Cu knew that this wasn't his fight. He knew it before he had stepped up to challenge the mad Archer. He knew it so well he basically called out to the group of Magi plus Servant that fighting him was not a good idea. Among the list of reasons he gave, he left out one. One that he wasn't really sure of.
Not until he pulled his lance out of the giant's chest, stained black and red, then let back as a fist swung at him.
Lancer landed the ruined hall-ways distance away, lurched forward and ready to jump again, with blood dripping to the ground. The swing of Archer's fist blew out the wall next to him, and sent the ash and dust he'd been letting drop with his arrows spit up like a great wind had just run through the building. And really, it had.
Even when missing hitting things, Archer's arrows and fists basically dragged all of reality with it. Cu's blue attire was riddled with scars and mars to prove it, his skin underneath healing up only to his constant disengagement from the close-confrontations. That was good, but it wasn't enough.
Not when the literally through-and-through lance sized hole in his chest curled with black good and healed itself up, showing off the strands of muscle that once again lay beneath. He didn't even have the smugness to flex or throw a witty comment. Maybe he had, but Cu didn't hear it.
It was the sixth time he'd stabbed him after all.
"You may perforate my skin until an arm may reach through, but you cannot harm me."
"Pretty sure doin' that would kill 'bout anything else. Hell, only things that don't mind getting' stabbed a few times are the dead. You go the skin color to match." Lancer put up his grin, adjusting his grip on the lance. "That a secret skill of yours, or do ya got a Noble Phantasm running around keepin' you afloat."
"I have a Noble Phantasm, but you will bear witness to it only in the hour of your greatest victory, then most sorrowful defeat." The Archer spoke beneath that damned curtain of a face again, before lifting his bow up. Cut tensed. Prana ran through the air as the dark skinned giant notched another bolt of an arrow. "If only yours could so much as harm me." He loosened.
Cu was gone, again. Not for a want of dodging.
No, instead, he was beneath the flight path of the arrow, half-way down another hall, or room at this point with all the walls that had been knocked down, and lifting Gae Bulg up. The blunt end of his lance, struck the underside of the flying arrow, his speed and dexterity paying off. Especially as he dug the sharp end into the ground, planting his feet beside it, then lifting.
"HURRRAGH!" He let out, forcing the arrow up and over his head. It didn't stop it, but he was dumb enough to try and stop it.
He was just smart enough to force the arrows to go flying floors up and out of the building. Wood splintered and cried out above him, another dark cloud of soot falling down around him, too. He spat it out, kicking at his lance and wrenching it free off the charred floor. The Lancer winced with the action.
Oh, he pushed the arrow out of the way no problem. The blow back though? That hadn't gone away.
And Cu's favorite blue battle attire was laced with more lashings from the air. Joy.
"You make a habit out of stripping your enemies down? Might give me a clue ta who you really are. You're one piece of cloth short from running around in the buff." Two, actually, but he was fairly certain that was underneath that fabric on his head was certain death.
He didn't need a blind archer suddenly getting his sight back. That's how wars were lost.
"And you make jests and jokes as if to stave off your impending end. Tell me how that makes you a better warrior."
"I'll be remembered for it, that's for sure." He kicked his lance, letting hit spin around his shoulder before catching it in an off-side grip. Not battle ready, but better than having to arm himself. "What do you got to your name?"
"More bodies and tales than you have words spoken."
"Pretty sure I'd take that bet."
"You already have. Your life is on the line." Cu felt Prana in the air again.
"Gotta admit this much. You are way better at smack talk than Berserker is!" Archer didn't rise to this barb.
He just fired, again. And Cu had to act again. This time, he had less room.
The shot was sent not down a hall, but through the nearby walls. Cu cursed as the sound of splintering wood rang in his eardrums. He felt the floorboards beneath him shake before he finished his second lunge, barreling through another wall himself. He could make out the fine moments of archer's bow string vibrating after release, but his eyes were only on the arrow screaming through the manor.
He shot in front of it again, with less time and room to angle it up now. That was bad. He still had to do something. Destroy too much and the house would come down. No way they'd be able to get out any Masters, find Regalia, and save the day at that rate, let alone get the kids that were already in here out alive.
So barring with it. Lancer planted his feet again pushing Gae Bulg behind him, and setting his stance against it. The invincibility of the lance supported him, and he'd never every ounce of his already waning strength. Especially with the log of an arrow shooting at him. No time to change his mind now though.
"C'mon beastie," Cu let out as she held his arms out.
WHAM! Then slammed together, grabbing the head of the arrow.
"GRAH!" He screamed as his arms bulged with the effort of holding the arrow back. The whirlwind of its flight path barreling into him with the debris and ruin of at least two walls and the ceilings to match. "C'mon! C'mon!" He grit out, doing all that he could to break the flight of the arrow. His muscles felt moments away from ripping themselves to shreds. How stupid was he? Catching this thing?! "Heh, the hag'll gut me if she finds out I can't stop a single... dumb... arrow!" He twisted his feet and swore.
With a bend of his knee, he slammed the arrow into the ground. It shook the floor and walls around him, making him nearly fall over. It stuck through the flooring with ease, jutted out like a support pillar itself. But that was it. No more destruction and no more falling ceilings.
That was good.
"You waste your time and effort, like a child thinking the worth of climbing a mountain." Archer was talking again. Lancer could see him through the holes in the wall, and with shaking eyes. "You will run yourself ragged stopping my efforts to kill those humans."
"We were human once too, smart ass." Cu, despite his fatigue, grinned wolfish like. "And if it weren't for that grail mud on ya, I'm willin' ta bet you were someone who'd thank me fer saving lives like this. Ya don't get ta be a hero bein' selfish."
"That is all a hero is." Archer shot back. With words, thankfully. Didn't need another arrow right now. "The greatest of heroes are the kings of old, those who would send men to war to bed their wives while they were gone. Men who would declare war for wind and proclaim peace in a famine. Monsters who devoured the young to live beyond fate's design!"
"Jumped inta monster territory there. Only humans I know who did that didn't stay long on the 'hero' tab."
"Long enough to show no man remains a hero." Prana flashed in the air again. Dammit. Cu cursed as he ripped Gae Bulg from the ground. "And you will die another unflattering death, for trying to be what you are not."
"Can't say I'm gonna take your word on my heroics. Specially when I'm the one carryin' lasses cross the land." He had to smile at that. "Beats covering my face and broodin' in the dark. You gonna keep shootin' at the easy targets?"
"I am going to seal your fate and the lives of the Masters." The arrow fired again. Cu got ready to sprint!
THUUM! But nearly tripped to a stop at the sound. That was not the sound he was expecting. No ripping, tearing, or absolute destruction of the already fire-burned house. No, Cu knew that sound. He heard it in war plenty of times, namely from archers shooting bad targets.
Arrows hitting trees, rocks hitting steel, or even axes slamming against polearms. The common element? Hitting, but not penetrating. Cu could only think of one thing that would stand up to Archer's arrows, here at least.
"So the other servant appears." That brought a wry grin at his face. "Have you abandoned the chafe? You show wisdom more than the Hound of Dun."
"Oi, I'm smart 'nough to keep you off your game." Cu shot back, but already out of eye-sight of the Archer.
He jumped over the wrecked walls and rooms to reach a new hallway, staring down its length at the beast of a Servant, darkened body holding the bow back. Its string was still vibrating. The Lancer got a grin staring at him. Him, and the better Servant further down the hall.
Jesus Christ, that apparent sacred king, discarding the ballista of a shot like spare fetching. What a guy.
"I will never abandon those who call to me. Nor will I turn away from those who need me. You are one who threatens their path, and I am here to keep you from barring their way."
"But not for killing me." That got Cu to curse. Dude was a giant, a beast, and an absolute monster. Too bad that didn't disqualify him from smart. "You are as weak and cowardly as the Lancer."
"There is no cowardice in seeking peace. There is only folly in wishing for war." But damn if the dude in white wasn't firing back.
"War is already here."
"Carried in the words spoken from your tongue and wishes from your blackened soul."
"My soul and mind are no longer blinded by the stupidity of morality. No more sacrifice for the unworthy and undisciplined." He giant's hands gripped at the air. Yards away, Cu felt like the air shook with the effort. Damn the man was strong. "But you would forsake your life and happiness for those thinking themselves higher than others?"
"I would, for among those you mention are many who would give their lives over. For one who claims they are weak and chafe, even you must then say they are brave and absolute for putting their lives above others." Maybe this Jesus guy was an Archer? He was shooting back fire after all!
"Hmm. Your wishes for their goodness will not change their nature."
"Neither will your ideas of the past reshape your future, Alcides."
That got Cu to shake. Him and Archer both.
"Oi! Oi! You know who this bastard!" Lancer all but shook his lance at the man. "The hell didn't you say anything!? Why aren't you saying anything?"
"You know a name that forsake." Lancer felt Prana split the air again. Archer took aim. "And I know a man whose courage took his own life." Cu ducked behind a wall.
The arrow was released, and the ripping of air followed again. The same pull was drown out, debris scratching at his attire with the air. The little that was left of the walls was torn down to just the joists supporting the struts. Dust billowed up like clouds from a storm. They fell away quickly.
And the clattering of wood followed, with Jesus Christ standing in the same place, with the same grin, and the same attire. Archer, or Alcides Cu guessed, didn't even scratch that white robe of his.
"I would speak to you, Alcides," Jesus spoke loudly, staring up at the cloth-faced Servant.
"I will not speak." He already was. "Not without your screaming in turn." Prana shifted in the air again. Cu got himself ready.
"You would silence one who comes to speak because of fear of what you have to hear. You would not defend your name with honor, but throw it away for fear of what judgement would pass upon it." Cu held back a chuckle. Usually had to give warning before you tore someone apart like that! "So I say again. I would speak to you, Alcides. I would speak so you may know the Word."
"I have no care for any Word you have to say. I have no care for words you have to offer." The great bow of pulled back and took aim at the Son of God. "They are a poor distraction for conflict, and useless in the showing of force." He released.
With a speed only marginally slower than the Lancer's full spring, the arrow flew again. The already ruined halls exploded with debris and smoke, spilling them in the air as if a blender. Cu's red eyes squinted into it, holding an arm up to keep himself from being bulled over by the force as well.
Thuum! The arrow struck, and the thud of impact made him grimace. For a moment at least. The clattering of that same arrow against the shattered walls brought back the grin.
"I say again, Alcides. I have come here to share with you the Word." Jesus was walking towards Archer, Alcides, whoever. The destruction littering the hallway didn't even make him trip, lunge, or slow. "And I would ask you to listen."
"I would ask you to lay down your life." Prana again. "But neither shall receive what we ask."
"That will not stop me from trying. And your word will not keep me from succeeding." Jesus smiled at the Archer, and Cu had to whistle.
It took a will of iron to small up at a warrior trying to kill you, but it took balls of steel to do it while being shot at by the son of Zeus! THUUM! Then again, evidenced by the giant bolt being caught and discarded, this was the Son of God as well. Lancer watched the two of them stride towards one another, Gae Bulg all but shaking with excitement in his grip.
Whatever was going to happen, he couldn't wait.
[break]
The ground shook again around them. Ritsuka braced himself around Mash whenever it started. The girl let out a small sound of surprise each time, but both were quick to extricate themselves and shoulder on. They had a task to perform, and they couldn't spare time to doddle.
Even if that meant stepping carefully over the bones of the dragon-tooth warriors, the remains of Jesus command. Ignoring them, and the scorch marks that littered the dry portions of the stone. Ignore, however, was a strong word.
"What... caused this?" Ritsuka could not imagine Jesus's command doing it.
"I-It appears to be a crest for entrapment, Senpai. As in... perhaps to restrict the familiars to this room, or anyone else who enters."
"And now?"
"They were destroyed, I-I think. They appear to be, but I don't know." Ritsuka didn't either. "They should be safe. They wouldn't be... visible."
Visible was the much better word. The sigil, or crest, or whatever it was actually, all but glowed in the hallway. It was giving them the light they lacked, but the soft hue of light blue coming from it wasn't as peaceful as the stained glass of a finely made church. It came off as if it was a light source itself. And that was ignoring how the symbol was etched from the stone wall top to bottom, and at least twice as wide as he was.
"That's good." He spoke honestly. "And... where the others would be?"
"Other traps?"
"Well, those too. But I mean the other Masters, or treasures, or... anything really." He kicked lightly at a dried bone at his foot, listening to it echo down the wet stone hall. "I haven't seen anything that looks like a cage or a safe door." Mash bit her lips.
"Somewhere down here?" Her eyes looked pained. I-I apologize, Senpai. But I do not know this cellar well enough and-" She cut herself off as something clattered behind them. Slamming on stone, and towards them. Ritsuka reacted.
"Get behind me," he said as he pushed the girl. Mash didn't argue, spinning around him and latching to his back. He held his arms out, staring into the darkness as the sound of clipping stone echoed closer to them. The dull booms of battle above continued, but he stared straight on.
Jesus said they would be guarded. He said they would be okay. He didn't know what it was, but whatever was coming, it couldn't be a threat. Couldn't', just couldn't be.
Then in the faint amount of light they had, the figure appeared.
"There! I finally found you two!" For a brief moment, he thought Jesus was wrong. He would have to confess his sin.
"Director! You're alright! Is Lancer with you?"
"No, Lancer is fighting Archer, that absolute brute of a Servant. Your Servant found me after I was... I was..." She pushed her hand into her face.
"Director?"
"I was harmed. Let's say that and be done with it." Ritsuka didn't think she looked injured. "Jesus, your Servant. He did something and healed me. I'm not sure what manner of Skill it was, but it healed my hemorrhaging, concussion, lacerations, and bone fractures." She didn't look injured, but she did look pale. "I spent the better part of the past few minutes thinking about it."
"A-And you're okay, now? Director?" Mash put a hand on the alabaster haired woman. She flinched. "M-My apologies."
"No!" She reached out, eyes wide. "I just... let's move past that. He talked about assisting you, and seeing as he is helping Lancer deal with Archer, there isn't time to waste on what did happen, not until there is nothing else happening."
"Is Jesus alright? How dangerous is Archer?" Ire filled amber eyes looked at him.
"What part of the statement 'move past that' slipped past your ears?" She looked like she was about to poke him, before a heavy sigh pushed past her lips. "Jesus was more than just alright. He was calm, even after he found me a mess and beating away a falling sofa."
"He did what?"
"Archer, however, was a monster. He was tall enough to scratch his head on the ceiling of the hallway, carrying a bow that was as large as he was, muscles bulging at arms, and... and he just walked through the walls like they were paper. That isn't even to mention his shots!"
As she spoke, the walls shook again with the rumble of battle. She let out a cry of fright. Ritsuka put a hand to her shoulder, holding her steady. For a moment, she didn't react to it. He would swear to his Lord she leaned into it.
Then she pushed, at him, hard.
"D-Don't touch me so casually!" She shot back. "And how far along are you intending to stalk along in the dark!?"
"Un... until we find a light?" Ritsuka tried. It clearly wasn't enough.
"Are you joking!? You're walking around like this intentionally!? I was afraid of turning a light on for fear you were doing it for a reason! Like there was a light-based familiar lurking in the cracks of these stones! Now you tell me there is nothing to be afraid of!?"
"I didn't say nothing." He put out, watching her eyes dip. He had to bite his lips a second later. "But... Jesus did say there was nothing to fear."
It was too bad her eyes couldn't light up the hallways. They were practically on fire.
"Of all... I know I can't expect you to know anything about some basic Magecraft, seeing as you don't even know what your own crests are, let alone the basics of the Magus world, but you couldn't have thought to grab a flashlight or something!?"
"W-Where would I have-"
"And Mash!" Her face calmed before she went on. "You at least could have suggested something. You may not have Crests to use, but you're too smart to just be walking around down here."
"I am... alright, Director. Jesus led us at first, and then he disposed of the dragon-tooth warriors."
"So all of these bones are them... right?" What did she mean? "They are only the familiars? No one else?" No one... oh.
"We don't know," Ritsuka looked at Mash, who shook her head. "I don't... think so, because Jesus didn't say anything. We didn't fight them either. He just commanded them to be gone and, well we heard the bones fall apart."
"That Servant of yours, of course he'd do that." What did that mean. "If nothing else, I'll imagine they aren't the other Masters. He likely would have helped them in that confusing manner of his." Of that, they could agree. "He was probably a force of nature."
"Above that, actually."
"Right." Her words could have frozen the dew on the stone. "Our Servants are fighting the rogue Archer, and they are keeping that mad man from bringing down the manor on our heads. To be more specific, Archer is trying to destroy all the supports above us so that we are essentially caved in."
Ritsuka pointedly resisted the urge to look up. Mash clung to his back a bit tighter.
"But Cu was doing a good job, and I can only hope that your Servant is able to at least distract him from firing more shots, or at the very least keep them from successfully turning this place into our tomb. So we have to hurry and, preferably, finding an alternative way out."
"Why another way?"
"Because I do not want to run back towards that giant of a man firing shots off and being even clipped by it!" She screamed. Loudly. "And also because I am your leader and I say we are going to find a safer way. Does that make sense? Do you have any arguments?" He had a few.
"N-No, we understand." They could wait though. Jesus was fighting. He couldn't delay his Lord.
"Good, excellent, well then." The Director brushed off her cloak and looked about the hall. "I assume you were waiting here because you had searched the other halls?"
"We-" With a bit of guilt, Ritsuka spoke over Mash.
"We were quick, but didn't search a lot." A sound of surprise came from behind him. "Why? Is there something you see? Anything we missed?"
"If you missed what I see, I'll have to have Da Vinci give you a new set of eyes."
"The entrapment crest?"
"It is not an entrapment crest!" Her ire was instant. "How could you mistake the glow like that for an entrapment? That would be like trying to lure a shark with a piece of plastic! Or a... oh Mash, you must have mistook the double helix for a infinite vortex, didn't you?" She did what?
"Y-Yes, was I... I-I apologize for my mistake, Director."
"No no, it's alright. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Fools tend to make me short." She already was short. "But the concept of the rune is correct. There are a few missing parts. Let me show you." She stepped past them, putting hands to the wall and running around the runic inscription. She was muttering as she spoke. "This is supposed to be the formation of a room counterpart, not limitation of space. It is a hidden provision of space? Yes, that's it."
"It's what?" She didn't turn ire now.
"It's not a trap." Her fingers ran over the center of the sigil. "It's a lock to a door." Her hand glowed.
Ritsuka found himself stepping back as the stones shifted with the Director's actions, the wet stones slipping away like panels as the crest rearranged itself along the wall. It folded back, on top of, and eventually all but dissolving into one another. He thought it was like watching paper crumble together, except with pieces of stone.
Impressive as that was, what lay beyond was more so.
"A-A vault?" Mash asked for him.
"A research facility, or at least a Magus's personal study," Olga spoke up instead, stepping through without any flourish. "Family heads commonly do this to make sure that any non-Magus visiting a home are not going to stumble upon sensitive research, that or untrained Magus." Her amber eyes focused on him. The flicker of torches in the room lit up her satisfaction. "Then again, I'm sure only a few of the other Masters would have had a means to open the ward like this."
"Because you're an excellent Magus?"
"Yes, actually, but also because the Animusphere family has made a fair number of patents around the crest locking system. Like any good Magus, however, we left means to use the crests we invented." He wasn't sure it was something to take pride in. "But I'll instruct you later of the importance of it. For now, come in. It is safe. No Magus would dare lay traps where they do their research."
He didn't know what she meant until he stepped inside. He found out what she meant fairly quickly. Mash was right and so was the Director.
He saw piles of ornate objects piled in the corners and wall of the room, stacked atop one another or hanging from stone pillars with careful detail. Each one of them, from swords to staves and books to dials, either flashing with a gleam of some fine metal or encrusted with jewels or precious stones. It reminded Ritsuka of some legends of Egyptian or Roman emperors, who would torture the Christians as they lavished themselves with material goods.
But spread out among tables were tomes and bound journals, each one next to some station that he couldn't make sense of. He had never studied the anatomy of the body in a lab or done chemical research, but he knew that the design of the bottles and surgical tools were likely meant for just that. He just couldn't make sense of what they were there for, only that the books next to them were probably for recording something. One thing was for sure though.
"No one else is here."
"So your eyes do work. I'm happy to hear that." He breathed deeply, and the floor shook again. Olga caught herself. "We don't have time to waste. The Masters aren't here, but we have literal walls full of regalia to look off of. I'm sure whoever was the Master of this house will have something we can use." Her attention went to the books rather than the treasures, fingers flipping through the pages.
"So we're going to look for something that can work?"
"Mash will be the one who looks. You, on the other hand, will do as she asks and answer her questions if she has them. You have no experience with the Magus ways, and she will know what kind of Regalia we need to establish a connection. Don't get in her way."
As if on command, the lavender haired girl started to sift through the treasures in the room. He saw her lift and move a couple of gold ordained globes, a goblet or two, as well as metallic gloves and staves that he wouldn't think would be out of place in the sanctified chambers of an ordained cathedral. Her eyes were careful on them, tracing things he couldn't tell the significance of. At this moment, he knew better than to ask.
More likely, they were etched with the markings of far from divine spirits over God himself. Likely pagan or hedonistic religions, putting power into materials to give reverence to demons.
He held his tongue, however. Jesus did not warn him. He told him the opposite.
He told him to help. He had to help.
"Should I start sifting through them with you?" Mash looked up, before shaking her head.
"N-No. I'm sorry Senpai, but I am looking for, um, specific Prana signatures. Ones that have ties to these Leylines. I will, or, um, could use your help when I find something, i-if it is too large, but I'm alright for now." Her smile was less than confident.
He nodded regardless, looking instead towards the Director, watching the woman read through the journals spread out around the tables, licking her fingers as she studied the texts. He had no desire to read them.
"And what are you going to do?" She grinned at him. Ritsuka did not return it.
"Now that I've opened the door, you mean? I'm going to be looking for the optimal Leyline location. Any point of overlap will allow us to contact Chaldea faster. The Root knows we don't have time to spare on that." A boom was an affirmation of her words. She froze up, moving only when the vibrations stopped. "If we can get contact, we may be able to know where the other Masters are."
"And we can't look for them?"
"It would be a waste of time. Not because they aren't worth it, but because we may establish connection faster, then we can be given the answer. Simple as that." To her credit, Ritsuka agreed it was simple. "That doesn't mean we shouldn't make haste. The Servants could be defeated any moment now." His ire was rising now.
"Not even the devil could kill Jesus Christ." She almost laughed, holding up a thick leather volume.
"No, but a few roman soldiers and a couple of traitors from the temple did. And we are in what looks to be hell already. Let's not forget that Berserker was literally screaming about us being Romans at that."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything, nothing? It could be that we have to be more careful of her, if she's some woman who was killed by Romans like Jesus. Or she could be an ally, if she hates them as much as Jesus does." Ritsuka shook his head.
"The Lord does not hate. He never did." He stepped up to her. She did the same, amber eyes falling to glare up at him.
"Everyone hates. It's very human." She didn't blink. "You're proving your humanity now, staring at me like that."
"I don't hate you." He saw her grin. "I pity you." Now she was scowling.
"Pi-Pity!?" Then she was screaming. "How can someone like you dare to pity me!? I am the first born daughter of Marisbury Animusphere! I am the heir to a Lord's seat in the Clocktower and head of Chaldea, a group of Magi dedicated to the Order of Humanity! I have nothing I have to pity from some street urchin!" Something clattered behind him.
"D-Director!"
"You're right, I'm not much. Just someone who sleeps in chapels that allow me to, and speaking with the clergy to help them. I don't have a history I can look at and have marvel." The confident grin on the alabaster haired woman's face was, in a word, venomous. "Before all of this, I know what I was." Ritsuka didn't look away. "I wasn't someone of grand importance, I wasn't someone dedicated to carry a family line, I wasn't someone asked to do anything more than, at best, clean the pews and burn frankincense for services."
"So you were nothing! Saying it twice over does not change what you are." He shook his head.
"I was more than that. I was happy."
Anger fled the woman faster than fire fled water.
"I don't know much about what's going on. I don't even know how important it all is. Just the idea of humanity being erased because of some order is way over my head. You and everyone knows far more than I do. I'm the idiot here and I know it. But I do know that my Lord and Savior is walking these lands with me, and is helping to protect me. He gave me orders and I will follow his words. That makes me happy." He dared to put his face closer to the Director. "I only ask now, why aren't you happy?"
"Sen... pai." The walls shook again. This time, it appeared to jostle the Director.
"We... we don't have time to waste over this." Her lips pursed. "Help Mash, whatever she asks you to. I'll keep researching. We have... I... Let's hurry." She turned away from him. Ritsuka did the same.
"Senpai," Mash was on him in a second, carrying a lance only slightly taller than herself. "Are you okay?"
"I'm alright." He answered honestly. "Still confused, but Jesus is literally here with me. It's hard for me to be afraid."
"But are you... unhappy?" Ah.
"Again, Jesus is here with me." He smiled without restraint. "And if that wasn't a miracle enough, I get to talk about him to someone eager to learn. What more could a servant like me ask for?"
He couldn't recall a time a woman had ever blushed at him before.
[break]
"Once more Alcides, will speak with you!" Jesus was crying out now. "No amount of flailing with your bow or cries against me will silence my wishes!"
"I do not need to silence you. I only need to bury your Masters. Then, you will be silent with them!" The giant archer let loose another bolt. It was not within a dream of hitting Jesus Christ. Cu was there to beat it upwards, preventing it from embedding into the ground. It still stole walls, and supports away with it. "Scream and cry with the splintering wood if you wish to waste your breath."
"I waste nothing I offer! It is you who denies words! Are you calling yourself a beast, incapable of an exchange of words?" The son of Joseph spoke out, earning the dark eyes of the corrupted hero. His boy, plain yet gigantic turned with an unnotched arrow. "Are you degrading what you were made to be so that you may act as you wish?"
"I act as I must! If I am degrading what I am, it is what is necessary to reach the level of the humans who flittered and rotted the land!" With the speed of his legend, Alcides notched and loosened his arrow.
"DAMN!" Cu shouted as he jumped in front of Jesus, putting his lance's tip to the bolt and pushing. Jesus put a hand to the Lancer's shoulder, steadying him as he pushed the bolt away. It stole the air with it, the weight dragging a hurricane behind it. "I'm all for wrestlin' with the beast, but I figure I'd get a charge for fighting monster like this!"
"He is no monster, just a who believes monsters are stronger than men." The comment earned an ireful gaze from the Irish Lancer. "He is not among the first, and far from the last."
"Maybe true, but he's the one first and foremost in front of us." The man spun the Lance of the Dun Saith around his body, stopping with the polearm mated with the wood. "And that makes it somethin' to wet the appetite."
"Oh? Are you hungry, dog?" Alcides taunted, long hair hiding all but the proud grin he wore. "A hound come barking at the stray animals for a portion of their meal?"
"Did that once 'fore, got chained up for it. Even if I did catch a mighty fine teacher from it. What I really want is a match with someone who can make me scream fer joy, and not sighing in disappointment."
"You'll have to search your next life for them," the man produced another trunk-width arrow, notching it in the heavy bow. "I have no need to prove myself through any more trials, be they designed by my gods or yours."
"Trial means you get something out of it, or at least a fancy title. I'm just lookin' to make use of a life-time of battlin', fightin', killin', and screwin'." His grin was cocky and sure, his own red eyes screwed with delight as he stared up at the giant archer. "You already get that rematch in your second comin', or are ya willin' to wrestle with a hound that the gods had to chain up?"
The comment stilled the dark skinned man, able to turn his confident grin into a thoughtful, if scorn-filled, line. Jesus watched on, hands folded, and waiting for the minds of these men to grow from their boyhoods.
"I will confess to you alone, Hound of the Ulster, I would enjoy a match like that. One that makes me sweat like the wrestling of a lion, aim as if the harpies were above me, challenge even the divinity of the Underworld's guardian. A dog, again. But even if he had three heads, I feel you have a bigger bite."
"Got the body count ta prove it, too."
"I'm sure you do. But I have a duty greater than merely satisfying my own lust for battle." The bow took aim again. "Besides, I will be rewarded for my patience. The Grail will grant my any wish, and a land filled with those who understand my plights and cycles is worth far more than a bloody dance with you."
"Pity ta hear it."
"Disdainful as well." The words of Jesus came across as flooring fell from the upper stories, and the foundation rumbled beneath them. "You wish to die bathed in blood. You act so that you may curse others to be swept away in darkness. Why would you wish for this?"
"Oi, he's my match." Jesus ignored the Lancer, eyes on the giant across the ruined hall.
"Answer me, Alcides, and tell me why you wish to mute your senses of flesh rather than hear the Word that will free your soul?" The giant's gripped his bow with the strength to make the air rumble. Cu prepared his lance. "You may attempt to strike me down all the more, but it will no silence the truth I speak. You only deafen yourself, like a child wishing to remain ignorant in darkness. Are you a child, Son of a Fallen Dominion!"
"Son of what?" Cu's curiosity was ignored and thrown away.
"I am no ignorant child, but neither am I a desperate welp," Alcides retorted. "I am he who was tortured by the mischief of others, and I will use the wish upon the grail to show the horrors of the men who claim their purity."
"You will only show your own darkness with such a wish." Jesus's words were truth and law. "And I do not deny the wrongs done to you, but I contest that gives you authority to decide the fate of others."
"And you do?"
"My father does, and I speak in his stead. It is his will that puts me before you, but my actions bay you to understand my request. Hear my words, listen to me, so that I may save you from this darkness you thrust yourself upon."
The comment filled the air, crackling wood far away keeping silence away, with the low rumble of an uneven house leaving nerves tense. Jesus and Cu watched as the giant Archer's lips, twisted and melded, finally settling in a soft, but large, smile.
"Thrust upon… a good euphonism for it. It is what the Saber dared to accuse me of, only to manage to best me when I was about to show the folly of daring such actions. Dipping me into the chalice of the Greater Grail, and throwing me out to spread out what I saw." His parted his long hair, letting dark, even dead, eyes settle on the pair. "Can you imagine what I witnessed?"
"Horrors of darkness that offered you peace upon submission." The words earned a bout of deep laughter from the corrupted hero.
"Close, truly so. But they also showed what I may have on this earth, for what I have done. Showed it to me and promised with power that would make my father tremble. Are you about to say you have something better to offer?"
"You don't, do you?" Cu looked at Jesus, who kept eyes forward, and pristine robe unmarred by the debris and ruin about them.
"I have the truth of the Word and the promise of Heaven. Is this not enough?"
"Can I see it? Can you offer it to me?"
"Only if you wish to have it." His eyes fell to the bow. "But you hold that weapon too tensely for me to believe you will hold dear what I have to offer." Alcides didn't grin or laugh.
"I hold this bow as I do for it is the answer I have been seeking. It is the prize that was promised to me for my service to the grail, and it is far surer a reward than any whims of kings, in this world or those that follow."
"Oi oi, I got a few lords me'self that would say your biting on a rotten gut with that kind of boast."
"I boast only when I am right, and I am right when my plans are aligned." He leaned forward, and dark eyes showed their mirth, mirrored like the moon in foaming waters. "And now, I have done my part." Now he began to laugh.
"You did your… the hell are you thinking? That grail mud slather itself on our brain, too? Pretty sure the mansion's still standin', laddie!" The Lancer shouted back, but a hand of Christ on his shoulder made him turn.
"His actions were disguised as destruction, but in truth were trails left for us to walk upon, and for the children to be lost within." He stepped around Cu, eyes down another distant hall of the ruined manor. "And now the catcher is casting her line." It was the pronoun that tipped Cu off.
"She… oh, oh crap!" The realization only made the giant roar with laughter.
"Wise as the weak are, it will not save you from what is to come, let alone the tepid point of connection to this ruined world!" Alcides screamed.
The sky above the manor, visible through the fallen sections of wall, roof, and flooring, showed the darkness crawling for the sky. Cu and Jesus both heard the same roar of power echoing above them, casting out to fall down as it had only hours ago.
"Fuck! Fuck! We gotta get the kids!"
"No speed at your disposal will save you, not now that they are in the deepest part of this workshop's labyrinth." The dark corrupted archer drew his bow again. "And with the lives granted to me by my fallen father, as you say Son of God, I will walk over their broken bodies and parade their souls before you."
Jesus turned his gaze to the Archer and spoke his final words before the dark blade fell again.
"And I will mourn yours as you fall."
They were enough to give the Son of Zeus pause.
[break]
"Dammit! DAMN! This is harder than I thought it was going to be." Ritsuka listened to the Director curse and cuss as she bit her thumb. "Are you having any luck with the regalia?"
"We've… removed those that don't qualify," Mash offered. "But nothing has the Prana density or wavelength necessary to start a communication line, or a beacon, for Chaldea."
"Of course not. Figures it would tale this long." The woman traced the stone, with Ritsuka watching as sparks of blue flame flickered off her finger. It made a dark green gash in the stone, but appeared to heal itself a moment later. "And the place is so guarded that forming a Leyline tether here will be like trying to summon a servant without a catalyst."
"That would make it… impossible?" He dared to venture. His reward was more ire.
"No! It would be a crapshoot that could have us trying to communicate to Atlas five hundred years ago or making a talk ourselves three seconds in the future. It has to be specific by location, time, and personal." Ritsuka had to squint at that.
"Personal? Doesn't… it matters who uses it?"
"YES! Does technology work that way for you?" She waved him off, even as she scratched more blue flames at the wall. It made him scratch his head.
"No, but… it doesn't matter." He shook his head as he turned. "Mash, is there anything I can find that might help? Like, would the regalia be heavy, large, long, a weapon?"
"Oh! Um… to manifest with the SHEBA system, or with Da Vinci, it can be something of Middle Eastern Origins, preferably a treasure, o-or it could be a design of Da Vinci… but I don't think we'll find that down here." Her lone eye looked over the treasurers they had found.
Ritsuka looked as well, over the macabre displays of the human bodies, the etchings of the inner skeletons and works beyond the anatomy and focused upon the soul and extraction. He looked at reliefs of stone that were carved of skulls and bones, and statues that held eyes more numerous than his fingers, for a single figure. Then he saw tendrils and arrows rooted around one another, coiling as if both in desperate need to possess something at the center of the monuments.
He had met Da Vinci only once, but he was sure the woman would not design something so… haunting. The homeless Catholic could only think of one famed artist who would, and his mind was lost to madness before he had left the world.
"I'll keep looking." His words earned a slow nod from Mash, with a bit of her lip. That he noticed. "Is something wrong?"
"You're annoying her, because you're annoying." Insulting or not, Ritsuka ignored the director.
"I'm just… attempting to do more." The statement only raised more questions.
"More? You're doing more than me."
"B-But I'm meant to be a Servant, I-I'm… I'm supposed to-"
"You don't have to answer him, Mash," the director stopped her scratching to speak. "He admitted himself to not understanding what is happening. Trying to talk to him about this is like trying to earn sympathy from an ameba."
"I might not know what is happening, but I am capable of listening." Ritsuka turned his pointed gaze from the woman to the lavender haired girl. "So you can tell me what is wrong."
He did not miss the girl looking over his shoulder and to the director, mouth open as if the words were waiting to be released. He could see without a glance the woman shaking her head, earning a bit lip in front of him.
"I-I'm sorry Senpai. I just… I just feel lacking. That's all."
"You are not lacking, Mash," the director spoke up again. "If anyone is performing below expectations, it is the man who was gathered up to fill numbers and doesn't even understand the basics of Magecraft. He can't do anything but heavy lifting, and we have the literal Child of Light from Ireland, and the God of Abraham for that!"
"Jesus. He is Jesus Christ, and he has us." Ritsuka's correction was unappreciated.
"You see? He still thinks that we serve the Servants."
"But I'm not even that." Both of them looked back at the girl, holding a vase in her hand, hunched over and trembling. "I-I was supposed to… to help everyone with the Rayshift, and bring out my embedded Servant to help! Professor Lev a-and Doctor Archaman both said th-the Rayshift would help. But I… I just died." The statement made the woman behind Ritsuka gasp.
"You didn't die, and you've been helping Olga plenty."
"H-He's right. You shouldn't be putting incorrect judgements upon yourself."
"But I… I just want to do what I was meant for. But I can't." She held up the vase as if to crush it. "I-I'm like the director to take charge, I-I-I don't know anything about Jesus and he was the one to save me, a-a-and I don't even have… I don't have…" Her voice trembled. Ritsuka wasn't sure if it was the shaking of the room that made her stop or the soft sob she made. He only knew neither were good.
"Hey this… it's okay. You might not be doing what you think you should, but you're not doing nothing, right?" He looked away from Mash, eyeing the Director. Olga Marie gave him one terrified look before shaking her head and combing her hair.
"He's right. Your duties as a member of Chaldea are not… restricted to your role as Demi-Servant. That is why Doctor Archaman has been active in training you." Ritsuka wasn't aware of their relationship, but he rolled with it.
"And when we get out of here, I'm sure you're going to have a lot more to teach me to. So that means… you'll be my teacher. I'm sure I'll need one."
"No arguments." The snip from the director was ignored.
A bleary eye looked up at Ritsuka, the vase in her hand clenched between white knuckles. She swallowed, and Ritsuka gave her the time to do so. Even if the room was shaking… rushing this would change nothing. He had to be like Jesus, calm in the storm and faithful to his father.
"Senpai, thank-"
RRRRRRRR-BOOOOOOM!
The echoing crack above them silence the girl as it deafened the room. All eyes looked up as dust fell from between the stone tiling above them. Crouched, ready to jump, Ritsuka stared, not even knowing what he was looking for.
"That… had to be the Archer," Olga spoke breathlessly. "B-But the other servants and the ceiling…"
CRACK!
Then a solid piece of the stone fell down, cracking on the ground beneath them like a grenade was laid in it. It was as much a spark of action as it was a signal of doom. He took at as one, and he may have been the last to do so.
"Mash! Double time! Find the regalia we can use! You! You might not know any defensive or reinforcement spells, but try and prop open the door with something, anything that won't work for us!" He could do that.
He grabbed at a lance, something thick enough o need a grunt of effort to lift, and all but dragged it back towards the opening stone-arc. More dust fell down around them as he pushed it into place, kicking the base to keep it holding the archway up. The stones stopped rumbling above the door, but it did nothing for everywhere else. If it caved in here…
"What about the Leylines!?"
"I'll find one back outside! We need the regalia though!" The Director was in front of Mash, helping her push relics away, mumbling now. "No, no, no, no, no, no, maybe…"
"No!"
"Then no!" Olga threw the gem over her back, with Ritsuka watching it crack against the wall. THUMP! Then a piece of stone falling over and crushing it. He looked back into the hallway, realizing what it meant.
THUMP! CRACK! CRRRR-GRACK! The sounds of mortar and stone chipping and falling down the stone hallway echoed like gunshots. Each one sent beads of sweat down Ritsuka's neck. They were getting louder, making a deafening cacophony. He tried to imagine running through it.
Remembering how long the hallway was, he couldn't think of it, not without caving in.
"Oh my Jesus, please protect and guide us on this day, in this desperate hour," he whispered out the prayer, turning away from the archway and back towards the girls. He jumped, nearly having his head beaten by another falling block of stone. The ceiling began to decay around it. "And in this our final hour, please guide us to the eternal embrace!"
"Pray for a solution rather than death!" Olga shouted back at him, having heard him. "Because we'll need a miracle now!" Her eyes were on the treasures they had thrown away. "Maybe if we c-can find something that will work, we can survive this!" She was already jumping at the other pile. "Th-This was a magus's house! He must have had something!" The desperation was almost dulled by the falling stone. the walls were starting to cave in.
Ritsuka saw dirt pour in, and the ceiling crumble around it.
Then he saw the crack running up over the pile of discarded items, and dust fall on the Director's head. Her frantic eyes noticed nothing. The desire to protect over took him.
He jumped, knocking into her. He heard her let out a cry of more fury than pain, and saw something spark in her hand. He likely saw wrong.
Because the flash of light with a stone colliding with his head took his consciousness from him.
He prayed the girls would be okay.
[break]
"Fuck! Fuck!" Cu screamed as he kicked his way out of the rubble. "Good shit! Medb's fury!" He ripped Gae Bulg out from the stone behind him. The rubble shot forth like cannon fire, demolishing the tried and ruined trees into dust and bark. A snarling expression looked back at the manor he had escaped from.
Rubble was what he escaped, and rubble was all that was left. The stories of the magus's workshop having fallen in on itself, all the grandeur of Archer's position turned into a flat ruin of dust and smoke, and in the midst of it, buried beneath hundreds of tons of stone, concrete, and magical lines, were the Masters that were supposed to undo all of this.
And he had failed them.
"FUUUUCK!"
"Your anger in understandable, but now is not the time to indulge in it." A furious red gaze rounded on the alabaster robbed man. Cu was covered in soot, dust, and the mars of battle. The bearded Son of God had not even a wisp of sweat upon him. "We will need to save the children."
"Save them? You think they're alive in that!?" He flung his hand out. "And even if we find them, what are we gonna do about Archer! That likely literal sister breeder is gonna be watching us!" Cu knew he was. "There's no way he died in some pathetic manner like that!"
"You are right, he did not. The powers of the fallen Dominion tether his life, but only so many times. He has wasted away many with that attack, and likely more with what you laid upon him." The words made Cu shake his head until his blue hair whipped.
"And what the fuck does that matter?" Jesus's brow tilted, casually, at the word. "He's still alive, the Masters are buried alive, and we're gonna be the definition of layin' ducks if we try and fish 'em out of that stone sea!"
"He will be watching, but he will not have his bow drawn." Jesus spoke so matter of fact that Cu had to blink. "He will be forced to observe, as he must acknowledge he cannot slay me with a corrupted blessing. He saw what I was capable of."
That was enough to get Cu to bit his tongue, enough to make it bleed. Oh yeah, he saw, and so did the Irish Lancer for the first time.
Jesus Christ, so the super-pacificist Servant that had fun walking through hell and talking about himself, catching the falling blade of Saber like it was a dueling stick. For all the good it did to protect them, and get even the Archer to realize he was not meant to be there, the mansion didn't get the same memo. Apparently, a giant blade capable ripping down mountains tended to destroy basic human buildings when it slammed through them.
The ruins they were standing in front of was proof enough of that. That was what a blade made by a corrupted Saber from the Grail could do. What the Son of God could do was survive.
"What you can do…" Cu repeated. "You want to show me what else you can do? Wanna put up your lamb legs and pick out under which boulder I'm gonna find the smear of the girl who was begging me fer help, or are ya just gonna pull up a slab of wood and make that their tombstone for ya?"
"I intend to leave non buried this day," Jesus answered through the mockery. "And those who have departed I will guide."
"So even less than I was hoping for."
"No, far more." The man walked past Cu and through the rubble, stepping easily over the cracked stone, fallen pillars, and shattered concrete. He did not bend a knee or shift his position. He walked as if the rubble and destruction was a well-worn path. It forced Cu to let out a breath of hot air.
"So you're gonna bless their grave? Gotta admit that no one's gonna miss this, maybe the five or six people left alive in that Grail Room will get out and think 'oh yeah, this is a great dig job'."
"I would hope, should we rescue those being ensnared by wicked spirits, they would instead ask for salvation, rather than admire destruction." He stepped over a shatter column twice his own size. Cu snarled, jumping over the destruction, and landing on a barely standing wall stud. He looked down at Jesus, contempt clear in his slit eyes.
"You really don't care at all that we failed them, do ya? Not so long as your pappy is givin' you the thumbs up."
"If my father requested for me to let them enter his embrace, I would do so." Cu spun Gae Bulg. "But I feel no pity now for they deserve none, not so long as I am able to help them." Moments away from goring the son of God like the lancer far before him, Cu stopped. He caught that like Scathach's training blows.
"What'd ya say?"
"We are going to help them, for we can." The man pulled his hand from his robe, pointing at an unassuming block of concrete, piled on by dozens of others and nearly hidden amongst the thousands of others. "This slab. Pull it for me?"
"I ain't your Servant."
"No, but you did put a knee to the boy that serves me. If you do not lift this, we cannot save him." He either didn't notice Cu's grip on his lance, or he didn't care. The latter spoke volumes, but so did the former.
"You sure they're under there?"
"No, for they are not. We only need to lift this first so we can reach them without difficulty." Cu shook his head back and forth. This… technically a bastard, telling him what to do and just promising emptily that a no-talent Magus was gonna survive a literal building falling on him. He'd seen men die with horses trampling them. This had to be close to a thousand times worse than that.
But he blew out another puff of air. WHAM! Slamming his lance into another portion of rubble.
"Fine, I'll do it. But I better see those kids holdin' that relic of theirs."
"You will see them. With what they will possess, I cannot say." His words earned a grumble from the Irish Lancer, but not a denial. He wasn't about to argue over those priorities.
With the strength of his father, and the blessings of the Queen of the Shadowlands, Cu lifted the boulder, letting dust and debris fall from the already colossal boulder, and threw it over his shoulder so much like a pebble. The few of the trees left shook with the impact, but red eyes only returned to Jesus, who nodded once before pointing at another piece of rubble.
For minutes, they continued in this way. Cu moving the landscape of the destroyed manor by the direction of the Son of God, and each time thinking on ways he'd torture the man should the Masters be injured. Yet the man was either fearless or confident. His own history reminded him of the danger of the two, especially mixed into one.
"This is the last one," Jesus spoke, earning a thankful sigh from Cu.
"'Bout time! I was about to break a sweat movin' these stones!"
With great effort, he picked up the stone carefully, sure he was going to see the kids with broken limbs and crushed bones underneath. Couldn't jostle it too much and make those injuries worse. Better to save a crushed limb than pull it off carelessly. All he had to do was see the kids, then he'd chuck it.
But he didn't see them, blood stains, or even a few strands of clothes.
All Cu got was a giant metal shield, sitting under the boulder like a fallen cross. Hell, it even had the damn cross on it. The hell was-
"Whoa!" He jumped back, giant rock still in hand, as the shield shifted beneath him. Lifting with rubble and dust falling from it, settling when he was dozen feet away, and it was standing… like a cross. Least it was Celtic with that circle around tit. Damn celts. Cu shook his head.
"Behold, they live."
He twisted it towards Jesus, tossing the rock away and looking at the metal shield again. Taller than he was, about as wide as his arms outstretched, and it was practically thrumming as it stood there among the ruin. It was impressive.
But what really got him to blink was the lanky girl who walked out from behind it, lifting the aegis like it was an untampered sword. Now that was impressive.
"Senpai! Director! Are you alright?" The girl shouted back into the hole she'd crawled out of, just before getting to her knees. "Here, I'll help you up."
"Thanks Mash," came the voice of his Master, just before the girl pulled him up with the guts of one arm. Really pulled, the boy flipping over her head and hitting the rubble with a grunt of pain. He rolled to Cu's feet, looking up at the Lancer still holding the stone above his head. Pebbles fell on the boy's face. "Oh hi Cu."
"Hey there," he responded with a flash of his grin. "Good ta see you survived. Honestly thought you'd be a pancake batter down there."
"Almost… but God was on our side." Cu couldn't tell him off for that. "Thank you for clearing the wreckage for us. Mash was having a hard time pushing while keep us safe."
"Don't mention it," he let out, tossing the stone away. "It was a good warmup, throwin' stones like I was back at the pond." The boy smiled up at him, even as he got to his feet. "Gotta say, you handle almost dyin' pretty well."
"I think… I'm just getting used to it."
"At least you're acclimating!" Cu looked up to see the Lass being pulled up from the hole, the lavender hair girl holding her like she was a delicate flower. Change in priorities, he supposed. "But I believe far more praise should be given to Mash! You've awakened the Demi-Servant in you!"
"Demi-Servant? First I've heard of this."
"No, I told you before." The noble waved him off.
"Nah, I'm sure ya didn't. Only thing I've heard from ya were questions and complaints." His Master laughed, walking aside even as the girls blushed. One of them had a scowl, and Cu would give no respect to a man who guessed who. "But yeah, I'm gonna guess ya found the regalia in time." His head motioned towards the giant shield.
"A-Actually, I manifested this when… when I thought the Director and Senpai were going to die." The metal grated on stone and rubble as she dragged it, another blush flashing over her before she lifted it to move. "I believe… it belongs to the Servant who's origin is manifested in side of me, but I don't recognize who's it is."
"Ya don't even know the Servant in ya?"
"No, because we can't know." The Lass spoke up again. "There wasn't a relic used for the summoning process, and short of the initial appearance during the summoning ritual, they have yet to manifest, until now." Her pride was back, grin and all. "And I'm confident that this is the regalia we can use for the ritual. Right Mash?" So much for confident, needing to ask.
"Y-Yes Director, this will work." The girl ran a hand over the shield. First time Cu noticed that she was wearing different clothes.
No, armor. Finally out of the skirt and jacket, ash and soot stained, but not wearing proper protection. Maybe a bit lacking in the legs, but at least having something to cover her chest and extremities, the more vulnerable parts in a battle. And the shield was meant to make up for it. And just carrying it did show off her strength was there as well. The rouge idea of testing her with a fight flittered through Cu's mind, but he shook it away with a roll of his head.
"You are injured." He turned a titled eye to Jesus, wondering what he was talking about, only to see the cleanest among them addressing the boy at his feet. "You were wounded behind the aegis?"
"Before, my Lord. I was hurt when the ceiling fell."
"Guess we know what set off that awakening then," Cu remarked, looking bac at the girl. Her blush was hot as the fires from the destroyed city. "Pretty darin' stuff there, tryin' ta put your lfe on the line for a couple of Lasses." The boy blinked, but his fellow Servant smiled at him.
"I di- how did you-?" Cu cut the boy off with laughter.
"Laddie, your fallin' over yerself too much for 'em for me to think you got hurt any other way but puttin' yourself in front of the bricks."
"His head was hard enough for it," the Lass returned, earning a sharp grin from the Lancer. "But he did save us, so thanks is earned."
"Better give it to him then, 'fore you lose track of it." The girl's face was hot as the shield-bearing servant next to her, but with a scowl to match it. She was too easy.
"You did well to act for others, thinking not of yourself." Christ spoke again. Cu had to admit, his Charisma had to be off the charts to take even his attention so easily. much. "And you have called upon a noble saint to assist you. The worries in your heat must have been deep to earn the sympathies of him."
"I… was worried." The purple lass responded, once it was obvious he was speaking to her. "I saw Senpai hurt and the walls were coming down. That made me…" Her hand came to her chest, over the curve in her armor. Guess that meant she had a chest to show.
"You called out for help, and your prayers were answered." Jesus stepped in front of her, as careless for the rubble that should have had him rocking on the balls of his feet. "The yearning to protect others with your life, to see the cost of a soul as greater than that of body. A noble intention, made the greater when you act for others."
"It just… it felt right."
"Do not discount a noble action through the guise of impulse. Another's first thought may be of self. You cared too much for the man beside you to let him be injured, and the same for the woman you see as your leader. You care for them, and you wish to protect them." His hand was on her shoulder, putting their heights in perspective.
Cu had to admit, Jesus was a big guy.
"Well done, Mash Kyrielight. You are a noble soul."
The girl's face lit up, and Cu thought for a moment that Prana flew into her, least her hair almost lifted off her face with the joy. The hot blush helped, which his own red eyes grabbed just before she ducked her head and looked away. Her shield shifted, but she held it straight. Strong girl.
"Compliments for Mash aside, and you do deserve them," the Lassie spoke up again. "We do have to hurry about establishing connection with Chaldea. Now that Mash has awakened her Servant within, that should guarantee a connection with Chaldea, seeing as it was originally summoned there, correct?"
"Y-Y-Yes, it shou-will. It will work." Cu had to grin again, putting his lance over his shoulders and letting his arms hang like drying leather. "We just… need to find a Leyline tether."
"Won't be any here, least not one that will be easy to reach," Olga returned. "I don't suppose you have a bright idea on where any could be?" Her amber eyes glowed as she stared at him. Oh, she was smart one.
"I may have an idea or two." Her nose flared. "Wha'? I was taught a bit of craft by the old hag of the Shadowlands. Never catch me without me lance, but I know a few runes, so I know how ta read the air. There's one maybe a few miles from 'ere. Ain't that convenient, but I figure nobody used it cause it was lain up in some place fer kids. Some I saw in use once 'for all this went ta hell."
"For kids before… do you mean a school?" The words rang a bell.
"Think that sounds right," he added with a scratch of his chin. "Could be at least. Had my own master lookin' over it, but I thought that was cause a master 'er two were held up there. Weren't any workshops though, so I thought it was like a county hall fer kids. Teachin' them how to live."
"You are… amazingly accurate and incorrect. I didn't think the two could be so intwined with one another. It's honestly as much a miracle as witnessing Mash bring forth the Demi-Servant."
"Don't give me too much credit now. I'm sure half of its cause I'm thinkin' more of runnin' Archer through with my lance over getting' home. Bit of blood on the mind is all." The Lass let out a sound of aggravation, throwing her hands up and stomping down the rubble, before catching herself just before she fell. Of course, she missed. Cu still didn't move.
The Lad caught her, supporting her before the alabaster scamp fell down and hurt herself. She recovered after that, thought without letting out a word of thanks. Harsh, but fiery as Medb and the queens of the Faelands. His kind of girl.
"We're going to the school then. We have to establish connection with Chaldea. Is that understood?" They nodded with her, earning a curt nod of her own. "Good, then… Cu, you lead." Almost had her there, getting ready to lead herself.
"Sure thing, Lassie," he chuckled as she bristled with the name. "We'll be there in no time."
So they walked through the woods, but him with eyes on the horizon of dried wood and trees, watching over the halo of ruined temples for the sight of a black archer with a mind for death. His grin was sharp, but so was his mind. He wouldn't let the kids get hurt again.
He had a lance heavier than the rubble he'd been tossing to prove it. And he wasn't against throwing it.