How did he do that?
Riveria shielded her face from the buffeting wind while staring fixedly at the flashing ring of fire that ceased Rider and Archer's dueling. Wedged between both warriors, the ring of fire deployed by the most inconspicuous of the three warriors was actively forcing the two apart as the boundary of the flames extended out.
Could it be that the blacksmith was the strongest of the three?
Riveria's pupils shook as she took in a deep breath and formed a magic that shielded her allies and fellow challengers from anymore ensuing collateral damage.
Meanwhile, the Gods with their perception and divine sense could infer that something more fundamental was at play.
Rather than pushing back Achilles's world and Archer's Divinity supercharging the space, the more accurate depiction was closer to 'overwriting;' nullifying the effect of force and power and shifting it into a battle of distorted will.
Rider and Archer may have had their feats rooted in legend, but neither of them were capable of manifesting their inner worlds through a Reality Marble. That required a certain type of mindset the two warriors just didn't have. The only equivalent was Rider's shield, but by nature, deploying was different from overwriting.
For a fraction of a second, the greek columns and roars of warriors battling within the Trojan War flickered into a formerly barren land. A hill of swords, a graveyard in all but name that lay claim to countless forgeries that could rival their counterparts. In the dirt and in the hills, a verdant grass field was growing, awaiting a day of promise, a hope for a miracle that had yet to arrive.
Few if any Gods took notice of the nuances in the momentary scene, too focused on the fire itself and the visions of ash, smoke, and tainted curses it wrought.
A few Gods in Orario discreetly glanced at Hephaestus and her covered eye, but held back from vocalizing what was on their minds.
A God's deformity was not something lightly spoken of. Crippled limbs or garish scars and bruising did not constitute a deformity in the eyes of the Gods, rather, if they could be fixed and replaced, it was nothing more than an injury.
What Hephaestus had was a deformity in the truest sense covered beneath a veneer of normalcy behind a distinct eyepatch. Once removed, direct eye contact was ill advised.
What lurked within the covered eye was something that should not have existed; something so vile, that even curses would blush. One could not easily bear to see it, a majority of Gods and people utterly repulsed by its very nature, and few else could stomach it even with a straight face.
The vileness in the fires that originated within an abhorrent taint had captured too much attention compared to the land of swords hidden within.
In a scant few seconds, the ring of fire intent on manifesting a world vanished as it was pulled back when Rider and Archer stood down.
"Was any of this necessary?" Shirou asked, sweat beading over his brows from the sudden exertion.
Getting in between Achilles and Heracles was no easy feat.
"Would there have been any other time?" Rider countered with a grunt as he stepped off his chariot and holstered his shield to its side. "Archer knows as well as I that a true spar between us wouldn't be condoned by you on any general occasion. The losses and risks would outweigh the honor of victory, right?"
Shirou could not deny it.
A true fight between Achilles and Heracles would more than likely result in catastrophic damage, and the potential loss of their Noble Phantasms against each other.
It was only now that Shirou could see the unbridled drive within Rider's eyes as he stared at Archer. There would be no stopping this ambition, so the next best step was to at least have it done on his own terms.
"At the bottom of the dungeon," Shirou compromised. "No one will stop either of you two there."
Rider considered it, while Archer merely nodded to show his agreement. If Rider showed his unwillingness now, it would only show that he lacked maturity as a warrior fighting on behalf of the Master.
"Fine then," Rider dismissed his armor. "I'll hold you to it."
"Now then," Archer glanced back at the ruined sparring ground and the disheveled appearance of the challengers battered by fierce winds and clashing divinities. Some unfortunate ones were even injured from pieces of shrapnel. "I suggest calling Caster."
Both Shirou and Archer looked at Rider. With his Chariot, it wouldn't even take a minute to arrive there and back.
"I'm on it." Rider grumbled, and soon took off.
Meanwhile, Shirou and Archer's attention returned to Ais, Finn, and every other challenger.
"Sorry, this part wasn't intended for the recruitment!" Shirou frankly apologized, but his words were unable to remove the stiff expressions on everyone's faces.
He knew what they were thinking. It was blatantly obvious.
With the capabilities Rider, Archer, and even Shirou had shown, what use was there in recruiting others for the Grand Quest?
Therein lies the problem.
It was true that others wouldn't be able to do much compared to the other Servants and Dem-Gods, but beyond being present to act as a witness, Caster himself had verified the potential of the Familias in this world and their leveling system.
Gods were all powerful entities by nature, but in the lower world they were constrained. Their only outlet to manifest their influence and power was through their Familia members.
As such, each Familia member was a conduit of Divine Power limited only by the strength of their vessel.
If the vessel was trained and strengthened, they could theoretically tap into a greater wellspring of their God's divinity.
The sheer potential in this system couldn't be neglected.
"To overcome walls that appear impossible is the hallmark of what makes a warrior into a hero. You may stand down and doubt yourselves now, but that will deny the potential of what you could have been had you strove forward." Heracles's voice pierced deep into numerous hearts with varying aspirations, not the least of which was Ottar.
Ottar remembered the old days of the Zeus Familia and the power houses within them. Strong as he was now, he still felt small in comparison, let alone against Heracles, a hidden love child of Zeus.
In some respects, Heracles might as well be a prince in the Zeus Familia.
An errant thought suddenly crossed Ottar and many others minds as Thetis rushed through Iris's mist portal only to grow disappointed when Achilles was absent; what status would a Demi-God have in their father or mother's Familia?
Ottar shook his head, but couldn't take his gaze away from Heracles.
That man, that demeanor that inspired awe and respect was what Ottar had always strove to be. At some point, Ottar had stagnated and the sad part was he no longer knew when.
In the crowd, even Ryuu was reminiscing about past glories and regrets.
"Those wishing to join should register with Iris back in Orario's town square." Archer said no more, but nothing else said would have been as impactful.
Shirou gave Archer an appreciative nod as he noted the shift in sentiment in the air.
Rider returned soon after.
With a chariot with horses that could pull their load at God Speeds, Shirou estimated the delay in arrival was primarily to either convince or kidnap Caster to the scene.
Expectedly, Caster did not look happy to be held like a sack of potatoes and deposited by a grinning Rider.
Grumbling to himself, Caster dusted off his doctor's garb and stared at the people around him with growing annoyance.
Expectedly, the entire area had grown silent.
Why wouldn't it considering the changes surrounding Caster?
Caster was shining, giving warmth to all those who saw him as if he was the sun. His silver hair looked almost white in the glow, and the overflowing divinity his body contained shrouded his eyes with a hazy golden hue. His complexion was blemishless, perfect to the point of immaculate, and even then it didn't do justice to the constant sound of a lyre that echoed with every step.
In comparison to Rider and Archer's Divinity, Caster's was without a doubt greater than theirs after Apollo had transferred all that he was in his Arcanum form to Caster.
And yet, it wasn't without a peculiar side effect due to the nature of Caster as a Servant and a direct son of Apollo.
With each step Caster took, the continued sound of a lyre playing didn't come from some specific aura or energy, but was directly contributed by a ball of golden fluff sitting on Caster's head.
"What do you think they're looking at?"
The fluff spoke, the lyre held precariously over a stubbly horn vanishing as the fluff ball talked and revealed a pair of beady eyes and a mouth too small to even see.
It was absolutely adorable, Ais even doing a double take while others squealed.
Caster hated it.
"You!" Caster seethed, uncharacteristically shouting. "You damn bastard! This is your fault!"
"Honestly, it's quite strange. I didn't think it would turn out like this either." The fluff ball shrugged. "Though I may be an empty shell of my past elegant self, I don't find this trade half bad. I don't think I've ever been able to attract half as much attention as I do now. How about it son, ain't your old man a looker? Of course, you must have inherited my love for beautiful things?"
A vein popped over Caster's temple.
"Get off my head." Caster placed his hands over the ball of fluff Apollo had become and violently tried wrenching the parasite off.
He succeeded and hurled Apollo away, but like the dozen other times, Apollo reappeared to land on Caster's head again within a beam of sunlight- like a divine being gracing the world with its presence.
"I quite like this spot." Apollo said as he landed, pawing Caster's head before settling down. "It's comfy, and a son should treat his father better. We live in a world with human rights, be they God or mortals!"
Caster could not disagree more.
"You are a sheep."
"A beautiful animal isn't it?"
"Rule Breaker." Caster stared at Shirou with bloodshot eyes. "Give it to me."
"You don't know how that will affect you," Shirou sweatdropped.
"I don't care. Give it to me!" Caster looked like he was going insane.
"Listen son, but back in my day-"
"Shut up." Caster sneered, a hint of desperation bleeding into his expression.
Sadly, Shirou could not give Caster Rule Breaker in good faith as it would undue everything maintaining Caster as a Servant.
In a distressed bid to ignore Apollo's very existence, Caster hyper focused on the injured patients he had to deal with. Anything was better than doing nothing and having Apollo's Familia refer to him as their proxy God, or having to listen to Apollo drone on and on about father-son bonding time!
Like a coward escaping reality, Caster ran away from his personal hell while Apollo shrugged and idly began playing his lyre again.
Not only were the sick and injured being treated for their wounds, but they could listen to pleasant music too.
Other Gods who were curious about Apollo's new form tried to get Apollo's attention, but the present Apollo only had eyes for his son and Familia.
"He'll get over it," Archer murmured while everyone stared at Caster's hunched back and moist eyes of despair. "...eventually."
"Right," Rider whistled before pushing Shirou out to get everything back in order. "Do your thing boss. I'm sure there are still questions to be answered."
"Indeed," Freya said as she stepped through Iris's mist portal and assessed Heracles, Achilles, and Shirou in person.
Freya's expression glazed over as she focused on Shirou, Rider, and Archer, but Loki who came with Freya could recognize the greed that flickered across her eyes from a mile away.
"Out of the way!" Loki hip-checked Freya to the side and stared at Shirou and the others with full seriousness.
With this line up, Orario really had a good chance of slaying the Black Dragon once and for all.
"When do you plan for the party to depart? And even before that, do you even know where the One-Eyed Black Dragon is? You said you did, but words alone aren't enough to cut it. There's been no sightings of the Dragon for years. It's a matter of trust."
"Trust huh?" Shirou found himself nodding. Fine then. "I'll introduce everyone to our party's guide. She was with the advance team scouting out the Black Dragon's location, and will be the one to lead us in the right direction."
"Advance team-? No wait, do you know how far that guide has to travel to reach Orario? By the time the guide gets here, the Dragon could have long moved," Loki reasoned.
"Don't worry," Shirou insisted. "Assassin is able to monitor the situation in real time."
"Assassin?" Loki muttered, quickly realizing it was another code-name like how Achilles and Heracles went by Rider and Archer.
Shirou pointed up, many gazes following his finger to stare at the sky.
"She'll be here any second," he said.
At first there was nothing, but a scant few moments later, an echoing roar of shock waves traveling through the air reverberated within everyone's chests. It was like standing near a landing plane, but all the turbulence was emitting from a single individual on wings of light adorned with a glowing halo.
She wore a uniformed black attire, stained white under the glow of her hallowed wings. However, the steel look of her eyes filled with purpose to carry out her tasks was a hallmark sign that no God would fail to recognize.
The sparkling beauty with raven hair that embodied the image of a warrior maiden of the upper world belonged only to one faction or neighborhood of the upper world.
The Norse.
[Valkyrie: Ortlinde, reporting.]
Loki and Freya's mouth opened then closed.
/-/
Meanwhile with Caster, a peculiar situation was occurring. It didn't pertain to Caster himself, but to that of the fluffy sheep on his head.
Apollo suddenly shivered, his beady sheep eyes turning around to face a peculiar blue-haired goddess, Thetis, if he recalled right. Regardless, the hairs on the back of his neck raised.
Why was she staring at him like that?
There was such venom in her eyes that it seemed entirely possible that she'd try to murder him if given the chance. Her hair was rising like hissing snakes, and her blue painted nails looked ready to gouge his eyes out.
It was scary.
What did he possibly do wrong?
Coincidentally, Apollo was in a form that was identical to the one who helped some bastard named Paris kill Rider in the vision Thetis saw.
Thetis bit the nail of her thumb.
If what was depicted in what she saw was a type of prophecy, Apollo assuming his current form, was a type of warning that the events portrayed would be near. This echoed not only for Thetis, but others with more observant eyes that noted Apollo's change in appearance.
However, Thetis' reaction was personal rather than simply objective.
'Kill my son? Him? Dare he?'
Thetis's expression grew exceedingly stoney until she arrived at an immutable thought.
The strength of Thetis's Arcanum brewed within her as she began to seriously consider the possibility of success.
Apollo had already used his Arcanum. He would be much weaker.
Even at the cost of her own mortal life in the lower world…
'Can't I just kill him first?'
/-/
Apollo was seriously starting to get some bad yander vibes and burrowed further into Caster's hood.
He had no plans of leaving it anytime soon.
A prophet of Delphi wasn't required to tell him that staying with Caster was probably his safest bet.
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