GudaGuda Honnoji: Ending
Arkon staggered backwards as another explosion washed over his body, the Silver Knight swung his shield to the side and dissipated the cloud of smoke that hovered in the air just in front of his person. Growling, the Knight charged through the cloud and drew back his right hand, golden lightning crackled between his fingertips as the power of the miracle flooded through his body.
Eyes locked onto the multi-coloured form of Kuroda still dancing around the street a short ways from them, still hurling exploding metal beetles towards both Arkon and Sakura Saber by his side.
Tensing his body, Arkon swung his right arm forwards and hurled the solidified miracle like a javelin towards the man. Kuroda ducked down, just barely avoiding being struck by it before his mocking laugh echoed through the roads. The man got back up from the ground and rolled away from them like a stone down a hill before he slipped onto his side and posed.
Arkon felt his already frustrated temperament get increasingly more stoked with rage. His hand fell onto his sword grip and ripped it free of its scabbard with a screeching of steel, he then hunched his body down and rocketed as fast as he could down the street.
His lumbering heavily armoured form made for quite the intimidating sight, although it was still nothing compared to Sakura Saber's blur of pale pink as she zipped across the street towards Kuroda. Despite the two Saber Servants charging him down, Kuroda instead continued to grin like a lunatic before he spread his arms wide, hurling forth another dozen explosives down the street towards the group.
"Hehehehehahahaha!" The man continued to laugh as the detonations ripped through the town, concealing him in a cloud of smoke and working to block the sight of the two Sabers.
"Tch!" Arkon loudly clicked his tongue in annoyance as he scanned the cloud, head occasionally darting in the direction of a noise as he tensed himself for combat. As the smoke started to clear, he could vaguely make out the shape of a figure standing in the middle of the street looking in his general direction.
He then rolled to the side as an arctic blizzard seemingly erupted from it towards him, a thin layer of ice washed over the ground as the smoke dissipated. Revealing a woman in white with an appearance that looked as though it had been torn straight from a book, simple white robes and a similar coloured tiara. There was no change in shading, merely a singular block colour with black lines to highlight different features.
Arkon furrowed his brows behind his helmet as the figure slowly faded from existence, behind her stood what looked like a child with bright blue hair and noble clothes. A simple sky blue tunic with a light blue bow tie, a white undershirt with black stripes running down the sleeves and navy coloured shorts ending in high socks that went past his knees and simple brown laced shoes.
The Silver Knight was almost left convinced that a child had wandered onto the streets before the boy opened his mouth and a slightly irritated sigh left his lips, sounding much deeper than a person with his presumed age had any right to.
Unless they were simply a dwarf with a gift of youth, that was also possible.
"Honestly." The boy shook his head as he flipped open the leather bound book in his hands and skimmed through the pages "A sudden appearance by another figure? This town is already lacking in distinction and they believe it can be improved by merely throwing in a few characters of mild interest? That is poor world building if ever I've seen it." another sigh escaped his throat as he looked up from his book and towards Arkon "I suppose there is little that either one of us can do about it though, is there?"
Arkon had no idea how to respond, save to raise himself up and level his sword at the young man. "I shall presume you are an enemy of mine?"
"I suppose." The boy admitted without a care in the world, shrugging his shoulders and looking thoroughly done with the situation he was in "I was summoned here and conjoined with someone's true name for whatever reason, perhaps there is some part of my personality that the two of us had in common." he made a face "How awful to consider, if there is one thing I can't stand it's plagiarism."
"I lost sight of Kuroda-" Sakura Saber announced as she slid to a halt next to Arkon, then laid eyes upon the child and blinked once "...How is your prime physical age that of a child?"
"They say children have the best imaginations." The blue haired man responded uncaringly, looking between the two of them for a few moments ``Hmmm." then looked past them and furrowed his brows as if searching for something "Is it just you two here? Are there no characters of complexity in the area?"
Arkon blinked behind his helmet "I beg your pardon?"
"I did not stutter, did I?" The boy sighed before shaking his head "No, I suppose I shouldn't complain too much. In this current setting, it's hardly like I can expect anything truly interesting to show up." There was a pause before they pointed to themselves, "I guess I should introduce myself then…I'm Takenaka Andersen." he gave a lazy wave of the hand to accompany the movement before the limb fell back to his side.
The Silver Knight stared at him in silence before he looked at Sakura Saber, the woman gave a faint shrug of the shoulders before the pair looked back towards the blue haired boy.
As the Knight went to speak, a flash of sunlight reflected off a surface caught his line of sight. Spinning on his heel, he swung his shield out to the side and struck the flying beetle away from him and soared high into the air before it exploded. Arkon's eyes locked onto the form of Kuroda instantly before he thrust his sword towards him "Handle the fool, I shall deal with the child."
Sakura Saber gave a hum of acknowledgement before she took off, kicking off the ground and launching herself through the air like an arrow aimed at the jester. Arkon turned his attention back onto Takenaka just in time to raise his shield once again as a veritable storm struck him, high powered winds crashed against his body and caused his feet to scrape against the cobblestone as he tried to maintain his balance.
The winds died down to unveil the image of a woman with the lower half of a fish sitting atop a rock with her hand stretched out towards him. Her body is already fading away into motes of light.
"What manner of Izalith spawn do you conjure up from nothing?" Arkon couldn't help but ask in a sense of disturbed curiosity.
"Trust me, it's more appealing when you've read the stories." There was a pause before he sighed "And I'm now shilling my own work, I can't decide if that's good or just plain pathetic." digging into his pocket, he withdrew a small match and flicked his thumb along the top of it, igniting the stick. "Whatever." he grunted as he hurled it forwards.
The second it touched the ground, Arkon felt heat suddenly build up underneath him. The knight jumped back as a pillar of fire burst from the ground where he had been standing, as he did so a small white dove struck him on the side of the head, its body surrounded by an ethereal ocean coloured glow. The Knight stumbled once in surprise as the bird flew around and made to return only to run head first into Arkon's shield.
The knight parried the bird away and sent it into the ground with a grunt of annoyance before he whirled on Takenaka and sheathed his sword. Drawing his arm back, he formed another sunlight spear and hurled it forwards, a wall of branches formed in front of the young man, tanking the blow and shattering several of the main roots but otherwise doing its role as a wall.
Arkon kicked off the ground, breaking into a sprint and raising his shield in the direction of the boy, already preparing himself for more attacks.
Takenaka gave an annoyed sigh over the sound of Arkon's boots crashing into the ground "And this is why I don't like to work alone, I'm not a combat type Servant."
Whether Arkon actually heard him or not didn't factor into his actions, instead he smashed straight through the wall made of wood and charged down the Caster, only to slip on a patch of conveniently placed ice - courtesy of a certain snow summon - and fall onto his backside. His embarrassment didn't stop there, the ice led off into a small path which ended up taking Arkon on a small trip where he was then clotheslined by a branch and sent onto his back, staring up at the sky.
"Doesn't mean I'm absolutely terrible though." Takenaka seemed to add on as an afterthought, a small glowing sprite leapt from his book and bounced twice along the ground before landing atop Arkon's head and exploding in a small flash of orange flames. Arkon hissed in annoyance from his downed position, shifting his body and getting onto his hands and knees before his head snapped up in the direction of the blue haired boy.
"That being said, it's actually not me you're fighting." He nodded to something just behind the knight, indeed a shadow fell over him which had Arkon pause and stare at it for a moment before shifting his attention and looking up at the figure blocking out the sun.
If his head had been exposed, then everyone would have been able to see the exact moment when the blood left his face and he turned a shade of white that would have made snow envious.
"Yes!" The figure atop their rather intimidating mount proclaimed, a dark haired girl wearing a plain white dress beamed as she pointed to the sky "It is I, Aya-Filiozen!"
Takenaka made a noise of understanding behind Arkon "Trust me, it's not something I'm capable of understanding either."
"And this is the mount I have borrowed from my older brother, Nagao Faretora!" She exclaimed, her face still awash with giddish pride even as Arkon scrambled away from them making a strangled noise on the verge of a panicked scream "Howl! Houshou Yamikurai!"
Arkon was already halfway down the street by the time she had finished speaking.
Kuroda Mephisto released a faint grunt as his back slammed into a nearby wall, the man had barely a moment to recover before a flash of steel flew in from the corner of his eye. The man tried to duck beneath the strike and proved much too slow, a pained hiss left his mouth as steel bit into flesh near his shoulder and sent him to ground.
Rolling away, he managed a weak chuckle in between gasps of pain as he made to get back onto his legs. Swinging his arm to the side, he manifested an oversized pair of scissors in his left hand and swung them upwards at Sakura Saber.
The woman raised her sword, catching the blow without even moving as she stared down at him with a glassy eyed expression. Kuroda released another cackle as he tried to jump back only for her to fall upon him again with another flash of light and the sound of steel slicing through fabric and flesh, blood splashed on the ground as Kuroda fell back with a deep cut through his abdomen.
"Hehehehahaha…ow…" The man groaned in between laughs as he writhed on the ground, raising his right hand and pointing at her "N-now that's certainly one way of cutting to the heart of the matter. Hahaha…" pressing his hand against the cut he dragged himself back and sighed "Is this why I get such little representation?" he wondered aloud with a ponderous look on his face "Because the moment I encounter a Servant that can fight, I get bested?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sakura Saber dryly responded as she tensed her body and prepared her sword a second time, this time aiming to finish the man off in a single strike "All I am aware of is that you stand in our way."
"W-well…" Kuroda managed a weak chuckle as blood slipped from between his lips and down his chin, giving her a knowing look "Not just me."
Sakura Saber furrowed her brows before her expression thinned, catching his true meaning "Other Servants are here, it is to be expected." she nodded her head before giving him a narrowed gaze "However, they shall fall in much the same way that you-"
"Retreat!" Arkon's voice boomed out across the street, both Sakura Saber and Kuroda looked in the direction of the shout just in time to see Arkon come barrelling out of an alley and crash into a vegetable stall. The Noblites that were manning the stall seemed to complain only for them to release startled shrieks of their own and take off in the opposite direction.
At first, Sakura Saber believed Arkon had managed to intimidate them. Only to blink as she watched him pick up the cart next to the stall and hurl the entire wagon of vegetables down the alleyway he had come rushing out from, then turn on his heel in her direction and break into a sprint without ever making an effort to turn around.
"Retreat!" He cried out again, waving his arms towards her and his voice taking on a noticeable degree of panic.
Then a large shadow came bursting from out of the alley, sending a mess of debris flying into the air and coming down as a show of wood, plaster and brick.
"Gallop forth, Houshou Yamikurai!" The young girl - looking around the age of eleven - cried out at the top of her lungs and pointed at them "For the glory of big brother Nagao Faretora! Let us recount our battle cry! Ei ei-"
The dragon she rode upon threw back its head and spread all four of its wings, unleashing a tremendous roar.
Sakura Saber gave a single blink.
Suddenly Arkon's panic made much more sense to her.
Ritsuka slid to a halt and furrowed his brows as he stared ahead of himself towards the empty street, Mash came to a halt at his side and stared ahead as well.
"...Did I just hear something?"
"I heard it too, Senpai."
"...Did it sound like a roar to you?"
"It did, Senpai."
"Should I be concerned?"
"...I'll be right here, Senpai." Mash nodded to herself, bringing forth her shield and slamming it into the ground "I shall protect you with all of my being!"
The Master gave a half smile "Thanks, Mash." his expressions steeled again before bringing up his communicator and activating it "Okay, so we heard a big roar a second ago Roman, I'm going to need a-"
"Run you idiot!" Olga's voice instead came bursting through the communicator with enough volume that the audio actually crackled for a few moments, prompting the Master to wince and lean away from it "You've got a high class life form heading right for you accompanied by a Divine Spirit!"
Ritsuka blinked "...So we've got a God and a big animal rushing towards us?" He frowned and looked at Mash "You think Faraam caught up with us after beating Takeda Darius?"
Mash thinned her lips and shrugged "It is possible, Senpai. I do not know the capabilities of Darius but I believe that Faraam-san is the better warrior considering their position as a God of War and what we know of the battle in France."
"Well, we've beat him before…sort of…" He winced "Actually, we didn't beat him at all." he realised with a frown before shaking his head "Alright so we need to run away before we-"
"This isn't him!" Olga remarked quickly with her voice still tinged with panic "The readings are more in line with an actual dragon as opposed to what the War God you encountered rode upon!"
Ritsuka paled slightly "Oh…oh damn…"
Both he and Mash slowly shifted their attention away from the communicator and towards the street as the sound of crashing got louder, they watched as a cart come rolling around the corner, soon followed by a swarm of Noblites scrambling over each other and screaming as loudly as they could in clear terror.
That was then followed by Sakura Saber sprinting around the corner and making a sharp turn that almost had her slip over, the girl teetering on her feet for a few moments before taking off again, rushing towards the pair with wide eyes and looking over her shoulder.
She was then followed by Arkon who charged through an actual building with all the grace of someone who had just charged through a building. That is to say, no grace at all. Despite that, the knight perfectly exemplified the aura of someone who was fleeing for his life, arms swinging from side to side like pendulums and his legs digging into the stone path with each step and pushing his body forwards with enough force to crack rock.
"Run away!" Sakura Saber all but blurted out as she got within shouting distance of them "D-dragon!"
Ritsuka couldn't help but groan "That's just typ-"
A giant dark scaled dragon erupted from the side of a building, scrambling around on its four legs and whirling around to face them as if it hadn't just decimated a neighbourhood. From nose to tail, Ritsuka was certain it was a fair bit smaller than Fafnir, probably no more than twenty metres long, although that didn't change the fact it was a dragon and still a danger. The arrow shaped head locked onto them from a distance, the dragon then rose up on its hind legs and spread its four wings as wide as it could and unleashed a roar which would have shattered glass.
On its back - as if to contradict its threatening visage - was a young girl five years Ritsuka's junior, sporting tied up dark grey hair and a silver tiara, wearing a simple royal white dress. She pointed towards them, her voice echoing out amongst the town.
"There's more of them, Houshou Yamikurai!" She was grinning like a child spotting candy "Onwards!"
"Oh shit!" Ritsuka blurted out, scrambling backwards and turning on his heel, rushing back towards the direction they had come and being swiftly followed by Mash, Sakura Saber, Arkon and an entire dragon.
Ash held up his hand to signal the pair to halt, his brows furrowed slightly as he gazed amongst the streets "I hear a commotion."
Demon Archer released a snort by his side "I think the entire town heard that commotion, someone is getting maimed out there."
"Quite so…" Ash nodded his head, despite that the roar sounded familiar. He had heard it before although placing it was something that was eluding him right now, as if it was somehow lighter than before or what he was used to was at a much deeper tone of voice. He dismissed the notion with a shake of the head.
It was better to find Ritsuka first.
"Perhaps you should climb atop my shoulders to gain a better vantage point." He advised without looking down at Demon Archer, the woman scoffed once.
"I'll be fine."
Ash narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, glancing at her from the corner of his vision. There was something odd about her these last few streets, he'd lost sight of her then she came marching from the crowd as if she hadn't vanished on him. Then there were a few of the ticks he had noticed that hadn't lined up with what he knew of her thus far.
For starters, she didn't want to ride on his shoulders.
That was just flat out odd to him, thus far she hadn't so much as entertained the notion of climbing down from her vantage point since she had gotten up there. Either she believed that the advantage gifted by riding atop his shoulders was no longer necessary or there was something else at play here.
Either way, it was worth keeping an eye on for the time being, at least until there came a point where he could ask her about it.
Right now, he suspected there were other concerns that he had to deal with.
Straining his ears, Ash moved forwards until he came upon the side entrance onto the main path.
Then blinked as he watched Mash go sprinting past him as fast as she could with Ritsuka in her arms princess style, the boys face an absolute riticus of terror as he gazed over the pairs shoulders.
They were swiftly followed by Sakura Saber running forwards without making an effort to look behind her.
Then Arkon came lumbering down the street, punching his armoured boots through the cobblestone road with each step.
The entire group rushed past him without so much as paying attention to their surroundings, failing to even register his existence as they were seemingly determined in getting away from whatever it was that they were running away from.
Frowning ever so slightly, Ash hesitantly walked out of the alley and into the main road before he turned his head in the direction that the others had so desperately been attempting to run away from.
"Well?" Demon Archer bluntly asked as she walked out into the road behind him "What are they all running and screammmaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Her voice swiftly rose into a panicked shriek as Ash spun around and wrapped an arm around her waist and tucked her under his armpit and broke into a sprint after the fleeing group.
The Sarcher pushed his body to his limits, swiftly catching up with the fleeing Chaldeans and sprinting right past Arkon, the man's head looking in his direction once, then twice as he realised he was getting bypassed before he looked over his shoulder a final time.
Midir was still very much chasing after them, the Archdragon released another bellowing roar which travelled down the length of the road and overtook them with ease, providing the Chaldeans with even more fuel to hasten their attempt at a rapid escape.
All the while, the young girl riding on the dragon's back continued to let out an enthused giggle as if she was on a roller coaster, it would have been somewhat heart warming if it were not for the fact that she was currently sitting atop the rather large phantasmal beast that was determined to turn the Chaldeans into a rather ashen memory.
"I can run by myself!" Demon Archer cried out from under his arm, then paused when she heard another roar being delivered by Midir but didn't make an effort to look behind herself "...On second thought, keep running." a beat "In fact! Speed up!"
Ash didn't need much encouragement from her in that regard, fighting the Dragon Midir again was not something he was particularly looking forward to. Even if they did look considerably smaller than he remembered them being. However, the fact remained that he couldn't actually fight with her under his arm like this.
"I'm going to throw you ahead, if you do not stick the landing there is a high chance we will run you down." He spoke in a curt tone as he continued to move forwards, his voice was so casual that the girl in his arms didn't think to examine the words closer.
For all of five seconds.
Then her eyes nearly bulged in their sockets "Wait, wha-!"
Ash released a grunt as he hurled her with all his might, throwing her forwards like a javelin as she let out a high pitched scream of surprise, soaring over the heads of all those in front of the pair and even earning their baffled attention for a few seconds.
Demon Archer scowled in the Sarcher's direction before he orientated herself in the air and crashed into the ground head first, twisting her body and forcing herself into a roll before she soon returned to her feet and continued on as if nothing had happened, falling into step just behind Sakura Saber and the Ritsuka/Mash duo who were somehow still at the head of the pack.
Ash turned around, sprinting backwards as he drew forth his large bow and nocked an arrow in it, looking up towards Midir and drawing the string back until the bow itself started creak in protest.
Arkon - who was still running behind him - widened his eyes behind his helmet the second he caught the Sarcher taking aim with their bow in his direction, the Silver Knight bit back a curse and swerved his body to the side just as the Sarcher aimed his shot to fly towards the dragons head and loosened the arrow, the string snapped back to its original position like the crack of a whip and propelled the arrow forth like a missile.
The blow didn't even register to the Archdragon, despite burying itself nearly a foot into the front of his skull, the mount didn't so much as flinch after taking the blow and instead seemingly increased their speed as the girl atop its back pointed at them.
"Hahahaha!" She laughed out loud, grinning at them widely "You fools! Houshou Yamikurai is the strongest in the world! He'd never lose to the likes of you!"
Ash neglected to mention that he had already killed Midir and he killed him when they were probably fully grown as well.
"...Second strongest, big brother is actually the strongest!" She added on as an addendum.
Ash also didn't point out he had killed him too.
Arkon sped past him as he prepared to nock another arrow, he noticed that Midir was already focusing on him whether that was because the dragon knew who he was or was just irritated about being shot in the face he couldn't actually tell, either way he swiftly abandoned his notion of firing while running backwards, slotting his greatbow back onto his back he then turned around and continued to run forwards as fast as he could.
"We need to fight somewhere more suitable!" Ritsuka informed the group as calmly as he could, that amount of calmness being shouting at the top of his lungs like a mad man while staring down at the dragon chasing them. "This place is just one straight box!"
"Yes, Senpai!" Mash nodded along with his assessment.
"I'm sure we could wait for the dragon to clear a few houses for us!" Demon Archer snapped from behind them as she looked over her shoulder once more before blanching and snapping her head back around to the front "If we're alive that long, anyway!"
Sakura Saber released a scoff behind them "Aren't you supposed to be more confident? What about your three line formation?"
Demon Archer opened her mouth to respond before she blinked and slowly closed it, her eyes gradually getting wider and wider as she realised just how effective her Noble Phantasm would be against their current opponent.
Were they a Rider Servant? Well, she was riding a Dragon but it was never easy to tell with these sorts of things anymore. It was like assuming a Servant was a Saber because they used a sword when they were actually an Archer. Class's didn't mean diddly squat if you could just change your weapon after being summoned.
Were they divine? They were quite clearly a Goddess, they even had the feel for one and everything.
Did they have a high mystery?
…
They were a Goddess riding a dragon, both from another world.
There was probably a fair amount of mystery there.
Demon Archer allowed a sharp grin to slowly work itself onto her face as she nodded her head once "On second thought! I can definitely take them!"
Ritsuka did a double take, looking at the girl with clear surprise "You can!?"
"Why do you sound so surprised?" The black haired girl asked with a dumbfounded expression "Did you think I was completely useless or something!?"
"The thought had crossed my mind, yeah." Ritsuka admitted with an unabashed shrug of the shoulders "You were the one who said you were a level one noob, though so that's sort of on you as well rather than me."
Demon Archer gave him a horrified look "Seriously?! What the heck was I doing telling you that?"
Ritsuka shrugged again "It's your mind, you tell me." he then gazed over his shoulder once more and frowned "So…you can do something about that, you said?"
Demon King smirked as she slid to a halt and spun around to face the street, letting the others rush past her and barely catching a glimpse of the blonde Sarcher as she did so, the man stared at her for half a second in confusion before he carried on moving past her.
The girl placed her hands on her hips and assumed a posture that just boasted of self assurance. Not even caring at the Dragon currently charging down towards her with its fangs bared.
"It can't be helped now!" She cried out with a sharp grin, throwing her right hand forwards and extending her fingers "Show your corpse to the three thousand worlds!" space around her split open, hundreds of flintlock rifles slowly fizzled into existence, hovering behind her in rows upon rows and all aimed towards the charging dragon.
"Demon Descent!" She flicked her hand to the side "Behold, the Demon King's three line formation!"
The flintlock rifles discharged as one, the guns roared at a volume that matched their target as their projectile shells rocketed through the air towards the dragon as it reared back in preparation to leap towards them. The second the bullets struck the beast, they exploded in showers of brilliant golden light, sundering the body with painful explosions and causing to recoil violently away from the Demon Archer, the Goddess on its back let out a surprise cry as the pair of them were thrown away by the attack.
Midir fell onto his hind legs and lurched backwards, spreading his wings wide in an effort to catch himself but ultimately failing as they crashed through a two story building, the paper thin walls offered no resistance and the wooden supports barely registered as they were shattered into dust from the weight of the dragon.
Aya-Filiozen was thrown from the dragon's back, roughly landing on the stone path and rolling for a few metres before coming to a halt. Her head gradually raised itself from the path and stared down at the utterly dumbstruck group before she yawned "I'm tired…" she mumbled before slumping onto the floor once again and curling up into a ball, snuggling into herself to try and get some measure of warmth.
She remained there for a few moments as Houshou Yamikurai picked themselves out of the ruined building and shook their head to dislodge any stray part of debris that had gotten wedged in their scales. The dragon stared down at his rider's unconscious body before slowly craning their attention towards the Chaldeans.
Both sides gazed at their opposite number without making a single sound.
Then Houshou Yamikurai made a grumbling noise of exhaustion before leaning down and extending a clawed hand towards the sleeping Goddess, scooping her up into his arms and slowly shifting her so that she was then resting on his back. With a final look aimed at the Chaldeans, the Dragon gave a single snort before spreading their four wings wide and taking back off into the air as if they hadn't been on the receiving end of an A rank Noble Phantasm that was only missing 'Dragon Slayer' to be considered one of the deadliest skills they could ever face.
Not that they didn't show signs of damage, judging by the way their shrinking figure would occasionally wobble in the sky.
Demon Archer turned around, crossing her arms and grinning smugly to herself "Well? How is that for a level one noob? I'm definitely OP last boss material!"
"...Oh crap." Ritsuka blinked repeatedly before he smiled and gave the girl a thumbs up "That was actually pretty damn awesome!" lowering the hand, he exhaled "Now then, let's find those other two and then get that Holy Grail…then get the hell out of this place."
The blue haired boy was easily found, still in more or less the last place that they had left him with a book in his hand and perched atop a nearby cart. He looked up towards the approaching group with an utterly flat expression, eyes moving between each of the Chaldeans before he exhaled and snapped his book shut.
"I suppose that means you bested the Dragon then." He muttered to himself before waving his hand "Don't bother answering that, you're alive and they aren't here so they're either dead or you utilised some contrived plot device to send them packing." he paused, turning to face them and narrowing his eyes in suspicion "You did, didn't you?"
Ritsuka opened his mouth to respond before he slowly closed it again and furrowed his brows, trying to work out a method by which he could respond to that particular sentence before offering a faint shrug and a strained smile "...Maybe?"
"Typical." Takenaka huffed, crossing his arms and jumping down from the crate and spreading his arms wide "Well, go on then. Get it over with."
Ritsuka raised an eyebrow "Get what over with-"
Before he could even finish his sentence, one of Ash's arrows rocketed past him and punched straight through Takenaka's chest and left behind a fist sized hole. The force behind the arrow sent the body ragdolling through the air and crashing into the wall of one of the nearby houses and then through it in a cloud of smoke, the Servant vanishing in golden lights as he flew.
Ritsuka opened and closed his jaw like a fish before he turned towards Ash with wide eyes "...Seriously?"
"What?" Ash frowned before nodding to Arkon "He was already an enemy, was he not?"
"He was." Arkon admitted with a shrug of the shoulders before nodding his head at the Sarcher "And if he didn't kill him, I would have."
Ritsuka closed his eyes, raising his head and aiming it skywards as he slowly exhaled from his nose before he lowered it once again and opened his eyes up, raising a single finger "...A little warning, next time." he lowered the finger "Now then, where's the other one?"
"Probably dead." Sakura Saber admitted after a few moments "I did strike him with a fatal blow across the chest, unless he has some manner of battle continuation he probably won't have lived that long."
"So we just need to find the Holy Grail now?" Ritsuka sighed to himself "Because that isn't going to be hard at-"
"Found it, Senpai!" Mash excitedly called out from a distance away as she held it up, the girl standing up from behind a vegetable stall "It was in the pile of cabbages!"
Ritsuka closed his eyes "...As I was saying. It wasn't hard at all."
Sakura Saber gave him a pitying smile as he attempted to save himself from embarrassment, failing miserably as all those who were in earshot of him could tell.
Arkon merely sighed and rested his hand on the front of his helmet once again.
Demon Archer slowly started to walk towards Mash, her smile becoming the tiniest bit sharper as she did so.
"Waaaaaaaait!" A voice rang out across the town before the Archer even got to within a few feet of the Shielder, her eyes widened and snapped towards the direction of the voice. The attention of the Chaldeans followed her as they all found themselves transfixed by the sight of a second Demon Archer barrelling towards them screaming at the top of her lungs.
The second Demon Archer slid to a halt and stabbed a finger towards the Demon Archer who had been residing with the Chaldeans "I've been tied up behind a dumpster for the last few minutes!" she cried out "She knocked me out and took my place! She's an imposter!"
"That's nonsense!" The first Demon Archer scoffed loudly "Clearly she's another part of my subconscious that has-"
A fist cracked against the side of her head and she dropped like a sack of potatoes, her unconscious body hitting the floor with a dull thud. The speed at which the attack had happened managed to earn a surprised blink from everyone, including the second Demon Archer who widened her eyes and allowed her pointing arm to fall limply down to her side.
Ash retracted his feet and stared down at the unconscious Servant with a faint frown before nodding to himself once "There was something off about her, but I did not imagine it to be an imposter."
Ritsuka made several noises before he just pointed at Ash "D-did you seriously just take her word like that?" he asked with disbelief "How do you know that one isn't the imposter instead and you just punched out one of our allies."
"I concur with my lord." Arkon stepped up, nodding his head once "We should punch them both in the face just to be safe."
"Ye-no!" Ritsuka snapped at the man, reaching up and nursing his brows. "T-there's supposed to be an order to this sort of thing, so-some kind of procedure!" he lowered his arm and sighed "What evidence does she have that she's not the fake?"
Ash blinked once, then turned to the still conscious Demon Archer "Slingshot gun?"
She grinned back at him "Why not make it full auto?"
"She's real." Ash nodded once and turned back to face Ritsuka with a confident look on his face, even as the Master just stared at him dubiously.
"Just like that?" Even Sakura Saber couldn't help but ask with disbelief "How do you not know that the imposter doesn't share memories with the original?"
Ash blinked once more before he pointed at the unconscious Servant on the floor "She gave herself away, she acted somewhat dissimilar to the Demon Archer we had been travelling with up until this point."
Mash tilted her head in surprise "You picked up on those subtle tells, Ash-san?" she stared at him for a few moments more before her expression became awed "That's amazing! Just like Sherlock Holmes!"
Ritsuka raised a single finger in the Shielders' direction, already bracing himself for Ash's line of reasoning "Before you start celebrating…" he sighed and looked at Ash "What sort of clues did she give you?"
"She didn't want to ride on my shoulders."
"..."
"..."
"...Oh, is that all?" Ritsuka sighed then raised a thumbs up "Yes, good work Columbo." he turned towards Mash and winced at her expression.
The previous look of awe had all but evaporated into dust, replaced instead by the same look of dull disappointment that he had seen her aim at Roman whenever he did something somewhat stupid and or airheaded. The difference between the doctor and Ash was that the latter didn't even register the emotional damage the attack unleashed.
He weathered the Shielder's expression without so much as a twitch as he then looked between the others and scanned their expressions similarly.
Even Demon Archer looked somewhat flabbergasted by the reasoning before she shrugged her shoulders once "Meh." she grunted "Reminds me of Nagayoshi."
Ritsuka raised his hands up to his face and buried it in his palms, exhaling into them.
He heard a dull thud of what sounded like something striking meat, then whipped his head back up to see Arkon slowly withdrawing his arm away from the downed Demon Archer. Ritsuka stared at him with a mystified expression.
Arkon stared right back "...She was getting back up." he motioned to the first Demon Archer.
"...I give up." Ritsuka shrugged, then went to his communicator "Da Vinci, we've got the Grail can we leave this place?"
"Yeah." Da Vinic's voice came back through "Actually this location started to collapse the second you retrieved the Grail, we already started the Rayshift process on this end of things so you should be back within a few seconds." there was a pause before she chuckled "In other news, I managed to get a lot of interesting pots!"
"...Wonderful."
"Wahahahaha!" Demon Archer threw her head back and laughed, walking towards Ritsuka and slapping him once on the back with enough force to stumble him ever so slightly "It can't be helped! This is one way to unify a country, eh?"
"We didn't unify anything!" Ritsuka pointed out with a baffled expression "We just walked around and picked fights with everyone until we were the only ones left!"
"...Well, yeah." Demon Archer gave him an odd look, lowering her hand back to her side and tilting her head in a confused manner "Why? What do you normally do when it comes to unification?" there was a brief pause before she hummed "And if you're the only one left at the end, hasn't the land technically been unified? There's no longer opposition to you and all the territories remain the same just without the people to govern them."
Ritsuka blinked repeatedly at her before he sighed "I've got nothing for that. It sounds so very wrong and yet it makes a lot of sense." he shrugged "Maybe I'm just tired and I want to get back to Chaldea so I'm not putting in all of my brain power into understanding that sentence." he turned to Arkon "Well?"
"No, you are correct." Arkon nodded along "It sounds incredibly wrong and borders on madness." the man paused before gritting his teeth "However…her words are true in spirit alone, if you are all that remains then there is no longer opposition and the land has technically been unified." he turned towards Ritsuka "I feel the need to also point out that simply slaughtering the entire populace is not a method of unification."
"I wasn't talking about that." Demon Archer exclaimed with a shake of the head "I just meant beating them until all the leaders are gone or convinced of your strength!" she placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow "Is that seriously weird?"
"Then why did you phrase it in such a dubious fashion?"
"I phrased it perfectly fine!" She pointed at him "You're the one who was talking about slaughtering people, not me!"
"Mount Hiei." Sakura Saber coughed under her breath, earning a sharp eyed glare from Demon Archer for a brief moment.
"Those monks were asking for it!"
Ash blinked once "Monks?"
"Don't worry about it."
Ash then shrugged and looked away, easily accepting the argument before he looked down at the first Demon Archer "What do with do with this-"
A gunshot rang through the air, the group jolted at Demon Archer suddenly pulling out a rifle and shooting her doppleganger through the head.
"For the love of-!?" Ritsuka exclaimed as he jumped back and clenched his hands into fists "Some warning would be nice one in a while!" he shouted out and pointed at the gradually vanishing body "What the heck was that supposed to be!"
"She's an enemy." Demon Archer shrugged her shoulders and dissipated the rifle in her hands "What's the issue?"
"I am inclined to agree, what is the issue-"
"Don't you start!" Ritsuka pointed at Arkon "You're just saying that because you got to watch her die!"
"That is indeed a large factor in my answer, yes." Arkon nodded without hiding the fact "But she was still an enemy and with her dead, the last solid remnant of this Singularity should be fading away into nothing when we depart, especially with the Holy Grail in our possession." he paused before he released a breath that he sounded as though he had been holding in for centuries "I, for one, could not be more pleased."
"Yes…well…" Demon Archer grinned and moved towards Ash before climbing back atop his shoulders without a word of protest from the Sarcher "Let us get back to Chaldea!"
Mash blinked once "Us?"
"Yes." Demon Archer raised an eyebrow "I'm coming with you."
"Not alone you aren't!" Sakura Saber pointed at her before she paused and turned to Ritsuka "With your permission-"
"I'm fine with you coming back." Ritsuka waved his hand and gave her a faint smile "Thanks for all your help, by the way."
The girl beamed "Yes, I knew it!" she pumped her fist once "Okita-san's great victory!"
Ritsuka blinked repeatedly "Okita?" he parroted the name back with a raised eyebrow "As in…Okita Souji?"
"Ah…Y-yes." She nodded once "I should introduce myself properly. I am Okita Souji."
"...And another one goes on the whiteboard."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
"Wahahaha!" Demon Archer laughed loudly "If you believe the manslayer is impressive enough, then you have yet to be amazed by my true identity! Indeed, I am the first great unifier of Japan, the one who would bring an end to the age of the warring states, the one who was called the Fool of Owari! I am-"
"Oda Nobunaga."
"Oda Nobu-eh?" The girl stilled and looked down at Ritsuka with wide eyes, watching as he smirked up at her "You…what…eh?"
"Huh." Ritsuka chuckled and nodded towards Mash "What do you know? This trip had some silver lining after all."
"How did…how…eh?"
"Demon King of the Sixth Heaven is pretty distinctive." Ritsuka pointed out, crossing his arms in front of his chest "You should probably avoid doing that in future."
Nobunaga stared at him with a dumbstruck look as her arms fell back to her sides "...B-but my introduction?"
"Many of those titles did not mean much to me anyway." Ash admitted with a shrug of his shoulders, slightly jostling the 'Demon King' resting atop them "Therefore, it would have mattered little to me beyond learning what your name was."
"It's the principle of the matter…"
The group was gradually consumed in a flash of light as they returned to Chaldea, along with the newest arrivals.
GudaGuda Honnoji: End
AN: And like that, we're done with events.
Yep. The events between Singularities 3 and 4 are done, which means the next Chapter is back into the main swing of things.
It won't be Singularity 4 though.
It's going to be Singularity 3.5.
Which I shall announce the title of right now!
Next time!
Scandinavia - The Unmade World: 793 A.D