She heard people talking but their voices were muffled, the woman watched the servants talking with Romani and Davinci along with the master. The woman didn't know how she ended up there, just that she was there.
Out of the corner of her right eye the woman watched the archer with her arms crossed and no emotion on her face watching and listening to Davinci's conversation with the others, she wanted everyone in that place to disappear so she could talk to the man alone.
But the man wasn't in the mood to talk, in fact he was acting as if the woman didn't exist.
Davinci and Romani said something to Ritsuka who nodded and then slowly approached the woman looking at the archer as if he was the only person in the room.
"Scathach" said Ritsuka.
"Yes?" Said the goddess without looking at her master.
…
"We were talking and… we thought you'd better stay this time" after what happened, it wasn't a good idea to leave the goddess and the archer on the same team, at least not for now.
…
"Will the archer go on that mission?" Said the goddess still watching the archer.
Ritsuka was a little nervous, as she had no choice in taking the man, as he was the only archer in Chaldea and with Elizabeth on the team, she could replace Scathach in situations like this.
"Yes, he will but…" Scathach finally looked at the girl.
"Then I will," said the goddess in an authoritative voice.
…
"Scathach, I think you'd better stay" said Ritsuka to the goddess who just stared at her.
"I'm not asking permission, child"
…
Ritsuka could use a command seal, but it wasn't a good idea, as it would affect the trust between her and her servant. And yet what would she do if the goddess decided to put an end to her, since she only had three and one hour or another they would end. The seals took a long time to recharge.
Ritsuka couldn't let distrust develop between them, not after what had happened.
"It's okay, Scathach. I'll let the Doctor and Davinci know you're coming" said Ritsuka, sighing with the goddess.
Davinci and Romani looked at Ritsuka shaking their heads in denial, Davinci and Romani just sighed.
"What we do now, it's not like we can stop her," Romani said.
"My concerns are that she doesn't focus on the mission in that state…" Davinci said.
"The archer seems to be acting strange too" Ritsuka looked at the man staring at Chadea's core with a blank stare.
"I don't think we have much of a choice here, the singularity is already open" Davinci looked at the core.
"Where is it this time?" Ritsuka asked.
"Rome" said Romani.
"Ah… yet another local who speaks a language I don't understand" said Ritsuka with a pout.
Davinci laughed, "Don't worry Ritsuka, we'll make you understand the language as if they were speaking Japanese"
"Eh? How?" Ritsuka was surprised by what Davinci said.
"With this here" Davinci opened his palm for Ritsuka to get a better look.
"It just looks like a hearing aid" said Ritsuka.
It really looked like a device for people who had hearing impairments, only more technological.
"Think of it as a translator, I love using it, you're fine. You're also going to use a Mashu" Davinci said, looking at the two.
The girl looked at Caster and moved her head to the side to see what she was referring to.
"The others will use it too ?" said Ritsuka as she put the device to her ear.
Romani smiled, "Servants don't need Ritsuka, Thanks to the throne of heroes they can understand any language or speak. Since it wouldn't be practical to have a language barrier with masters from different regions of the world, during the holy grail wars"
Ritsuka puffed out his cheeks, "Sounds like cheating to me"
"You can understand that too" Davinci said, ruffling the girl's hair.
The girl's stomach rumbled making her face turn red.
…
"Sorry…" she looked down at the floor.
"Here take this" Romani, something that looked like a platinum bag with nutrients written on it.
Davinci raised an eyebrow and gave the man a strange look who started to get nervous.
"What is it, Doctor?" Ritsuka took the bag.
"This has all the nutrients a human needs to get through the day" Ritsuka heard the man as he opened the bag.
"They just look like cookies to me" she said as she popped them into her mouth and her eyes widened. Ritsuka tried to spit it out, but Davinci grabbed the girl's chin to keep from throwing it away.
"Swallow Ritsuka, it will do you good" said Davinci holding her chin preventing her from opening her mouth.
Ritsuka saw that she wouldn't be able to open her mouth because of the servant, so she decided to chew and then swallow.
Davinci let go of her chin.
"Bleee" she tried to get the bad taste out of her mouth by rubbing her tongue
"What was that?!" She yelled at the two.
"Nutrients, very pure nutrients. It's incredibly nutritious but the taste leaves something to be desired. This was created for long trips with places where there's no food. You don't have time to eat something prepared and then you're going to eat this," Davinci said.
Ritsuka shook her head in denial, "I'm not going to eat that!"
Ritsuka felt a hand on her shoulder. The girl turned and saw that it was Mashu.
"I understand you senpai, I had to eat this for a long time" said the shield maid with a smile.
"Mashu" said Ritsuka with a smile that her kouhai cared for her.
"Make her eat every last Mashu" said Doctor Romani.
"Ehhhh!" Ritsuka yelled and then looked at Mashu and saw a shadow covering the girl's face.
"It's for your own good senpai" the grip on the orange haired girl's shoulder tightened.
…
"What a complicated situation you don't think my friend" said Mozart.
"I must say that this kind of thing has never been my strong point, so I can't give you a good answer" said Siegfried, remembering his wife.
"I understand, but if personal conflicts can lead to ruin" said Mozart in a melancholy way, as if remembering something.
"That I understand very well…" said the dragon slayer.
"I don't know why so much commotion, that woman only has the body but the personality of a door. She's so irritating, always thinking she's better than everyone else" said Elizabeth with her arms crossed and tapping her tail on the ground.
"Oh my, a little cruel Liz-chan, you don't expect someone who isn't human to understand humans. Besides, it seems like she didn't know what she was doing yet she didn't stop trying" said Kiyohime with a fan covering her mouth, but behind the fan she wasn't smiling. It was as if the woman was talking about her, not the goddess.
"Hey, I told you not to call me that" Elizabeth looked at Kiyohime in frustration.
"Why isn't Liz-chan cute, don't you think Siegfried?" She told Kiyohime, laughing.
The dragon slayer looked at the small girl with the tails and horns.
Elizabeth wanted to say something but her mouth didn't open.
"I must admit that even with the throne of heroes allowing me to understand the language, the Japanese honorifics still confuse me. But… I think it suits you Elizabeth" he gave a small smile.
…
The girl's face began to heat up.
"Ok" she said looking down and her tail swaying from side to side.
…
"We didn't want to cause this, maybe we shouldn't have looked for him" said Jeanne, holding her arm.
"I think you're right... but what would we do to leave him isolated from everyone? It seems that the archer doesn't like anything or even hates everything. It's strange, as if he's giving a ready response and practiced thousands of times, isn't it? very healthy" said Martha leaning her back against the wall and thinking.
"Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault, I must admit that Scathach is a little difficult to deal with" Maria said, looking at the goddess and remembering their interaction in Orleans.
"Even so, clothing wasn't my only suggestion to talk to the archer," said Jeanne looking away.
"Jeanne?" Maria and Martha looked at the saint.
"I was thinking about what my other version said… I sacrificed so much for others that… what's wrong with trying to be selfish at least once in my existence" said the saint of the flag looking at the wall and remembering Jeanne Alter's words.
"Even if it made someone suffer" said Santa again.
…
"Jeanne…" Maria said, looking at the woman.
Martha looked at her and then at the Ranger.
"Seems like I'm rubbish, don't you think?" The saint of the flag finally looked at the two.
"I'm not going to lie either, I had already noticed that in Scathach but I didn't care" said Jeanne looking into Maria's eyes and Martha kept looking at the archer.
"I wonder which wish is more important. Yours or someone else's…" said Martha.
Tarasque rubbed her head on the Saint's arm which made the woman rub the creature's head as if it were a dog.
After the confusion, the animal ran away from where it was breaking everything to join its owner.
Jeanne looked at Martha and then looked away, holding her right arm, as if the saint wanted to comfort herself.
…
"So what are you going to do now?" Artoria said.
"Nothing…" the archer said without looking at the saber.
"Hm, this will be annoying if it continues," said Artoria lazily tugging at her hair.
"Why does you care?" He looking at her, "Afraid I'd choose her?" said the man sarcastically.
…
"Yes…" she said but in a whisper.
"..."
"I'm not your master woman, I'm not that boy. Don't be delusional about someone who isn't here" he went back to looking forward with his arms crossed.
"I know…" she said looking at the floor.
"But it wasn't Shirou I fell in love with" he said, rubbing the toes of his metallic boots on the floor as if he was trying to dig a hole in the concrete floor.
"Still living in the past, it surprises me that you can remember everything that happened" said the archer.
"You're not the best person to judge me on this, archer" said Artoria, finally looking at him.
"..."
"You know, after the grail war was over and we were summoned again to live a peaceful life, I didn't know how to feel. But as time went by I saw that it wasn't a bad thing, even if it was temporary, all other servants seemed to be okay with it. Everyone but you…" said Artoria remembering the peaceful times they lived after the war.
"..."
"You were always disconnected, even with the peaceful time before Angra Mainyu appeared. It's like nothing brought you peace" Artoria took off the black mask and started playing with it like it was a toy.
"In the grail war, you always kept your distance both from your allies and from your master, even trying to kill Shirou… if you trying to kill yourself, I didn't want you to stay away" said Artoria facing the mask.
"..."
"You know, it really hurt that you constantly refused my advances. No matter how hard I tried to get you to stay at the Emiya house, you always left like you hated that place… like you hated me. But what hurt the most was seeing Rider make advances in you, seeing another woman other than me made me angry... a lot of anger or even hatred. When Angra Manyu attacked and I was corrupted, those feelings were only amplified and not created. You understand me don't you" said Artoria looking at the archer .
"..."
"I was considered the perfect king with no emotions to cloud my judgment, but they were the ones who dominated and controlled me. All because I wanted to be selfish, I wanted it to just be me and not someone else, even if you turned down everything and everyone, even so I always wanted it to be me..." Artoria looked down again clutching the mask in her hand.
"..."
…
"I ask, are you my master?"
"The food is great Shirou!"
"Please don't look at me like that, my body is very muscular for a woman"
"I… I… I think I fell in love with you Emiya Shirou"
"..."
"What? What are you saying I won't give up the Grail is my only chance.
"..."
"I cursed you Emiya Shirou, listen to my words. I hope you have the most painful and miserable death possible" said Artoria Pendragon, using her sword to keep herself on her feet and tears of pain and hurt running down her face.
The boy's red hair was almost completely white, his skin was on several different parts of his body as if it was tanned from overuse of MageCraft, and several blades covered the boy's body.
He wanted to cry but nothing came, just blood trickled down his cheek as he watched the saber disappear.
Sacrificing the lives of the few to save the many.
The boy watched the woman disappear with a hateful look on her face.
Who knew that what the woman asked for came true.
He died in the most miserable and painful way possible. Alone is for the people he tried to help.
…
"Like I said, you live in the past" said the man without looking at the saber.
"I know…" replied Artoria.
"But even so, I won't stop. I missed my chance before, I won't miss it again" said Artoria.
The archer finally looked at her and saw the corrupted woman smile at him.
…
Scathach watched the interaction of the two squeezing his spear tightly, if it was a common weapon it would break.
The longer she looked at the two of them the more anxious. The goddess wanted to go where the man was and talk to him, separate him from other people so that only the two of them were alone, but if she tried another fight would happen.
She was a warrior, not a novelist. She wasn't his sister, she was never interested in that, she didn't know what to do even though she was so old she should have experience of life. The goddess felt like a child trying something for the first time.
She didn't know what to do
"You seem lost, Professor" the goddess heard Cuchulainn's voice.
The woman didn't look at him.
"What do you want Satenta" said the goddess.
Scathach looked at Cuchulainn out of the corner of his eye.
"You hurt me, you know?" said the man pretending to be hurt.
"Speak soon" said the woman looking at the archer in front of her.
The man sighed, "Professor… Scathach I've never seen you like this not even once in all the years I've known you. I don't think this could do you any good, don't you think you'd better consider stopping?, we're servants one day or another all this will disappear so it's better not to suffer for something momentary" said Cuchulainn putting a hand on his shoulder.
"No" she pulled her shoulder from the man's hand.
"Because you want…" he was interrupted.
"Tell me Satenta, when Mebd decided to pursue you making your life hell, why didn't you give up your wife? Your son died at your hands for it, even so you decided to stay with her rather than avoid all the suffering that would ensue" Said Scathach looking at the archer.
Cuchulainn stopped and looked up with the Hood angling its head.
"Why, I'm stubborn and arrogant so it must be this divine blood inside me or too much time living with you. But the real answer is that I really loved her and I'd rather die than leave her" said the son of light looking up wistfully.
…
The demigod was standing with his spear touching the ground, several bodies were around the man, but it didn't cause a reaction.
An army was too scared to move against the man even though he was badly wounded and covered in the blood of both his and his enemies.
But what the soldiers didn't know was that the battle was over because...
The demigod was already dead.
He had died standing holding his spear and facing the army, even in his death the man still intimidated them, but that's when a crow landed on his shoulder everyone noticed.
The man's eyes no longer had life
…
"I don't know if it was a good decision or a bad one, just that it was my decision," said Cuchulainn.
"..."
Scathach remembered how her sister cried when she learned her husband had died, but she never understood. They were warriors and warriors lived for combat. It was an honor for them to live and die in battle. At the time Scathach never understood his sister's suffering.
Now she understands.
"I see… thanks for the reply, Satenta" said the goddess giving her student a smile.
The demigod replied with a half smile to his teacher.
"At your service, Professor" said the forest mage.
…
Davinci looked at the core and then at the orange haired girl who was on the floor clutching her stomach as if she had a stomach ache.
"Master, I will go with you to this singularity" Davinci's voice caught the girl's attention.
"Eh, is Davinci-chan coming with us?" Said Ritsuka.
It was amazing how seriously she wasn't taking the situation even after what had happened to her.
"Don't make me force you to eat another bag of nutrients, Ritsuka," said Davinci.
"Ah, don't you like being called Davinci-chan?" She said, smiling at the wizard.
"..."
This wasn't the time. Davinci just stared at the girl grabbing another bag.
"Sorry, please don't force me to eat this" said Ritsuka nervously.
"Davinci, I don't mind you going, but why?" Romani said.
"Ritsuka is still recovering and between me and Cuchulain I'm more economical with prana, so it won't leave the master so exhausted. Even with the core, we can't let what happened in Orleans repeat itself" said Davinci.
"Davinci-chan you really care about me" said Ritsuka with tears in her eyes, but the man took the bag, making Ritsuka hide behind Mashu.
"I understand, smart of you. Now we have to see who will go along. The essential would be 4 servants so as not to overdo the prana consumption" said Romani with his hand on his chin.
"I will go" everyone looked to know the owner of the voice and found Elizabeth with arms crossed.
"I'm bored, so I'll go," said Elizabeth.
"What are you a dog, do we have to walk the servants now?" Said Ritsuka in a genuine question, but Elizabeth didn't like that.
"I think provoking the people who will have to protect you is not a good idea, senpai" said Mashu.
"But I'm not insulting anyone" said Ritsuka.
Mashu blinked and closed his eyes as he placed his hand on the orange haired girl's mouth leaving her confused.
"That way, it will be better" said Mashu, holding Ritsuka's mouth, preventing her from saying anything.
Well, then the team is already made" said Romani looking at the nucleus, "I wish you the best of luck.
Davinci nodded and pulled his master by the arm towards the singularity.
"Hey, we're leaving now, let's go" shouted Ritsuka.
The servants who would listen to the master and started to go towards the singularity.
Archer, Artoria, Scathach, Mashu, Elizabeth and Davinci. It wasn't the ideal number to go but the saber always followed the archer and Scathach practically ordered the orange haired girl so that the goddess went with the group.
Scathach looks at the archer and takes the lead and starts walking towards the singularity.
Finally the Second Singularity opened up and it was Chaldea's responsibility to resolve this problem.
Grande Order
-10-
"~Ahhh, yours is so beautiful here" said Mashu with twinkle in his eyes.
"It really is beautiful here" said Ritsuka beside her.
"It's AD 60, we must be at the beginning of Nero's downfall, but what I can't figure out is. Where's the singularity?" Davinci asked with his hand on his chin.
"Archer, can you see anything?" She asked the mage for the archer.
"No, everything is clean within 5Km" said the archer for the connection that all the servants had for having the same master.
The archer noticed Scathach looking at him, even though he was at a considerable distance, the woman seemed to see him. The archer just looked straight ahead causing the goddess to tighten her spear.
"At least here, it's not hot like in Orleans" said Elizabeth, she turned and saw Ritsuka and Mashu with shining eyes looking at the sky.
"So cute" said Ritsuka.
"So beautiful" said Mashu.
"~Ahhhhh" said the two girls together.
How these two survived Orleans, Elizabeth will never know.
"Any idea where we can go, Doctor?" Davinci said.
"We're not picking up anything, sorry I can't help. You'll have to look for yourselves," Romani said in a hologram with interference.
"Useless doctor" said Ritsuka behind Davinci.
Doctor Romani almost dropped his coffee mug.
"Wh-what do you have to understand that there's not much I can do here Ritsuka" said the man shaking.
"Useless" said Ritsuka with an expressionless look.
The doctor dropped to his knees letting his mug shatter on the floor.
A hand descended on Ritsuka's head making a hollow sound.
"Ouch!" Said Ritsuka looking at who attacked her, "Mashu?!" Said the girl in surprise.
"Don't humiliate the doctor, senpai. He may be lazy but his job is very important" said Mashu, facing her master.
"I don't think it's helping, Mashu" whispered Romani.
"Ouch, you didn't have to hit me" said Ritsuka, whispering and rubbing the spot where he was hit. It's been twice, if it happens more often her head will open in two, it will definitely open.
"And you Artoria, any idea where we should go?" Davinci asked the dark saber, since the woman was once a KING, she expected the woman to have good decisions or instinct.
Artoria glared at he through her mask.
"If we are at the beginning of the fall of Emperor Nero, Rome is the place to go," said Artoria.
It doesn't hurt to try," said Davinci.
"Let's all go," Davinci said, drawing the group's attention.
The girls listened and started to follow the wizard.
"Hey wait, I'm the master, so I shouldn't be leading ?" said Ritsuka following Davinci's footsteps.
"No" Said everyone.
"Baddies" Ritsuka pouted. Mashu patted his shoulder in comfort.
Everyone walked, but only Scathach stood looking where the Archer was.
"I want to talk" said the woman through the link but only the archer heard.
"There's nothing to talk about, just focus on the mission woman" said the archer looking ahead.
"Woman? Now I'm just a woman? What are you, a child who can't settle things with civilized conversation" Scathach said, squeezing the spear even tighter.
"And you're Celtic? In the end we have the same purpose to KILL, so don't get sentimental, it was never your strength" said the Archer looking at the goddess.
"..."
Scathach opened his mouth to speak but his master's voice caught his attention.
"Scathach, you're lagging behind, let's go!" Shouted Ritsuka.
The goddess noticed King Arthur staring at her, which made the woman grit her teeth in frustration.
What did this woman have for the man who interested her to pay attention to her, what did she have that the goddess didn't have?
Scathach quickened her steps and passed Saber who just stared at her. But before passing the king the goddess heard something from Artoria.
"Give it up" said the king, causing the goddess's eyes to widen.
"You'll just get hurt even more by something that isn't yours" said the dark saber passing by the goddess.
Scathach stood with wide eyes and tightened her spear even more, the goddess looked once more at the place where the archer was but he had already left.
She looked straight ahead again and started to walk away with frustration rising in her chest.
"You have nothing Artoria that I don't have better, NOTHING" The goddess whispered to herself but the saber heard it even though it was a little far from the goddess.
"That's what we'll see, WOMAN" said Artoria without looking at Scathach.
The goddess listened and squeezed her spear to the point where her fingers turned red, it looked like the goddess wanted to break the spear in two.
As Scathach had said, she had NOTHING
-10-
"I see something," said the Ranger.
"What do you see archer?" Davinci asked.
"They appear to be soldiers facing each other, they are surrounding a woman" said the archer.
"Wait, I see it," Davinci said.
Davinci looked at Ritsuka, "What, the leader here is you" said the girl with a pout.
"What do you want to do, master" said Davinci.
The comment brought a smile to the girl's face.
"Lets help!" Said the girl with the orange hair.
"Do you help everyone who crosses your path?" Elizabeth said crossing her arms.
"It's not my fault if your heart is cold!" Ritsuka showed the line.
Mashu got nervous, it seemed that her master was playing with death in provoking beings that could kill her in two seconds.
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the orange haired girl.
"Enough wasting time and go!" In a great burst of speed the dark saber dashed where the army was.
"Wow, it doesn't have to be…" Another burst of speed interrupted Ritsuka.
"Scathach?" Said Ritsuka but the goddess was already gone.
…
The woman was surrounded, her troops had been defeated and she didn't think she would last long.
However, the woman was surprised by a black knight cutting five soldiers in half with one blow.
And a woman with purple hair and a crimson spear pierced three soldiers with her spear at once.
Another six surrounded the three girls but were hit in the head by some kind of beam of light.
The woman looked over and saw another woman with a staff and a Gauntlet with a design she didn't recognize.
Scathach glared at the saber as he removed the spear from the soldiers' bodies.
Artoria stared back at her, wiping the blood off her sword, but her eyes widened in surprise behind her mask at the sight of the woman they had saved.
"Hey are you…" Ritsuka stopped talking, not understanding what she was seeing.
Davinci blinked in surprise.
"Now that's unexpected," said Elizabeth.
The woman blinked and smiled. She wore an extravagant outfit. The front of her dress was transparent giving a view to her underwear and there was a plunging neckline in her red dress emphasizing her breasts.
"Umu, thank you for saving me, strange people. Why not join me in the great NERO for Rome's recovery?" Said the supposed emperor of ROME.
Scathach couldn't believe what she was seeing, she would have to see the face of the woman she was despising doubled over...
"Really unexpected, I agree," said Davinci with his mouth slightly open.
Nero just smiled at the group.
-A-
Author
The uniqueness of Rome started, I'll try to make it a little bigger than Ordeans, but it doesn't mean that, but chapters maybe 8 to 10 thousand words I'll think about it.
Now that I was rereading the previous chapters, I'm going to try to take these parts to develop other characters since I see the protagonist of the story as Chaldea itself not a specific character (Even if I pay more attention to some than others).
Well, I will try to develop the disagreement between the group and how they will have to resolve it, since in the first singularity the situation could not let them have even a disagreement since the group did not have any time, everything happened very quickly.
This one will be different, well I'll try to build on that so I'll stick to longer chapters, maybe it'll take a little longer than usual but I think it's for the greater good.
Well, we'll see in the next chapter...
Next update Honkai Impact 3rd.