"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Mental link"
"Noble Phantasms"
POV
Chapter 22: Taking a break
"You got this Mash!" Ritsuka shouted out an encouragement to the pink haired girl. Cu, Arash and Ash stood off at the side and watched her spar with Verndari, the girl was visibly sweating as the knight continued the practised assault against her.
"I'm betting…" Cu looked thoughtful as he spoke "I'm betting he knocks her on her ass after two minutes."
"Such little faith?" Arash raised en eyebrow "For shame…" he tutted and shook his head, Cu sent him a questioning gaze before turning back to the spar.
"Okay wise guy...how long do you think she'll last?"
"...A minute." Arash shrugged "Maybe less...She's not bad for a first time sword fighter."
"I'm thinking he calls it before she gets knocked down." Ash spoke up with sigh, he shook his head at the display "She's only been wielding the practice sword for an hour and she's already straining herself."
"Well…" Cu spoke up "The big guy has been whacking her for the past hour...then there was the two hours of drills before that where she swung at the dummy."
"In Lothric, you were always expected to be ready to fight at a moments notice." Ash replied "Being tired would only mean your death."
"Oh yeah? How often did you die?"
"...I lost count after the first hundred times." Arash blinked and looked between the two in confusion, seeing this Cu decided to fill him in.
"He's a zombie. Couldn't properly die in his old world." He then looked back at Ash "Don't you guys just go insane or something?"
"Hollowing." Ash clarified, then looked back at the pair sparring "It looks like they're about to finish."
"Hm?" Cu blinked and looked back "Ah, right. How long was that?"
"About a minute." Arash replied with a small smile "Guess I won. What do I win?"
Ash and Cu looked at eachother and then back at the Archer, the pair shrugged their shoulders which caused the man to let out a small chuckle "Should have figured."
"You are certainly not the worst squire I've ever seen." Verndari spoke down at Mash as the girl panted "Not bad...You'll be able to hold your own against a hollow but against one with real skill with the blade less so." he turned to Ritsuka "I would advise we continue our training regime my Liege."
"I don't know…" Ritsuka muttered "What do you think Mash? You are the one doing it."
"Well…" Mash bit her lip before giving Ritsuka a shaky smile "I want to be able to protect Senpai to the best of my ability."
"Well put." Verndari "You see my Liege? A determined squire. She will make a stout protector yet."
"I just wonder when she'll get her sword." Ritsuka mumbled under his breath, not quiet enough for Verndari to be unable to hear him as the knight scoffed.
"She must first learn to wield a blade before she is armed with one." He sighed "Forgive me, my Liege, but these are steps that must not be rushed. It would be best for all involved that she learn how to at the very least hold her own against me for a few minutes."
"Right, right." Ritsuka nodded "Also I said you could call me Fujimaru."
"And I shall continue to refer to you as my Liege." Verndari replied in a stern tone "To do so otherwise would be disrespectful."
Ritsuka released a sigh while Mash sent him a reassuring smile.
"Huh...Guess you were both right." Cu blinked as he looked between Ash and Arash "Guess you both win nothing."
"Suppose so." Ash shrugged "Any idea where everyone else is? I am aware that Sasaki is with Andre overseeing the forging of his new sword. However the location of the others eludes me."
"I think that the Olga lady took Beatrice." Cu shrugged "Think the woman wants an understanding of your sorcery and since the little lady is all we've got so far…"
"I see." Ash nodded his head "The others?"
"The little knight has been riding that damned dog ever second she can." Cu scoffed and shook his head "You'd think she were a Rider...I think she's been thinking about getting a saddle."
"I doubt Sif would allow such a thing…" Ash shook his head, then blinked "I...Think…"
Arash shrugged "Don't know myself...maybe he would."
"Well. She is a jouster I believe." Cu spoke up "Big dog. Big Sword. Could be a hell of a combo with the pair of them. Plus the wolf seems to like her."
"I believe he enjoys the attention he receives from her, rather than her being." Ash spoke up which caused the other two to turn to him with equally thoughtful expressions.
"I can't really speak dog." Cu spoke with a frown, then pointed at Arash "Get that smirk off your face you ass." the Archer chuckled and looked away "I swear...some of you people…"
"I don't follow." Ash spoke up, Cu huffed and looked away with a frown while Arash turned shook his head and gave the Saber a small smile.
"I'll tell you about it later."
"Hmph." Ash grunted and shook his head "I will take my leave, the physician promised to inform me where I could locate history books."
"Come on boy!" Astolfo let out a cackle as he raced down the halls of Chaldea while holding a large lump of raw meat "Come on!"
"Go on Sif!" Gareth called out as she rode atop the panting wolf as it chased after the pink haired rider "Get the meat!"
"Woof!" Sif kicked up in a burst of speed and closed the distance between himself and Astolfo in a split second, Astolfo let out a squeal of surprise before the wolf pounced him and sent him to the ground. Sif let out another bark before he lapped up the meat that Astolfo was holding, the blonde Lancer let out a giggle as she rubbed the back of the wolf's head.
"Good boy!" Gareth laughed as she continued to pat the animal "Good boy!"
"Woof!"
"Best. Saber. Ever." Astolfo laughed as he got back to his feet and let out a small laugh as the wolf knocked him back to the ground and began sniffing him over for more meat. When it couldn't find any, it let out a pitiful whine and gave what Astolfo could only describe as 'puppy wolf eyes'.
"O-oh…" Astolfo wriggled "Well we need to ration the meat boy." more whining followed, which caused both Astolfo and Gareth to cringe.
"Astolfo, Gareth?" The pair turned and looked down the corridor to see the confused looking Siegward walking towards them "What are you doing with Sif?"
"Well…" Astolfo rubbed his arm and nervously bounced on his heels "Sif wanted a walk…"
"And the blood stains on the floor?"
"We decided to feed him!" Gareth called out with a wide smile, which caused the Saber servant to scrunch his face up in confusion.
"Did you...feed him the staff?"
"Huh?" Astolfo blinked then made an 'o' expression and shook his head "No, no! We got some meat from the freezers for him."
"So...you fed him on the workers rations?"
"Yep!"
"The workers...with limited rations...and currently no way to replace them…"
"Absolutely!"
"…"
"What? Why are you making that face...oh...No...I see the problem…" Astolfo and Gareth cringed while Sif's eyes darted guiltily to the side and his ears dropped.
"While I am pleased you are doing your best to welcome our new...friend." Siegward chuckled and gestured to Sif "Please try and keep things in perspective...It would not do for us to deprive our human friends of their only means of food." the then blinked and decided to add something as an after thought "I would also not wish to anger Lady Olga more than necessary."
"Sorry…" The trio gave apologies and hung their heads, Siegward chuckled and turned around.
"You may still play, if you wish to work with Sif as a mount-" The wolf perked up and titled its head to the side in a puzzled manner while Gareth burst into a wide grin "-then it would be best you work together better."
"Right!" Gareth grinned "Come on boy! We're going exploring!"
"Woof!" Sif released a bark before sprinting down the hallway, Siegward's eyes went wide and he jumped to the side to avoid being flattened by the running animal.
"By the Lords…" He breathed out as he got back to his feet, the grinning Astolfo skipped up next to him "And he was the great wolf of Artorias?" he let out a jovial laugh "Acts like a common pup."
"Well. He's just a big softie!" Astolfo grinned then put on a thoughtful expression "I wonder how well he would get on with Hippo-kun…"
Siegward turned around and placed a hand on Astolfo's shoulder "Perhaps...for the moment we should restrict ourselves to one beast on the base."
"Meh…" Astolfo pouted "Fine…"
"Well...I can't...really tell you all that much about Sorcery…" Beatrice let out a nervous chuckle as she rubbed her arms "I...wasn't really a member of the school on Vinheim."
"Fine." Olga sighed and shook her head "What do you know then?"
"Well...Sorcery was invented by Seath…" Beatrice replied then raised a single finger "He was a dragon by the way."
"Right." Olga nodded her head while frowning "And the staff?"
"Ah...r-right. It's a Catalyst." Beatrice replied "Sorcery...it...it require a means of...focusing the magic...so we have a Catalyst…"
"Are their restrictions to who can learn Sorcery?"
"It is...mainly...intelligence." Beatrice shrugged, then wilted under Olga's incredulous look "I-if you're smart enough to...focus your will power...th-then you can learn Sorcery…"
"You aren't going to be a very good source of information, are you?" Olga sighed and brought her head into her hands, Beatrice winced and hung her head.
"N-no...sorry…"
"Right…" Andre crossed his arms "Ya want yer sword to be about...three feet, right?"
"Yes." Sasaki nodded his head "Or ninety centimetres if you wish to be specific."
"And ya want 'em...thin blades right?" When Sasaki nodded Andre grunted "I can do that...ya want a scabbard?"
"If I could impose."
"Eh…" Andre waved him off "I can make swords like that in my sleep. Although...Never tried workin with this steel...Not as strong at titanite…" he shrugged "I'll 'ave it for ya by the end of the day...Gotta make the lil girls straight sword first."
"My thanks." Sasaki nodded, Andre chuckled.
"Thousands of years workin a forge...I think your the first one ta thank me…" Andre grumbled "Most just chuck their broken up blades at me and ask 'em to get fixed."
"It is a complicated craft, as I understand it." Sasaki shrugged "It seems to be common sense to be respectful to the one who makes your weapon."
"Heh…" Andre released a small chuckle as he sat down in front of his anvil and materialised his hammer "Ya'd think so...wouldn't ya?"
"We've got a library on the fourth level." Roman replied then cringed "Unfortunately most of the books are related to fiction...those that aren't are published papers on Magi research which isn't linked to individual craft."
Ash sighed "Then you have limited material on the history of your world?"
"No, we've still got all that." Roman gave him a small smile "It's just not going to be as specific. Mostly a general overview, although we have quite a few books on mythology." Roman then blinked "Although, they might count as history now…"
"That will suffice." Ash nodded his head, then turned to leave before taking a quick glance at the screen Roman was working on "You are searching for the next singularity?"
"Well...sort of." Roman scratched the back of his head "Right now that's a background operation I'm running. Truth of the matter is...we're low on supplies." Roman sighed "We weren't actually at peak operation capacity when Singularity F was detected, most of the staff had gone home and we were forced to rush into everything. We lost most of the generators and the only reason we have lights right now is because of the engineering team, or what's left of them, working round the clock. Unfortunately…" Roman sighed "That means that we lost about sixty percent of our food stores."
"How long can you last?" Ash asked in concern.
"Well, there's only about twenty of us." He bit his lip "If we rationed it out, we'd last maybe...five months?"
"And there's no telling how long the Singularities would last." Ash finished, then pointed at the screen "And the investigation into these...aberrations in time?"
"Those happen all the time." Roman waved him off "Normally they get stamped out by the World, although there's a brief window of about a week when they're active." he crossed his arms "Right now its a bit of a side project...but I'm hoping we could Rayshift into these and gather supplies."
"...Steal?"
"No!" Roman recoiled "I'd rather not be a bunch of bandits...we've got a few materials we could trade. One of the...deceased Magi on site was a metallurgist. A specific use for gold bars." he sighed "It feels wrong to use them...but we have little choice."
"And we would transport them back how?"
"Well...Mash's shield acts as the summoning circle. All we'd need to do is set it up to transfer the supplies back."
"Hmmm." Ash nodded "I will leave you to yo-"
"Magi* Mari says: You do your best!" Ash and Roman stared at eachother as a high-pitched girlish voice sounded out from the man's terminal.
"...What...was that?" Ash looked over Roman's shoulder and down at the terminal.
"N-nothing important!" Roman jumped in front of it "It's just someone I ask advice from every now and again! It's no big deal!"
"...Right…" Ash backed away from the man "I shall...be in the library."
"See you!" Roman waved him away, then went back to working on his computer "Damnit Mari! I told you not to embarrass me like that! What if it had been the Director? She would have tried to take you away from me!"
"Ah Betty there you are!" The witch jumped slightly and turned around to see Arash and Cu walking towards her "We were wondering where you were."
"L-lady Olga wanted to talk to me about sorcery…" Beatrice slumped "I can't tell her that much though...I...I learnt on my own so its...unique to me…"
"Ah, no worries." Cu waved her off "It's mostly just feeling for servants." he sniffed "Just as long as she doesn't start hounding me for primordial runes." he sighed "Still pissed that learning those somehow makes me a Caster…"
"It's not that bad." Arash clapped him on the shoulder "You're still a warrior at heart, you'd just use a…"
"Staff."
"Staff instead of a spear." Arash then cringed "Although considering you are more famous for wielding a spear I suppose it could be quite upsetting."
"Yeah, no kidding." He huffed and turned back to Beatrice "So, little lady." Beatrice gulped slightly at the way his eyes seemed to glint and his smile became more predatory "Tell us about yourself."
Arash let out a sigh "There's another thing your legend talked about."
"What?" Cu turned to Arash with a blank face "She's pretty decent looking." he shrugged "She can say no if she wants."
Arash rolled his eyes and gave the furiously stuttering Caster a reassuring smile "Just ignore him, although I will admit to being a little curious myself. Haven't really met people from other worlds before." he chuckled "And if we're going to be working together, it would at least do to get to know eachother."
"W-well...I'm not really all that interesting…" Beatrice looked down, Cu snorted and Arash chuckled.
"You were apparently interesting enough to be registered on your own Throne of Heroes." Cu smirked at her "That's gotta count for something."
"W-well...I guess my journey to Oolacile…"
"Oh?" Arash smiled "Tell us about that then, come on." he gestured a thumb behind them "We'll talk about it back in the cafeteria. I think that onion knight made some Estus soup or whatever you guys can drink."
"It's actually some pretty alright stuff." Cu spoke up "Makes you feel all warm and tingly inside...Like alcohol without the actual taste."
"Huh…" Arash blinked "That doesn't sound to bad. I might actually try some of that."
"I mean...You can…" Cu shrugged "It's alright, not the best not the worst but I don't think that we were the intended recipients for it."
"Well...we technically are now."
"...I guess we are." Cu made a small noise of realisation before turning around to the Caster "Come along that, little lady. You can tell us all about...Oilacile."
"Oolacile."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Your problem is that you grip your sword too tightly." Verndari pointed out as Mash repeated the stance "It restricts your movements, you aren't allowing yourself enough flexibility."
"Right…" When Mash shifted her grip, Verndari sighed and with very little effort slapped the sword out of her hands.
"Now you grip it too lightly." Mash winced as Verndari crossed his arms "I noticed it during our spar. You have some knowledge of a blade...but it is unconscious. As if you have done this all before, but are now doing it all again and forgetting your previous skill."
"I-it might be the Heroic Spirit possessing me." Mash replied "I think they might have wielded a sword before...but I can't really tell all that much. I understand what you are saying but its...its like trying to learn something that I know and don't know at the same time."
"That...makes very little sense to me." Verndari grumbled then seemed to realise something "However...it has given me an idea."
"Oh?"
"Yes. You learned reasonably well during our Spar, you showed signs of improvement as we continued. Thus I feel that a hands on approach would be of a greater benefit to you in terms of learning how to hold a sword."
"W-what?"
"Therefore, we shall continue our spars." Verndari announced "Once you have a workable understanding with your sword, we can move into different styles. Although given the size of your shield...Hmm...A spear would work well...but the only other Lancer's we have are the blue haired one and the lady knight." he shook his head "For the moment we shall focus on your sword."
"Okay."
"Good. We shall begin shortly."
"A-aren't I going to get a rest?"
"No, one must always be prepared for a possible fight. You can never be sure when an attack might come."
Alpes Poeniae 60 A.D.
"INCOMING!"
"Take cover!"
"Get down!"
The cries rang out which were swiftly followed by the clattering of armour as soldiers threw themselves down to avoid the hail of projectiles. There was a muffled cry of anguish as a viscous rope latched itself onto the face of a man who had been too slow to drop, the feeble attempts from his comrades did little to prevent him being pulled over the side of the wall.
There was a horrific sound of muffled screaming followed by a tearing sound and the snapping of bones. The men closest closed their eyes and shook in horror at the sounds.
"Centurion Felix! Report!" A voice cried out as the soldiers scrambled around, a man in steel armour with a helmet with a headdress sprinted down the stairs of the wall and towards the man calling out for him.
"Consul Vespasian! We did not anticipate your arrival from Rome." Centurion Felix spoke as soon as he came up to the ageing man. The man snorted and thrust a parchment into the centurions hands.
"It's Legate Vespasian now. The Emperor has ordered that all those with former ranks return to active service, effective immediately." The Centurion widened his eyes as he read through the parchment then snapped to attention "What is the situation?"
"The Prefect led a small scouting party Yesterday, Sir." The Centurion began "We had received word from Gaul of an individual the...creatures...seemed to be hunting for lack of a better word, Sir. The Prefect stated he would lead the scouting party himself and took fifty legionnaires with him and Centurion Magnus."
"Then where is he?" Vespasian asked with a scowl, Felix winced.
"He sent word back to us via his...magic crystals several hours ago, Sir. He reported encountering the individual in question and that he was returning." Felix looked over his shoulder at the sound of someone screaming.
"Eyes front Centurion!"
"Yes, Sir!" He snapped back around.
"What else can you inform me of the situation?"
"The watchtower a mile from here missed their check in time Sir, then...They came out of the tree's...just started throwing themselves at us." Felix took in a deep breath "They've been at this for nearly two hours Sir...We can keep them at bay, but its only the little ones right now…"
"Hmph." Vespasian grunted "Return to your duty."
"Yes Sir!" Felix saluted and sprinted back to the wall "Archers! To the wall!"
Vespasian turned around "Tribune Rufus!" he called out, a man stepped towards him.
"Your orders, Sir?"
"Have the Sixth Legion take up defensive positions alongside the garrison here. Ensure that if we are forced to retreat, the roads remain protected."
"Yes, Sir. I'll deploy the men." The nodded and walked off and began barking out orders to the Centurions.
"Walker!" A man from the gate shouted "Walker to the North! It's running to the gate!"
The men visibly paled at the shout before Vespasian shouted out "Reinforce the Gate! Show your courage Legionnaires! Get Archer's and slingers on the wall! Take it down!"
There was a horrifying roar before the gates to the fort rumbled and something smashed into them, the cry sounded again and was followed by the wooden gate recieveing another battering.
"Reinforce the gate!" Felix shouted out "Get the beams up!"
Nearly a dozen men sprinted towards the gate holding various sized pieces of wood and used them to block the gate as best they could, the screaming and battering at the gate continued.
"They're climbing the walls!"
"Archers! Release Volley!"
"How long can we hold, Sir?" Rufus asked as he walked up behind Vespasian, the older man scowled.
"As long as we can…"
AN: Another Chapter!
Also some of you might have noticed a certain figure!
Vespasian, I actually looked him up (I knew of him before hand) and saw that he was alive during Nero's rule as a Consul having retired.
Well...with the whole spider monsters, I figured it would make sense for Nero to make it an all hands on deck kind of situation.
So...We won't go into the Singularity until the chapter after the next one.