Chapter 131: The Dream and the Reality
It hadn't been long since Kalameet's departure, but Akal could not help but feel as though there was something else that she could be doing. Perhaps it related to this newfound sense of freedom from her past position, but it was something that she did truly wish to seize control over.
She used it to support Kalameet because she was genuinely fascinated by just how much he had already been affected with the presence of a Lord Soul Fragment within his body - the irony notwithstanding - and how far he could truly push himself with this ideal of his. Building a Kingdom for dragons, a novel concept.
There was just a singular issue with it though, Kalameet himself.
Not that she was planning to betray him, but he was much too idealistic in his situation, or perhaps he didn't consider the full implications of his actions. He was ill at ease with command and yet didn't quite realise how much of a natural he truly was, at least when he wasn't thinking about the concept behind authority at all. He was clear and precise with his instructions and valued the advice of his comrades without being subservient to them.
Both she and Artoria had more experience with the world at large and therefore he looked to them for an education and was more than willing to learn about everything he could. It was nurturing his own ability to grow and from what Artoria had reported back, he was already starting to facilitate some measure of creativity within him.
The problem was that he hadn't quite slipped into the role of a 'King' just yet, he was still a little too naive in regards to his own place in the world. The moment he had summoned her and Artoria, establishing himself as a Master, he had assumed the role of a leader. With how he would direct the wyverns and what few dragons they had, he had assumed the role of leader.
Fact of the matter was, he had become a leader without even realising it. If he became lost in his own doubts, then their brethren would become directionless and resort to their baser instincts. Artoria had not the interest in leading them and as for herself…
She just wasn't interested in it either, Akal had spent more than enough time separated from the world and she was happy to be a part of someone else's story. This was Kalameet's story and she would most certainly not let it end so grimly.
Defeated by his enemies? An acceptable outcome, such was the way of life. If you seek to achieve something such as the building of a Kingdom, then someone will inevitably stand against you. That was just how it was, she could accept that.
But for him to be defeated by his own doubts? Absolutely not. Such a thing would be a travesty, a Dragon from the Age of Ancients striving to build something and he is laid low by his own hesitations? It wouldn't make for an acceptable story, not an acceptable life.
For Kalameet to succeed, she would need to purge all doubts from his mind so that he could go about creating the Kingdom he so longed for. Whether or not he actually succeeded in this matter was of little interest to her, but it was the motivation behind it that was so intriguing. It was almost like the flame-kin but that it was coming from someone who predated the very idea of ambition or ruling was intriguing, nay, it was miraculous.
Akal let out a low hum as she scratched the scales of a wyvern resting its head on her lap, the creature quietly snoozing away as though it was a child. Her eyes went down towards them as her petting slowed. Her children weren't nearly as intelligent as him but they could learn.
It would take time, but they could learn.
However, their hopes lay with Kalameet. If this Kingdom of dragons was ever going to exist it would only find a foundation with him. The dream was born with him and if he perished it would die with him.
It wasn't a case of success or failure, it was a case that the dream itself existed at all. That had value to her.
Lives and Kingdoms were fleeting, she'd seen them rise and fall so often that they all blended together at some point. Even from atop Archdragon peak where she spent her latter years before falling into a deep slumber, she watched the rise and fall of Kingdoms. But she made note of every single one of their stories despite that.
Teaching humans to overcome their nature and achieve transcendence from life was for those who lacked true ambitions, who wished to be free of the pain of whatever was ailing them.
It was just something that always intrigued her, how these stories came about. She'd watched the results of these dreams as they were birthed. The rise of many Kingdoms and she'd watched as the dreams fell apart along with those Kingdoms, for whatever reason. However, to stand and witness as a dream was born, to see someone realise their own desire for existence in the world.
That was something astounding to her.
Returning to the point of Kalameet, there would need to be something done to clear these doubts from his mind. To make him understand what he was aiming for and what it truly meant. The intentions might be different but the actions remained the same, at least in the end.
The humans would be gone and the dragons would take their place.
Akal would not lie, she feared the moment he understood that simple fact his mind would shatter with the weight of what he was doing. If, no, when that happened…she would need to be there to pull him back. Just to set him back on the right track, he'd already understood what his dream was and what he was going to do. She just needed to ensure he had the will to see it through until the end.
To continue on without a shred of hesitation in his heart.
Akal paused, reaching up and tapping her cheek several times.
He needed someone to compete against, someone who held the same interest in reaching for the future, or even representing the future.
Her tapping paused, her fingernails raked against the scales of the wyvern on her lap with the animal cooing over the attention, she felt a faint smile come upon her lips.
The Watchers of the Stars who came from the future, that would be enough for her.
Well, she could always have a look at them, gently as she could, she moved the wyvern from her lap and rested it back atop the snow before pulling herself to her feet and rolling her shoulders.
"Artoria!" She called out, moving away from her sleeping child and towards the direction she had last seen the Lancer "What direction did you say that you spotted the Master and her Servants?"
Olga huffed and puffed as she jogged along, continually being passed by some of the Norsemen as they moved past her. She flushed as she could feel their stares aimed at her as they went past. No doubt judging her for her performance.
It was hardly as though she had been expected to do cross country in a snowy wasteland when she was made Director of Chaldea, even before then the option to pursue more physical branches of magecraft was always something that was an optional course within the Clocktower. Beyond that, she had seen some of those people who took the self-defence courses in action.
The thought of running around and trying to compete with the likes of the Edelfelt heiress was something that would keep her up at night. She wouldn't last five seconds in the ring with that woman and that wasn't even her looking down on her own abilities. It was just something that very few in the Clocktower were capable of doing on their best days.
That being said, you usually didn't see Enforcers within the Clocktower - for obvious reasons - but some of them were freaks of nature as well.
"Come on, Miss Animuspear!" She felt her lip curl down at the cheerful voice coming up behind her, sure enough as she looked to her right the looming form of Tarkus came up next to her and slowed his pace. The fact he had still gotten her name wrong time after time was something she was probably going to give up on trying to correct. If only because she didn't know if idiocy like his could be cured. "You're doing really well!"
Those words would have felt pandering or false from anyone else, if there was one thing she was at least thankful for it was that Tarkus was like Fujimaru.
He was too incapable of lying. She suspected that Fujimaru could lie - nearly everyone could - he just didn't. At least he didn't to her, whether that was because he was a terrible liar or because he understood that lying to your boss was a terrible idea, she couldn't tell. It might well have been a mixture of the two.
"Focus on your own work." Olga responded to Tarkus, or rather she at least tried to. She was somewhat out of breath leading to the sentence actually sounding something along the lines of "Fowcuss on yer own werk." in a wheezing voice.
The silent gaze from Tarkus helmet was all the proof she needed that he had absolutely no idea what she had been attempting to say.
As the helmet slowly turned away from her, she felt the redness on her face shift from being one of exhaustion to one of complete embarrassment.
They'd only been jogging for about thirty minutes and she already felt like dying, the stretches that the Lancer had them doing did nothing to help her in the least. She was certain that the Norse didn't feel that way but at the same time, she wasn't an axe wielding viking who was about a year away from murdering Christian monks and stealing their possessions.
"Your readings are looking…" Pharros' face popped up next to her, staring at something to her side before shrugging "I think these are normal? I honestly couldn't tell you though." she said after a moment before pressing several more buttons "Hey, Roman? How are these looking to you?"
Romani's face popping up, and already looking as though he hadn't fallen asleep, did little to fill her with confidence. "They're more or less within our estimations." The doctor said after a moment of examining them "Your heart rate is a little high but you didn't really do that much hardcore exercise." the man paused. "At least, nothing on par with literal cross country."
"F-forget about that…" Olga choked out through another breathless speech, the doctor frowned at her for a few seconds before she continued on "F-F-Fujimaru…?"
Romani pursed his lips and looked to the side, which was obviously a bad sign and not the thing she had been looking for. "We've still got nothing and with Fujimaru still not yet in communication with us we can't do anything on our end but continue to try and break the barrier." he rubbed his forehead in exasperation "Da Vinci is still working on it though, so there is that."
Olga furrowed her brow for a moment before she had an idea "What about the summoning that brought Lancer to this Singularity?"
Romani pursed his lips and shook his head "That was one of the first things that Da Vinci had us try…Didn't so much as let us lock on. Da Vinci thinks it might have something to do with the interference that's preventing communication letting us get an accurate lock on. We could afford it with Fujimaru-kun because he is a solid individual in the world. A servant requires an anchor…"
Pharros chimed in "We basically slingshot him at the Singularity and the Servants got dragged along."
Romani sputtered and coughed "D-did you have to phrase it so violently? You make it sound like we just threw him there without a care in the world!"
The Caster gave an unapologetic shrug "Anyway, we could establish a temporary and really weak anchor in Denmark because of where you are and the lack of resistance, but in London?" she gave a grim shake of the head "Any anchor we tried to establish would fizzle out almost instantly before we even thought about sending a Servant down there. It is a case of just waiting until Fujimaru contacts us."
She was silent for a moment before she gave a cheerful smile "But if anyone can find a way, I'm sure it's Da Vinci! As expected of my rival!"
Romani pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head before he lowered the hand "That aside…the readings from Fujimaru-kun are starting to bug me a little…if I'm being honest." he explained with a nervous look on his face.
Olga gave him a suspicious glance "Worried how?"
"I don't know if it's me just being overly cautious but it's just that…" He shrugged, "They just seem really good for what has been going on the last few days." the man leaned forwards, crossing his arms on the desk "They Rayshift down into a Singularity and get all but cut off from us and in all that time they're just showing evidence of a couple skirmishes?"
That gave Olga pause as she considered the line of thinking before giving the doctor a dubious look "You mean to suggest someone from a Singularity is feeding us false data?" she didn't even attempt to keep her incredulity from her voice, showing exactly what she thought of that suggestion.
With a shake of her head, she cut that off "No. It is more likely that the one who has caused the disturbance has not yet revealed themselves to Fujimaru and is playing it safe in order to avoid a direct conflict with them. Especially considering that Ruler has high magic resistance and two Casters he took with him being skilled."
Romani considered the argument for a moment before he nodded his head "Well…yeah, that does make more sense to me." he exhaled "Sorry, just getting a little jumpy at not hearing from him is all."
"Likely because you look as though you have not yet rested." Olga remarked with a frown "Meuniere!" she called out through the communicator.
"Yes, Director?" The man in question called back, his muffled voice reaching the communicator.
"Put Romani on a five hour break of mandatory leave, you are in command until he returns."
"What!?" Romani squawked "I'm telling you, I'm fi-"
"Clearly not, if those bags are any indication." Olga cut him off before he could even attempt a counter argument "And I will not risk you falling asleep on your desk. A crisis does not give you an excuse to forgo any sort of attempt to care for your own health. It puts both yourself and everyone else at risk." she paused for a moment, then shouted out again "Operator Kerry. If he does not take a rest, tell Da Vinci to find some method of getting him in his bed and asleep."
She didn't quite understand why Romani's face burnt bright red and the woman in question howled with laughter in the background.
"I-I-I'm sure she can find some way to tire him out!" Kerry wheezed in the background.
Olga squinted at the screen, now noticing that Pharros was close to giggling as well.
"O-o-or worse!" Kerry choked louder "M-m-maybe she'll make sure he doesn't get any rest at all! Pahahahahaha!"
Now the entire control room was close to being in a state of giggles.
"Hehehehahaha." She looked to the right, Tarkus was jogging next to her and quietly chuckling as well. She continued to stare at him in silence before he noticed her looking and quickly averted his head "I don't get the joke but I thought it would be best if I laughed anyway." he quickly explained in an embarrassed tone of voice "Wait…are they bullying the little blue man?" he asked after a moment.
"Fine!" Romani exclaimed as he sharply stood up "I'll have a nap! Just stop laughing!" he called out as he turned around and all but scrambled his way to the door "Don't send Leo to my room!"
Olga watched him depart, then stared at the blonde man in glasses plopped himself down in the seat Romani had been on. Flicking his hands across the desk to clear it of something as his laughter died down.
"Hehehe…hehehe….hehe…he…" Meuniere rubbed his face and coughed before looking towards the Director and composing himself as best he could, not completely able to hide the twitching of his lips though. "A-anyway." the man coughed again "Da Vinci left a message that if she got a break through, she would immediately let us know."
"Good!" Olga nodded after a moment "Then I expect her to do so. Keep an eye on those readings from Fujimaru and inform me of any changes."
"Yes, Director."
"One more thing?"
"Yes, Director?"
"Do not make crass jokes in the control room during an emergency. It is a time for professionalism."
Olga herself didn't actually know if they were making crass jokes or not, but she imagined that they were. Especially given the way that it got the entire room to act as though they were children.
With a shake of her head, she turned her attention ahead of herself once more and turned off the communicator.
"You slowed down." Olga almost screamed at the sudden voice behind her, whirling around and seeing Torin approaching her at a slow pace. "Something wrong?"
"Issues at Chaldea. Nothing more." She replied quickly before she turned back around and stumbled forwards, attempting to find her proper pace once again although swiftly finding herself near the back of the convoy as many of the, admittedly healthier, Norse had already passed her.
Torin was silent as he came up next to her, not looking at her directly although the woman could feel his eyes on the side of her head as she jogged. Although at this point it had degraded into a faster than average walk.
"You've done better than I thought you would have."
It took Olga a second to register the words before she felt her lip curl downwards "What were you expecting?"
"For you to collapse ten minutes ago and need someone to drag you onwards." He responded in a toneless voice, the words delivered so brutally and casually that Olga almost didn't think he had said it. When it became obvious he had, she felt her temper spike.
"I didn't want them here either." She growled in a low voice "Mocking me won't change that."
"I know." Torin said after a moment of silence "And I was not mocking you, I was giving my honest opinion-"
"Which I didn't ask for nor do I want it." Olga cut him off sharply with an edge in her voice, her jaw rolling from side to side "If you just came here to tell me how little you expected of me, then go away. You're a Servant, you don't even need to do this."
The Caster fell quiet for nearly ten seconds before he spoke again "I can't go near them right now."
"Hmph." Olga grunted quietly "So what? You hang around me?"
"I can't go near them because they're going to die and I can't face them." Torin said after another moment "You don't…You haven't lived with them like I have." he continued on, his voice remaining blank "So I didn't want them here because I'm going to have to watch them die. Whether we win or lose, some of them are going to die. I can't change that…so no. I didn't want them here and I couldn't convince them to leave."
"I can't either, apparently." Olga huffed to herself, a hollow gesture as there was no change in the emotion.
"Neither of us can, it seems." He grunted before shaking his head "Well…I suppose it doesn't matter thinking about it now. What's done is done." the man remained silent for a moment before he continued on "Chaldea is the name of the tribe you lead, yes? What issues face you now?"
Olga remained silent before she gave him a raised eyebrow and a puzzled expression "Why should I talk with you about this?"
"The people I lead are about to march to their deaths." Torin bluntly responded "The least you can do is tell me what troubles ail you, that way I can at least confirm that neither of us are in ideal positions as far as leadership goes."
Olga stared at him for a few seconds longer before she exhaled and looked away from him.
The two fell into a short silence before she exhaled and looked to the sky "My situation is far worse than yours."
"I'm sure." Torin scoffed "So what dragon are your people off to fight?" he asked rhetorically before he looked to the side "You are here and yet you look almost as downtrodden as I. One can only assume your subordinates are in a similarly dire situation."
"I don't even know what sort of situation they're in." She gave an ugly laugh as she picked up the pace "That's the problem." she remained silent before she spoke again "I'm not going to talk about this more. It doesn't matter to our current situation so there is no reason in discussing it."
Torin followed after her "If you say so." he shrugged his shoulders "Should I go and fetch the Queen? You appear to have a good repertoire with her, at the very least you can speak as you run. That should serve to distract you from the exercise."
The fact she didn't actually respond to that question was all that Torin needed as a way of a reply, as silently as he could he broke away from the woman and moved on ahead. Nodding his head once to Tarkus as he passed him by and then disappearing into the crowd of Norse.
Tarkus slowed down once again to be level with the Director "Are you actually not used to this sort of thing?" he asked in a genuinely perplexed tone of voice before he turned and looked away "Sorry if I didn't notice."
Olga levelled him with an annoyed look "Did my panting not clue you in?"
"...Everyone always got like that when I ran with them though." He replied in a confused tone of voice, tilting his head slightly "I thought that was normal? Sir Berenike always called me a stamina freak."
"It's not…it's…tch, nevermind." She exhaled, utterly unable to find the energy to speak with him about the subject only because doing so would be like banging her head against a wall.
"I'm not sure what you meant to say, but I'm certain you're doing a really good job!" Tarkus applauded her with a cheery voice "Considering you aren't even a Knight, I think it's pretty impressive you could actually make it this far at all." he added on a comment which was thoroughly unneeded in her opinion, "I mean, my mother could probably keep going but she used to help work the fields and carry around big bags of wheat so she was nearly as strong as me and was also called a stamina freak by father…although I never actually saw her run, now that I think about it so I don't get why he called her that."
Olga felt her brows slowly rise up as Tarkus continued to speak.
"Anyway, you're a noble woman, right? We don't normally see princesses-" Now her eyes were wide and her lips were drawn into a thin line "-running around everywhere, so I think it's even more amazing! Actually, are you a princess? I only ever heard about princesses and stuff in stories so I never thought I'd actually meet one…but then Miss Marie and Miss Nero are both Queens, right? So I don't know if a princess is that impressive…unless…."
This was going to be…something.
"Are you like a…really important Queen?" Tarkus asked in a low voice "Because that would explain why Miss Marie and Miss Nero do what you ask. I mean…I know we're all Servants but it would make a lot of sense. Also the small blue man treated you like a superior so maybe you are a Queen!" he gasped "Is Chaldea like your Kingdom?"
Olga had zero idea how she was supposed to respond to this rapid fire rant, she actually managed to withhold a sigh of relief when she saw Marie dropping back from the crowd of Norse and falling into step next to her.
"I've never done so much running in my life." Marie quietly confessed to her with a slightly strained expression. Olga soon noted that her posture looked more like she was skipping through the snow than anything close to resembling an actual running posture. "Normally I go on horseback but then Lancer started talking and I felt enthused by it."
The French Rider giggled "It was really something, it just made me want to scream 'Yeah!' at the top of my lungs."
Olga huffed quietly "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."
"I'm making the most of my situation." Marie replied before she looked left and right, then leaned towards the Director "I've actually been talking with some of the people to get their opinions."
She had? That was surprisingly insightful of her, although she wasn't sure what manner of opinions they were going to get.
"Well?" Olga whispered back.
"Hemming things that Brynjar has a thing going for Jorunn." Marie whispered in a conspiratorial tone of voice "But Bjarne says that Brynjar is obviously pining after Frigg because she makes some of the best stews around, so he's mad that Torgny made off with her." The woman then gave a confident nod of the head.
"...Huh?" The Director did a double take at the Rider, brows furrowed and expression genuinely shocked "What…why are you…what?"
"Oooooh!" Tarkus made an interested noise, causing Olga to jump as she suddenly found him well within her personal space and his attention on the Rider as well. "Really? I thought they were friendly with each other but I didn't think she had a crush on him."
"Exciting, isn't it?" Marie nodded her head rapidly, clearly pleased that Tarkus had jumped onto the topic of conversation "I was thinking that they were already a couple but it turns out that-"
"What are you even-!?" Olga closed her eyes and snapped her jaw shut, exhaling before her eyes opened once again, her voice in a similarly low whisper "What are you even talking about? I thought you meant you were getting a read on the moral of the people! The general feel of the situation!"
Marie blinked once "I did. They are very interested in discussing Brynjar's love life." she snickered, "There's actually some debate between Hemming and Randolf right now." the Rider explained "Hemming thinks that Brynjar will tell her before long but Randolf thinks that Jorunn will actually jump him in his tent tonight if we don't get attacked."
Tarkus nodded his head several times "We should probably protect him then. Just in case she tried to attack him."
Both Olga and Marie turned their heads to give the man a dull look.
"What?" Tarkus looked between the two of them with an innocent voice "Did I say something wr-oh…this is one of those things I don't understand, isn't it?" the Saber realised with a wince "Um…she's not actually attacking him, is she?"
Marie bit her lip and shook her head "Well…if she does, it certainly won't be in the traditional sense."
"She'll poison him!?"
"No you fool!" Olga snapped at him with a shocked expression, she was aware he was simple but surely he had some inclination of where…her eyes widened slightly as she considered that. "Do you even know where children come from?"
Tarkus remained silent for a moment before he nodded once "...Yes." he replied in such a way that it became painfully clear that he didn't know where children came from. Olga looked down to the tapping noise and noticed that his fingers were repeatedly tapping against his palm and producing a metallic drumming noise.
Her eyes trailed up to the helmet and saw that he was facing ahead, clearly attempting to avoid looking directly at them.
Marie stared at him before she opened her mouth and spoke again "Do you want to have another go and make the answer more convincing?" she sounded genuine in her attempt, despite that Olga clearly picked up on the mirth in her tone of voice.
"...No." Tarkus slumped his shoulders, his arms dropped to his side and he jogged like an armoured monolith. "I don't know where babies come from. No one ever told me…mother said she would tell me when she was older but she died before she could. Father died before her so I couldn't find out from him either. No one else would tell me either…they just laughed and walked off."
That took a turn neither had been expecting from him.
Olga released a shaky breath before she reached up and cupped her face, groaning into her hands before lowering them once again. "Alright…I can't let this go on." She grumbled, turning her attention to Marie with a flat expression "I refuse to entertain this ignorance any longer."
"You're right." Marie gave a sage nod of the head, turning to Tarkus "So when a man and a woman love each other very much…" she suddenly tensed and widened her eyes, her head snapping to the front and sliding to a halt with Tarkus doing the exact same.
"Servant incoming!" Meuniere all but shouted as the communicator flashed to life once again "They're at least three miles-two mil-one mile!" his eyes widened "They're virtually on top of you!"
A crash from up ahead of them was accompanied by a mushroom cloud of snow extending at least fifteen metres into the sky, Olga raised her hand and covered her face as the shockwave hit her, she could make out confused and alarmed cries from up ahead as she lowered the limb.
"Berserker!" She called out, the armour responded immediately, the huge body coming into existence next to her with the axe and shield already in hand.
Without waiting, Olga rushed forward "Servant!" she cried out again to alert everyone else although they were likely already aware.
Torin's voice came out nary a moment later "Emissaries to the front! Stay behind us!"
Olga kept running, watching as both Tarkus and Marie sped right past her as they entered the crowd of Norse, pushing them aside as they moved to the front of the line where the cloud of debris was already starting to settle.
When she got through, she noted that the other Servants were already present and in battle positions, brandishing their weapons towards the tower of falling snow.
Movement caught her eye, they instantly narrowed as she watched a humanoid figure emerge from the layer of falling snow that was enveloping them. The first thing she noted was that they were somewhat tall, taller than her at least, probably around Ash's height if she was to guess.
The figure - clearly a woman from her physique - rolled their right shoulder several times as they faced them. She was dressed rather in line with the current era, a wide leather strap across her chest to protect her modesty while also exposing her virtually amazonian muscles. Her right arm was adorned in a mangled steel pauldron that looked as though it had been pushed in place to actually fit its new position.
Each arm had leather bracers around them, a set of dull brown fabric trousers, leather boots and a ragged cloth around the waist.
What attracted Olga's attention though, was the head. Beneath the scraggly brown lockes of hair were a pair of curled horns extending from either side of the head. The woman's vibrant brown eyes flickered between all of them meaningfully as a cordial smile played upon her features before locking onto her in particular.
The woman took a sniff of the air, closing her eyes before she paused and gradually opened them up again. "So you must be the opposing Master."
Red flags almost instantly.
"Enemy Servant." Olga declared, the tension of the group skyrocketed as she looked around for a split second and noticed they were by themselves.
"I came alone, if that is what you're looking for." The woman continued on in a rather knowing tone, all the while that unconcerned smile was on her face as she fussed over her bracers as if to make sure they hadn't fallen off. "I know, more or less, who you are though. Divination and the like…" she paused for a moment before shrugging "Or rather, I just don't think like you humans."
"No shit." Cu snorted by her side as his lip curled back "Nice horns you got."
"Heh." The woman smiled as she raised an eyebrow at the Caster "Is this what humans call flirting? In that case, I like your eyes." she responded back, which actually prompted a blink from the man in question "They're a lovely shade of red…A shame about the smell of divinity that lingers around you."
Cu shrugged "Meh…You get used to it."
"Well…I'm sure you won't be around long enough for me to have to." She chuckled, though her words were clearly hostile she didn't hold a shred of aggression in her voice.
"Are you here to fight us?" Olga demanded, looking around and then back at the Servant with a dubious look "By yourself?"
The brunette shifted her attention back to Olga and tilted her head slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest, subtly flexing her muscles as she did so. "By myself. Though fighting you and testing you can be considered two different things…for one, I'm not aiming to kill you." she replied easily enough.
Before Olga could even attempt to dissect that sentence, the woman suddenly charged towards them.
She zig zagged as nothing but a blur of movement, leaving behind a trail through the snow as she rapidly closed in. Olga widened her eyes and scrambled backwards as she was upon them in but a second, already swinging her left fist towards the nearest Servant.
Brynhildr caught the fist with the flat of her spear before pushing the Servant back, then widened her eyes as she felt the resistance give out much too easily. She watched as the enemy woman leaned back with the shove and then curled her body backwards and rested her right hand on the ground before she pushed herself into a backflip while swinging her legs up.
The Valkyrie leaned backwards to avoid catching an armoured boot to the chin while the woman landed on her feet and smirked.
"Fighting with this body is much faster than I thought it would be." She idly commented as she stared at her hands, then back at the group "I suppose this is a test for all of us then!"
She leapt into the air, crushing the ground beneath her feet as she sent herself skywards. Her face shifted into one of determination as she identified her landing point and then aimed towards the person in question.
Olga whirled around to face the Norse, shouting out as loud as she could "Fall back! You're just in the way-"
Torin charged the Servant, swinging his axe up at the same time her feet fell down. The two crashed into one another before the enemy Servant kicked the axe backwards used the momentum to knock herself away, as she flipped she aimed both arms behind herself before suddenly releasing an explosion from each of her palms and rocketing forwards like a missile.
Her knee crashed into Torin's face and sent the pair of them ragdolling across the ground, the woman was the first to recover as they landed, grabbing hold of the larger Caster and righting herself on her feet before spinning on her feet and hurling him towards the group.
"Come on!" She called out to them "Don't just stand there!"
Marie grabbed Olga and pulled her down as Torin sailed over their heads before she snapped her head back to the Servant. "Stay back, Master!" Marie demanded in a much more serious tone than Olga had been used to as the girl extended her enlarged ring and swept it through the air, throwing forth a blade of faint pink wind towards the Servant.
The woman didn't so much as blink as the magical attack struck the air a foot from her body and vanished into nothing.
"Hmmm. Long ranged, is it?" The Servant muttered before she turned and raised up the back of her right arm and blocked Nero's burning sword. "But you're not!" She exclaimed in a pleased tone "And fire?" she gave a throaty chuckle as she shoved the sword to the side and then grasped ahold of it with her left hand.
Nero widened her eyes as the flames coating her sword were suddenly snuffed out.
The Servant raised an eyebrow at her "Why would you use such a thing against a Dragon?" she asked before swinging her leg up and burying it in the Emperor's gut, Nero wheezed as she rolled away, righting herself quickly and snapping her head up to face the Servant once again.
Gordin's heart was in his throat as he charged forwards, the greatsword in his left hand dragging through the snow and slicing a clean valley in his wake as he moved.
Just keep moving.
Those were the words that repeatedly drummed around inside his skull, if he stopped moving for even a second then he was undoubtedly going to die or end up getting crippled. The latter option was just as bad as the first because it would likely lead to the first.
Not that he was afraid of dying, given what had occurred already to allow him to become a Heroic Spirit it would be rather ironic, but that wasn't why he was afraid. The way the dragon, the legendary Black Dragon pulled right from the stories of ancient history, was fighting it was becoming rather obvious that after he died then it would move onto killing everyone else.
It was fighting with blind rage, not skill, just rage.
He dropped down, allowing his momentum to carry him forwards and sliding through the snow as the large shadow cat was hurled over his head. The giant beast which likely weighed more than he could guess was flung over his head as though it was a common housecat. His eyes darted up as its body ragdolled past him.
Gordin was back on his feet the moment the shadow passed above his head, not even turning around when the beast crashed into the ground and caused the surroundings to tremble ever so slightly. His eyes fixed themselves on Kalameet once again as he resumed his run.
Kalameet spun on his heel, whirling Ledo above his head and tossing him away before whirling around and focusing on him. Red eyes glowed and the central orange diamond shape menacingly glared at him, his inner knowledge that came from the God of War told him to avoid that eye at all costs, he didn't know why but if an actual God was telling him that being in the dragons line of sight was a bad thing, he wasn't going to rush and question it. Bringing the greatsword around, he slashed through the snow and released a small burst of light from the weapon, throwing up a cloud of ice into the air and directly into the dragon's face to break their line of sight with one another.
It was risky, now he couldn't see what the dragon was doing but he was confident that he could-
His head snapped to the side and his eyes widened to dinner plates behind his helmet, time seemed to slow as a fist the size of his helmet burst from the snow and rocketed towards his face, the layer of burning yellow fire coating the limb only served to further terrify him. His body leaned at an awkward angle as he watched the fist close in, now finding himself nearly forty-five degrees to the side and virtually falling backwards as the fist whizzed past the top of his head.
Gordin grunted as time seemed to resume, Kalameet's body burst from the snowy cloud and his head snapped down to lock onto the Knight as he fell back into the snow. Scrambling backwards, Gordin swung the sword up and slashed out at the large leg that was closest to him. Kalameet recoiled the limb back as a mere flex, then resumbled glaring at Gordin as he brought both his hands above his head and clasped them together.
Sigurd slammed into his side, tackling the dragon and then using a dagger in each hand to secure himself into the body of Kalameet. The Servant roared as the knives pierced his armour and sank down to the hilts in his flesh. Jerking his hands in a motion, Sigurd twisted the daggers and then slashed them across, spilling more dark blood onto the snow and then kicking the side of the thigh to launch himself away while Kalameet staggered from the blow.
Jumping to his side, Sigurd quickly sheathed the dagger and grabbed Gordin by the shoulder before yanking him up. "We must buy more time for the others to get away." he whispered to him as Kalameet grabbed the slash on his gut before withdrawing the hand and looking at the blood. "They are not yet gone and he can still catch up with-"
Kalameet waved his hand outwards, mustard flames leapt from his arm and rushed towards the pair. Sigurd jumped backwards while Gordin jumped up to avoid them, soon becoming the wrong thing to do as Kalameet hurled himself skywards without even pulling his wings out and wrapping a giant giant hand around his face.
Spinning through the air, Gordin was left with nothing to do but simply get ragdolled by the larger Servant as they approached the ground. Kalameet pulled the arm back and then swung downwards as they approached, slamming Gordin into the ground with a tremendous crash, the pair of them disappearing in a cloud of debris.
Sigurd raised his hand to cover his face as the shockwave hit before he lowered the limb, eyes wide "Gordin!"
As if to answer the question, the knight in question when flying through the air and far into the distance, then Kalameet came bounding towards him from the falling snow. Eye glowing bright orange, Sigurd felt himself assaulted by fatigue once again and taken hold by some sort of phantom grasp.
Kalameet closed in, sticking his legs out and sliding to a halt while cocking his right arm back and extending his claws out to take a swipe at the man.
Ledo's hammer smashed into his left side, shunting him to the side the moment he got close enough. Sigurd felt himself freed of the influence, the second he did he rushed forwards and threw one of his daggers into Kalameet's ribs, cocking his right fist back and then throwing it forwards and smashing his knuckles into the pommel of the dagger and outright shooting it through the body of the dragon. His fist smashed into the body and staggered the larger Servant backwards.
The Silver Knight pulled the hammer back and spun on his heel, sweeping it through the air and aiming it upwards. Sigurd jumped out of the way as the hammer closed in, Kalameet grunted as the weapon struck his gut and folded over it, being knocked backwards and off his feet.
Ledo turned to Sigurd and spat out a wad of blood into the snow "This is not a fight we can win through brute force." turning back around, the pair watched Kalameet straighten himself out and roll his arms several times. Then directed his attention downwards towards the apple sized hole that was running through his entire body before he returned his attention onto the pair in front of him.
"I know." Sigurd muttered back, flexing his hand and calling Gram forth "But we have precious little choice. If worse comes to worse, I shall use my Noble Phantasm on him, we appear to have gathered at least some distance."
"Hopefully." Ledo grumbled, looking over his shoulder quickly to see the large black cat still slumped on the ground. "It's not dead, is it?"
"It has yet to fade away, I would say no-Move!" Sigurd interrupted himself, diving to the side as Kalameet kicked off the ground towards the pair, both his arms clasped above his head and burning brightly.
Ledo let out a bark of laughter and charged forwards, holding his hammer with both hands and dragging it through the snow as he charged towards the flying dragon. The two rocketed towards one another as Ledo brought the hammer up at the same time Kalameet brought his fists down, the two attacks smashed into one another and exploded in a ball of yellow flames.
Ledo skidded along the ground like a stone across the lake while Kalameet was hurled backwards by the momentum of the explosion, spreading his wings wide and controlling his flight and looking to reacquire the pair of them.
With a snarl, Kalameet dropped back down into the snow and retracted his wings before he resumed his march forwards. Only stopping when he caught sight of Gordin charging towards him from his right side, raising his arm up he blocked a downwards strike with the back of his arm, growling slowly as the blade sank an inch into his armoured scales before he jerked the limb and parried the blade. Swinging his left arm forwards and aiming it down to Gordin's head, the knight ducked low and rolled forwards to avoid the punch. Kalameet stepped back and kicked him in the side as he was midway through the roll, Gordin coughed as he was thrown from his opponent, sticking his right arm out and clawing at the ground to slow himself.
Kalameet charged forwards, taking a single step before he saw the ground beneath his feet glow for a split second. He tensed his body and jumped back, icy spikes burst from beneath the snow, soon snarling and glaring at Gordin once again as the knight withdrew his right hand and shook it several times to remove the snow covering his gloves.
The Saber righted himself and gripped his sword tightly, assuming a high guard stance with the sword slightly angled and pointed up towards the dragon due to his superior height. With a growl, Kalameet rushed forwards, swinging his claws with reckless abandon and no sense of style. Gordin was instantly forced onto the backfoot and scrambling backwards as each blow sent him staggering, his sword swinging from side to side in an effort to block the oncoming blows.
Kalameet threw a straight jab, Gordin angled his body to the side and raised his sword up so the fist glanced along the edge of the weapon and slashed itself open on the blade. Not that Kalameet even seemed to register the wound as the jab continued on and smashed into his right shoulder, a popping sound echoed out with Gordin giving a sharp intake of breath and his right arm falling limply at his side as he stumbled backwards.
Not giving him a chance to retreat further, Kalameet stepped closer into the guard and swung his leg up and into the wounded side of the knight. His right arm bent with the impact and this time he cried out in pain as his right arm jerked in a direction that the limb was not supposed to bend, Gordin was bowled over and sent rolling across the snow as Kalameet lowered the limb.
Swinging his claws down, he buried them down to the wrist in the snow and then superheated his fist with fire. Turning around, Kalameet roared as he swung the fist upwards and hurled scaling water in the direction of Sigurd as he charged forwards, the knight ran through the offensive without so much as flinching as the skin hissed on contact. Gram was brought to bear on the dragon.
Kalameet's eye atop his head glowed, halting Sigurd in his tracks once again with the knight grimacing before he pushed himself onwards with a noticeable strain upon his features and swung towards the dragon. Kalameet lashed out with his claws, smashing his hand into the sword and recoiling as the weapon split open his left hand with terrifying ease. Sigurd stamped his foot down, reversing his grip on Gram and bringing it back around as he ducked under Kalameet's right side and had the sword headed straight towards his gut with the clear intention of bisecting him.
Twisting his body, Kalameet managed to avoid the worst of the damage, instead being mitigated to having his side slashed by Gram before delivering an elbow strike directly into Sigurds face. The knight dropped down instantly, moving to get back up only for Kalameet to roughly grasp him by the throat and hoist him into the air, Gram slipping from his fingers as he was jerked upwards.
He was barely eye level with Kalameet for a split second before he yanked the shortsword from his belt with his right hand and brought it up in a reverse grip before slamming it down into Kalameet's opposing shoulder, the dragon jerked backwards as Sigurd clenched his right hand into a fist and slammed it down into the pommel of the weapon to send it even deeper into the dragons flesh.
Recoiling, Kalameet released him only for Sigurd to pull the second shortsword from his belt and drive it into his gut, his right fist pulled back and was swung forwards like a hammer and drove the second sword further into Kalameet's gut and forced the dragon even further back. Not that the dragon was idle either, with a roar he swung the back of his arm out and caught Sigurd in the chin with a strike, the knight flipped through the air as a result of the blow before roughly crashing into the snow.
Kalameet stumbled backwards, his hand falling onto the sword lodged in his gut and grasping his claws around the handle before yanking it free of his body with a grunt and tossing the weapon away. As he reached up for the sword in his shoulder, he was sent staggering forwards as something slammed into his back, as the dragon turned around he caught sight of Ledo pulling the hammer back and preparing for another blow.
The sight of the silver knight was enough to send him into a second frenzy, with an enraged snarl he charged forwards with his claws extended and slashed at the knight. Ledo raised the polearm of the hammer, the claws clashing against it and grinding against the metal as he pushed down against the knight. With a grunt, Ledo shoved the claws to the side and pushed the dragon back as he swung the hammer back around, striking Kalameet in the chest with the back end of it.
Tanking the blow, Kalameet brought his other hand around and slashed his palm into the side of Ledo's head, the Berserker grunted but failed to go down. With a bark of laughter, Ledo swung the pole of the hammer upwards and parried another fist to the side before he lashed out with a heavy kick aimed at Kalameet's inner thigh.
Wincing slightly, Kalameet moved back before he rushed forwards and swung his arms at the silver knight. Ledo planted his hammer into the ground and twisted it around to act as a shield, leaning backwards as blow after blow rained down upon the hammer.
With a final roar, Kalameet brought his left arm back and ignited it with burning yellow flames before swinging it forwards and smashing it into the weapon, the fist exploded and sent Ledo flying backwards as he made to follow, only to stop and hiss as an icy chill spread across his legs, holding him in place.
The dragon snapped his head down and glared at the thick layer of ice that now covered his feet all the way up to his shins. Twisting his head around, he found himself staring towards the dark haired woman as she stared at him impassively, he could faintly make out the glow of her red eyes as she extended her left hand towards him, willing the snow and ice to cover his body.
Bringing his fist up, he ignited it with flames and prepared to bring it down in order to shatter his restraints.
Then froze when the woman spoke.
"For how long shall you throw this childish tantrum of yours?"
The cold words had him frozen solid, his head slowly turning back to the woman and staring at her "...What?"
"You claim to be a leader?" The woman narrowed her eyes, lowering her hand "Someone whom might claim the title of King, yet such words were enough to send you into a rage?"
"...You speak of things you do not know…" Kalameet growled, lowering the arm "And I will not be-"
"You retract your words so swiftly?" Alsanna continued onwards "Is that what you expect from your Kingdom? One who would claim to build a Kingdom?" she gestured around them "Is that what your groundwork shall be? A King who will so quickly say he holds no aggression to those who would not oppose him and then within the span of a minute declare his intentions to kill all regardless of their position?"
Kalameet stilled before his eyes glowed red "Do not-"
"Hold your tongue, boy." Alsanna spoke swiftly and cut him off "You claim to be enraged by the actions against your race, yet commit the same acts against the humans of this land? Is your Kingship motivated by mere hypocrisy?"
"I am nothing like them!" Kalameet roared, stamping forwards and tearing his legs from his frozen prison as he whirled on Alsanna waving an arm in the direction Ledo had been knocked towards "He-He butchers my people and doesn't even question why?!" he roared "There's nothing! There's no grand dream, no inner desire for betterness he just-just…he just killed them…"
Alsanna raised an unimpressed eyebrow "And your own wyverns are visionaries such as yourself?"
"Of course they-"
"Then I am grateful for your faith in my children, but as much as I love them, not a single one would ever consider what it is that you are doing now."
The words of Akal struck his mind like a drum, his mouth remained open but not a single sound emerged from it.
That was more than enough for Alsanna.
"Your hesitation in answering has already marked your defeat in this argument." She scoffed loudly "But if you still wish to continue this angered fit of yours, then you can swing your fists and preach your delusions until the sun sets."
Kalameet wasn't actually hearing anything of what she was saying, his mind still reeling from the words of Akal which haunted him.
"...No." He declared loudly, bringing a raised eyebrow to Alsanna "No…that is not…" Kalameet growled and furrowed his brows "That is…that cannot be right…they all know. They all know…they believe in the same as me…they must or…or…" with a shake of his head, he turned on Alsanna and pointed at her "You're trying to cloud my mind! To make me doubt myself!"
Alsanna levelled him with a disappointed look "Are you so foolish to truly believe these words or do you merely spout them to try and make yourself believe such things?"
Kalameet growled at her louder but didn't say a word, content to merely glare at her for a few moments before giving another fierce shake of the head "No! This is-My motives are not so shallow! All my brethren understand what we are doing! They must! I am doing this for them! They have to understand what I am achieving or I'm…I'm…"
His voice trailed off, breaking down into a quiet whisper as he stared at her in an almost distant fashion "Or else I…" he pressed his palm into his chest "I'm different! I don't seek the complete extermination of humanity-"
"And that is to provide some comfort for those who already live here and have died?" Alsanna responded with a flat tone of voice "Though you will be forced from your homes and scattered to the winds like vagrants, take solace in the fact I shall end my aggression when I have stolen all that once belonged to you and made it my own? Did that provide solace to you? Kalameet of the Ancient Dragons?"
"..."
"Where has your confident tone gone?" Alsanna pressured further "Have you no further words to add? Are you not a King? Should you not defend yourself from these accusations I make? What manner of King falls silent in the face of an aggressor?"
"..." Kalameet stared at her blankly for a few moments, then looked around to see the other Servants picking themselves up and looking towards him. Without making a single sound, Kalameet spread his wings wide and launched himself into the air before banking left and shooting off into the distance as fast as he could.
The Servants watched her leave before Sigurd slowly turned his head back to Alsanna and exhaled "That was impressive?"
"You think so?" Alsanna seemed to deflate, her posture losing the confident aura it had held moments prior "I acted how my King would…it brought a great many emotions to me when I saw such contradictions, especially from one who claimed to be a leader." she paused for a moment before shaking her head "And I will not deny that perhaps his nature allowed me some influence over his mind and convinced him to leave."
"Ah…your divinity was stronger than his." Sigurd realised with a wry chuckle before he groaned and clasped a hand over his chest, dropping down to one knee and giving a heaving cough before spitting out blood into the snow "I shall not complain about it for now…but making him doubt himself could have repercussions."
"Naturally." Alsanna gave a grim nod of the head "Now that he knows of them…I fear he might try to correct them, and such a tactic will not achieve success a second time. If he understands his position and embraces it…"
Sigurd closed his eyes "...Then he shall not stop until we are dead…but I do not believe he will pursue us for the time being."
"No. He will not." She looked around before she turned her head back to Sigurd "You are all injured and we need to regroup with the others, I told Erik to lead them on ahead while I returned for you."
Sigurd laughed as best he could. "I am grateful that you did, his Mystic eye was something I had not initially accounted for until it was used…" he closed his eyes and gave another wheezing cough "You should find Gordin…I believe him to be more injured than I."
Another cough from Sigurd was her reply before she thinned her lips.
She hadn't truly been expecting them to depart, but the words felt as though they needed to be said.
"Come on!" The Servant called out as she zig zagged once again, this time closing in on Tarkus before she paused midway through and jumped back to avoid a thrust from Brynhildr. The white haired woman maintained a cool face as she spun on the self proclaimed dragon and started to attack her with a series of swipes and jabs.
The Servant blocked most of the attacks, those that got through scored small nicks in her flesh but nothing more and they gave no indication that they even felt them if the unchanging expression on their face was any indication. Brynhildr noted that they hadn't even tried to pull out a weapon, but they appeared much too lucid for a Berserker.
The woman grabbed her spear by the polearm, Brynhildr jerked it to the side and spun it, slamming the metal grip against the side of the womans face as she did so before stepping into her guard and slamming her shoulder into them, soon followed by a kick into their outer right knee.
The unnamed Servant's expression remained unchanging throughout all of it, that same amused smile on her face as this was all some joke to them. Brynhildr brought her spear back around to slash at their neck, then paused and widened her eyes as she felt the mana around them suddenly shift.
"Back lass!" Cu's voice called out from behind her, something she was inclined to agree with as she kicked upwards and launched herself as far back as she possibly could.
A bolt of lightning shot beneath her feet seconds later and she watched the expression on the Servant change for the first time from casual to terrified for a split second. Their palms exploded and consumed the lightning with bright orange flames before the woman charged out of them, swiftly closing in on the Caster.
She was stopped midway through her charge when Stahl slammed an axe down in front of her, it had been aimed at her but she'd kicked herself backwards to adjust her speed and avoid it just before it could land.
"Haaaa!" Nero flew in from the side, sweeping her sword down and scoring a thin cut across the woman's left arm, not that she even reacted, as she maintained her focus on the Berserker. Her hand snapped out and caught Nero's sword, pulling it forwards and dragging the Emperor as she turned on her heel and threw a fist at the blonde girl's head.
Nero ducked down, avoiding the punch before twisting her sword and pulling it free of the Servant's grasp and splattering the snow with blood as she managed to score a decent cut on the palm of the Servant.
Stahl ripped their axe from the ground and gave a clumsy swing at the Servant, the woman leaned back until she was virtually parallel to the ground and watched the axe sail above her head before she snapped back up.
Brynhildr dropped to the ground behind her, aiming her spear at her while the others closed in.
The Servant looked around, still seemingly uncaring at being surrounded before she cracked her neck.
"This is a test, after all." She muttered to herself before everything about her suddenly shifted, the snow was visibly displaced as waves of mana were expelled from the Servant. Such a release meant they were becoming much more serious now.
AN: Servant Kalameet has encountered a 404 Error and has restarted.
In all honesty, yeah…sucks to be him right now.
Also more insight into Akal's way of thinking.
The beginning and the end doesn't interest her as much as the story in the middle, the getting to witness the idea that leads to all of it is just a special treat on top.
She's not like Proto Merlin though as she doesn't get genuinely invested in the story as it plays out, taking on an active role within it.
