Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 66 of the story!
Just finished from watching the FGO Anime NYC live. It was nice. NA gets good stuff as its approaching Tunguska next month. I sure do love all the nice stuff that we are getting and what's about to come in the future. (...If we ignore the obvious state of JP...Nevermind! New GUDAGUDA event possibly mashed with Christmas to save the game! I always knew Lasengle was cooking something!)
Anyway, with that said, let's start the chapter!
DISCLAIMER: All the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author
"How is his condition?" Ritsuka asked to Jekyll as he exited from his office.
"Altough I am not an expert when it comes to a servant endurance to physical pain and injuries, thankfully I think he will live." The scientist responded him, talking about Faust's state after they found him critically injured by Artoria Alter before carrying him to the apartment. "We were able to avoid the worst for him. Your healing spell also helped alot Ritsuka. Now Fran will be in charge of watching over him until Faust regains his consciousness."
"I made an analyze on Faust's body condition and I can confirm what has just told you." The hologram of Romani also talked, having checked on the alchemist as well. "His Spirit Core got miraculously unschated from any blow. If Artoria Alter's lance had gone a bit upwards than that might have been Faust's end. Talk about devil's luck."
"I feared that this could have happened." Peko speaked. "Walking out there alone wasn't a good idea."
"That alchemist seems to be quite the fool for still doing that though." Hans replied. "He can only blame himself on that."
"As much as I want to call you a mean moron, I have to agree with you on that." Nala speaked to the danish servant. "Why would he even think doing that was a good idea?"
"The feelings of lonesome solitude and abhorrent isolation that keeps one away from the conviviality and coexistence with others is a daunting and mighty one, little lady." Shakespeare described what could be the reason.
"Just say dude's an introvert like any normal person." Mordred told him, tired of the english writer's overboarding words to describe anything.
"Still, that was his decision. We couldn't have done anything to make him change his mind in staying with us." Mash talked before thinking back to something the dark king told them before going away. "And what did Artoria Alter meant when she said we should have better knowledge about Faust before vanishing?"
"Yeah. That sounded weird for her to say." Peko commented.
"She's probably just wanting to mess with your minds if I'm being honest." Mordred told them. However, the knight herself couldn't be so sure about that. "But, I have to admit that those words do make some sense when I think about the type of attitude and behaviour that the nerdy alchemist has."
"It sounds reasonable to assume that. Faust's behaviour is strange to say the least." Romani added.
"He helped us, then said he would leave us, dissapeard, came back, then left us and now we find him brutally beaten. That's quite a weird sequence of events involving him." Nala said, recounting on all the time the Faust had spent with them, even being one of the first servants she and the Chaldea group had met in this Singularity.
"And add that with the fact that he probably helped us escape those underground tunnels by eliminating the enemies at the exit. Which makes the things all the confusier for me." Peko speaked, rubbing his chin. "Like, why did he helped us but then we didn't saw him outside once we passed through the exit? I know that he isn't exactly in our group but we're still allies."
"Hum, that's why she said we should better know about our ally." Jekyll's mind thought again of Artoria Alter's words. When put with all this evidence, it didn't sound like any mere line to mess with someone's head anymore.
Ritsuka was also having the same thoughts. "You don't think that Faust is..."
"Keeping a secret from us? Most surely." Hans spelled it out what the group was all thinking by now.
"It couldn't be that he is working for someone else, could it?" Nala pondered.
"But it can't be for Artoria Alter and her group. It wouldn't make sense if she has done all that damage to an ally of hers." Mash said, not seeing how Faust was a helper of their enemies if the King of Storms injured him the way she did.
"Perhaps he is working only for himself and got discovered. Using us all as mere means to an end." Shakespere said. "Ah! A cruel tale of betrayal and tragedy, with us as the stepping stones for his goal! What a drama!"
"Pipe it down, will you?" Hans asked for the taller writer to keep his enthusiasm at bay.
"He is definetly keeping something secret from us. But what if it isn't about betraying us and working for the other side at all? What is a thing completely unrelated to that?" Peko brought up that possibility.
"Knowing about his legend as that of a tale...it could be possible." Mash replied.
"But I think that is something that only we will figure out once he recovers up." Ritsuka told.
"Oh, and better for him that the secret isn't something about having played us all this time." Mordred grabbed her sword. "Because I sware if it's that, his head can say goodbye to the rest of the body."
"I believe he wouldn't have those intentions with us in mind." Jekyll told to the knight.
"You're too gullible. That's what it is." Mordred told Jekyll before staring to the side with an annoyed face. "If that secret of yours is something related to your past life, I'll apologize later for forcing you to bring that up."
Romani then was about to speak again. "But if we assume that Faust-"
"Alright! Enough about that topic! You're talking about a man who is currently unconscious and can't be questioned for now." Hans interrupted Romani, tapping on the book he brought from the library of the Clock Tower. "Let's instead talk about the reason that made us go to that infested spell books place."
"Oh yeah! The information about the Holy Grail War ritual!" Ritsuka exclaimed, having remembered why they had gone to that library in the first place.
"Yes indeed. And I don't know who, but someone had organized all of the information for us before we had arrived." Hans told them. "So whoever they were, we have to thank them."
"Could it have been Faust?" Nala wondered.
"Can we please stop talking about the guy for a second?" Hans responded, slightly angered. "If it was him don't you think we would have crossed paths with him in the tunnels? But like I said, let's ignore him for the moment. Wheter it was him or not, it's not what I'm intrested in."
"So, what information did you got from that book and all those pages?" Jekyll asked him.
"First of all, I know that it may shock you, but once again, my suspicions have proven to be correct." Hans said with a proud smug. "The Singularities, altough powered by the Holy Grails that functions as their core, aren't Holy Grail wars at all. In fact, these pages state that there was an older ritual before the one of the Holy Grail that also involved servants."
"An older type of ritual?" Peko repeated that part, curious.
"And with a different purpose as well. While the modern day ritual of the Holy Grail War has the end goal of filling the grail with the mana of the defeated servants and give the wish to the remaining duo of master and servant, this older ritual was one for the greater good of the entire humanity." Hans said, retelling what he had read on the pages. Everyone stood silent, hearing him. "Seven special servants of the highest order, summoned in order to combat and defeat a single common enemy. A great danger that poses as a threat to all humanity."
"And what or who would that enemy be?" Mash asked him.
"And those 'special' kind of servants too. Do they have a name or some sort of designation?" Mordred made other question.
"Unfortunately, the information about the enemy is very vague. It only mentions how it can represent humanity's greatest sins, borned from one's twisted love, empathy or care for mankind." Hans responded, giving the best answer he could.
"One's twisted love for mankind?" Ritsuka said. "Like, an affection so extreme to the point of being obsessive?"
"Most precisely it I assume." Hans replied. "This enemy is basically the definiton of a doomsday for humanity. Now, onto the special group of servants. Thankfully, they do have a name in the book for these specific type of servant." The small author turned the page around. "They are what's called, a Grand Servant."
Peko's eyes slightly widened in awe as he heard the name. "A Grand Servant..."
"They must be really powerful if they are a level above every single servant then." Nala commented, also amazed at such concept.
"A Special Force team made of servants? Now that's quite a cool idea to imagine." Ritsuka speaked. "Have we run into a Grand Servant during our journey yet?"
"They only appear if their great natural foe and enemy of humanity has manifested. Otherwise, no one shows up." Hans explained the conditions for the appearence of a Grand Servant.
"What also makes a Grand Servant a Grand Servant? What are the requirements and qualifications to be one?" Mash asked Hans. "I doubt that being strong is the only thing that makes someone a Grand Servant."
"True that. Per exemple, Mordred may be strong, but that's her only quality, so I doubt she would be a Grand Servant if it was depending on something else." Nala said, provoking Mordred.
"What?! Wanna say that to my face shortie!?" Mordred shouted angrily, staring at Nala who taunted the knight by showing her tongue.
"I said it first time loud and clear." The girl told with a teasing smile.
"But it has to be something really special indeed. No offense, but if the attribute to be Grand Servant was something like intelligence and intellect, I think Hans and Shakespeare would look like pretty dissapointing Grand Servants." Ritsuka said is opinion on the matter.
"No worries. That wasn't even the worst critic I've had in my whole life as an author." Hans replied, not taking offense on Ritsuka's comment at all.
"If anything, I appreciate how the young man judge us as smart. When was the last time when someone thought of me highly while I was alive?" Shakespeare said, closing his eyes while thinking on his past life.
"Artoria Alter looks like someone who would could be based on a Grand Servant based on strenght, influence and title alone." Peko speaked. "But if Grand Servants are meant to help humanity, that would exclude her for being a servant that right now is fighting against for the complete opposite."
"And that's why you should never interrupt a teacher in the middle of a explanation or else you'll be the class's donkey." Hans told the boy, not having finished his intel about the Grand Servants. "They are servants with a Saint Graph of an higher rank than those of normal servants, making them look like some old and cheap toy that lost its shine when the new big thing as arrived. Normal servants can still be useful, but they lack when in comparison with a Grand Servant in many areas. If a servant was made to fight individuals, a Grand Servant was made to fight higher beings such as the world itself. They are literally the apex."
"That was a cool explanation and all but, we still don't know about the qualifications in order to be a Grand Servant." Peko told Hans, still having that question left up in the air.
"No problems!" Romani exclaimed happily. "I'll be glad to-"
"I'll gladly enlighten you about it!" Da Vinci said, appearing out of nowhere and getting in front of Romani.
"W-W-What?! Why can't I be the one explaining?!" Romani said, unhappy.
"Because I think you deserve to sit down and relax while drinking some coffee in the meantime." Da Vinci replied to him.
"Now that you mention it...I could take this chance to pour my mouth into some coffee." Romani said, contemplative, before leaving the hologram image, leaving Da Vinci to take all the space.
"And now, onto the lesson: Like Hans mentioned already, the Grand Servants are the epitome of a servant. If there was a pyramid scheme of servants, the Grand ones would be sitting at the top. The most important and valuable characteristic to be a Grand Servant is to have an ability of great standard that can stood up from the top of the rest of their own class."
"Of their own class?" Nala asked confused.
"Oh! I get it! Seven Grand Servants! Each one of each the traditional seven classes!" Ritsuka exclaimed, having understood the explanation so far. "The servant who gets to perform the best and highest of their class's abilities gets to be the Grand Servant."
Da Vinci nodded proudly. "That's right Ritsuka-kun! Good to see you're paying attention to these subjects."
"And if their natural enemy is of a great threat to humanity..." Mash said.
"...The Grand Servants get to be selected based on who amongst every servant of each class, could help save humanity the most." Peko concluded.
"That's exactly it! The Grand Servants are essentialy the greatest defenders the world has from itself." Da Vinci replied. "Wow! So this is what it looks like being a teacher eh? I think I should create a class of you four and educate you more about these topics one day."
"Fu fou!"
As they where all talking, Fou interrupted the conversation by jumping from Mash's shoulder to Nala's and then to the window, pointing something to the outside. "Fou fou!"
"Hm? What is it Fou? Something's off?" Nala asked to the small creature.
"Did he detected something perhaps?" Jekyll thought.
"No worries everyone." Da Vinci told them with a comforting smile. "I'll check on the monitor what it could possib-..." All of a sudden, the beautiful inventor's eyes widened in shock as she stared to the monitor. "Mio dio..."
Meanwhile, Romani had came back. "Ah, that coffee felt so-Holy crap! What the hell is happening?!" He shouted in huge shock, moving his hands to his head. "I go away for a one minute-"
"Hey! It wasn't my fault!" Da Vinci told him.
"Did I said I blamed you?" Romani talked back.
"P-Please. You two shouldn't be discussing now, Da Vinci-san and Doctor-san." Mash tried to make the tension between the two die down.
"But what's even happening to make them react like this?" Ritsuka wondered as Nala went to the window where Fou was.
"Oh! You have to be freaking kidding!" Nala exclaimed, being in the same pure shock as of Romani and Da Vinci. A noise of what seemed like a crowd sounded from outside.
"N-Nala. What are you seeing?" Ritsuka asked the girl, starting to feel nervous.
Peko went to his sister, also taking a look to the outside, resulting in his reaction being worthy of a jaw drop. "S-So many of them..."
"So many of what Peko?" Mash asked.
"Helter skelters! A lot of them!" Peko responded as he saw a big wave of the robotic enemies all around the building, occupying huge part of the street. "They have surrounded the apartment!"
Mordred wasted immediatly no time in getting her sword ready. "Shit! They found our base!"
"We have to defend our base!" Jekyll exclaimed, about to run torwards the door,only to be stoped by Mordred.
"Hey now, we take care of them! You should stay here with Fran and make sure Faust is save!" The knight told him.
Jekyll however persisted. "Me and Hyde can fight alongside you!" He exclaimed, grabbing a flask. "We've already did it once and we'll do it aga-hgngh!" Suddenly, Jekyll's legs felt weak as he was about to lose his balance and fall on the ground. "T-The after effects! Right now?" He lamented as Mordred grabbed him, preventing Jekyll from collapsing.
"See what I'm talking about dumbhead? Don't jeopardize your body like that!" She helped him lean on a chair.
"I-I know but-"
"No buts! You will protect the interior of this place and we will defend its exterior from those machines." Mordred told Jekyll, knowing that this was the best for him.
"Y-Yeah." Jekyll replied, a bit exhausted and saddened but understanding.
"Me and Mr. Dramaturge here will also stay inside to defend the place." Hans told Ritsuka, with him and Shakespeare staying inside the building.
"Noted!" Ritsuka nodded his head in reaction before staring to Mash, Peko and Nala. "Everyone! Let's go!"
All the three grabbed their weapons.
"Understood!"
"Understood!"
"Understood!"
The group alongside Mordred, had stormed to the outside of the apartment, being greeted by the crowd of helter skelters in front of them.
"They are in a huge number! I almost see no end of them!" Peko speaked.
"But they are clearly a shoter group when compared to those books of the underground library!" Moredred replied, moving her sword. "We can end them!"
"And in record time as well!" Nala told, putting both hands on the hilt of her sword.
"Remember shortie. Less than ten of these scrap metals defeated is equivelent of a terrible grade." Mordred talked to the girl, encouraging her in her own way.
"Eh, I guarantee you that I can do more than that. Try not getting behind instead." Nala said with a convinced and prideful smile to Mordred who smiled in the same way.
"I think making sure that the building isn't destroyed is a better challenge." Ritsuka told the two, not finding this a proper time for them to be competing.
"I think this isn't a moment to be doing challenges at all!" Mash said, sticking to their main objective as of right now.
"Sure sure. I'll do it twenty five!" Mordred talked to Mash first before speaking to Nala.
"Then I'll do thirty!" Nala replied, with her and the knight dashing torwards the enemies.
"Those two..." Peko smiled a bit embaressedly as Mash sighed next to him.
"We can't just stand here if they already went ahead. Charge!" Ritsuka told to the two who shorty proceeded to do as he commanded.
"Luminary Route!"
"Transient Wall of Snowflakes!"
And so they started the defense of the building. Despite being in a huge numerical disadvantage, majority of the helter skelter would be dispatched with one or two hits, with the difficulter ones needing more effort to be defeated. The group was taking care of both fronts, stopping the opponents to even be able to approach Jekyll's apartment. With the things going well, the huge crowd was becoming smaller, with Mordred and the chaldeans doing a great job so far.
"We're doing it! We're pushing them off the area!" Peko said as he slayed down an helter skelter, the space not being much occupied by the helter skelters as it was moments ago.
"Keep doing it! There aren't much left of them by now!" Ritsuka said before spotting an helter skelter coming torwards him. "Hm!" He stood ready, about to dodge the moment the robot swinged its weapon torwards him. Yet, that wasn't needed as Fran appeared by jumping from the window and coming down crashing onto the helter skelter that was about to attack him, destroying it with her mace. "F-Fran!? You came here to fight as well?" Ritsuka reacted with surprise.
"Arrr Uaar!" Frankenstein grunted to the master of Chaldea before turning her body around and destroying two more incoming helter skelters.
Mordred, that was near the two and was the only one who somewhat could understand what she was saying, was astonished by the artificial human's 'words'. "Wait! Seriously?! You can do that?!"
"What is she saying?" Nala asked to Mordred before slashing an helter skelter. "Twelve!"
"I don't know if I can quite explain it right but from what I understand is something involving these robot's mana." Mordred told them as she continued to fight.
"The robot's mana?" Ritsuka said confused before seeing something in the distance. "What is that over there?"
From a considerable distance from them, a group of helter skelters started to merge together, molding their metalic bodies into something new and dangerous. A weapon aimed at the building they were trying to protect.
"It resembles a tank gun of sorts." Mash said before raising her voice in dispair at the realization. "Oh no! They are planning to destroy the apartment with a blast from that gun!"
"And they're already charging it!" Peko exclaimed, pointing his finger to the gun, about to fire it and destroy it. However, a trio of helter skelters got in front of him, preventing him from executing the attack. "H-hey!" The boy got immediatly occupied with the enemies in front of him, having no room to attack the giant gun.
"We have to do something before that weapon gets fired!" Mash was about to advance torwards the weapon before having a couple of helter skelters getting in her away. "Ghg! It's impossible like this!"
"They're trying to stop us from destroying that weapon!" Ritsuka said, seeing the gun about to be fully charged. "We need to open a way!"
"Graaah!" Screaming, Frank his with her mace on the ground, freeing bright green thunders from it, resulting on the destruction of many helter skelters in front of them, creating a more accessible path torwards the weapon.
"Fran cleared it!" Peko exclaimed, still occupied with some helter skelters.
"Raah!" Fran growled to Mordred and Nala.
"I can't exactly translate that but I'd say is for both of you to go forward now!" Mash told the other two girls, still fighting opponents.
"Going right now!" Nala responded as she and Mordred quickly runned torwards the weapon who had just finished from being fully charged.
"It's about to fire! Quick!" Ritsuka yelled, using a Command Seal on both Nala and Mordred, hoping that it would make a difference.
A barricade of helter skelters was created in front of the two, trying to keep Nala and Mordred away from the gun as they continued to run and slash down enemies along the way.
"Air Step!"
Dodging from three enemies at the same time, Nala tried to jump above the barricade of helter skelters. The enemies on their turn, tried to rise a wall composed of them and prevent Nala from reaching the gun who was about to fire.
"Tsk!" As Nala prepared to swing her sword to destroy the barrier, Mordred anticipated on that matter and sliced down the wall of helter skelters.
"It's all yours! Now!" Mordred shouted to Nala, who powered up her blade right in the moment the gun was about to shot.
"Precise Stroke!"
Unfortunately, she reached a second late. Right in the moment the blade was descending, the gun fired the blast, hitting greatly the building up ahead, shortly before being destroyed by the powerful slash.
"NO!" Ritsuka screamed in terror, seeing the damage inflicted on the apartment. Jekyll, Hans, Shakespeare and Faust where all still there. A fire started from within it as the air around them started to rain with countless pages that once belonged to the scientist.
"I-I was late?!" Nala stared at the destroyed builiding with huge dread and apprehension the moment she landed on the ground. Her face sweating nervously and her eyes widened with the fear of the worst scenario might have come true. "Despite my speed, I wasn't able to reach in time?"
"Ghgrrrr! Fucking dammit!" Mordred yelled in rage, killing the remaining helter skelters.
"They...They couldn't have been gone just like that, could they?" Peko asked, wanting to believe that this wasn't the end for them.
"I want to believe that." Mash replied with a sorrowful voice, a pain in her chest. "But...seing how powerful that blast was-"
"Hey! Stop lamenting and moaning about things that didn't happened yet!" The voice from Hans shouted as he appeard from the behind the smoke and flames alongside Jekyll, Shakespeare and Faust. The english writer was carrying the unconscious alchemist on his back. Everyone else in that moment felt a huge feeling of relief passing through their bodies. No one died and the scare was only just a scare in the end.
"Oh thank god you're all okay." Nala muttered in a deep breath, eyes closed and hand next to her chest, glad that she wouldn't have to live with a huge regret and blame.
"You gave us all quite the fright." Ritsuka told them, happy to see the four alive.
"We thought you hadn't make it when that blast hit the building. Good to see that wasn't the case." Peko said.
"Fortunately we where on our way to exit the apartment the moment we saw the weapon pointing at us." Jekyll replied. "We were able to have some time to grab Faust and some other things before exiting the apartment just as when the weapon fired at it." His smile dissapeard as his face turn around to stare at now destroyed building. "However, the same cannot be said to many other things that I had in there."
"Sorry Jekyll-san. We weren't able to stop it in time." Mash lamented, slightly lowering her head.
Mordred also felt a bit down by seeing Jekyll sad. "Hey, if you want it, we can go there and see if there's still something that can be retriev-"
"No. There's no need for that." Jekyll went back to smile, denying politely the knight's offer. "Nothing lasts forever. But it can always be rebuilt. My destroyed office is the least of our concerns as of now."
Mordred was impressed on hearing that. "Eh! Sure." She smiled to him.
"All those pages..."
"All those books..."
Both Hans and Shakespeare glimpsed at the sight of the scattered pages in the air, some in the process of being burned.
"It must have hit you hard too to see so many works of literature destroyed like that." Peko told to the two servant writers.
"Seeing works with years worth of restless job and sheer endevor..."
"All gone in a space of few seconds with a blow of a fire blast."
"Rraah rhaa!" Fran grunted, closing her hands into fists, trying to cheer the two.
"Fran is right! You two must get your heads up! Now is not the moment to cry." Nala speaked.
"Cry? No. This feeling that I'm getting..." Hans stared to the palm of his hand. "Are you feeling it too?" He asked to Shakespeare as both continued to stare at the fallen pages.
"Yes my short galling friend. I too, sense it." Shakespeare responded.
Ritsuka was about to try say something to make them feel better. "What happened now was indeed tragic, but I'm sure that-"
"Pff. Tragic?" Hans cackled at it. "What we are feeling right now..." Two huge smiles suddenly appeard on Hans and Shakespeare's faces. "Is the urge to laugh our asses off!"
"EH?!" Everyone reacted in utter bafflement.
"Fu fou? (Wait what?)"
"Seeing books teared apart and ruined like mere particles of sand is truly gratifying!" Shakespeare exclaimed, acting like he has never been happier than ever before.
"I know right? You don't even know how many nights I would spent trying to come up with something to keep writing my works. I hated it! Hated so much that it was the main fuel that would make me finish most of my books!" Hans replied, smilling and laughing happily as well.
"Truly!" Shakespeare exclaimed. "And what about the deadlines?"
"Oh, don't even get me started on the deadlines! Assholes would want me to create and deliver them my recent work in a space of a month! A MONTH!" Hans yelled.
"And all that for in the end those donkeish editors, with the most snobbish, punchable and stupidest faces imaginable, to come and say 'Oh, but I can't understand what this line in this paragraph in this page means. It's too convoluted for my tiny imbecile brain. We can't publish that.' Idiots like them are what makes me want to make my writing even more complex to the point their brains explode from overthinking!" Shakespeare exclaimed out loudly, raising his arms, having forgotten for a moment that he was carrying Faust, letting the unconscious alchemist fall to the ground. "Ups! My bad." He quickly picked up Faust again.
"And when that hard work, sweat and tears gets rewarded in form of criticism from people who don't know a anything about writing a book!" Hans said, still not finished. "Like, what do pesky stuck up nobles and royals know about creative writing besides spending entire days sitting in their luxurious palaces, scratching their butts, eat overpriced food and play with-"
"Okay okay! We get it! It was important for you too vent all that frustration and angst out of you." Mash interrupted, putting an end to the two writers rant.
"And I thought I had big amounts of hate during my lowest moments in life." Mordred commented, really surprised at how much anger the two authors could have inside of them.
"Writer must be a stressful job to have then." Peko said.
"You have no idea." Hans replied with a tired face.
"I wonder how crazy they would go if they knew about unions." Ritsuka thought before speaking. "Well, now that we got to see we are all fine, we got a new problem on our hands. Finding a new base to stay. Any suggestions?" Ritsuka asked to the entire party, seeing if they had any place in mind to replace the old destroyed base.
"Hummm, I have no idea. No other place seems save from the monsters here." Nala said.
That's when Jekyll had one. "Oh! I know where!"
"One thousand and fifty-one, One thousand and fifty-two, One thousand and fifty-three..."
The old man was spending his day normally in his private office. Despite of the earlier disturbence he had today with that cold woman staring at him, it all went away quickly with no troubles, with the old cheapskate man continuing his enjoyable labour. One of the few things he still appreciated doing it in his life. But nothing good could last forever.
"One thousand and fifty-four, One thousand and fifty-f-"
A sudden knock from the door sounded, catching the old man by surprise. "Hm? Visits? When the whole city is in quarentine?" He said, finding it strange before hearing more knocking. "Already going! Wait a minute! One thousand and fifty-six. One thousand and fifty-seven. One thousand and-" The knock on the door got louder and more agressive, pulling the old man away from his money counting, letting out an annoyed grunt. "Don't you know what a minute means? I said I was going!" He yelled.
Then silence. And in three seconds, the old man went back to his job. "One thou-" The knocking at the ddor was so loud that at this point it was more of a banging, making the grumpy old man irritated, punch his desk and immediatly got up from his chair. "Does people these days don't know that patience is a virtue? They think they can have everything by their way? Also, stop punching the door! Door knockers were made for a reason after all!" The old man protested along the way torwards his house's entrance door, grabbing the handle. "It better be something worth my atten-"
Just as he had opened the slightest inch of the door, it was slammed opened instantly by Mordred's kick on it. "Thank you for the hospitality!" She smiled, entering the house without having thought on what she had done while the old man was sitted on the ground, looking at her with huge shock, having got quite the scare.
"W-W-W-What are you-" He gagged in pure bewilderment as he saw more people entering his home.
"Sorry about the abrupt entrance. If the door is broken I'll pay for a new one." Jekyll told to the old man, passing by him.
"T-this is my house! You lot are invading my property!" The old man protested, getting up from the ground.
"Oh, shut up your poor excuse of a Charles Dickens character!" Hans reprimanded the man as he was followed by Shakespeare, Fran and the Chaldea group who entered the residence by last, carrying the unconscious body of Faust into the living room.
"Anyone seeing something that we could use to lay his body?" Peko asked, observing the objects in the room.
"Wait! Why is that man here?!" The old man questioned in panic, recognizing the face of the alchemist. "Why are YOU here?!"
"This table should do it." Mordred spoted desk with piles of money, grabbing it alongside Ritsuka who then moved it to the center of the room, much to the dispair of the old man.
"Eeeh?! You can't use that! That's my-"
"Yosh! Now to clean it up!" With a swing of her arm, Mordred cleared the table from all the pile of coins that were resting on top of it.
"MY MONEY!" The old man screamed in horror, immediatly crouching down to recollect the coins that were now all over the floor as his 'invaders' layed Faust's body on the table.
"Done. It might not be a bed but it's something." Mash said, turning around to stare at the old man with a gentle smile. "We promise we won't be of a bother to you sir."
"You won't?! You're already being one!" The old man shouted furiously.
"The sir at that age shouldn't be yelling so strongly. It might hurt the vocal cords." Peko advised genuinely.
That however only served to feed more the old man's anger, who tighten his hands into fists. "Oh you brats..."
"Our own residence got destroyed so we aren't planning in staying here for too long." Ritsuka explained the situation to the old man, trying to see if he could calm down with some justification given.
"And you had to come to my house because? I hate visits!" The old man exclaimed. "Even more if they are during the time period of my job!"
"Oi!" Coming from behind, Mordred put her arm over the shoulder of the old man, surprising him. "Don't you think how lucky and nice it must be that of all the houses here in London, we choosed yours to stay in the meantime? Like, we already have met each other and we know how much of a sad loner you must be since you basically don't interact with anyone, so we made yourself a favour and have someone that you can socialize with." Her smile grew as she pulled the old man closer to her. "Aren't we the best for thinking about that?"
"Hmm. Y-Yeah, sure thing." The old man responded with a nervous smile, sweating in fear of what the knight could do to him if he said no.
"Wow. Mordred is really making that old coot think otherwise." Nala said, amazed by Mordred's speaking skills.
"I think he doesn't has much choice when he's technically being threatned." Peko whispered to his sister, thinking Mordred could have perhaps made a slightly better approach.
"But I saw that man being beaten by that woman." The old man recalled, remembering the cold stare Artoria Alter gave him, sending him chills down his spine. "I-If she's somehow after him, and now he's here at my house...that means she will come here and-"
"We will make sure that won't happen." Jekyll told him. "Trust us. We will protect you and your home from being harmed if she appears."
"Thou offer us thy home and we in return offer you protection and security." Shakespeare added.
Giving an attentive and long stare at the entire group in front of him, the old man closed his eyes as he accepted the visitors. "Fine. I see how it is. You can stay here. Just, don't make too much noise. Specially at night." He said, collecting some coins and putting them in a sack before heading torwards his office. "Whatever are the topics or plans you are about to discuss, don't bring me into them, please."
"Sure. We can do that." Hans replied. "Could you also make us some tea or coffee?"
"Don't abuse my generosity!" The old man rised his voice, closing the door of his office, leaving the party to have the living room all for themselves.
"What a snappy geezer." Ritsuka commented before changing his focus to more important things. "I think our priority now is to know where did all those helter skelters came from. I've never seen so many of them together in one place."
"Someone has to be commanding them. Otherwise, how could there be so many in one place?" Mash said.
"That's precisely the case here." Romani speaked, appearing in his hologram form. "I've made a research on the helter skelters every time you fought them and all that culimnated into an intresting discovery."
"Which was?" Nala replied, waiting for the answer.
"Altough they seem autonomous machine with technology never seen before during our modern days, there's also a magical factor in their creation. The helter skelters were partially created to the works of a servant's Noble Phantasm." Romani revealed.
"So they aren't entirely mechanical like we used to think." Peko responded, now having vital information of the helter skelters. "And I suspect that it means they are being controlled at distance then."
"If we defeat the servant behind the helter skelters, that means all the helter skelters are consequently defeated as well." Mash thought.
"That seems reasonable. However, I doubt the doctor won't be able to trace the individual's location due to the Demonic Fog." Jekyll said, remembering that the technology systems of Chaldea tended to get glitchy when being utilized in Demonic Fog areas.
"Unfortunatly you are right. The instruments of tracking won't work very well in this fog. It could lead us to the wrong path even." Romani replied.
And then Nala remembered something. "But hey, didn't Fran said something about being able to sense the helter skelters mana or something similar?"
"Oh right! She did!" Ritsuka replied, remembering it too.
"So if she can sense the magical power of the helter skelters, she can also sense where their creator is!" Romani said happily.
"Nice one Fran!" Peko told her.
"Ahrr Urr." Fran grunted with a smile before making more noise.
"What is she saying now?" Hans asked.
"You still have something else to show us?" Mordred replied, understanding what Fran meant. The artifical girl nodded her head. "Well, then show what it is."
Doing so, Fran demonstrated what appeared to be a piece of rusty metal to everyone.
"What's that?" Nala asked, trying to comprehend why Fran had a piece of metal with her. "Wait! Isn't that the metal the helter skelters are made from?"
"Uhh rrhaa."
"It is indeed." Mordred speaked for Fran. "She's saying she grabbed one from those helter skelters we defeated a moment ago. It seems it has an inscription in the metal by what she could spot."
"An inscription on it?" Ritsuka said confused as he and the party all took a closer look into the piece of metal Frankenstein was grabbing.
"There really is one!" Peko saw the format of the letters in it, altough the quality of the metal was too damaged to grasp what the word was. "If only it wasn't so rusty."
"And I have wrote books with harder caligraphy." Shakespeare commented, not being able to fully see what were the letters and word as well.
"Perhaps if we scrub it or something to see it better." Nala thought.
"Doubt that all this rust will come out with something as simple as sponge and cleaning products." Hans replied to her.
"I know what we can do about that!" Romani exclaimed, having comed up with something. "Mash, send a picture of it to my screen so that I can use some optimization tools and see what's written in it."
"Brilliant idea doctor!" Mash responded. "I'll do it right now." The shielder took the photo and immediatly sent to Romani who was now in the procees of inspecting it.
"Okay guys. This shouldn't take too long. Wait a minute or two." He told to the group.
"We sure will doc!" Ritsuka responded, moving his head around to see both Peko and Nala staring at some frames of paintings on the wall. "Thinking about stealing it?" He asked to the twins, observing how hypnotized they seemed by it.
"Wouldn't mind to." Nala told him.
"We aren't here to do that." Peko reprimanded her.
"It isn't like the old coot here will miss them seeing how wealthy he apparently is." Nala responded back to her brother.
"Well, I can understand why you would do it so. They really look like nice paintings." Ritsuka commented, staring at them.
"Yeah. It feels somewhat relaxing and peaceful to look at." Peko told him. "Seeing how a single person put so much effort into creating one beautiful thing."
"I think the same here. Specially that one with the flowers." Nala pointed at a specific one. "My favourite so far."
"Some appear to be portraits of real landscapes." Mash pointed out, joining the rest of her group. "I wonder if they are as sightly in person as they are in frames."
"If they are, I really wish to see them personally. How much more things the world as to show us." Peko told to the Shielder, sharing the same feeling with her.
"Hey Peko. About when we where escaping from those tunnels..." Ritsuka speaked, bringing something up. "You were looking very silent and sad. Was something bothering you?" He asked to his friend, a bit concerned.
"I too was finding strange how quiet you were back there." Mash also talked about it. "Were you feeling bad?"
"..." Peko didn't respond right off the bat, unsure if he should share the motive of his unhappiness back there with Ritsuka and Mash. Nala also stood silent, looking at him, knowing well what made her brother behave like that.
"It was..." Peko speaked, still hesitating in saying it.
"You were losing yourself in deep thoughts weren't you?" Nala interrupted him.
"Huh?" Peko reacted to that.
"You silly goose!" Nala slapped him in the back.
"Ow! My back!" Peko said in pain, rubbing his back. "Was that necessary?"
"When you start to space out in dire situations or with the moral down of course it is necessary!" Nala exclaimed.
"I still think that wasn't needed Nala." Mash told to the younger girl, a bit embaressed.
"At least it wasn't an headbutt." Ritsuka added, reminding Mordred's way of motivating an ally.
"It doesn't matter!" Nala told to the two before wenting back to speak to Peko. "What I want to say, is that there's no need to become gloomy when our goal gets more difficult! We will always try till the end! Got it?" She put both her hands on Peko's cheeks, smilling to him.
Peko smiled in return, joyful with his sister's words. "Got it."
"The same goes for you two." The girl said to both Ritsuka and Mash.
"Aye aye cheerleader." Ritsuka replied, smiling at how energetic and upbeat Nala could be around the team.
"You made it sound and clear." Mash responded, proceeding to look at Peko. "Whatever is making you feel down, I know you are able to comeback from it Peko. All of you are." She told to the group before staring to the ground. "If anything, I think I'm the one underperforming here."
"Eh?!"
"What?!"
"Mash?"
The other three reacted weirdly and incredulously.
"Stop lying. You know that isn't true Mash!" Nala told to her friend.
"That's right! Your new skill has helped us a lot in battle!" Peko added.
"Plus, if it wasn't for your protection ability, all of us would be dead within the first ten seconds on this Singularity." Ritsuka said to his servant. "That is far from underperforming if you ask me."
"I know but, when I've heard about how all those helter skelters that were built almost perfectly and controlled simultaneously at distance as the work of another servant's Noble Phantasm, I think about my own Noble Phantasm." Mash expressed, staring at her shield. "We've been through a lot already and I still barely know how to use or manage it. While the enemy can perform their owns at their full capacity." She talked with some frustration. "I'm not doing enough for this group yet!"
"That's what I like to hear." Mordred approached the group. "Even if you never reach to the true potential that shield has to offer, I can assure you have more will than the previous bastard that owned it. Hell! Even the asshole of my father must thought of that when she saw you for the first time."
"Thank you for saying that Mordred-san, but I-"
"But nothing! Don't make me go through the whole process of headbutting you again." Mordred shut down Mash, not wanting to hear otherwise from the Shielder. "As for you, you are her master, right?" Mordred directed the words to Ritsuka.
"Hum, yes. I am." Ritsuka responded to the knight.
"Then you should be the one thinking and making sure that she gets to unlock her Noble Phantasm true potential! Not me!" Mordred scolded him all of a sudden. "And if you two shorties are her friends, you should do the same!"
"Hey, we kinda are trying to do that already!" Nala responded back to Mordred.
"We support Mash the same way she supports us! If she's having trouble, we will help her!" Peko said to the knight who smirked.
"Wow. All this comradery. It's as if I was with the other folks of the Round Table again." Mordred said, remembering of some old times.
"Then who would be Merlin?" Ritsuka asked her since she was comparing the experiences.
"Hummm, I don't know. The 'doctor guy' from the hologram? He seems to be your main adviser and guide as well as annoying too." Mordred told him.
"Hehe, I also could see some similarities. Both doctor and the mage Merlin from King Arthur's court are very intelligent and wise about many topics." Mash replied, agreeing with Mordred's comment.
"So does it mean that Merlin guy also likes to watch streamer girls?" Peko asked.
"Or drink lots of coffee and doing overwork?" Nala asked as well.
"From what I got of some arthurian articles, Merlin would be quite a cool addition to have in our group." Ritsuka commented. "They said he was the most powerful wizards of all wizards."
Both Peko and Nala were in awe of hearing that.
"He really must be a cool guy then." Nala said.
"It would be nice to meet him one day, that's for sure." Peko speaked.
"HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYY! Who the hell are you talking and comparing me to behind my back!?" Romani's hologram bursted into the middle of the group, an angry expression on his face. "Care to tell me who it is again?"
"Merlin, doctor." Mash told him. "The great mage and adv-"
"MERLIN!? MERLIN!?" Romani shouted in absolute shock and indignation. "You are comparing me to that lazy, jackass, troll, insufferable, dickhead?! That guy?!"
"Yeah. Don't you like him?" Ritsuka asked, genuinely confused.
"The hell no! I despise him! I wish that he-...I mean, yeah. I just don't like the guy. Found his character extremely insufferable on my reads of the arthurian legends." Romani said, a lot calmer.
"Why do I feel you have a personal vendetta against him?" Nala told to Romani, suspicious.
"Fou fou fu! Fou! (Dont worry doc! I too hate that guy with a passion!)" Fou jumped agitatedly all of a sudden.
"I don't. He only isn't interesting to me." Romani quickly dispatched the topic, bringing another one. "Anyways, I finally got to decipher and creat an image where the visualization of the inscription on the helter skelter's metal is better."
Everyone in the room immediatly stopped doing whatever they were doing and went close to the hologram of Romani.
"Show it then." Hans told to Romani who didn't lose time and shared the image in a great quality with them.
With the letters and word now perceptible to read, everyone got to see what was spelled in the metal. 'Charles Babbage AD 1888'
"Oh!" Fran let out a surprised grunt.
"Charles...Babbage?" Ritsuka spelled it. "Where have I heard that name before?"
"The famous mathematician that created the concept of te computer? That Charles Babbage?" Mash said, knowing who the identity behind the name was. Still, she couldn't help but feel something was wrong with that. "But, that doesn't make sense on how he could have created the helter skelters then."
"What do you mean? Is that Charles Babbage supposed to not be alive?" Peko asked to the shielder.
"Yes actually. If the year we are in currently is 1888, then Charles Babbage should have been dead for at least a decade by now." Mash responded to the boy, recalling the date of death of the mathematician.
That in turn, seemed to shock Jekyll. "That can't be. From what I know, Charles Babbage is still very much alive and breathing till this day."
"What?" Mash reacted in surprise. "How so if all the information I read about him said he died in 1871?"
"Case of Mandela effect perhaps? It isn't unusual to happen sometimes." Ritsuka said, trying to find a justification for the problem.
"Still, how can you be sure that man is really still alive?" Nala asked Jekyll, wanting to know what made the scientist think otherwise.
Thankfully for Jekyll, the old man seemed to read some newspapers, to which was laying on a smaller table before he grabbed it. "This newspaper is from a month ago and it features an article where Charles Babbage himself is interviewd." He told to the group, showing the mentioned article that looked to be veridical, even having a photo of Charles Babbage in it.
"Weird." Mordred simply commented.
"That guy only died a few years before me and yet is somehow still alive? Something here definitly mustn't be right." Hans talked, adjusting his glasses.
"A true inconsistency on the lore." Shakespeare added. "A bad way to break a narrative."
"Could this be another irregularity of the Singularity?" Peko wondered.
"That would be my guess as well." Romani replied. "Just like the previous Singularities we've been to before, there was always something that didn't match the historical authenticity of its respective era. And this isn't the first error we have witnessed in this London. Both Jekyll and Frankenstein are here living as if they were real people despite the fact they are originally from novels." He said that part more lowly and only to the Chaldea group, not wanting to make neither Jekyll nor Fran start doubting of their existence.
"So Charles Babbage being alive is just another inconsistency here eh?" Nala replied, understanding the problem at hand here.
"He could also be one of the main leaders." Ritsuka speaked. "A mathematician like him with an army of robots does seem an important key figure after all."
"And if all of those helter skelters appeard, it means he's on the move." Romani said, planning already what the group would do next. "We have to take this as an opportunity! Go outside, find and defeat Charles Babbage!"
"It shall be done doctor!" Mash replied before looking to the rest of the chaldeans. "Are you all ready?"
"Yes we are!" Ritsuka answered. "You going too Mordred?" He asked to the knight next to him.
"Is that even a question? Of course I'm in!" Mordred told him.
"And if we want to find him, Fran is essential to that so she's also coming with us." Peko said, knowing that if they wanted to reach Charles Babbage it was mandatory to bring Fran with them. "You're capable of doing this, aren't you Fran?"
"Hm hm!" Fran nodded in return.
"I see you are going now. Good luck then." Jekyll said to everyone that was about to exit to go looking for Charles Babbage. "Me, Hans and Shakespeare will stay here taking care of Faust. I'll warn you if he eventually wakes up." He told, staring briefly at the unconscious alchemist on the table.
"Remember to also get some information out of him. We still need to know where the machine that is the source of the Demonic Fog and contains the Holy Grail is located at." Hans added, wanting to be sure that they could get something from defeating Charles Babbage. He and Shakespeare were now occupied in fastly writting countless pages non stop.
"We will be cheering you on as always!" Shakespeare wished them luck despite only paying attention to the pages he was writting now.
"Eeeh, didn't both of you said you hated overwriting too much?" Nala asked the two, reminding of what they said before when Jekyll's house got destroyed.
"We do! But a lot of good works were erased alongside the apartment's destruction." Hans told her.
"It is our job as fellow writers to not let the hard effort and life works of our professional colleagues be wasted and reduced like that! We have to make sure they get to keep existing!" Shakespeare exclaimed with passion.
"I didn't knew a cause could be so weird and noble at the same time." Nala said in reaction, a bit weirded out.
"These two really are something..." Ritsuka whispered.
"Whatever! They're doing their own stuff and we shall do ours!" Mordred exclaimed, staring at the group. "Time to get out!"
Ritsuka nodded alongside the rest. "Sure!"
In the confines of an abandoned train station, someone awaited for Chaldea to arrive as he rested amidst the hot steam filled air that occupied the zone alongside the helter skelters who were preparing themselves for the incoming battle, carrying lots of metal around.
That person had dreams of evolution, of a modernized civilization. A society full of the wonders of robotic and technological advances. His wish was one of the greater good. That his discoveries and creations could become benefic for all of mankind.
Now however, he was using them for its total annihilation.
"Are you ready to face the power that is the potential of steam, Chaldea?"
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 66!
Differently from the game's version, here the group's base gets destroyed and they are forced to move to a temporary second one. (And Jekyll got homeless basically) And we are now going to hunt Mr Robot himself, Charles Babbage. We get some more talking and lore specially on the introduction of the Grand Servants and the totally secret class that absolutely no one reading this fic knows about...heh.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 67! Peace!
P.S:
Nala (Approaches both Mordred and Caenis): Hey, can I join your rebel club?
Caenis (To Mordred): You sure we can let the midget enter?
Mordred: Eh, why not? But first, you gotta learn the three important rules of the rebel club.
Nala: I'm all ears!
Caenis: Great! So first rule of the rebel club: Swear most of the times when speaking.
Mordred: It makes you a lot more fucking cool!
Nala: Shit understood! Next one.
Caenis: Second rule: Act agressively or rudely to people majority of the time. Specially when they are bothering you.
Nala: Yeah yeah, I got it dammit. Stop saying that like if I deaf or something.
Mordred: Cool! You learn fast. And the third rule: Never, ever, abandon the other members of the rebel club when in a dire situation.
Nala: Got it! I'm ready to-
Martha (Suddenly appears): Stop right there you punks! Rebellious behaviour won't be tolerated in this Chaldea!
Caenis: Fuck! It's her! Run away!
(Both Mordred and Caenis start fleeing as Nala stumbles and falls to the ground)
Nala: Oi! Help me!
Mordred: To hell with that shortie! Save yourself!
Nala: What?! But the third rule-
Caenis: Special and most important rule of the rebel club:
Caenis and Mordred (Smilling back to Nala): Rules are for total nerds!
Nala (Begging and screaming as Martha approaches her, being left behind): WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!? THAT ISN'T FAIR! HEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEEEE!