Et In Arcadia Ego (1)
"Here, this is for you."
Looking up from the virtual screens that opened and closed around her, Hakuno Kishinami turned to Lilliana Kranjčar, the Croatian knight had just brought her tea in a cardboard cup.
They were in the lobby of an Italian military hospital, alone if one did not count the soldiers (often in white coats) who were constantly circulating from one door to another.
Interested in what the Last Master of the Moon was doing, Liliana looked at the virtual screens. But the Fairy Knight did not even recognize the alphabet used in the texts she scrolled down.
"What are you doing?"
The doll-like Japanese blinked and put down her cup of tea.
"Weak spot."
"Looking for a weak spot to exploit for defeating Rama?"
Without a word, Hakuno nodded.
"And... you found something?"
Even if the Sovereign of the Moon Cell was not very expressive her hesitation was perceptible as well as... her shame. Finally, she shook her head.
Indeed, the Moon Cell had recorded all the confrontations, the images, and the actions of everyone but also measured a staggering number of factors... speed of the fighters... power of the attacks... with the incredible ability of memorization that was her, Hakuno absorbed all these details, looking for an Achilles heel to exploit.
In vain, until then...
Rama was not only as powerful as all the Campiones combined, but he had an incredible variety of attacks, which made him unpredictable. To this combination of talent, it was also necessary to add the Grail. It was filled with the magical energy of dozens of Mother Goddesses. The Strongest Steel was almost invulnerable, and was an excellent tactician and a veteran fighter... defeating him was a challenge.
"I see," Lily simply replied.
An awkward silence settled down, before being finally broken by new voices.
Dressed in military fatigues (his clothes did not survive the fighting) Kusanagi Godou entered the hall with Ena and Erica. The two girls seemed to argue in a low voice but Godou smiled and immediately headed towards Hakuno and Lily.
The latter got up and ran to him.
"How are you? Are your wounds hurting you?"
The young man answered this mocking smile that made him so attractive.
"I no longer have any injuries... Return to life had miraculous health effects."
"Ere? Ishtar?"
Godou turned to Hakuno to answer her.
"Doctors and Magi say they are not in critical condition. Ishtar is seriously injured. As for Ereshkigal, she suffers above all from complete exhaustion. Neither one or the other has regained consciousness."
Goudou sat on one of the plastic chairs in the reception, watching television that showed looping footage of the disaster. The sound was muted, but the Campione read Italian (in fact he read and spoke all the languages) and the scrolling banners at the bottom of the screen taught him the official truth. The authorities were talking about an underground explosion of an unknown nature.
But some of the banners pointed out that repeated disasters all over the world caused the start of mass hysteria... some people talked about the end of the world.
For once (it deserved to be emphasized since it happened only excessively rarely) the crowd was right. After all, Velber and the King of the End had arrived and the recent 'natural disasters' were the result of the clashes of these two powers with the defenders of the Earth and things were certainly not about to get better. The fight that had just ended had made clear to him that the balance of power was not in the Campiones' favor.
Thanks to Athena, Godou knew where to find Rama. And he even had the means to reach him. The sword of Susanoo could copy the King of the End's Vinama.
But even with the help of his harem, the Godslayer could not hope to defeat the Strongest Steel. Of course, Salvatore Doni would come with them... the Mages had already treated him and the Italian Devil King was upset by his previous defeat and intended to even the score. Blessed be that fool who never got discouraged. The situation was very different for Voban. The Balkan King was still in shock, barely able to speak. So there were only two Campiones barely capable of fighting.
Of course, Madame Aisha could come back to Earth... but she had been away for several months, it would be an incredible stroke of luck to have her back right now. As for John Pluto Smith, from what Godou understood, he had been exiled to Arcadia because of the destruction of his mask... As for the two Mesopotamian goddesses, even with the help of the healers, they would never be on their feet in time for the next battles. We'd have to manage without them.
Fortunately, Godou's plan did not require the presence of any of them.
He turned to Kishinami.
"Hakuno, I intend to attack Rama as soon as I have regained all my Authorities. I have a plan to defeat the King of the End but I need your sense of timing to coordinate every attack to perfection."
This remark surprised the inheritor of the Moon, yet she had found no exploitable Achilles'' heel. About to ask the Campione for details, she was interrupted by newcomers.
Dressed in a sick tunic and barefoot, Guinivere entered, followed by Lancelot. Goudou had trouble recognizing the queen of witches. Her charred hair had been cut very short and her face was smeared with a white ridge that would have relieved the pain of her burning.
"In that case, King Godou let us come with you."
Initially surprised, Godou Kusanagi smiled at the child-like Divine Ancestor.
"You want to help us?"
"Yes, Your Majesty! As Campione you are the natural enemy of the King Who Rules at the World's End, your mutual hostility is natural. On the contrary, like Sir Lancelot, this humble Guinevere was his ally. We wish to help you in your enterprise because Rama must pay for his betrayal."
The Campione shivered as he heard the cold anger that made Guinevere's voice vibrate. Is there anything more terrifying than a woman who wants to avenge the one who played with her feelings?
"I understand... I would not refuse that you join us Queen Guinevere, Sir Lancelot."
The Witch Queen nodded.
"And now, could Your Majesty explain his plan?"
Far from it in an empty place, a sort of nothingness bathed in a pale light, a teenage goddess with pink hair and pointed ears watched Goudou explain his plan through a kind of window with luminous contours.
A male voice suddenly rang out.
"Isn't it sad that your adopted son forgot that you were the one who imagined this plan?"
Pandora shrugged her shoulders.
"I am the Most Generous, the one who gives without counting... I do not care if one remembers the gifts I make as long as it makes them happy. Is this not my task until the end of time?"
Indeed, it was Pandora's punishment for opening the box containing all the plagues threatening humanity... But she had the reflex to close the box in time to keep one of the evils: hope (2).
A double-edged gift she now had to distribute to humans to redeem her guilt.
Guinevere nodded.
"I understand your plan, King Godou. If you can't defeat Rama by force, you'll deprive him of his Authorities with Verethragna's Golden Sword."
Standing behind the Witch of Brittany Lancelot nodded.
"But you're going to need Sir Shirou."
Goudou answered with a stiff smile to mask his embarrassment.
"Yes... I admit that I did not expect that the fairies take him in Arcadia."
He turned to the assembly of pretty women, cute teens, and adorable little girls that surrounded him...
"Does anyone have any idea how long it will take them to heal him?"
Erica and Lily exchanged wry a glance and it was the second who answered.
"The flow of time is not the same in Arcadia and Earth... some people who spent a day there returned a century later... others who spent years there returned the day after their departure."
While Hakuno seemed terrified, Guinevere swept away the explanation of the Croatian knight.
"It's just some fairy jokes. They absolutely do not understand that the tricks they play on humans can be cruel, even deadly, as when they make a human age a century in a single day... Fortunately, Queen Titania does not have this 'humor' and she understands human limitations much better. Sir Shirou will be back soon."
Guinevere had a brief smile, she had good relations with the fairies and knew Titania well... the latter had a tender heart, and she always felt obliged to help the heroes. The Queen of the Fairies wouldn't just heal the Redhead. Shirou would come back transformed. No one would come back from Arcadia without changing.
The centuries-old trees, covered with moss, spread their branches over ferns and mushrooms. The place looked like an ancient European forest... but the hand of man had left no trace in this natural landscape. No path in this inextricable forest, and no trace of axe on the trunks. Perhaps European forests looked like this in the early Middle Ages, but this place was not in the past.
Behind the next tree, a centaur turned his head while hearing the sound of steel hitting steel. A group of nymphs who washed their hair at a spring stopped laughing and splashing and the satyr who spied on them forgot his libidinous thoughts alerted by the sounds of combat.
The fairies sitting on mushrooms or playing among the flowers of the fields flew away at once, gathering in luminescent clouds.
Leprechauns, Pixies, Pucks, Spriggans, and Sprites gathered together whispering to converge on a wide clearing...
Oaks with branches weighed down with mistletoe surrounded an oval space covered with green grasses. At one end, at the top of a few steps, there was a throne... the throne of Titania. The Queen of the Fairies was eagerly watching the fight that was taking place right in front of her.
Between the trees of the forest twirled many little fairies that laughed or applauded, while many curious heads appeared in the middle of ferns where under the branches, belonging to the most diverse creatures, sometimes very beautiful, other times particularly hideous.
The fairy creatures were happy to see something unusual... a human was fighting against three Fatis (high-ranking fairy knights) belonging to the queen's guard.
Shirou was surrounded.
In black Kevlar armor and reinforced combat boots, the redhead was dressed in his signature Red Plain Mystic Code, including the tenugi that surrounded his head.
In his hands, he held the Married Blades.
It was at the center of a trio of knights in plate armor that seemed made of silver as polished as mirrors. The three knights were silent, never uttering a word. Even when struck they did not they didn't cry out in pain. In fact, all their reactions were strange... inhumane. It was obvious that under the visors there were no human beings.
Moreover, using Structural Analysis, the young Magus had tried to obtain more information about his opponents by scanning their weapons and armor, except that the only result was violent headaches.
Unfortunately, this Magecraft did not allow him to learn the history and manufacturing techniques of an object designed according to processes too alien to human logic or using materials unknown on Earth. In this case, everything happened as if his brain was a radio receiver too close to a jamming station. Not only did he perceive only blurred information, but it was painful.
Taking advantage of his hesitation, a knight leaps forward brandishing a two-handed sword. The Redhead used Kanshou to deflect his opponent's heavy sword. He doesn't make the rookie mistake of blocking the blow head-on. The trick was to deviate the attack outwards by holding its own blade obliquely.
This very simple technique prevented the bump between the two blades from rolling up the arm in the form of a painful electric shock. Actually hitting the enemy blade near the guard was a classic technique in fencing (3) that would exhaust the enemy so that the hand holding the sword trembles. In some cases, this could even lead to electric tetany and disarmament.
Leaping back to get out, Shirou followed up with another leap, this time to the side... and the sword blow from a second opponent whistled in the air where he had stood.
Already the third knight leaped after him, with quickness worthy of admiration - especially since the Fatis wore heavy armor- he was already attacking.
Deflect the attack outward. Retaliate with a kick... both to slow down the knight and to lean on his chest and bounce back... Block a new attack from the first knight... Keep an eye on the second knight who was returning to the attack...
Shirou was in difficulty. He had Strengthened his muscles at the maximum and made an impressive demonstration of ambidextrous fencing. But until then, he had just managed to avoid elimination...
For ten minutes, the three knights were facing Shirou. The fighting was so fast that most of the fairies gathered around the clearing saw only fuzzy movements. At times, they would fight above the ground, or on the green grass. The attacks would dig holes, and create furrows in the grass. Prana explosions created blue or red fluorescence when blades met. At other times electric arcs were forming.
In the front row of the audience, a young red-haired woman sat on a small mossy standing stone, a salamander coiled on her knees like a pet. She watched the fight with interest, caressing with one hand the fire lizard. Unlike the fairies, she was able to follow the fight without a problem using a technique that looked a lot like Reinforcement.
Shirou forced himself to breathe slowly and deeply and blinked repeatedly to chase away the sweat that flowed into his eyes.
The redhead was beginning to understand his opponents.
Despite appearances, they were not identical. One of the Fatis - the one he called the first knight - was a little faster and a little stronger than his companions. He was also more experienced and had a better fencing technique.
Individually, none of them could be compared to a Campione, a Servant, or a Heretic God... certainly, they were fast, strong, very enduring, and well-armored. The kind of opponent it was hard to kill with one shot. And if Shirou concentrated his attacks on one of them, the other two came to his aid. They were very well coordinated and admirably combined their efforts.
Shirou suspected that they used to fight as a team and that they also communicated in a way that he did not understand... which explained their teamwork.
The 'third knight' leaps forward with a classic oblique attack aimed at the neck. Shirou leaped sideways and crossed the Twin Blades to imprison his opponent's arm, twisting it while squeezing his wrist. Simultaneously, he gave a violent knee blow to his opponent's elbow, using the Strengthening Magecraft to increase the force of the attack.
His arms paralyzed by the electric shock that reverberated in his body, the knight fell to his knees, dropping his sword. If he had vocal cords he would probably have groaned in pain...
Shirou had long observed his opponents and concluded that their skeleton and nervous system were not very different from that of a human... which made them vulnerable to the art of Chinese dislocations.
Shirou leaps over his victim while projecting his pair of swords behind him... without looking back. The redhead fell back on his feet at the end of his backflip, facing the knight who had just attacked him... slowed by the two Chinese swords he had blocked, the Fatis was five or six steps away.
"Trace On!"
A second pair of Dao appeared in the Faker's hands. Immediately the two opponents clashed. The prana explosions and lightning followed one another. The two warriors seemed to have ten arms, creating a wall of steel between them.
Yet Shirou's attack was just a feint.
Magnetized by the pair of swords he held in his hand, the first two Kanhou and Bakuya returned to him...
The knight had an excellent fighting instinct as he turned to block both attacks. But Shirou took advantage of the brief moment when he showed his back to hit the Fatis with a powerful kick to the lower back. Simultaneously, he threw the second pair of Twin Blades towards the First Knight who ran towards him on his left... the other two blades- magnetized- rushed in pursuit of the first pair.
As the Fatis slowed to parry and dodge the attacks of the two pairs of Married Blades, Shirou Traced Gae Bolg. Using the Red Spear as a mere club, the Faker struck the Second Knight who was trying to get up and knocked him down.
With only two opponents, things became simpler. The Redhead rushed to the First Knight. He used a fighting technique appreciated by Cù Chulainn and called the 'Lunging Kick'. Planting Gae Bolg in the ground and using it a bit like a jump pole, Shirou hurled himself his feet forward and kicked the Fatis with a double thrust.
The last opponent, the Fatis whom he had neutralized with the art of dislocations, had recovered from the shock and had picked up his sword. He was now running towards Shirou.
The 'memory' of the Traced version of Gae Bolg prompted Shirou to react like Cù Chulainn... using a technique called 'Whirling Backspine' which consisted of attack while spinning like a dervish, the Red Spear forming a deadly arc of circle...
But Shirou was slower and it did not have a length comparable to the Hound of the Red Plain. He would not have been able to hit the Fatis before he hit him. Fortunately, Luo Hao had taught him not only to copy the techniques of the Noble Phantasm users but to mix them with his own skills. He was ambidextrous and she taught him spear-fighting techniques that exploited this ability for his benefit.
Swirling his spear with one hand, Shirou began to turn around.
He deflected a first attack with Gae Bolg, and dodged a second attack by leaping sideways. Simultaneously, he passed the spear from his right hand to his left hand without ceasing to swirl it (4)... and hit his opponent on the side of the head.
Panting, breathless, and his face covered with shiny sweat, Shirou turned to the throne.
Titania had watched the clash with growing amazement.
"Three... down... that's what you wanted? I won?"
The Queen of the Fairies shuddered and turned to the Faker.
"Indeed, Shirou Emiya, you have won and your prowess has been commendable."
Shirou smiled thinking about Saber, Archer, and Luo Hao.
"I had good teachers, Your Majesty."
"They can be proud of you."
Shirou Emiya let his spear return to the state of prana particles. For some reason, in Arcadia, the weapons he Taced didn't disappear unless they were damaged. But he wasn't going to hold Gae Bolg in hand, the Noble Phantasm would only get in his way. He turned around and also made the Twin Blades disappear.
"I recovered perfectly from my injuries, Your Majesty."
Titania nodded.
"I even think you're stronger than when you arrived."
During the first month of his stay in Arcadia... or at least what seemed like a month... Shirou had been forced to rest. There were good reasons for this, Shirou had discovered that half of his hair was now white and one of his eyes was discolored.
It was the result of damage to his Magic Circuits. The fairies had tried to heal him but had finally given up... they knew nothing of this artificial creation of an unknown form of magic specific to a parallel universe.
From his second month of stay, Shirou had been able to do exercises.
Elves had given him magic lessons, helping him improve his Projection Magecraft. He had learned the techniques of centaur archery. He had assisted blacksmith's dwarves. He thought he'd been in Arcadia for a year... although Queen Titania kept telling him that time didn't matter in the fairy kingdom, he was anxious to leave.
"Then maybe it's time for me to go back."
"Indeed, your stay with us is coming to an end." Titania smiled. "But your health has never been the only reason to delay your departure" she adds in a mysterious tone.
As he returned to the strange mushroom house where he had lived for 'one year', Shirou smiled at the redhead who was approaching him. She had short hair, and glasses, and was dressed in a suit the perfect paraphernalia of a young and sexy CEO.
"Hello Annie, I saw you in the audience."
Annie Charlton smiled.
"I wanted to see your progress with my own eyes."
Annie Charlton's presence in Arcadia was a mystery to Shirou... She was a human, yet she had a house on the spot and all the fairies spoke to her with great respect. He had met her briefly before ending up in Arcadia, while Hakuno and Ereshkigal were prisoners of Black Prince Alec's labyrinth. She had been introduced to him as an agent of the Campione John Pluto Smith.
As he looked at her with curiosity, Annie laughed.
"Do you have a question for me?"
Shirou winced with embarrassment and rubbed his neck.
"I feel like I'm being transparent."
"You want to know why I live here."
"That's true... but you have no obligation to answer me."
Annie shrugged her shoulders.
"I think I know you now. I doubt that you will hasten to reveal my secret to the enemies of humanity."
As they walked through the forest, watching the Pixies fairies and Sprites playing among the mushrooms, Annie looked up at the strange changing sky with no sun or stars.
"For starters, know that Annie Charlton and John Pluto Smith never met... in fact, I should say that we cannot meet."
Shirou seemed surprised.
"Do you mean that it is impossible? That it is impossible for you to be in the same place at the same moment?"
She nodded.
"That is exactly it. When John Pluto Smith is in the fairy world, I'm in the real world... and if John appears in the real world, I'm here."
"This is... weird."
"For you to understand, I have to tell my story from the beginning."
And when Annie said 'from the beginning' it was really to take literally... since she started to tell her life story from birth.
She was the daughter of two wizards from the West Coast of the United States. Her parents wanted her to be a great wizard and began to train her at very young age. But Annie was suffocating. She had no friends. She had no other business than magic. By chance, she discovered comics... and the world of superheroes! It was a revelation.
"And I started imagining my own superhero, he became my imaginary friend, I talked to him and... he answered me."
Shirou swallowed, understanding that Annie was perhaps not entirely sane... well... he had an anxious smile, he too had sought to be a 'Superhero' and his behavior had worried Fujinee a lot.
"You know what I called my imaginary friend?"
"How can I know," Shirou replied.
"Yet the answer should be obvious... I called him John Pluto Smith!"
Annie laughs when seeing Shirou's expression, the young man gave the impression of having bit into a fruit too acidic
She continued to tell her life and the Faker understood that... well Annie suffered from a split personality. Sometimes 'Smith' took over and the young woman played the Vigilante Hero, tracking criminals, and saving the innocent... in short she had realized Shirou's dream. And to hear it told by another, Shirou realized how it was a scary idea seen from Fujinee and Sakura's point of view.
"Then one day, the Heretic God Tezcatlipoca came to California and started slaughtering people. Of course, John wanted to save the innocent and went to confront the god."
A little destabilized by the way Annie Charlton told the story, it took a few seconds for Shirou to remember that John Pluto Smith did not exist... he was just an 'imaginary friend' invented by the wizard. Actually, it was Annie who had gone to face Tezcatlipoca.
She recounted the battle without going into detail. The Aztec god was arrogant, sure of his superiority, he underestimated 'Smith', made many mistakes, and... lost.
"Have you ever heard that Pandora always gives a Campione the Authority that suits him best? Well, this is true because Smith received Metamorphosis from Tezcatlipoca, an Authority that allows changing form. And this Authority manifested as a physical object... a mask! And John began to exist independently, inhabiting the mask that everyone now knows. But maybe because we're actually, John and me, the two sides of the same coin, only one of us can be on Earth. The other has to be... somewhere else. At first, every time John took my place, I drifted into this void called the Netherworld. But after John defeated the Fairy King Oberon, he inherited his title. When it manifested on Earth I took its place here in Arcadia."
Shirou took the time to think.
"And you are completely separated now?"
She shook her head.
"I hear his thoughts, and he hears mine. I see through his eyes when he is on Earth, and he sees through mine when it is my turn. When he fights, I give him advice. I pointed to things he hadn't seen. I help him."
"Oh... you team up somehow."
"We are really a team," the young woman replied, pushing her glasses up her nose in a gesture that must have been a tell. "I am in charge of all the investigation work, identifying enemy bases, looking for funding of occult sects in the service of the Heretics Gods, etc... Smith is only a fighter. He's the muscles, I'm the brain."
Author's note: (Ironic mode: on) I will end up believing that an unwritten rule of the manga wants all redheads to be a little (a lot) crazy and want to become superheroes. Moreover, Shirou amply demonstrates it. It is only after all his hair has turned white that he seeks to escape the hell he created with his own hands. (Ironic mode: off).
(1) "I too was in Arcadia" (in Latin), this sentence is above all the title of a painting by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), kept in the Musée du Louvres.
(2) The myth of Pandora is often misunderstood.
Let me summarize briefly. The Titan Prometheus (literally 'The One Who Thinks Before') convinced Zeus to lock up all the ills of humanity in a box. Later, Prometheus stole the secret of fire and gave it to man and was condemned to eternal torment which Heracles later freed him from (but that's another story).
The first time I read the myth I was surprised that hope was considered a scourge and locked in Pandora's Box. It made no sense! Yet...
Free from the plagues, having the secret of fire, humanity prospered and... degenerated... fat and with no other desire than a life of futile pleasures having no more trial to overcome, man lived a superficial life uniquely seeking only new divertissements... a life without hope.
Zeus like all the Olympian gods does not have the power to break the edicts of a god... even his own edicts!
He must therefore use cunning to free the plagues.
With the help of the other gods, he created a perfect woman he named 'Pandora' (literally 'The All Giving') and offered her in marriage to Epimetheus (Prometheus' younger brother, whose name literally means 'The One Who Thinks After') the guardian of the box.
In another version of the myth of Prometheus, Pandora is the creation of the Titan. She was the first woman, made by Prometheus from wet clay to serve as a companion to the first man.
All that's missing from this version of the story is a snake and an apple tree to be the myth of Adam and Eve...
Whatever the version, Pandora ended up opening the box that bears her name...
The moral of this myth is that man grows up overcoming trials, like illness, the death of a relative, or war (in short, all the plagues of Pandora's Box). These are dark times but paradoxically, it is during times of pain and suffering that we are most able to... hope. To build the better world we hope for in times of affliction, we must overcome the trials of life. Pandora's task is to nurture the little flame of hope that continues to shine even in the deepest darkness.
It is noted that the inversion of the myth of Pandora to make her 'the evil woman who is the causes all the sufferings of humanity' is very old, already attested to at the time when Hesiod wrote Theogony and Works and Days. Nevertheless, ancient vases found by archaeologists depict Pandora under the name of Anesidora ('She Who Sends Up Gifts') and as a mother goddess who offered all the Earth's riches to humanity.
(3) In classic European fencing, this technique is called 'tâter le fer'.
(4) Ironically, I don't know the name of this technique... yet I spent hours and hours in the dojo training to reproduce it. The professor I had at the time was not one to name the techniques or talk about the theory. He was just teaching us how to use them, simple and square.