"Director!" "NO!" The shouts came out, and Ritsuka was already lunging at the girl. Her arms were pulled back, holding the blade above her head.
He grabbed her wrists and pulled back further, sending her tumbling to her back. She didn't cry out, but he put a vice-grip on her wrists, his full weight holding them to the stone. She kicked at the pinned position, but he grit his teeth and held firm.
Even if it had him staring down at another Master of Chaldea, his superior if numbers mattered, with the blood of the director covering her face and white shirt.
"Director! Director!" Mash was over her. "Please hold on! I-I'll try and help you!"
"Galahad possesses many strong traits, but he mourned the death of more than any other knight." Mordred's voice was humored. "If you wish to use his strength, then you must act as he did. Do nothing as you stare at death's march."
"I refuse!" Mash yelled back. "Just like he refused you to be king!"
"He never knew, but I suppose he would have. Be it a dream or prophecy, it does not matter. Not when I have a kingdom in these lands to rule. And subjects that swear to me." Ritsuka could feel the woman grinning down at him. "And one who knows her Lord's will without request. Do you not, Magus?"
"Yes, my lord." The girl beneath Ritsuka spoke clearly, almost euphorically. "I serve your will, against those who bear flags against your kingdom." Pinning her, he gawked at her.
"What?"
"You are a novice in the crafts of magic and wizardry, but are you also so unknowledgeable of the alliance of kingdoms?" Saber spoke easily, calmly above him. "Did you think my gracious invitation to enter my hall was assurance of your safety in my presence? Did you think I would forswear retaliation against your Chaldea, after you spent so much time working to ruin my kingdom?"
"I never thought you were our friend," Ritsuka returned, putting all of his weight into the girl beneath him. He had to keep her pinned, because no matter how hard he gripped her wrists, she wouldn't release the blade. HE couldn't hurt her either. She had to be under a spell of some sort. "I just don't understand why she's attacking us!"
"Then you are ignorant of something far more base than even the loyalty of men. You lack hearing." The woman tapped the side of her head, her sharp black gauntlet almost splitting her alabaster skin. "You did not even hear the girl when she called me her lord."
"But why!?"
"Because she is aware of who rules." Mordred then moved.
Far faster than anyone should be capable of in heavy armor, she lifted and twisted her blade. Its metal black as knight, hilt red as blood, and crackling as if a thundercloud called it home. It made his skin burn, and nearly had him releasing the girl beneath him. He held her down out of instinct from the brawls he'd been faced with in the alleys of Japan.
"She swore to me, and now I pass judgement upon you." The blade rose above her head. "Now perish, and leave my kingdom to thrive." Ritsuka watched the blade, unable to take in the air to scream.
BAM! But he had enough to gasp in relief as his Lord was before him, hand above his head, and gripping the steel as if it were a child's toy.
"You may rule these lands, but you do not rule souls," Jesus spoke on. "You claim rights solely owned by my father. You reveal the truth of your words once more."
"And so do you, Lord Jesus." The Saber mocked, pushing against her blade. It crackled against the hand of God. "So then are you to face me now? Let the girl bleed to death as I attempt to take the life of your Master next?"
"I will save them all," he returned instead. "And you will watch."
Like the rising sun, he turned in the chamber.
"Mash Kyrielight." His voice silenced the boiling of the mud and took away Ritsuka's breath. The cavern was silent beneath his command. Hearing him speak and lecture for hours had not revealed the majesty of his voice. "Resist the corruption of this lost soul."
"Yes, my Lord!" The bearer of Galahad's Saint Graph shouted. BAM! Then Ritsuka felt the boom of the air as her shield collided with the Saber. He hadn't even blinked, and he lost track of where Jesus had gone. "You'll not hurt anyone else here, Mordred!"
"HA! I can truly see Galahad in you! It almost makes me thankful for the cowardice of your new king!" The King of Treachery shouted back. "But a coward he is, to call you to fight while he flees! Even while your Master cannot move!" Ritsuka looked down at the girl beneath him. Still faced, vacant eyed, blood spattered, and still not dropping the knife. "Where did your Lord go!" It was because he saw the blood Ritsuka knew.
And he looked over to see Jesus, appearing as he had the first, second, and third time he was graced with his presence in this damned land, kneeling over the body of Olga Animusphere. His hand outstretched, over the girl's chest, and gripping at the fabric.
It was the first time he had seen his Lord stained with blood, in person. It was haunting.
"Rouse yourself, Leader of Mystics. You have much left to do." His Lord drew his hand off of the girl's chest.
"GUUUUUH!" She followed, sucking in a desperate gasp of air. She rolled onto her side, scratching herself as she clawed at her throat and tore at her top. Her eyes flickered from her now healed wound, patting, rubbing, and tearing at it, before looking up at Jesus. "H-How…"
"Twice I have taken you from the hands of death, and twice you ponder how." Twice? "Turn you mind instead from how the power of my father moves to the reasons for it. Follow those, and you will find your answers."
"That, or my blade!" Saber shouted again.
And the roar of the air made Ritsuka roll again. The gusts of mephitic laced air hitting him, making him sputter and shutter his eyes. The ground shook with it and the waves of mud had to be rumbling.
"You resist corruption, Galahad? Then push away the bile of the Holy Grail!"
A great eruption came from beneath the mud, and it carried the vile liquid into geysers, filling the cavern's air. Ritsuka looked up, watching a tsunami of corrupting manner begin to rain down upon him.
"Depart." But his Lord spoke again.
And the liquid flew away with a great breeze, or all that he could think of it as one. All directions, all the toxic liquid, being beaten back and away. It shoved the liquid further, pulling up the pools of the substance until it coated the walls and clung to it tighter than moss. It left the rocky walkway standing above empty pits, and the six of them stalemated still.
"My Lord…"
"You rule a land of vice, Mordred Pendragon," Jesus spoke on. "You wish to rule more, and you claim the right by the birth you loathe."
"No different than you, Jesus of Nazareth," the Saber spoke on, dark blade still crackling against Mash's shield. "Is there anything you don't claim is yours!"
"Those who deny me. And for those, I wish to teach. But the Word may not reach those who do not listen. Do you listen, or do you merely hear?"
"Ugh… GUH!" The Director was up next to Jesus, shaking, trying to collect herself. "G-Gudako… why did you attack me!"
"Oh I see. You think I'm closer to her than you?" Saber spoke on. She took a step forward, forcing Mash to her knees. "She didn't listen to me explain why the girl attacked her, and you don't think I'm paying attention to you." The girl… "At least I'm focusing on more than just words, Jesus Christ!" The girl!
Ritsuka got off of his back, rolling up and trying to find the girl. She was standing up already, clutching the jeweled blade still. She walked towards Jesus and the Director, the amber-eyed woman stepping behind his Lord in fear. He had no reason to hesitate.
Once more he threw himself at the girl, putting arms beneath her arms and lifting up. Her arms came up with him, locked behind her with his hands behind her head. He pulled back, lifting her up, pinning her against him. It held her back, but it also held the knife above his head. He pulled back until he fell to the ground, back smacking the stone. The blade clattered and scratched above his head, but didn't reach him. The girl didn't release it.
"Though your subject is also one who knows how to serve his Lord. That puts you between me and the Lord of Chaldea, literally." The air thrummed again, and Ritsuka craned his neck. "So can you resist me and protect them? Save a boy struggling to hold back my vassal, and the girl who wears Galahad like a cloak!"
"I can, for they have sworn themselves to me." His heart was at peace. "You have sworn yourself to another who opposes the Word. For this truth, you cannot best me."
"Swore to another?" Mordred almost faltered as she held back Mash. "You insult me with your insinuation. And here I at least offered you the compromise of your name and post, yet you still slander me?"
"You commit a sin against me by thinking me alike any ruler of this world. When my father rules the next, and while I stand here to guide those to it, to say I am akin to you is the afront." Jesus stepped forward. "All the more when you call forth with joy the perversion of a chalice I used to house my blood."
"It's a tool, like everything of the past. All the past is meant to help the future." The dark power of her blade thrummed again. "No different than this blade. No different than the shield that opposes me. But one will break before the other, and it will not be my will." The air crackled again. His back burned when it did. "Master of Chaldea, give me power."
"Gudako! Don't do it!"
"By the power of my Command seal," the girl in his arms spoke. "Mordred Pendragon, Rightful King, strike down those who oppose you." Her hand glowed above Ritsuka's head.
Then the burning of his back became searing.
"Very good," the Saber's voice all but drifted through the air. "Now you all must fall."
"S-Senpai! My Lord!" Mash's call was drowned in the screeched of the dark blade. "I-I can't… I can't!" Her voice became a scream.
What followed was the blotting of Ritsuka's vision by the torrent of darkness. Lighting crackling around him, feeling as if it were searing his mind. The girl in his arms felt heavier and his soul cried out for strength. His body was already decaying, burning, falling, and all of his sins ran through his empty shell.
Leaving her behind, running to the doors, a blooded knife in his hands, fire, burning, screams-
"JESUS!" He yelled back against the images.
And through the darkness cut a blade of light. Shining strong, and splitting the horrors that plagued him. He forced air into his lungs, and had him writhing in relief. The light cleaved the evil, and from it walked the Lord.
"Be at peace, Ritsuka Fujimaru. Be well, Mash Kyrielight. You have naught to fear, those who hold dear the Word of my father." He walked through the darkness. "Only those who fall to knees before fonts of power, before scriptures of truth." His hand reached out to the darkness.
From it he pulled the blade of Mordred Pendragon, and the ghostly white visage of the girl with it. Her face, finally, bearing a scowl.
"You don't feel anything!?" She shouted back. "What kind of king are you who bears no guilt!? Who are you to have no pain!?"
"He who has stepped forth from the gates to invite those weary and restless."
The king screamed and wrenched her blade back. The cavern returned from the retreat, and the shimmering return of the purple miasma overcame the cavern. Ritsuka saw Gudako in his arms still, almost forgetting that he had her at all. The blood of Olga still coated her face.
"You're strong, Son of God. I knew you would be." Saber's smile was back, sharper, and her glowing eyes matched. "A good thing that for all your strength, you have no part of your legend on battle! One who claims to be the Prince of Peace cannot!"
"War is for those who ignore the Word."
"And I trample upon it!" Saber roared with glee, and she was gone.
Then she was above Ritsuka, the dark of her blade ai at his skull. He wasn't sure for a moment if he'd recognize his death.
TWANG! But the sound of metal being hit, ringing like it came from inside his head, was strong. HE flexed, pulling tighter against the girl, for fear that releasing her would be his death or Olga's. The sound of a furious spit came.
"Your fast as well, but you do not attack me. Is this part of your mockery of me then as well, spitting on my title by flicking away my judgement?"
"I say to you again you have no ground to the claim of souls. You will not step into the realm of my father." Jesus spoke above him. Ritsuka watched him pull back his foot, and it took the young man a moment to realize he didn't catch the dark blade. He kicked it.
"Well I say that the lives in this land are mine! More so those who swear their loyalty to me!" The saber crackled with power again. "And with my right as king, serf! Rise and throw off the boy who serves a king with no land!" Ritsuka was prepared for a strike to his body.
He did not expect the girl he was holding to curl forward, pulling him up, and drag her arms down, making him groan in an effort to resist the flexion. He resisted, but like a child did the torrent of a river, unable to stop it. She pushed her way out of his grasp, and then turned on him, spinning and pinning him. His back was to the ground again, but now with the impassive blood drenched face of Gudako staring down at him.
Dagger raised above him, arm to his throat, he could not cry out.
BANG! But then the dagger finally fell from the girl's hands, as her left side flexed and curled on itself. He thought it Jesus who saved him again, but that was before the girl rolled off of him.
"You are not… NOT going to hurt him!" But Olga stood behind her, shaking, suit ruined, but holding out her hand like a cannon. "Is that understood!"
"No, for my Lord demands otherwise." The girl spoke as she recovered. Ritsuka didn't know what the spell or act was supposed to do her, but the gasp from Olga meant it clearly had failed. BAM! Especially as she fired again, and the girl curled, but then unlatched herself as if fighting a muscle spasm. The ring of the blade as it was pulled against the stone got his attention, and he made to stand.
But her hand was at his throat, and through magic or some other ill-divine force, he was pinned still.
"She demanded your blood." She gazed down mercilessly at him. "I'll take it for her." This time the blade fell. Both his hands came up to catch it. He'd learned from many fights in the backs of churches to always focus on the weapon, because human hands can do so little.
So while he held back the blade from falling, by the wrist of the girl, he was still chocking as her hand pushed and crushed at his throat. Spots already danced in his gaze. Through the dark regions, he saw Saber there again, preparing to strike. BANG! BAM! The sounds of impact threw her away, and he knew not who attacked her.
BAM! "I told you to get off of him!" But from the way the girl finally fell from holding him, he knew who had stopped her. Especially as Olga stood above him a crest of some convoluted design traced in the air. "If you're going to renege your allegiance to Chaldea, then I'll attack you as well! Mash! I'll handle her, you help Jesus stop Mordred!"
"Yes, Director!" Ritsuka felt the air as the girl rushed off.
"And you! Stand up! You may not be at trained Magus, but you are a Master!" The amber eyes of the director loomed over him. As did the hand over his face. "The Servants will fight, but you and I will hold her down and rectify this clear manipulation. Understood!"
"Y-Yeah, I'll do what I… what I can." He grasped her hand on the 'what', and stood 'can'. "What do I need to do?"
"Distract her. She's stronger because of Saber's doing, but she's not immune to my craft." Her hand sparked, and the glyph reappeared. "If we can hold her down until Jesus and Mash stop Saber, we'll be all set. I trust that even you have faith they'll be able to stop her?" He did.
That faith was strengthened when he looked over at them.
He watched as Saber let out another battle cry, strong as Berserker's but not nearly as rabid. The blade arched down at Jesus, but was caught by his Lord's outstretched hand. Before the king could retreat, Mash was next to her, kicking out with an armored boot. It sent the Saber back, rocketing like a gunshot. Her blade hit the ground to stop her trajectory.
The same dark blade ripped out of the ground with a ripping current of darkness. It came at them like a whip, but Mash's shield was there, catching it and holding the crackling energy in place. His Lord stepped past the shorter girl, alabaster robe elegant, and he walked up to the corrupted saber. He must have said words not meant for him, because the knight roared at the mention, and had her striking out at him again. It served little good.
A strike at his chest was pushed away, a descent towards at his head was brushed off, and the continued twist of the body to strike at his arms rebuffed. He continued to speak, and Ritsuka could make out the roar of denial, her mask of elegance falling with each exchanged word. Before she could strike a fourth time, Mash was there again. This time, her shield hitting the Saber up the head, earning a mar to her alabaster features as she was sent downwards.
It all happened so quickly, and his Lord had not a moment of weakness or fatigue. Mash stood just as well before him, lugging the giant shield before. It was all beyond him.
The girl standing before him, dressed the same but with blood and knife, was all he could handle.
"Well, Ritsuka. Are you going to make yourself useful?"
"I am."
"Excellent." The director's hand crackled.
"Fall, for striking at the king of this land!" Mordred's cry came as she rushed at Jesus again. Mash followed as best she could. Her blade trailed Prana and energy that had to be reinforced by the corrupted grail. It hit Jesus with a force that had the girl back pedaling.
But the Lord didn't even offer a look of effort as he held back the dark blade. He was a light above her, shining in the darkness.
"You have no means to harm me, and further you gain the deeper you descend."
"You gain just as many against me, the fewer times you strike out upon me!" The scream came out from the woman, and her hair rippled with the energy that came from her blade. "Fight me as king of the heavens, for I deny you as the knight ruling these lands!"
"Once more I say upon to you, nothing is gained from your descent." The darkness rolled up her blade, and the cry with it. It was enough to make Mash step back.
But so was the smile her Lord held encouragement to continue. The strength of the Saint Graph within her pushed her forward, and the shield weighted like paper she struck out against Mordred. Be it from devotion to Jesus, or Galahad's power, she didn't know.
But it had her fist against Mordred, and a lack of fear as she did so.
The same corrupted king's eyes turned to her as her blade struck out. Mash avoided the strike, and rolled beneath it. Her arms extended to give her feet means to strike at Mordred. The Son of Arthur avoided the strike, grasping her same leg. A spinning motion came as she was twisted and thrown. Or at least attempted to. Her shield dug in and stopped her. It was a mistake on her part.
Resistance allowed Mordred to hit her with the flat of her blade, taking her breath. She skidded away, down the embankment and into the emptied pool. It hurt, but not nearly enough to stop her.
"You cannot resist me, Galahad!"
"No, it is all I can do!" She shouted back. "But I'll show you I can do even more." She righted herself as she charged the hill, then the corrupted king. "I'll show you why you cannot beat me!"
"Do just that!" Mordred's blade turned back towards her, away from Jesus. The King of heaven stood away, watching. "It will do you no good!" Power rippled over her blade, and the air followed her command. Mash did not faulter.
She made a noise of effort as she jumped. Her shield clashed with the blade making the air explode. She kicked around her weapon, hitting Mordred's pauldron. It did little to the Saber, and her return was the same arm coming up and hitting the underside of her foot. Mash spun without perch, but her shield adjusted to resist the boot that came up to strike her.
The same sense of pain hit her, even while resisting the blow. Mordred was strong, and just as skilled. But she was empowered by a Saint Graph and her Savior. Mash spun and in the ground on her heels, and she let out a cry as she twisted her shield and tried to strike at the head of the Saber. The same blade came up and resisted the attack with the flat of her blade. It left her opportunity to see Mordred real back with a fist. Mash's visible eye widened.
BOOM! It made her gasp as it made another explosion in the air… as it impacted the open palm of Jesus.
"Interrupting again?" Saber questioned calmly, recovering her façade of royalty. "Can you not let a pair of knights of the round settle a difference in steel? It is how the kingdom resolved all conflicts. My father's law even."
"The law of your forebearer shed no blood, not until you heard to the word of your mother." Lord Jesus spoke. Saber's face twisted. "Do not scorn the word. It is truth."
"That's your truth! I can prove mine!" Like the knight she was famed as, brutal and malicious, Mordred twisted her wrist and brought her entire body up. Her leg swung to kick at Jesus, and Mash feared he would be. But he leaned back, letting the armored boot swing before him, but not even graze him. The knight wasn't, her sword following her momentum.
The Lord responded by turning his back to her, crouching, and letting the dark weapon swing over his head. Out of sight and out of mind. Mordred let out a cry, but Mash knew she couldn't let her act. The knight planted her feet and brought the dark blade, roaring with darkness, overhead again. Mash was already between them, planting her shield and carrying the strike.
It heated quickly, feeling like her hands were burning, but she resisted, as the pale king stood over her. The smile gone, made her a vicious sight.
"You fall Galahad! You who left the lands for heaven cannot understand the strength I have!" She howled to the demi-servant. "Unable to manifest but with a broken doll as your form, I carry the sins of the Grail within me! You have no strength, because you left your kingdom!"
"You don't have a people!" Mash shouted in return. "You are no king!"
The fire that ripped through her glowing eyes gave the girl a start. That, and the ferocity with which her shield was kicked. Hard enough to have it push out and digging at her own ankles, unbalancing her. Before she had a moment to shift and plant, the king grabbed the top of her guard and spun. The Saint Graph bade her to pull in and prepare herself.
And because she did, she was able to experience the force of being hurled into the air by a screaming king of treachery.
It made her more than lurch as she flew towards the cavern's ceiling. The Demi-Servant couldn't even properly track where she was until her boots hit the stained stone, but she hit it with a force to make her gasp. Her body was fine, high above the cavern as she was. It gave her a moment, and just that, to see her Senpai, the Director, and Gudako.
They were okay, even with the Director trying to strike Gudako down with magic, restraining arts. Senpai was doing his best to hold her, but from how easily she was able to pull her arms out of his grip and nearly slash at him afterwards, made it clear she was being enhanced by the King of treachery. That just meant Mash had to hurry, for them and her Lord.
Gritting her teeth, Mash jumped down.
Her shield came up to protect her as she slipped through the air, fast enough to trace the arc of Mordred's sword. It came down on Jesus, who caught it effortlessly. Holding the dark blade above his head, he let the knight scream at him. Mash didn't know what. She didn't care.
She only cared for her shield slamming into the head of the knight, and doing its best to bury her in stone. With a boom that almost defeaned herself, she thought it would be enough. But when the smoke cleared from the blast, it became clear it had done so such thing.
"You always underestimated me. Your vessel is no different." The king spoke on. "So proud of your purity you had no reason to fight. And now you see the consequence of it. No strength with which to strike me down!" She swiped her hand, and Mash spun, caught in the air. "Now I sever your ties with it!" She felt the blade glow behind her again.
"And I forbid it." But the Lord grasped the blade again. Mash landed, spinning, to see Jesus still standing behind Mordred, holding her blade behind her head, pinning her. "You will defame none who hold dear the commandments. You, who have placed scorn above love."
"Release me!"
"You who cannot recognize me cannot lay orders upon me."
"I'm the first to recognize you!"
"I am more than my name." His eyes turned to Mash. "And Mash Kyrielight is more than the history she bears. You have no eyes to see the truth." Those flaming eyes burned again.
"And you, who chose death above resistance, have no means to deny me!" She clenched the hilt of her blade, and Mash was prepared for the dark sword to roar again. She'd seen it make the pillar of darkness thrice now, and she waited for a third time.
But it never came.
"Wha- my Noble Phantasm! How! How do you deny the call of the Blood de Morta! Is this your Noble Phantasm?!"
"This is my will. A lost soul mulling in the dark cannot lay hands upon it." He looked to Mash again. "And I will forever guard and protect those who chose to embrace me."
"ENOUGH! I rule this land! I rule this place! And with the Servants finally slain and the maguses in the Grail, I can make my wish! Begone so I may see my dream fulfilled!"
"A land of fire and death. A land where monsters rule. A land… where nothing can live. Why do you want that?" Mash managed to ask. "Why do you want… to rule a land of the dead?"
"Because it is mine! You could never comprehend it! Everything you have being the design of another, having to crawl and scratch for recognition, and finally having enough being the sin!? You're father was a sycophant! A womanizer! In bed with queens before his own. How can you be worthy when you come from him!"
"Because… I-I'm not… I'm not Galahad."
"She is one who holds dear my name." Jesus answered for her. "And so one who I hold close. You placed another name upon your lips, and proclaimed loyalty to the darkness it wrought. For an unjust judgement, you have been offered the painful reward."
"What reward!? I swore to no one! I have no need to! I am king!" Mash watched her rage. "What would the Son of God know of the suffering of others?! WHAT?!"
"He… knows it all," Mash answered. The fury in the blazing eyes did not quiet her. "It's why he's here. He wants to help us… not himself. You don't want to help others… you want to help yourself." The words flowed. "And because of that choice, you are no king."
"No… not a king?" The King of Treachery's voice mellowed, before it bubbled like the Grail mud against the walls. "No KING!? Deny me again if you must, proclaim your faith to a landless kingdom, but do not call me less than what I truly am! And I will show you the power of a king! GUDAKO! KILL THE SON OF GOD!"
"Yes, your highness." The voice of the forty-seventh Master came out, followed by a cry from her Senpai.
Mash turned, to see the red-haired Master breaking free from the Director's Magic, knife cutting at her Senpai, who fell back to avoid the blow. She trampled over him, raising the bloody knife above her, and lunged at Jesus. The man raised his hand.
Blood spilled from where the blade ran through his palm. For the first time, his alabaster robe was marred. Mash panicked.
"NO! MY LORD!" Her Senpai shouted, grabbing at the girl from behind. "Stop it! STOP IT NOW!" The girl did not stop. She pulled her hand back, ripping the blade out in an arc of blood. It began to fall again. "I SAID NO!" Her senpai brought his hand up.
The knife cut through his palm, nearly severing a finger. She screamed. Mordred laughed.
"AHAHAHAHAH! Is this your weakness!? Unable to resist humans!? Fall, Master of Jesus!"
BAM! Mash was there to resist the blow. Mordred was far from daunted. BAM! BAM! BAM! BANG! TWANG! Her sword came down with barreling strikes, and the shouting from her Senpai rung out behind her. Her knees gave and she fell, holding the shield up and resisting the Saber all she could.
"FALL! For the sin of opposing the King of this land! Your heads are mine to claim!" The dark blade of Mordred roared again, and Mash felt the obstructing air ran through her. It claimed her, forcing its way through the guard of her shield. It was darkness overtaking her, as a former Master struck down the Lord of Heavens behind her.
"BY MY COMMAND SEAL! MASH KYRIELIGHT, STOP MORDRED!" Then her power returned, and the Saint Graph within her roared.
The shield shone as it pushed back the darkness, beating away the blade and the Saber which held it. The look of shock on the woman did not last, as Mash pulled the shield away, reached forward, and grasped her arm by the pauldron. The Saint Graph in her was direct, and the Command Seal gave her strength. With that strength, she wrenched her shield up and Mordred down. The knight could not resist.
BAM! And her shield busted through the armor of the knight, cracking it until she felt bones shattering. The look of shocked pain on Mordred's face came with the folding of her body, collapsing around her shield. Mash followed through.
Mordred flew into the far wall, colliding with the sludge, and falling into it.
"MASH!" The Director cried. "Save Ritsuka!" That was an easy order.
She twisted around, swinging the shield again, and slamming it into the Master's hand. It crumbled like paper beneath water, but the red-head made no shout. She only beat an empty hand against Ritsuka's bloody palm, and tried vainly now to escape his grasp. Hand to her shoulder, she ripped her away. The girl tumbled down the slopes of the empty pools.
"Jesus! My Lord!" Ritsuka shouted, free of the girl. "Y-You're hurt! You're bleeding! Here, l-let me-"
"I will be well. Have no fear." Jesus spoke as if he did not sport a knife wound. "Give me your hand." Her Senpai did just that, letting Jesus run his digits over his arm. The skin creased, folded, and came out unblemished, tracing the line the fingers made. Ritsuka stared down at them in awe, watching the wounds, and likely the pain, vanish with his Lord's command. "I thank you for defending my name, and for protecting this body. Do well knowing I will guard your soul."
"Thank you, my Lord. Thank you. And Mash, thank you, too." She blushed under his adoring eyes.
"It was very well done, Mash. You stopped the Saber and the rogue Master." The Director's gaze turned towards the girl, slumped over and looking to be attempting to rise. "We will have to get her back to Chaldea… and find the other Masters that monster sacrificed. For now… now we have successfully deterred the destruction of Humanity." She tried to hold her head high.
But now Mash could see the lines of fatigue on the Director. She had overtaxed her Prana, sweat running down her palms and arms shaking. Her suit was ruined with more than dust and blood, but also the burns from over use. She was at her wits end, and was holding herself up. So was Senpai. So was she. They all were.
"W-Wha… just like… no-" But Saber spoke from beyond the wall of corrupted sludge. "I'm not… not like that." The pale and corrupted Mordred stepped out, dragging her dark blade with her. "I have… the door to my dream before me. A false king, and deserting knight, will not… not stop me." Her armor had not healed itself. "It will take far more… than this."
"You have lost, Mordred." The Director still spoke on. "If you want to have a remark of sympathy for what you've done, you'll receive none. You do not get to sacrifice the lives of dozens of Masters for the sake of a sick wish and then earn pity."
"Your pity… is worthless." The Saber dragged herself forward. "Pity offers nothing, demands everything… it weakens the soul. I don't… need pity, for I… have not lost." As if its weight had increased ten-fold, Mordred hefted and held her dark blade before her.
Gone was the strong and imposing physique. Lost was the radiant and soul consuming smile. Now in place was the knight of treachery, beaten from her perch as king. The same woman who had killed her father while vying for the throne. And holding her blade against those who only sought peace. Mash had none of the memories of Galahad, and yet, she could feel the familiarity in the woman. It was not a pleasant feeling.
"I used all that I had… I did all that was asked… a Caster given power by God, ruined by the strength of the Grail… all of it done by me."
"Caster… so you did kill me father."
"I… did. And I will slay his daughter… if it means I may kill my father." Mash had to purse her lips. "I know how to kill you… I will kill you. So… serf!" The broken body of the woman yelled, and Mash felt the Ruler's Charisma skill rush forth. "Stand and kill the Son of-"
SHRINK! The sound of metal through flesh silenced the Saber.
The polearm, thin as a needle and shining like lightning, struck through her throat, stole her breath. Blood dripped down it, piercing the stone at her feet, and still sticking feet up behind her. The Saber grabbed at it, a wet gurgle letting out more blood, but unable to let out a word further. Red stained her alabaster skin, marred her dark armor, and made glowing eyes flicker.
"That is quite enough of that. A true king knows when they are beaten, Mordred." Mash looked for the voice, but saw nothing. "When you could lay no hands upon the Servant of the last Master, you should have known it was your loss. But a foolish knight is a foolish king, no matter then strength they are gifted."
Her wandering eyes finally caught the figure, walking forth from the cusp of the Holy Grail. He stood with his cane in hand, supporting himself at the zenith of the purple miasmic liquid. Even with the lavender hue of the rest of the cavern, the emerald green of his attire was unmistakable.
"Professor Lev! You're alright!" The Director shouted for joy. The man dipped his top hat, even from so far away.
"And you as well, Olga. I am surprised to see you here, even more so that you managed to defeat the king of this land." He continued to smile. "But that is the privilege of men, isn't it? To craft miracles from the blessings offered to them. A facet of Servants that cannot be replicated, slaves to their histories, after all."
Mordred made a motion, dropping her blade and letting it cleave through the long thin rod in her throat. With a knee-racking sound, she ripped the rest of it from her throat, turned with a gurgling cry and threw the weapon up at the Professor. Olga shouted, and Mash thought she would be too slow.
It did not matter, for Professor Lev caught it on the end of his cane. With a craft Mash didn't know.
"As I said, Mordred. Pitiful."
Hanging rods rocketed forward and impaled Mordred again. This time, Mash had the ability to see them spear the knight. Ripping through her armor, shredding her face, dismembering her arms, ripping out her hair, and ruining every facet of the knight that once made her seem royal. It was a vicious sight, and one that had Mash gasping in shock.
Even more so as the former king of treachery fell back, a glowing eye missing and white face stained with the deepest red of blood, looking emptily upwards. A sound like crunching bone left her lips.
And then, she began to dissipate like the Servants before her. Returning to the Throne.
"The last failure of this cycle is finally out of the way." Professor Lev's calm, almost cheerful, note of the event came next. "A bit of trouble while she can control the lands, but once confronted with another king, it showed just how little her worth was." The laughter wasn't right.
"Quite right!" The Director agreed. "But… she did do a lot of damage. I-I mean, thank you for helping us Professor! Thanks to you we have managed to correct his failing moment in history, but we still… we still lost a great number of the Masters."
"Indeed, Thirty-Nine of them. A good number used by the Saber to try and enact her wish. A fool's attempt, trying to recreate the spell in such a way."
"Yes! Yes, she was foolish, a-and corrupted. Seeing her stained and gowned like that was-"
"Hey." All eyes turned to Senpai, raising his hand, healed by the Lord. "How did he know that?"
"What?"
"The Masters, how did he know that. He wasn't here." Mash didn't realize that either.
"He… H-He was likely waiting for a good moment to strike! He was here, but he was unable to handle Mordred alone, until Mash was able to weaken her." The Director nodded her head assuredly. "That makes the most sense, right Professor?"
"Then how did he know how many masters were missing? We don't know that. That dcotor said ten, and… I know I might not know enough, but I thought you and Mash weren't Masters. So… how did he know the number that actually were killed?"
"Because… Because he must have some other craft for monitoring the Masters!" The Director was… less convinced.
"Indeed I do, how can I not? I must know where they are, or else I may see them find their own strength, and we can't have that." He tapped his cane on the grail's rim. "Not when it could lead them astray."
"Then it's a good thing we found you! With you, we can find the rest of the masters, and… and we can save her!" The Director's finger swung at Gudako. "She was corrupted by Saber and attacked us! If it weren't for this Master's Servant, I likely would have perished."
"So I saw, and unfortunate as that is." Mash blinked, shocked.
"Yes, it would have been better to not be injured, but-"
"No no, not that. How unfortunate that you lived on." Finally, the words struck.
"Wh… What?
"It's too bad that you lived on!" He held out his arms and smiled with teeth. Sharp teeth. "To see all that has been wrought in this world and will consume the fires of humanity. How despairing it must be to see the legacy of your father torn into flames by Servants empowered by a Lord below, and the son of the one above unable to act against them!"
Mash wasn't sure if what she was hearing was truth or illusion. It made her shake in her armor regardless.
"What's… what are you talking about?"
"He's another Servant," her Senpai said. "Like… like Archer and Saber."
"He can't be!" Olga shouted, before blinking amber eyes. "B-But your logic… he could be corrupted! The Grail! Professor, please tell me you weren't thrown in the grail?! We can help you if you were! Jesus… he can-"
"I will do nothing for him." Mash turned from Professor to face her Lord Jesus. "And you will not heed a word from him." Eyes already wide, they began to shake.
Her Lord, Jesus Christ, had lips furrowed and brow knit. He gaze up at the edge of the Holy grail with fists clenched and arms flexed. He shined like the most inviting light in all the choking darkness, but now he thrummed like struck steel.
Jesus Christ was upset.
The Son of God was angry. Ritsuka had a good guess as to why.
"WHAT?! Why will you not-"
"He is not who you swear him to be. He is not a man." Ritsuka had felt many things regarding his Lord. Since meeting him, even in the pits of this hell, all of them were positives. They were all emotion she would give up the days of his life to experience to Infinium. Now… Now he understood the Old Testaments warning. He understood power and fear.
He understood shivering in the presence of his Lord.
"That does not make sense! Lev has been at Chaldea assisting my father since before I was given permission to leave the Clocktower!"
"Indeed I have, Olga. You say nothing incorrect." The man… no, the enemy of God, stood tall above them. "I approached your father and made conversation of his dream. I showed him the Grail War and how to win. I assisted him with the development of Chaldea, and granted permissions from the Clocktower, with Atlas, with the United Nations of Men! I helped with all of it… and it was all for this moment to begin."
One hand raised above his cane and a finger snapped. When Mordred had done it, it had resulted in ruptures in the earth and the powers of the Mud to churn.
When this Professor Lev did it, Ritsuka watched a literal rip in the air. He didn't know how else to describe it. Jut a hole int eh air, like a tear in the wall, floating above them. And through it, he saw smoke and fire.
Then he saw metal, the coffins he had dragged himself past, fallen columns of steel and granite, the giant circling holographic world, and… why was the world red.
"That's SHEBA, that's Chaldea!" The Director shouted. "But… But why is it red? What's going on?"
"The world burns, Director Olga Animusphere. It has been incinerated." The Professor said the words so casually and with a sharp broad grin. Ritsuka had no idea what he meant.
"It's… It's just a globe. What does it mean?"
"He serves the one dwelling in pits, and he has brought the fires to the world of men."
"No… no that's not real." Olga was just as shocked, no, beyond it. "Chaldea was… we were here to stop it! We have the means to! A-And we can! This is… this is just-"
"This is the fruits of decades of labors, centuries of colluding, and eons of planning, Olga." The green-suited man tapped his can on the edge of the Grail. "More plans than you need to know, far more than you deserve to. But Olga, for swearing to assist me for so long, I do owe you something."
"P-Professor… I-I don't understand." Ritsuka didn't either. "Y-You… you helped my father, me, everyone... what's going on."
"You have no need to know, for you have already given your all to us." The man's cane scratched at the metal, and the ripped air's image turned. From the burning globe, to which Ritsuka couldn't comprehend the meaning of, to something simpler.
Simpler, but far more traumatic. A vile man once said in truth, that one was a tragedy and a million a statistic. It shined here. He could not understand the meaning of a world being incinerated by those opposed to God.
But Ritsuka understood the image of Olga Animusphere and Mash Kyrielight, one pierced through by no less than a dozen pillars of rebar, and the other crushed under the same pillar as before. The two girls who stood next to Ritsuka, both dead in the images above him.
The scream from Olga was truth enough.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The laughter of Lev an infuriating addition. "The blessing of watching a wise woman fall! Understanding the hand of death you are trapped in! Just another dead soul, lost and ready to be swallowed."
Ritsuka looked at Mash. Tears streamed down her face. Her jaw shook and the shield fell, clattering to the ground. Olga was howling beside her, and he had no idea what to do. There wasn't a comforting word in his mind.
He had consoled those who had lost others… how was he meant to console the dead?
"Augh… it is a true blessing of my Lord, to witness the fall of hope and degradation of man. And what a privilege of mine to watch this first. But my joy must end, and your suffering must go on."
He tilted his cane back, and Olga rose with it.
"Wha-NO! NO!" She shouted as she was lifted into the air. Reason returned to Ritsuka too slowly, and his jump for her only had him grasping at a heel, slipping out of his grip. She continued to float into the air. "NO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"
"You are already dead, Olga, and you swore to me in life. Now, I'm going to claim what you swore to me."
"NOT THIS! I wanted… I wanted to help everyone! I wanted to be recognized! I never gave my soul! I-I-I promised my life's efforts! NOT MY LIFE! NOT MY LIFE!" She continued to howl, but the man did not stop. Ritsuka was mute with horror.
"Then you should have followed the path of your father, and taken your own life." The casual speaking of the man's death had earned another howl of despair. "Instead, I now claim yours, in the mud of a corrupted miracle." The word shook his mind.
"NO!" "MY LORD!" He screamed in turn with Olga. "Please! You must save her! I-I don't know who that man his, but he can't take her! Not like this! Not-" He stopped as his Lord's once calm gaze turned to him.
His guess on the Lord's wrath was correct, and yet immeasurably shallow.
"Flauros! Release the child!"
His voice was a rocking boom that had Ritsuka reeling. He fell to his rear gaping for air as the voice shook his head. He couldn't hear a cry from anyone else, but he felt the groan of the cavern. Hands gripped his head, trying to hold it steady. Even the cross at his neck rattled with the force.
A sound like a growl of rage came next, making him rattle. It followed, Ritsuka witnessed through a blurry gaze, with the body of Olga Animusphere falling back to the ground. If she howled, he couldn't hear her. He could only see Mash sweeping her up in a hug, and the two girls embracing one another.
"A commandment from God on high," the professor spoke, as the rumble in the air fell. "How honored I am to be given such by you, the one who chose the lowly humans above the great angels."
"You have no honor and your pride is measured in sin," his Lord continued to growl. "I detest beings such as you, worming their way into the mouths of men, forsaking their spirit for the greed of their soul. You shall not be here, thus say I." Jesus looked up. "You shall fall, foul demon!"
The monster, dressed like a man, laughed.
"Fall to where!? We already stand at the entrance to Hell's Gates!" Those words brought a special kind of horror.
"You fall to my feet, you crumble upon the witness of my glory!" But his Lord, through nothing short of a divine force, ripped back. "And the chalice you smelted of sin and vice, a poor mockery of my mercy to men, is to fall with you." Jesus raised his foot. "Descend, saith I." His foot hit the cavern floor.
The Chalice, the Mud, and what felt like the worth shook.
"WAAAAGH!" The girls screamed, and Ritsuka bared himself as best he could already on his back. He saw the ripping mud fall off the walls, the torrents that came from the Grail rippling as they were forced back up, being pulled in reverse into the metal grail.
It began to sink into the stone. Descending towards them.
"HAHAHAHA! And the power of Christ is compelling! Not since the priest tried to force me from this body did I last bear witness to your power!" The shark-toothed smile of the vile man came forth. "Before I resisted, I will do so again. With the same means."
"You have no means to resist me, Flauros. None who claim so high in nature are beyond the reaches of heaven. Begone with your foolishness, begone with your sin and torment."
"I'll begone no more than the other soul you failed to save! Gudako, kill Jesus Christ!" The demand of Lev came with his writhing cane slipping through the air. It struck the motionless girl, making her rise like the undead. Her face one of twisted glee, grasping the knife, and rushing at the Lord again. Ritsuka dove for her, but she was different now.
BAM! But she could do nothing as Mash slammed the shield over her head. She didn't fall, she crashed into the ground.
"You will not take his life!" Mash screamed. "Not after he saved me!"
"Saved you?! What a fool you are! A testament to the mental inadequacy of you homunculi! As is true for all things men create, false and broken!" Lev continued to shout for joy, even as the Grail fell further into the floor, and the Mud retreated with it. "Your body is already rot back in the timeline you come from. What you have now is nothing but a pail shell of a soul. And I am here to collect. Yours, and hers~."
Olga writhed at the comment, and Ritsuka had no blame to offer. Not when the man, Flauros, so said his Lord, stuck out a tongue between his wolvine teeth. His teeth were like a shark, but his tongue was like a snake, and the eyes to match. The gaze heightened, by a grin that made his gut churn.
"The only two living beings in all of this burning land are a pair of Masters, and one who has already given herself to me." Gudako tried to rise again. BAM! But Mash laid her shield on the girl, holding her down. "For the last, who calls Jesus his friend, is nothing but a pauper begging for scraps."
The man's eyes were on him, and the chalice finished its descent. With a boom, a rush of air, and an explosion of Mud, Professor Lev was on even ground with them. He stood before the pool of miasmic liquid, falling behind him like the anti-thesis to the Fountain of Youth, grinning as maliciously as a bringer of death and worshiper of despair could manage. Ritsuka's fingers scratched at stone, knowing evil as he gazed upon it.
Clap. But the hand that clasped his shoulder was familiar as well. The peace that came with it a kick to his lungs.
It did not deter emerald man's mirthful laughter.
"This is all you have to your name here, Jesus Christ! A boy who knows only of you. No truths of the world, no powers that be, not even my name! I have the Masters of Chaldea, I have the Order of Humanity, I have the very souls of two beings in this room." He strode forward without fear. "What commands can you make to stop me?"
"Forbiddance to gaze upon my splendor!"
The command made the man fall to his knees and ram his head into the earth.
"More and more demands of me, Oh Lord of Heaven. Demands and no questions? Mockery rather than impedance?"
"I have no questions to beg of you. You have nothing that I wish to even lay eyes upon."
"Not even the souls of the girls in this room!?"
"You have no claim to their souls! No more than the false king before you! So I say to you twice more, Begone! Begone from here foul demon!" The Lord pointed behind the man.
He rose, swept up in a wind that Ritsuka couldn't feel, and was thrown in the pits of Mud behind them.
There wasn't a splash, not as much as the wet sound of a body hitting stone. Which made the noise, he didn't know, only that the body of the horrific man was surrounded by the Mud in the moment that passed next, and his form floundered in its sinking depths.
And he still laughed.
"AHAHAHAHAHA! This is all you can do! I have confirmed it! For my Lord, I have seen it! This is all you can do!" He laughed as the purple toxic sludge crawled over him, pulling at her green garb and burning it away. "I have borne witness to the limits of your power, Jesus Christ!"
"You have seen nothing, Flauros. You know only what you wish, and you deny all else. There is naught granted to you through me. Nothing!"
"Bare your hatred, Son of God! Show the corruption of the Lord above!" Lev shouted on, even as he fell to nothing. "Yours is a kingdom only the pure may enter, and I will see the entirety of men torn from it!"
"Return demon!" Jesus shouted again. "I command you to return!" The laughter continued.
"And return I shall! Taking with me another precious child! Follow your sworn Lord! Follow he who you have given your soul, Gudako!" Ritsuka twisted at the name.
He didn't realize the girl was behind him, not until she was barreling past him. He didn't realize she wasn't trying to kill him or Jesus, not until she leapt from the cusp of the Grail's seat. He didn't realize what was wrong with her, not until he saw the sickly sweet, almost inviting smile, laced over her lips.
"NO!" "GUDAKO!" Mash and the Director screamed, but the girl had already plunged into the depths of the corrupted miracle. Lev laughed on.
"Another who has come to me! Another who has left your empty embrace!" Lev shouted, a corrupted limb hung up in the air. "And more to follow far more to come! You will have nothing of this world, for all of it already burns!"
The mad man continued to scream and laugh, even as the sludge boiled over and around him. The corrupted liquid finally grasped and pulled the man beneath the surface of the miasmic substance, leaving only the ring of his laughter to haunt the air.
Ritsuka's jaw shook as he watched that surface, wide eyes tracing up and down for even the scratch of a semblance of the man to return. A hat, a coat, a hand, anything to give him reason to scream. But nothing returned.
Not even the girl who dove and chased after him.
"And it is done." Jesus spoke then, voice breaking the anger he bore before. So calm, Ritsuka could have thought his previous outburst a poor figment of his imagination. "The vileness of the world swallowed again."
"Done… you think this is done?" Olga's broken voice echoed. "What's done, what… What's left? What happened?" Ritsuka managed to twist and look over at her, seeing the Director of Chaldea on bended knees, hands flopped to the ground, and staring up at the rip in the air.
It still bore the image of her broken and impaled body. Hers, Mash's, and the holographic globe alight with fire.
"My Lord… am… am I dead?" Through the wails of Olga came the terrified whisper of Mash. "Did I… am I really dead?"
"You are. Both you and Olga Marie Animusphere died, the moment you came to this land."
The girl's shield fell, and her head with it.
"I… I see." Her jaw shook wit the words, and Ritsuka could only watch. "I thank… I th-thank you for… for t-telling…" Her lips curled together, but no more words left. Her throat was shaking too much.
Ritsuka still had no idea what to do. He had no idea what had happened.
"My Lord, if I may ask… what is happening?"
"A demon wearing the guise of man tricked the Mystics of Chaldea in a trap. He stole their souls as the signed themselves over, and took from this world two things. A means to resist and a means of redemption."
That was far more profound than anything he was expecting to hear.
"Then… you came… to save us?"
"I did."
That had it beat.
"And how are you doing that?!" The rage boiled over for the Director. Amber eyes creased red and shrieking as she stood. "We're all literally dead! Chaldea is in ruins, the world's incinerated, the Human Order in jeopardy if not gone, and all the Masters that could possibly work with this used to power that!" She threw her hands at the grail. "That… that thing Lev drowned himself in!"
"The man you name as Lev did not drown in that Mud. I ordered the demon Flauros to be gone. He fell into the Mud of his own corruption. He will not rise from here again."
"I don't care! I don't care about him! What about us!? What about that!?" Her hands swept back up towards the rip in the air. "What are you going to do about that!? What can you do!? That thing is… It's… It's something akin to the destruction of the world!"
"It is more than the destruction of the world. It is the ruination of man." Jesus agreed.
"Wh… What?"
"This is an act to destroy man. To force upon you the deceit of the one who fell, and take from you the redemption of my father's light. This was foretold, and I have returned with the Word."
"Well you're too late or too slow. It doesn't matter! It doesn't… matter." Her face fell. "I'm dead, Mash is dead… who knows how many other Masters are dead."
"Aren't… aren't eight of them still alive?" He had to say it, even if it earned him the ire of a weeping woman's tear-filled gaze. "Tha's what the thing said. Thirty-Nine, a-and I'm the forty-eighth. That makes… that makes eight more, right?"
"Right, great… eight more, and one of them literally drowned herself with that imposter." Olga threw her head. "I watched the Masters literally die, and utterly fail my father's request. All for nothing."
"It wasn't for nothing. I-It can't be. I… I don't want it to be." Mash looked to Jesus imploringly. "My Lord… was it… did I do anything? Did I matter?"
"Mash Kyrielight, why do you believe your life beneath worth or merit? Who spoke such words to you?"
"No one. But…" her lone eye gazed towards the rip in the sky above.. "But what did I do? I just… I couldn't save Cu, o-or Gudako and… and I'm dead. I'm dead."
"You are, but that is not your end." All three of them looked upon the Lord. His smile was serene. "Come, let me show you." He began to walk towards the Grail, and Ritsuka almost ruined his clothes at the speed he rose.
"H-Hey! What are you doing! Lev drowned in that!" Olga shouted as his Lord approached the Mud's edge. He did not pause as he approached. "Are you listening to me! You're a Servant! That will corrupt you!" Those words were the answer to the unspoken question.
"No it won't," Ritsuka spoke, following Jesus. "It can't corrupt him."
"And how do you know that?"
"Because he was subject to every horror in the world not once, but twice before. And each time, he was offered an escape from the torment. But each time, without fail, he refused." Ritsuka smiled as his Lord stood at the rim of the grand yet corrupt chalice. "He cannot be corrupted."
Lacking only hesitation, Jesus stepped into the Mud.
And a foot into the purple sludge forced it to hiss and turn. A shine overtook the liquid, pushing away the foul odor and eye-tearing stench. The boy watched with the pair of girls as the pool of Mud hissed and writhed as the presence of his Lord changed it. Slowly, then rapidly, then all consuming. A large pool of miasmic purple, converted, baptized, into a glowing golden light.
It spread about the liquid, then bled into the metal of the chalice. It flowed and swept away the corrosion of the pot, making it shine like stars in a cloudless night. It blinded Ritsuka, and it was only then he realized the walls of the cavern had followed the same purifying command, losing their dark shade into a peaceful somber hue, a glow of gold and silver.
In the shallows of the pool, the Lord stood, and Ritsuka witnessed his majesty in a pool of light and chamber of gold, holding a cup named for his final host. Tears collected in his eyes.
"You… how did you-"
"No power of earth may corrupt my miracles," Jesus answered. "But no feet or fabrication of this land is beyond the purification of my touch. For all who come to witness me, I will bestow upon them blessings unending and fortunes untold." His hand reached down, grasping at the liquid beneath him, lifting it.
It hung for a moment in his hand, before slipping through his fingers and falling slowly, like billowing feathers. It was a miraculous thing to witness, but the image of Christ dropping them was all the more holy.
"This liquid now bears the holds my wishes. And do you know of what I have come to my true?"
"You are here… to save souls. You didn't come to free us from death, you came to welcome us to heaven, so we may not fear death."
Minutes ago, Ritsuka bore the sight of his Lord's screams and a look of rage, enough to make him sure the chambers of the all the churches shook. Now, he gazed upon a smile that was akin to a grand joke being told, and he felt sure that no rain fell on any chapel steeple.
"What are you doing?"
"Drawing a bath, to wash away the sins of the world."
The Lord reached down into the shining liquid again, and from it he pulled out something solid. Ritsuka thought for a moment it was going to be the emerald man, or Gudako, but it was neither. It was nothing that he could put face or shape to. It just wasn't water, or mud.
With grace, he threw the bundle into the air, letting it rise towards the rip in the air, it drifted through the hole, and Ritsuka watched on.
"What is that? I'm serious, what is that?!"
"I didn't think you were joking, Romani~. But I'm not answering because I don't know. A genius wouldn't guess an answer to something so incredible. No no no, I want to study it." Da Vinci leaned forward over the console, staring into the Rayshift room with the rest of the remaining operators. The timetable for oxygen ticked down next to them.
All eyes, however, were on the SHEBA system and its red nature, on the rip in space that had been orchestrated by some grand Magus or divine force, and then, after a long brutal wait, the golden glow that drifted through.
"That! Right there! Is that Prana?" His reward for the question was a quick hit to the back of his head.
"Now now, Doctor, you know that making rash assumptions is a poor choice." The Servant hummed. "And I don't know what that is either. It's not a part of a Saint Graph, it isn't manifested Prana, it's not a divine soul, it's nothing that can be registered in any of Chaldea's systems, but it is also strong enough to cross the Bounded Field of the area. So it must be something… powerful~."
"And it's floating above the rest of the coffins." The ginger haired man scratched at his orange locks. "Do we have anything to tell us what it is, or what's going on!?"
"We only so far still have confirmation on-" "We're getting a visual!" One far more important voice interrupted the other. "Smoke's clearing and emergency lights are activating!" Romani was prepared to jump the guardrails to put his face to the glass.
He watched as the lights began to glow about the floor, and horror met him.
He knew that many of the Masters had died, confirmed it with the vitals, but seeing the coffins crushed, charred, or splintered by debris was another thing entire. He so loathed the act of war and the horrors it brought, and yet here he was staring at more. Children, Masters, blood spilling out to the ground and still bodies scattered around. A pair of unblinking eyes looking up at him, on a face he couldn't' remember the name of.
The pseudo-director of Chaldea bit his lips, letting out an informal curse at the sight. More than a few of the operators and technicians around him let out gasps and sobs. It was a visage of a nightmare, and they all had to bear it.
"Oh no…" The simple phrase from Da Vinci brought horror to him. Tracing her gaze, he saw why.
Two reasons why, both of them stealing his breath.
The young director of Chaldea, coffin open and body bare, impaled by rebar and unmoving.
The third summoned servant, the homunculus he cared for, crushed under a pillar of steel.
"Olga… M-Mash…" His knees fell, dragging his face with him. His eyes would fall no lower.
"They're spiritrons were transferred, and they don't have a body to return to," Da Vinci's words were almost cold. "They're already gone. They're just…" Her words trailed off. HE didn't wish to see if she was smiling or not. "I'm waiting though. For what that glowing ball of light is." Romani had forgotten all about it.
As if it were waiting for his attention, or Da Vinci's approval, the ball began to descend. It slowly hit the ground, spreading like water, and filling the ruined charred steel room. Romani watched, prepared to shout out orders to isolate, breach, anything to get in there, but it was utterly worthless.
The room began to glow like the light, and he watched as the bodies of the Masters, their coffins began to shine. Panic took him for a moment, wondering if this was an advanced Magus Crest attempting to siphon the crests from the beings.
"It's like before." But Da Vinci's words stopped him. "Painting the relief of the Lord, or gazing at the hidden portions of the world. This light… it's the same light that guided me~." Romani had no idea what she was saying.
He only watched as the bodies of those who he had failed began to heal. He watched as the blood on the ground began to vanish. He watched the few fires left be smothered. He watched, as everything about the room began to shift and repair itself, or just shy of it.
The walls didn't rejoin, the ceiling didn't cover itself, and the coffins didn't realign. There were as they were. Not even SHEBA repaired itself.
"The Masters, are there any updates on them?!"
"Still only ten registered… no… eight. There are only eight."
"Eight," Romani repeated, staring at the bodies of Olga and Mash. "Only eight…"
"What was that?"
"A light to bathe those who have been lost. Guiding them from the tombs they are trapped within, to the embrace of my father." Jesus spoke, eyes to the rift above. "They were chained within these waters, and I unfastened them. So many others await the same freedom, and I am here to do that Help them ascend to my father's kingdom."
They were going to heaven. It was a something incredible to hear, and she knew she was bearing witness to a miracle.
Watching as specks of light rose from the glowing liquid, shining like gold and brilliantly so. She'd never seen the sun, but she could imagine just little it compared to this. Watching the Son of God, who protected and guided them, lifting the souls of the dead to a final rest.
The thought gave her mind a pause, realizing where she sat.
"My Lord… thank you." Her Senpai spoke first. "For showing me what you have done a-and for saving them all. Thank you, I can't thank you enough."
"Your loyalty to my commandments and devotion the Word is an action of thanks my father understands. Your soul shines like this liquid, and you should hold high the Word you worship." Jesus walked forward towards them, rising with an unblemished robe once again. His face didn't bare even a drop of water or sweat. "You have all done much today. You all deserve rest."
And there it was again.
"Rest, a-as in… a final rest." The Director's voice whimpered. "I'm… I'm going to die. J-Just like that. Like I didn't even matter."
"Olga." "D-Director."
"No. You will not be given your final rest. Not at this time." Eyes returned to Jesus.
"What-but you said-" His hand stretched towards her.
"You, Olga Marie Animusphere, I shall return to life."
The woman stood as if struck. Her face playing with rage and hope.
"How… How would you do that? I-I know you have a phenomenal healing skill, tied to your legend no doubt, but resurrection? I know the story of Jesus Christ well enough to know that it took you three days to rise again yourself. How could you say I'd be so easy?"
"For it is my will, and you are far from lost to me." He walked up to her, standing above her. Tall, but unimposing. Brilliant, but inviting. "You saught to follow your father's will, to protect the Order of Humanity. With Mystics that bowed to you, you thought it your duty to save this world. I say to you that it is not a task for you alone, but you have a part to play. One that cannot be done if you were to leave the mortal coil."
"But… how?"
"By my will. It is all the world needs to move. The will for a soul to return, before it has been taken to pits unending. I am here before you, and I will guide you."
Mash the Director stare at the man, then the grail, then her own feet. She stared at them for a long moment, not knowing what it was going through her mind. Not until she saw tears start to fall from Olga's amber eyes, and the relief that flooded her face.
"I… I'll get to live?"
"You will, so you may act in accordance to the Word." Her cheer did not diminish.
"This is incredible," Senpai spoke next to Mash. "It just… it keeps getting more and more amazing, a-and I thought just witnessing Jesus would be enough."
"I didn't know either. But this is amazing." Her fists curled over her chest, and a blushing smile over took her. "My Lord, and am I to return as well?" She refused to look up at the image of her broken body. "I know I may not be as high ranking as the Director, but I do wish to return to Chaldea."
"Y-You have to. I-We… You're needed," Olga spoke through her cheerful tears. "Right?" All eyes returned to Jesus, who in turn was facing Mash.
"You, Mash Kyrielight, are not to return to the world." His Lord's word brought now a chill.
"What?" It was all her quite voice could muster.
"You have not traveled long in this world, but you have done all that is necessary, and have remained a beacon throughout. The purity of your soul is intact, and thus, there is no reason to ask you to return. The journey upon my father's earth is one to find your way to his garden. To rasp upon his door, and be invited into the glory of his majesty. There is no other task upon the earth more important than this."
"Th-Then why don't… w-why-" Clap. His hand on her shoulder silenced her.
"Because you have already found your way to me. And I may now invite you into the Kingdom of my father."
"In… vite? H-How?"
"Yes… How?" Olga repeated. "I'm not… I don't want to speak ill of you with my life in your hands, but why are you going to refuse to resuscitate Mash? She's been more compliant with you than I have."
"Because she has received all the sacraments. I bathed her head in water, and freed her of sin. I broke bread with her, and she accepted. She confessed her worries and sins to me. She dedicated her life towards my majesty, and she swore on bended knee to follow my commands."
"Baptism, Communion, Confession, Confirmation." Ritsuka listed the steps. "She… I-I didn't even realize it."
"I didn't… I-I thought I was swearing to assist you, t-to follow you."
"That is what Confirmation is Mash. You… and you swore it to Jesus himself. That's incredible."
"But what does that mean?"
"It is as I have said. You have done all that is needed within the bounds of this Earth. You are invited into the halls of my father." He extended his hand towards her. "And I will guide you there."
Mash stared at the hand, and for what she believed was the first time, she hesitated to take it. She saw nothing evil about it, far from anything bad. Not after he had purged the mud and saved the Director. But he… he didn't save her, not the way she thought. And if she went now… she'd never see them again.
"You should go Mash." Her Senpai's words tore her.
"B-But, I have to say goodbye. Da Vinci a-and Romani. I haven't… they haven't seen me yet."
"And why should she leave like this? You can heal her, right? I-If you can, maybe you should. We need her, at Chaldea, with the rest of us. She indispensable!"
"She's literally being offered heaven. Everything else we do would only drag her down." Her Senpai looked at her again. He was smiling, but he wasn't. His lips were smiling, but his eyes were wet. "It's heaven. And Jesus himself will guide you. That's… it's beyond words."
"Why? Don't… am I not supposed to be here?"
"You are! I want you here!" Olga was before her, gripping her hands. "If you were to leave they… I don't even know what the others would say!"
"They would know that Jesus personally lifted her soul to heaven."
"You're awfully cheery about watching a girl who saved your life die!"
"I'm not… I'm not happy that I won't get to spend more time with her, with you." He looked at her. He was still crying, like Olga. "But this is… this is what everyone asks when they attend funerals. Wondering if their loved ones are in heaven, if the angels welcome them, if God is there to hold them. We can never know, we can't. Just hope and pray. This… this is different. You are literally going to heaven, and I can't think of anything that even compares."
"She could be with us in Chaldea! We could spend more time together and learn! Didn't… didn't she say she was going to teach you! Weren't you going to teach her!"
"What can I teach her that she won't learn in heaven?" Mash didn't have an answer. "And how selfish would I have to be to ask her to stay on earth to protect me? What are a few years struggling on Earth to the eternity spent together in the Kingdom of God?"
"A blink of an eye." Jesus answered. "That is all it will be for her." He was before her, and Olga had moved. "In the time it takes you blink through the pearl gates, you will see the flash of time on this Earth pass. You will be there to greet those you love, and you will be cherished all the more."
His smile was inviting. His words… no longer as chilling.
"You were forced to witness your own death, and hear from a demon the loss of your soul. But take heed, for though death has taken your body, I have conquered death. And so I will take you to Paradise."
His hand was before her again.
"Come, Mash Kyrielight. I wish to walk you to the Gates of Heaven."
Mash had never seen the gates of heaven, and her exposure to art was also through the images given to her by codex's and historical feeds. Everything she'd been exposed to was filtered, broken down, and fed to her carefully, all to ensure that her Spirit Origin was monitored carefully and manipulated as needed. Meeting her Senpai in faith was the first raw experience of something outside this world. Being awoken by Jesus was among the first unfiltered actions she'd ever experienced.
She felt peace. Peaceful enough to smile.
Smile, and take his hand.
"M-Mash! Wait!" The Director called out, and made to move like she was strike her hand from Jesus. Senpai was there to grab her, and pull her back. "Let me go, you fool! Don't you understand what your Servant is asking for! He's going to kill her!"
"She's already gone… odd as I admit that is to say."
"But he can bring her back! He must! I-I mean if I can, then so can she!" Amber eyes were still creased and desperate. "Please! I know you've helped us, and I will not discount it, but please don't take her. Please."
"I am not stealing her from you, Olga Animusphere. She is returning to me."
"But… But I don't want to lose her." The Director didn't take her eyes off of her.
"Director… Olga, thank you." She smiled as bright as she could. "Thank you, but I think I'm ready. I think… I think I'd like to see heaven." Her eyes returned to Jesus, smiling and waiting patiently. "I'll be okay. I'll be waiting, too."
With a serene patience, the Lord turned and walked on, and Mash followed hand in hand. She did her best to put aside the words of the director as she ventured closer towards the Grail, thinking less of the sobs she heard, and more of the peace that clung to her heart. A sense of euphoria that had her expression slackening, that had her mind drifting, and body slowly being taken in by a warm bath.
She didn't notice she was standing in the golden glow of the Grail until it reached her calves. She didn't know until then that her armor was melting away, leaving behind only a robe of white that she had never recalled wearing before. It was weightless on her, even as the liquid continued to climb up her. She looked to Jesus, watching his back. He turned back to smile at her.
The glow, the luminescence, the shine… it made her weep.
"I welcome you, Mash Kyrielight, to my father's kingdom."
Author's Note: I am now willing to hear out all criticism for the ending. I can only say that I thought long and hard about it, and I cannot think of a reason for Mash to stay on Earth aside from adding characters. When you are welcomed into heaven, and you have faith your family and friends will follow, there is literally no reason to stay behind. And here, Jesus promised her it wouldn't be long.
Of course, as is true for real life, it's those left behind that will have to console and move forward. Least now I make it clear the rails are gone and I'm flying into the abyss.