overwhelm her,"
"That's a sound strategy, and one that plays to our strength; outnumbering her," Scathach agreed. "But I suspect she'll realise that and see it coming, and prepare a countermeasure of her own. If our numbers are our advantage, she's likely to bring more backup,"
"So remind me what else we know about the Japanese faction's forces?" Tarquinius requested.
"Not as much as I'd like. I still have an unsubstantiated rumour that they have a dragon assisting them. As well as the Banana Berserker, but I'd be surprised if she came here," Scathach frowned. "They may well have other Servants who've been holed up in their fortress city. I'll send messages to the renegades who aren't already here with us, they might have new information, but I doubt we'll hear anything until tonight at the earliest," she explained, already drawing runes that coalesced into a messenger bird familiar.
"Then we should prepare for Kagetora and a dragon,"
X
"Hey, Mr. Lion!" Era interrupted.
Edison glanced at her. "What is it, girl? I have a lot of repairs and salvage work to do if I'm going to rebuild this army," Indeed, the Mechanised Infantry had not come out of the battle well. A solid half of them were damaged to the point of being non-functional, and almost all had suffered some destruction. Edison had already commanded them to cannibalise their fallen brethren for replacement parts, and was working on making whatever repairs he could to those of the soldiers that were simple enough to repair.
"About that! We need you to make toilet robots," Era said with a perfectly straight face.
". . I'm sorry, I must have misheard. I thought you just said you wanted me to turn the unparalleled genius that invented direct current to building robotic toilets,"
It took a couple of minutes for Era to explain their justification for the inane request.
". . I see," Edison rumbled. "I have to admit, building a weapon specifically to defeat that awful samurai has its appeals. Very well, I'll convert a platoon. But these are going to be Edison-brand creations, with everything that implies, and I fully expect you and everybody to treat them with all the respect you would show me, no matter the absurdity of their nature! Understand?"
"Yes, Mr. Lion! I'll respect them just as much as I respect you!" Era nodded with a grin.
Edison narrowed his eyes at her. "Why do I feel like your sincerity is lacking . ."
X
Once the plans for engaging the Japanese were set, Scathach dragged Era back to the group as they gathered around their prisoners. "We seem to have some time before the Japanese launch their counterattack. I think we need to discuss what to do with the two of you,"
Nezha cracked an eye open. "Do as. You wish. We are. Defeated. Completely. And utterly," She was still in a bad state, but her internal mechanisms were in the process of repairing themselves, her flesh slowly merging back together and purging the damaged sections.
"Have you no pride, you insufferable bag of bolts?" Wu Zetian snapped. "We may be in a bad situation, but I am still the Emperor of China and sovereign ruler of the New China territory. That you're standing on right now,"
"Yes, that is a concern. So let's begin by resolving the political side of the historical divergences around here," Da Vinci insisted via holographic projection. "Wu Zetian. You are going to divest yourself of any and all authority in this region post-haste, and return governance of Kentucky to the living humans of this era,"
"What? Why should I? I'm an emperor, it's my right and duty to rule over people! You think these barbarians would get anywhere without me? They were still practicing slavery when I got here! Back in China, we got rid of that centuries ago!" Wu Zetian protested.
"The dead must not lead the living," Scathach reminded her. "This isn't up for debate. It's not our responsibility to try to make the world a better place. We simply have to return things to the way that they are supposed to be,"
"One way or another you're gonna lose that role. The only question is whether or not you lose your head at the same time," Era darkly promised her.
Wu tilted her head. ". . You wouldn't happen to be looking for a career change, would you? You have just the right instinct I like to see in my professional torturers,"
"Why do people keep looking at me and thinking I like to torture people?" Era whined.
"Alright, well, I take your point. If you release me, I can certainly handle that. Just give me a few hours," Wu Zetian assured them with a scowl.
"Very well," Scathach effortlessly cut through the rope binding her. "Atalante, go with her,"
"What? Why?"
"I don't trust her not to run away or something equally foolish," Scathach summarised.
Atalante glanced at their prisoner. "Fair point. I'll guard her as she settles her affairs,"
Wu Zetian sulked but didn't object as Atalante snatched her wrist and started making towards the south.
"Now, as for you," Scathach regarded Nezha.
"Yes?"
"To resolve this Singularity, we can't allow anyone to oppose us," Da Vinci reminded the group. "Eventually we're going to have to recruit or kill every Servant in this Singularity. And I'm not sure whether taking enemies prisoner will be good enough in this case,"
"And you've proven that if nothing else, you're very hard to kill," Scathach added. "So we've decided to give you a chance,"
"Do you wanna join Chaldea?" Era finished with a smile.
Nezha blinked. She considered. It didn't take her long to conclude that having only one choice meant she had no choice at all. "If you. Would accept. Me then. I will. Happily. Sign on," she nodded. "But I. Doubt that. I will. Be ready. To fight. In the. Near future,"
"That's okay, you're some kind of weird robot, right? We've got a guy who's really good at fixing robots," Era brightly assured her.
Nezha nervously glanced in the direction of Edison's makeshift laboratory. ". . I think. I would. Prefer. To simply. Repair. Myself," she elected with a grimace.
"You can make yourself comfortable in Tarquinius' bus, then," Scathach decided. "With that settled. It's time to prepare to face Kagetora,"
X
On a plain recently vacated by the armies, the available Servants waited. Scathach took point, flanked by Carmilla and Sita, with Nightingale hovering nearby. Tarquinius and Edison hung back, protecting Era. Karna floated overhead, spear in hand.
As the sun overhead began to set, a figure clad in a white cloak and mounted on a horse crested the hill and approached. "She's here! Get ready!" Sita commanded, and the Servants formed up.
Nagao Kagetora drew to a halt before them and leapt off her horse, landing in a skid, spear in hand. Her hood fell away, and she grinned at them with orange eyes that reflected the sunlight. "Haha! I see you've been waiting for me! Good! I am Nagao Kagetora, the Dragon of Echigo!"
"Oh! Phew!" Era sighed with relief. "You're the dragon!"
"I'm the what?" Kagetora tilted her head in confusion, eyeing the Master in the back.
"We heard that there was a Japanese dragon running around. We were worried we'd have to fight a real dragon!" Era explained. "I'm happy it's just you,"
"Oh," Kagetora considered this, then shook her head. "Sorry! Nope!"
". . what do you mean, 'nope'?"
"See, I'm a Japanese dragon, technically, not really it's just a title. But I haven't really been going around calling myself 'The Dragon of Echigo' up until I had that fight with your nurse friend. It's kinda silly but I don't want to make her mad by introducing myself as Echigo's God of War, y'now?"
"Fair enough,' Era nodded.
"It's not better," Nightingale put in for her part.
"The second reason is that I know the dragon you're actually talking about. She's over there!" Kagetora smiled and pointed to the hill she'd come from.
Those of Chaldea who didn't suspect this to be some kind of 'made you look' trick glanced at the hill just in time to see a dragon emerge from behind it.
The dragon hit the ground with enough force to make it shake beneath them. It was smaller and more streamlined than Fafnir had been, a long, sinuous body that had similar black scales, a Japanese-styled dragon in contrast to Fafnir's European designs. Instead of wings, it had a mane of ribbons that whipped around in the air seemingly on their own. Glowing blue claws flashed at them as it raised it's head and shrieked in fury.
Carmilla's eyes widened.
Sita carefully put herself between it and their Master.
"Oh, come on!" Era whined. "Why do we keep running into dragons?"
Golden light washed over Chaldea as Karna took off, raising his spear and staring the beast down. It matched him, lifting off and locking eyes.
Karna shifted position, preparing to attack - but the dragon was quicker. Spinning its entire body in mid-air, the serpentine dragon tail-slapped Karna into the middle distance. It moved with such surprising speed that Karna barely had time to widen his eyes and brace before vanishing in the direction of the horizon.
His allies watched him go.
Kagetora whooped with an amused cackle and yelled, "Four!"
Scathach, recognising the start of combat, moved in and struck at Kagetora. She blocked without looking, then glanced at her, teeth bared in a savage smile. "Been looking forward to you coming out of your hidey hole!"
"I'm not done with you!" Nightingale intervened, launching a punch that squashed Kagetora's cheek and knocked her back a step.
Scathach grunted and slid aside, letting the Angel of Crimea take over engaging the Dragon of Echigo. "Era, stay back! Sita, cover her! Edison, Carmilla, engage the dragon! Tarquinius, get to the bus! We need cover fire!" she strategised on the fly, already moving to assault the dragon.
The monster roared and a wave of purple toxin emerged from its mouth. Scathach grimaced and fell back, abandoning her assault. Carmilla, who'd been hot on her heels, conjured an Iron Maiden as an impromptu shield and they both ducked behind it. Edison promptly turned tail and made for the bus, hollering, "I'll get my robots! Wait for me!"
"No, Edis -" The Lancer groaned as the dragon lunged forwards, propelled by its massive tail, bringing its claws down towards her. It slashed straight through Carmilla's defence, but caught as Scathach brought her spear up to block the strike. Carmilla slipped underneath and made for the dragon's exposed underbelly, her claws leaving thin lines of blood in the dragon's soft hide.
Scathach frowned, surprised that such a basic attack hadn't been rebuffed by the dragon's defences. Something wasn't right about this.
Meanwhile, Nightingale and Kagetora had resumed trading blows, but things had changed. In contrast to their previous engagement, Kagetora barely seemed to feel Nightingale's strikes. "Ahahahahaha! Keep trying!" she cackled, katanas dancing in a mesmerising pattern of silver blades and leaving fresh wounds across Nightingale's body.
"Why isn't - my treatment - taking effect?" the nurse grunted as she was forced backwards.
"Ahaha! My armour is strengthened by the convictions in my heart! And also some extra scrap metal that I attached to my clothes!" Kagetora gleefully explained, her spear appearing in her hands once again and delivering a powerful slash that sent her stumbling. "Did you think I wasn't paying attention to the weak spots you used to hit me? I covered my bases!"
"Fine then. There's still an avenue for me to deliver my medicine," With that, Nightingale wound up and punched Kagetora in the chin, sending her stumbling backwards. "That jaw of yours is clearly too loose. I prescribe wiring it shut,"
"Ahaha!" Kagetora was undeterred, but her counterattack was forestalled by a wave of golden arrows bouncing off her with enough concussive force to buy Nightingale a chance to retreat. "Oi!"
"Hope you don't mind," Sita called, already reloading.
Her statement had been addressed at Nightingale, but it was their opponent who responded. "Ahahaha, not at all! This just makes things more interesting!"
The dragon continued to advance, despite Scathach and Carmilla's skirmishing. Its target was obvious; she was trying to get close enough to catch their Master with her breath attack. Scathach was relieved to see that Sita was shepherding Era further away, but that was a stopgap measure at best.
Knowing she had to find a way to cripple or at least delay the dragon, she grew more reckless in her assaults. A whispered command had Carmilla summon more Iron Maidens that she used as stepping stones, leaping into the air in an attempt to strike at the dragon's eyes or mouth.
Unfortunately, it realised what she was doing, and reared back, instead bringing its claw up to slap her out of the air and off to the side.
Twisting and grimacing, Scathach hit the ground and skidded, keeping her spear raised as both feet and her free hand left furrows in the ground until she reached a halt. Unfortunately, this had separated her from Carmilla, giving the dragon the opportunity to twist its massive, serpentine body and inhale, ready to blow another cloud of noxious smog at her.
Then it got rammed by a bus.
The monstrosity staggered and choked on its own breath, snarling as Tarquinius bellowed, "Hooo-ah! Pick on someone your own size, ugly!" He reversed as the dragon righted itself, focusing on this new threat. It snarled and leapt forwards as Tarquinius reversed, staying level with it. He waved his arm with a grandiose grin and flipped a switch. "Superbus High Beams!" The lights on the front of the bus lit up and dazzled the dragon, disorienting it even as it continued to charge.
It built another wave of acidic smog in its throat, only for Carmilla to dig her claws into its tail, letting it drag her along with it, and activate her Vampirism, draining vitality through the small gaps she'd managed to pry open in its scales.
As the dragon struggled, Kagetora cast it a concerned glance and resolved to finish Nightingale off quickly. She'd already pegged Sita as an Archer who specialised in charging up powerful shots, and dodging her strikes in addition to ducking it out with the Berserker wasn't that difficult. The issue was that she was once again healing her wounds as quickly as Kagetora could inflict them. But she was visibly flagging, and if her ally could keep the rest of their enemies occupied, she was confident that she'd be able to wear Nightingale down soon enough.
Her attention, however, was arrested by a platoon of boxy blue robots with red arms and white hats marching over the crest of the hill with Thomas Edison leading them. "Nagao Kagetora!" he barked, passing Sita and Era, who looked at the forces with childish glee. "Prepare to be destroyed, for the glory of America!"
Kagetora blinked in disbelief as she took in the evident doors built into the fronts of the machines and the familiar symbols on them. "Are those Porta-Potties with legs?"
"And arms! I also gave them arms!" Edison added, then smiled vindictively as Kagetora's moment of distraction cost her another blow to the head on Nightingale's account.
"Ahahahaha! You found out how I died, didn't you?" Kagetora cackled, making it break away but finding Nightingale wouldn't let her go as the mechanised toilets started to surround them. "Alright! What's this supposed to do, anyway?"
"Open fire!" Edison barked, and as one twenty toilet doors opened, revealing large tanks that erupted with water. Nightingale smiled and dropped to the ground just as Kagetora was doused from all directions.
She regarded herself, face wrinkling up. ". . This had better not be what I think it is," she hissed.
"It's river water. We Americans are civilised people," Edison assured her. "But I noticed that that cloak of yours looks very water-absorbent,"
Kagetora glanced at him as he entered the circle. "What?"
"You already weighed yourself down with that extra armour. Thank you for that. Self-medication is very gratifying,"
"You played right into our hands!" the King of Presidents barked, and then his fists lit up with magic and he attacked, Nightingale joining him. Kagetora tried to deflect, but another pressurised wave of water struck her and soaked into her clothes. The added weight attached to her arm made her reaction time a little too slow, and Edison was already dancing away. "Time for some good old American fisticuffs!"
Nightingale went on the offensive again, and Kagetora tried to retreat, but more hoses struck her from behind with enough concussive force to force her forwards, where her stance wavered and she suffered another fist to the face. There was a crunch as her nose was squashed against her cheek, losing its shape.
Edison and Nightingale wore matching smiles as they went to town on her.
X
Scathach perched on the roof of the Super Bus as it did doughnuts around the dragon, who was snapping at it but unable to turn quickly enough to land a blow.
The momentary impasse was brought to an end when the dragon stopped turning and used its tail to block the Super Bus' path. Tarquinius slammed on the brakes, and Scathach adapted, using the momentum to throw herself onto the dragon's back.
Feeling her spear tip digging into its scales, the dragon bucked, but Scathach held on tight and continued to climb up towards its head, using the forest of mane-like tendrils attached to its back as handholds. The dragon continued to flex and convulse, unable to bend its head or arms back enough to reach her and resorting to trying to throw her off by bouncing and twisting in place.
One of the convulsions brought a very pleasing sight into Scathach's field of vision, and she smiled as her impromptu mount leapt again. "Sita! Now!" she yelled and let go.
The dragon crowed in triumph.
Then Sita shrieked, "Peerless Bow of Reminiscence: Haradhanu Janaka!" and released the string of her massive bow. An arrow the size of a train shot through the air and exploded against the dragon's flank, sending it crashing to the ground in a heap.
Scathach leapt clear, landing and already making for the dragon, doubting that had ended the fight. She was right, as it twisted upright again and reared up, howling its fury to the heavens and building a nebula of purple energy inside its throat.
A moment before the dragon could release its breath weapon, a golden comet struck the side of its head, sending it staggering. It twisted, and its eye fixed on the offender.
Karna glowered at the dragon, floating next to its head. "That hurt," he hissed, fury seeping into his words. His spear flashed with the radiance of the sun as he brought it up and slammed the sharp side of its tip on the top of the dragon's head. It staggered sideways, one of the folds of its body crashing into the ground as it twisted its head to face him and expelled a cloud of toxic purple fire.
Wherever the toxins came into contact with Karna, purifying solar energy eradicated it. A wave of energy washed out from his body at he counterattacked, flipping in mid-air and bringing his spear tip down on the dragon's head with enough force that it slammed into the ground and bounced straight off.
With a furious roar it regained its senses and leapt back up, jaws opening wide as it lunged at Karna. The Indian warrior brought his spear up, preparing to defend as best he could against getting eaten -
"That's enough, Oryou!" A sudden voice rang out across the battlefield and the dragon froze.
Chaldea's forces paused, recognising that the situation was changing, as the dragon cast a glance towards the source of the voice. Karna followed its gaze and quirked an eyebrow.
A tall, strapping, Japanese man dressed in a white suit strode towards them. A matching fedora adorned his head, and he casually swung a cane in his hands. "I think we've caused enough trouble for these folks, don't you?"
"No," the dragon hissed, ignoring the outpouring of surprised exclamations from the Chaldeans, who hadn't been aware that the dragon could speak. "They're still alive. Aren't they?"
The newcomer laughed as he settled into position next to the dragon. "Be that as it may, I reckon there's a chance we can all just talk this out," he shrugged, scanning the group. His eyebrows shot up as his gaze came to rest squarely on the top of the arrow that Sits was pointing at his throat from a few feet away. "Yikes. Mind putting the pointy parts down?"
Sita didn't change her position. "Who are you and what do you want?" she hissed.
"Hey, hey, easy. We're on the same side here," he assured her, raising his hands defensively, then pulling his hat off and sweeping into a formal bow. "My family name is Sakamoto, and my given name is Ryouma. My class name is Rider,"
He straightened and replaced his hat, a serious look in his eyes as his smile faded. "And my title is Counter Guardian,"
A/N
A/N
Full disclosure; I have been laughing my ass off at the readers who assumed the Japanese faction Servants were the bad guys because they're propagating the war.
Now, Ryouma Sakamoto! It's a funny thing; literally the only Counter Guardians we've seen in canon are the EMIYA variants, and Ryouma Sakamoto. I've made it clear in the past that I have no intention of using any version of EMIYA in this story. He's an overused and overhyped character, it's the same reason that I sidelined Mash only EMIYA isn't even important to the plot.
Which kind of left only one choice when I decided, 'America's gone so bad that the Counter Force has actively sent in one of its agents.' So no need to wait for the Imperial Capital Holy Grail War, everyone's favourite married man is here and he brought his dragon wife to play too!
. . But the stuff he's been up to is pretty shady, isn't it. Will we find out his reasons next chapter?
Or maybe we'll go see more of how Tyler's getting on in China instead.
Anyway, sorry that this update took a while. Life got busy, and I don't think it'll get less busy any time soon, unfortunately. Rest assured I'm still writing, though!
OMAKE: Sun-Jitsu
"So, if the Moondalorian practices the secret arts of Moon-Jitsu," Tyler finally managed to say with a straight face, "and you're the Sundalorian, does that mean you know Sun-Jitsu?"
"What?" Z blinked at him. "No, that would be silly. What would 'Sun-Jitsu' be, anyway? You can't just smoosh words together and expect them to mean something!"
Tyler cast her a very flat look. The irony was evidently entirely lost on her. "Uh-huh,"
"No, I know Sun-g Fu," Z corrected him with a perfectly straight face.
". . Of course you do,"