Chapter 3 Archers (Singularity F)
—-
For the first time, Mash tasted food other than the one provided at Cafe Chaldea. The food was simple, just Bunny Stew with carrots and potatoes, but this stew was full of flavor, Senpai and even the Director felt the same way when eating it.
"I didn't think you were good enough to cook something simple like this and have it be so delicious" Cu ate his fifth bowl
"Yeah, I learn a lot of things from my Guide and cooking is one of those things" Kael proudly said
"Jezz... you seem to think highly of your teacher," Cu put down the bowl
"Of course, don't you have a teacher yourself? You must have a lot of things you can learn from her?" Kael asked curiously about how Cu teacher was
Cu reluctantly answered "The thing I learned from that old hag was that she beat shit out of me so hard that I got pretty good at dodging her,but yeah I learned a lot from her"
"You were still lucky enough to just get beaten up. I still remember how the Guide taught me to use swords and magic for the first time." Kael shared his experience
"It when The Guide took me into the middle of the forest and left me alone with a wooden sword, a Wand of Sparking and a little healing potion and mana to face hundreds of Zombies and various kinds of monsters that only appear during the Blood Moon and all that when I was still 10 years old"
"Blood Moon ?" Ritsuka asked
"Simply put, when the moon turns red, the monsters that appear at night such as zombies or demon eyes will be much stronger in this phase, many ancient kingdoms used this moment to train their soldiers." Kael answered briefly
Cu nodded understandingly "It seems we both like and hate our mentors, huh"
"Yeah" Kael answered briefly with a slight feeling of discomfort on his face for a while before it disappeared quickly
Kael immediately stood up "Okay, I think Ritsuka and Director should rest first before heading to Mount Enzo. I'll take the first shift and Mash stays with the Master. We'll move in the next two hours" before teleported towards the highest point in the school.
"Alright, lass, I will also go on patrol, you better prepare as much energy as possible to protect your master." said Cu while also stand up and prepare to leave
Mash, Ritsuka, and Director Olga followed Kael advice to rest as much as possible for the next two hours while Kael and Cu watched the surrounding area.
—-
After 2 hours of rest they were all ready to go to the place where the Holy Grail was to immediately complete this singularity
The group's trip to Mount Enzo was primarily silent, the knowledge of their foe had hampered much of their spirit of enthusiasm. Except Kael and Caster Cu, the former because he already had experience fighting foes who were more powerful than him, and the latter because he was more excited to be putting an end to the Grail War.
Kael looked at Ritsuka's shoulder, then noticed something "Out of curiosity, Ritsuka...What is that small animal on your shoulder?"
"Huh?" Ritsuka turned to Kael, then looked towards the object of interest. Fou, the furry white rodent creature, merely let out a 'kyuu' noise in response to suddenly finding themselves the center of attention.
"Well...This is Fou."
"I see." Kael nodded "...What are they?"
Ritsuka furrowed his brows in thought, not entirely sure how to answer a question that he himself didn't know the answer to.
"Fou is Fou, Kael-san." Mash answered for him, and while he appreciated her sentiment very much, it didn't really answer the question of what Fou actually was to begin with-
"Okay….. that makes sense." Kael still looking suspiciously at Fou
'Unless it does and maybe it's just me who doesn't understand.' Ritsuka thought instead, still confused as to what Fou was but when he was surrounded by magical spirits that apparently can kill gods...who also existed, he wasn't really going to concern himself too much with the specifics.
Besides, Fou was probably a weird magical pet that they kept around.
"Fou." The animal called into the side of his head, Ritsuka turned to see the white ball of fluff staring at him, eyes narrowed in what could almost be described as indignation, as if Fou had read his thoughts and believed that being called a mere pet was an insult to him.
Ritsuka felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he stared at the small animal, electing to look away, he missed Fou's look of triumph at having won the stare down.
"Through there." Caster pointed towards the area around the mouth of the cave as the group came to a stop. "The Greater grail lies at the end of that system of tunnels, right underneath the mountain."
"And...King Arthur is there…" Ritsuka pointed out nervously, sweating ever so slightly before he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, looking behind him, he came face to face with the darkened hood that covering Kael's head
"Kael?" Ritsuka asked again, the servant now pointedly looking away from him "Kael what's wrong?"
Instantly Kael stepped forward and created a rune formation and whispered a chant
"Oh, rune of courage, rune of strife,
Ignite our spirits, awaken life,
Asgard's Valor"
Suddenly a shield formation appeared accompanied by a loud bang which shocked Ritsuka and the others because they saw a penetrating spiral shaped arrow aiming at Kael's head stopping right in front of his face.
"Holy Shit" said Cu seeing that Kael almost lost his head
The arrow didn't make Kael's head disappear, but it made Kael's robe head covering open and exposed his fiery red hair
without caring about this, Kael immediately prepared another rune formation and shouted "EVERYONE GATHER NEAR ME I WILL TELEPORT US ALL TO AN AREA CLOSE TO THAT ARCHER"
hearing this everyone gathered near Kael where he had finished making his new rune with his golden staff
"Teleportation's ancient art,
Grant us passage,
Rod of Harmony!"
After finishing the chant, their surroundings immediately became kaleidoscope colors before finally turning back to normal, being close to the Ryuudou Temple.
"Well…" Cu turned around, looking at the upper part of the temple out behind them "Was wondering where you were, I was a bit surprised when there was no disciple to greet us."
The group turned to see a tanned man with white hair standing atop the outcrop. A black tight-fitting combat vest, dark trousers with steel boots was his primary apparel. A torn red waist cape fluttered in the wind. The exposed arms showed red vein-like growths along his skin and moving up one side of his face.
Steel gray eyes narrowed at the group as the man uncrossed his arms "I have no memory of becoming a disciple. But I can at least chase away mundane visitors."
"Ah! A gatekeeper then?" Cu smirked, although it held a more bloodthirsty edge to it, and began twirling his staff "Although I suppose you do have the making of a bodyguard."
"Ho?" Archer titled his head "Coming from a guard dog, I suppose that is rather high praise, should I consider it an honor?"
Cu still, his eyes narrowed and glinted with murderous intent as the air around him seemed to chill instantly "What was that, bastard?"
"Don't tell me you cannot see the irony of you calling someone else a guard dog." Archer smirked, a large black bow came into existence in his hands as his face flattened out
—-
Archer never expected to see a face he would never expect to see again, even though he had light blue colored eyes, that face was unmistakable.
the face of someone who was stupid enough to try to save everyone and dreamed of becoming a "Hero of Justice"
Archer chuckled seeing Caster's face and started shooting arrows again at him
The caster began to create a protection rune to protect himself from the barrage of arrows and stepped forward together with the blue-haired Caster
Archer was about to release his pseudo arrow when a voice cut through the air "Ath nGabla!" the blue-haired Caster cried out as he slammed his palm into the ground. Archer stopped his movements, fixing Caster with a look of disbelief for a few moments before his expression flattened out.
"Better get going!" Caster called back to the group "I can handle this guy. You deal with Saber and I'll be along to join you soon enough."
"Eh?" Mash blinked at him "But-"
"Stop wasting time, lass!" Cu shouted to her, not turning to face her as he advanced towards Archer, the servant still regarded Caster with a serious expression. "Don't worry about me, I can take this bastard easily enough."
"Sorry but I think we can finish this quickly if we just keep helping you," replied the red-haired Caster who also helped to attack Archer while taking out his green sword
Archer tried to analyze the sword used by the red-haired Caster…
Judging the Concept of Its Creation...
is a part of the sword that symbolizes the end of one's journey and also a small piece of the sword that symbolizes the will of the world itself, blessed by the last Dryad and the Fae Lady of the Lake
Hypothesizing the Basic Structure...
Its basic shape resembled a single-edged sword with three carved holes used to speed up slashes with a one-handed hilt
Duplicating the Composite Materials...
made from a broken hero's sword, a sword made from an area full of a dark purple wasteland, death, decay and a sword crafted in the land of the Fae that replicates the Sword of Promised Victory
Imitating the Production Process...
made from 3 different swords put together through Divine level Blacksmithing
Sympathizing with the Experience of Its Growth...
used by a Champion to protect the world from all threats and also the initial part of the sword symbolizes the will of the world
Reproducing the accumulated years...
its legend reaching back at a time when the world was still full of imbalance, both light and darkness became symbols that balanced the world
Excelling every manufacturing process...
created as an embodiment of the world's will to balance the world again, before ultimately becoming a large part of the final sword made by the Champion or the sword that will become the embodiment of the world
To think that the Caster in front of him was someone who could create a sword that was directly blessed by the Dryad and the Lady of Lake while combining it with a near perfect replica of the Sword of Promised Victory was truly beyond his comprehension.
From his analysis, Archer returned to focus on facing them
he replaced his bow with two married twin swords and started approaching the red-haired Caster
They shared blow after blow with each other with their respective swords. Archer knew that the Caster class was usually weak in close combat but the Servant in front of him was very different from the stereotype of a Caster in general.
It seems strange that a mage knows how to fight in close combat, yet here this person is able to defend himself and is also capable of taking attacks. The mage in front of him was indeed worthy of being a heroic spirit.
before finally the red haired Caster stepped back quite a distance and raised his sword high and suddenly his sword gave off a green aura
Archer's instincts told him to dodge the attack before he swung his sword and created a series of green waves at him
Archer easily avoided it but he realized that he was not alone in fighting it
Cu prepared a rune right under him and tied Archer with vines in the shape of a wooden hand and slammed him down
Kael eventually replaced his sword with a purple crystal ball and began using his Noble Phantasma activation chant.
"Mystic forces, weave the spell,
In the cosmic dance, we dwell
Nebula Arcanum!"
Immediately several purple orbs sped towards Archer who had just opened his eyes and was greeted by an explosion of purple nebula.
—-
"Jezz..., you just stole my final attack" Cu casually rested his stick on his shoulder
Kael, while scratching his head, could only chuckle and say "Sorry."
right in the middle of the short crater resulting from the explosion Servant Archer began to disappear in a faded away into a cloud of light and with the rest of his strength he said something that at least all of them could hear
"How?"
"You know your dreams are actually not bad, it's just that you have to know when to do them and when not to," Kael answered simply
Archer could only chuckle before finally disappearing completely leaving behind a cloud of light
Cu temporarily looked at Kael and began to notice something similar in him and Servant Archer "Come to think of it you have the same face as him" he thought aloud
"Really ?" Kael tilted her head "maybe I should get another hairstyle after this is all over and also use another hair dye"
Hearing this, Cu could only laugh out loud for a moment before finally ending it
"Okay, enough joking, we have to return to the front of the cave mouth and immediately complete this Singularity," ordered Olga
"U-understood Director" Ritsuka answered
"Hey Cu, how is your mana condition?" ask him while opening a purple portal to put the weapon back into the portal
"Enough for a few spells and at least one use of my Noble Phantasma," he answered
Kael then gave him a blue bottle which he usually used to replenish his mana "here, finish it in one sip and don't taste the liquid" while giving Super Mana Potion to Cu.
Cu was happy to immediately drink it in one gulp but had time to taste the liquid and almost spit it out "It feels like drinking water with stone powder," said Cu after finishing it
"That's because one of the ingredients is made with crystals that are ground until fine," he responded back
"And you drink this almost all the time and how can your taste buds still taste anything else?"he asked curiously
Kael could only raise his shoulders as a gesture of 'I don't know either'
"Yeah, anyway I think I have enough od supply after drinking it so thanks"
"You're welcome" before finally they followed Chaldea's group towards the mouth of the cave
The closer he got to the cave, the more Kael felt a strange connection to something
—-
It was impossible, it shouldn't have happened! She clenched her teeth and her grip on Excalibur tightened, Archer was defeated, his connections to the Grail disappearing and leaving only their mana behind.
Chaldea had proved mightier than she had expected… No, not Chaldea but that Champions
The connection was becoming stronger, or was it being amplified by the presence of the girl who wielded Galahad's shield?
Perhaps in another time, she would be more concerned about the girl, but no, her mind was filled with one person alone.
"So he comes… It matters not to, come Champions of Terraria,I await you". Artoria Alter spoke, the connection so strong now she could see through his eyes if he focused and it seemed he had noticed their connection on some level.
Excalibur glowed, its colors shifting between the corrupted red and black, to a far more noble blue and gold. She glared and channeled her mana down it, causing the blade to stay in its corrupted state.
She would battle her faker, and she would prove her path was superior. There was no other option in her mind, she would not accept her faker and he would not accept her tyranny. There was only room for one path, one King Arthur.
Yet as Excalibur's colors flickered again, doubt entered her mind, was she the one on the right path?
—-
AN : Don't blame me, Kael indirectly has a face like Shirou, because every time I play Terraria I always use an avatar, either a male or female character with red hair and blue eyes. I have a soft spot for that character's style.
and for Saber Alter's monologue about the connection with Kael I will only tell you that Kael has a sword with the same name as Excalibur besides the replica sword that become the foundation to make Terra Blade