Not-yet-summer resort: VIII
"That was ominous."
He received blank looks in return, perhaps a roll of the eyes from one or two of the others but it was neither here nor there. Not when the information they got from the Demon was actually something, even if it didn't seem all that specific at the moment.
"Astute." Da Vinci huffed with a good natured smirk, then her expression shifted into one of thought. "But that does confirm your earlier theory that they were attacking this place for a reason. Though the least they could have done was speak clearly instead of a riddle…but it is better than nothing, I suppose."
Ritsuka hummed but said nothing, his fingers dancing along the back of Fou as the white animal curled up in his forearms and snored softly.
"Heartbeat in the centre of the city." The Caster rubbed her chin, a light frown now blossoming upon her face. "We'll have to look into that more thoroughly, though we have our work cut out for us with the way these systems are too lazy to finish anything, means we'll need more information on your end, Protagonista."
A grunt from the screen drew his eyes onto Romani, the doctor leaned forwards with a mug of coffee held in his grasp, pursing his lips, the man cocked his head to the side. "What are the chances they actually mean it literally instead of metaphorically? Because if this entire place is a Noble Phantasm, then wouldn't the heartbeat refer to the Servant who summoned it in the first place?"
That would point the finger solely in the direction of the Berserker who brought them down there, the currently unnamed figure who seemed to be anything but human if the way they spoke was any indication, or maybe they didn't view themselves as human? It was possible but neither Romani nor Da Vinci had made any comments about them since. Clearly things hadn't changed since the last time they took a scan.
Even still.
"I don't think so…Berserker didn't seem to care all that much about them." He spoke, then winced a little and shot a glance downards, his brows pinching as he watched Fou stretch out and dig their little claws into his forearm. Something that brought a mixture of concern and amusement from Mash as she stared at the two of them. "You'd think that if it was related to him, then he might have said something else or even been against keeping them here."
Romani opened his mouth, then closed it again and wilted into his chair. "Ah, right, yeah…nevermind."
He felt a little bad, it was a good guess and it was probably one he would have come up with before the meeting as well, or if the meeting didn't actually drop another massive hint that there was something amiss. His eyes wandered over to the silent figure who'd been staring off into the distance ever since they returned to the surface.
"What do you think, Gawyn? Any memories of your older self spring to mind?"
The Saber twitched, then glanced at him with an expression of guilt, he knew the answer before the blonde could even get a word out. With a light sigh, he offered them an understanding smile. "Don't worry about it, you don't seem to have any of your other memories of your grown up self either so it was just a blind stab in the dark. Though it does seem as though they have history with you…but the attacks started before we ever arrived in the first place."
"It certainly didn't help though." Romani remarked rather bluntly, scratching his chin and moving to take a sip. "There's no love lost between them and it looks like they're bearing a grudge against him. It's worth looking out in case they ever break out."
Ritsuka frowned and shot the doctor a look, he wasn't the only one as the man realised a second later as the dark glare of Boudica fell upon them like an avalanche, the Rider folded her arms and leaned towards the screen.
"That's not really the sort of thing that needs to be said aloud, is it?"
Romani flinched and opened his mouth-
"No…he is right." But was cut off by the Saber themselves, Gawyn glanced down towards the floor and almost looked ashamed. "I…their grudge against me - or my other self - puts you in danger. If they should somehow break their confinement, then I will lead them away to avoid putting you in danger. It would be the safest-wh-!?"
Boudica reached across and flicked the Saber right on the nose, shooting them a deadpan expression as she did so. "That's not a plan we're going to entertain. Even if you were all grown up and with your full memories, letting you walk off like a sacrificial lamb is hardly the sort of play I'd approve of." she turned to him and sent a pointed look his way. "Safer if we fight them together, should they come to collect this grudge, right?"
He nodded once, giving the Saber a confident grin. "Sure. No soul left behind and all that."
Gawyn looked startled for a moment, like he hadn't been expecting the answer, then frowned and opened his mouth to reply, or perhaps make an argument but it was ultimately one that he wasn't going to entertain.
"I'm not changing my stance on that." Their jaw snapped shut with an audible click. "And it's only a hypothetical right now. They seem to be under pretty tight guard at the moment and I don't think that Hanleth is going to cut them loose after all the trouble they went through. So for the time being, we'll set that discussion aside until it becomes prudent."
Gawyn remained silent, then gave a single nod and looked away once again.
"Good, though that brings us right back to the problem of the words." He muttered, frowning once again as he struggled to make sense of it. "They might be speaking metaphorically, given that they always say that the people are the heart of the city…then maybe we're supposed to look at all the Servants who are walking around here?"
It sounded like a stretch, but it was one that he could understand.
A thoughtful hum from Da Vinci. "I could see it. We've all but confirmed that there is something amiss here that we aren't seeing…and we've still had no contact with the Director after she went looking for her Servants. Were it not for the fact that we're still getting telemetry from her, I'd be a lot more worried." there was a brief pause, then the woman added on almost as an afterthought. "Also, Berserker has been keeping me informed with regular updates…he's also been telling me all about the odd things he's been seeing."
Despite the circumstances, Ritsuka felt a smile crawl upon his lips. "Don't tell me he found another food stand."
A smirk from Da Vinci. "Ice cream parlour."
This time, he snorted. "Seriously?"
"Yep." While popping the 'P' the smirk on her face grew even wider. "He's been hanging around there with Beatrice and Altera, though it would be more accurate to say he stumbled upon the two of them…or was it Altera dragging Beatrice along? Not sure in which order but they're all there now eating ice-cream sundaes."
Groaning from beside him, Boudica dragged a hand over her face. "Of all the things…he's got no attention span, has he?"
The genius raised her hands. "In fairness, it's not like he's ever been around something like this before. You try waving a shiny thing in the face of a child and see how long it takes them to remain focused on anything else."
When put like that, he supposed he couldn't argue with her, and from the sounds of things this entire place was uniquely suited for combatting him in a mental way. With what he was planning next, however, he supposed that it would be a good time to actually drop by that area and try and give them a visit.
"Well, for the time being it's probably best that we switch up the plan to get to the bottom of all of this and the best way is to probably play everything straight." The words hung in the air, confusion and intrigue stared right back at him, he opted to clarify that into a better way. "What I mean is that we're going to use the park for what it was designed for and see if anything jumps out at us."
This time the looks shifted into understanding, though mixed with newfound worry as well.
"Not that I'm against doing some information gathering." Gareth started in a slow tone of voice, resting her hands on her hips. "But doesn't that seem a little bit risky? Aren't we suspecting that there is something in this place that is a little bit wrong? Wouldn't that mean putting ourselves at risk by doing it?"
He nodded along with her answer. "Yeah, but if this is really a trap, then the problem is that we can't actually concretely see it…which means the best way to find out is to spring the trap." he explained, glancing around to see what manner of reaction his words had on the Servants.
Suffice to say, only some of them looked comfortable with his reasoning.
And that was only Medusa.
And he didn't know if that was comfort or apathy, it was hard to tell.
Everyone else looked at him a little bit worried.
"Is that really the best idea?" Boudica asked with a tilt of the head, "I know I suggested something like that earlier, but that was before we went through the whole vague warning from the demon below and found out that there was actually something instigating an attack here." she continued on, then thinned her lips and shrugged her shoulders. "But I can see the merit in it, though we'd need to be sure not to let our guard down too much."
He nodded his head. "That's precisely it. This place is supposed to be some nice peaceful resort but the fact of the matter is, something here is causing the Demons to attack and until we figure out what it is, then I'd rather not go around starting fights before I figure it out…" he trailed off, then frowned lightly. "Besides, we don't actually know where the Grail is in the first place. We're just assuming the Goddess has it because she's the manager but she might not."
"Gods are fickle." Was all Medusa said on the matter, her single comment done, she returned to silence and seemed content with just watching them speak without saying anything more.
"If you think it is best, Senpai…" Mash ventured, then gave a single shake of her head before offering a confident smile. "Rest assured, I will do my utmost to make sure that we aren't taken by surprise by whatever it is we're expecting to be surprised by!"
The smile started to deteriorate a little as she stared at him, her eyes glanced back the way they had come before she fidgeted on the spot. "Senpai…about what they said about being attacked without warning…do you think that…?"
"They're telling the truth?" He guessed, she hesitated for a moment and then nodded her head. "...Yeah. I'd say they certainly are telling the truth."
She frowned and looked down towards the ground. "That seems…"
"Not great, yeah." He exhaled, bringing a hand up and rubbing at his forehead for a moment. "I'm not going to deny what they're saying, there's a very good chance that people did take one look at the demons and then decide they were monsters and attacked them. They probably got scared and people can do really stupid things when they're like that."
Repeatedly having that happen to you because of how you looked would have really made them bitter about future relations. In that respect, he couldn't exactly find it in his heart to blame the Demon for being so hostile. Especially if they had been metaphorically burned before and even then, Ritsuka wasn't going to lie to himself.
If he had never seen evidence of intelligence in the demons, he would have just as easily assumed they weren't at human levels. Which felt bad saying it now but it was the truth he wasn't going to shy away from.
"Though what people have or have not done to them in the past doesn't matter to me right now." His declaration had Mash snap her head towards him with a blink. "I'm going to act on what I can see with my own two eyes. Now, the demon gave us some advice and I think we should look into it. Assuming they are a race like any other, we're not going to make the same mistakes as the people who encountered them in the past."
"I know what revenge for one's own fallen look like."
Boudica's voice caught his ears, the Riders' words were quiet yet their weight was undeniable. "There was that rage in their eyes, even if you couldn't see it…but there was something more as well. I believe that you are right, Master."
He turned to her as she folded her arms, a frown on her lips. "There is much more here going on than simple revenge."
"Then…what are we going to do?" Gareth asked with a tilt of the head. "If there is a motive behind the demon attack, but the Goddess hasn't done anything overtly hostile to us yet, even if we do need to end this Singularity at some point…we saw how the Demons attacked earlier. They didn't care if we were enemies or allies." A shrug of the shoulders from the Lancer. "They just assumed we were all together."
"Not that I hold that against them, we sort of are accomplices by not actually doing anything about this place at the moment…but I'm going to hold off on judging either party right now." He replied, cupping his chin.
"In the meantime, I take it you're going to have a look at all the readings and try and get a more concrete view of everything?" he directed the question towards the screen, Da Vinci nodding her head up and down as he spoke. "Especially if we're running with the metaphor theory of the heartbeat of the city actually being the population, because that would mean walking around is actually the best idea for us to meet everyone-"
For the second time that day, his words were cut off by something flying right into his face with a light smack.
This time, he didn't quite jump but his startle was enough to wake Fou up, the small animal leapt from his arms with a small noise and then - presumably - dropped down to the ground while he shot his hands up and clasped whatever had struck him in the face. His features flattened as he found himself staring at another paper note.
"...Seriously, again?"
He flipped it around and then read from it.
Some advice should be taken literally.
Dunce.
H.F.
"Polite one, aren't they?" Boudica grumbled the moment he finished reading the letter out, the redhead frowned and folded her arms, gesturing to the note. "While I might appreciate some assistance, the least they could do is offer it in a less insulting way. There's no need for it."
Ritsuka felt himself hum in agreement with her as he looked the note over once more, he'd asked some of the Casters he had passed and they had been rather forthcoming with their brief overview. The paper was nothing more than an ordinary paper without a trace of magical energy lingering upon it.
Though they couldn't track where it had come from either, which had alarmed Medea when they found her near what he could only describe as an art stand in the middle of painting something.
He didn't get the chance to ask her anything else.
Her threats were very colourful, though he figured that might have been a bit of embarrassment as well.
"Some advice should be taken literally…" Gawyn mumbled to themselves, bringing a hand up and coming to their chin thoughtfully, they made a small noise for a few seconds before snapping their fingers and looking up with an almost proud smile. "Do they mean to literally keep your ear to the ground?"
Ritsuka was the first to turn his head and stare.
One by one, the others joined in, all of them giving the boy the same unblinking, mask of an expression.
A light heat flushed across the cheeks of the Saber. "P-perhaps they mean the heartbeat?"
"Try sticking your head onto the ground, Progatonista!" He shot a look at the laughing Da Vinci, her humour simmered away until it faded into a light wheeze. "But a literal heartbeat? That would have some disturbing implications…not least of all because Romani managed to cotton onto an idea before me." she shot a teasing look at the man who was caught between looking pleased with himself and mortified with the fact she might be right.
The brunette woman frowned, moving a hand up to cup her chin and rub her fingers along it. Muttering under her breath and to herself. "But…perhaps they could be referring to the magical energy signature of the Singularity? Or it really does all relate to the Berserker in the end."
"We'll let you figure that out while we have a look around." He responded, getting a half-wave from the Caster as her focus was clearly elsewhere, Romani was a bit better as he offered them a small smile. "I'll bring us over to where the Director was last spotted and see what is going on there. We'll get back to you if we find anything. Take care."
"You as well, Fujimaru-kun."
With that, the communication came to an end for the time being, the screen flickered off and his arm came back down to his side.
"Well then…guess we're off to explore a theme park then." Even with the situation as bad as it was, he couldn't fight off the smile that was starting to emerge on his face, however else this ended up going, he was sure that there would be moments where he'd have fun with it.
As it turned out, finding a dragon-turned-human wasn't anywhere near as difficult as he thought it was going to be.
That being said, it turned out to be a lot more than he was expecting, especially as he stood at the outlier of a crowd with his arms by his sides and an eyebrow raised ever so slightly. Trying to make sense of whatever this was, as it turned out, was the most difficult part of this entire ordeal.
Which was truly saying a lot of things.
With a rather loud yelp, Berserker brought up the wooden staff - large foam red balls on either end of it - and blocked the downwards strike from the person opposite him. With a single roar, they shunted their attacker backwards and then brought the staff to bear, swinging it down with pure strength along and slamming it directly into the head of the person.
Naturally, when faced with the pure might of a Berserker, even the relatively harmless looking implement turned into a rather sturdy weapon and struck the person with force enough to send them flying off the narrow pillar they had been stood upon and careening down into the pit of plastic balls.
Ritsuka watched their descent, his other brow climbing up to join the first and making a small noise as he did so, then turned his attention to the announcer who was positively ecstatic as they cheered for the Berserker.
"And that is another victory for the currently undefeated Berserker." The announcer, who looked an awful lot like someone he had met before, though he couldn't quite place where he had seen them.
It caught up with him with a nod of the head, he had seen them during the whole thing with Rome. It was hard to place with the distance but he squinted just enough through the crowd to get a good look at them. Sure enough, he spotted Salaman the pyromancer in an announcement booth with an almost dopey grin on his face, leaning forwards and resting his arms on the counter.
"And that brings his total victories up to nine so far, but let's have a round of applause for his latest challenger, a good showing from them as well, right?"
As if on cue, a head burst out of the ballpit and looked around, stopping only when they caught sight of the hand of Berserker extended towards them, the Servant having dropped down to dangle from their own pillar.
They waited for only a moment, then clasped the limp and accepted the help, being dragged up with relative ease and deposited back onto their own pillar a moment later. Ritsuka knew he recognised the other one as well, that being the Knight King Rendal from the third Singularity, it had been some time and they looked to be in high spirits as well, engaging Berserker in a conversation for a moment before he jumped off the pillar and towards a small gap.
"And we're coming up on our next challenger right now, someone who has been rather insistent on behalf of his friend…which I think is very nice. I'm always happy to see such a tight support between allies and-" Salaman caught himself midway through, wincing for a moment and then scratching the side of their head. "Rambling again, sorry. Anyway…we have for our next challenger, someone who has certainly made a name for themselves and who I would never like to be on the opposite side of facing ever again…H-"
"Kick their ass Heracles!"
Someone shouted from the crowd, Ritsuka could have sworn that sounded just like Jason, but he could see neither head nor tail of the blonde no matter how hard he looked. Instead, he frowned after a moment and then the words registered in his mind.
A roar like a freight train and then a gust of wind like that of a storm, his hand came up to cover his face from the whirlwind of litter brought with it. When he lowered his arms, he saw the large Demi-God now standing opposite Berserker, an equally large foam spear clenched tightly in his hands as well, menacingly glaring down at the blonde Servant.
"Is this alright?" Boudica whispered behind him, a tinge of apprehension in her voice. "Because…well…"
"...I'm sure it will be fine." He whispered back to her, though he definitely understood where she was coming from. "This has been going on for a while and no one has died yet, I think so I'll say that everything will work out…but just in case."
"Both combatants ready? Well…off you go then."
It was a rather casual remark for what signalled a titanic clash.
With a roar from both Servants, they swung their weapons as hard as they could into the other and-
The sound of splintering wood filled the air.
Both Servants stared at the weapons they were holding, now missing the top half of them. Both blinked, looked at the other and then looked down towards the ground, the eyes of the crowd followed them and stared at the top layer of the ballpit, where a thin layer of sawdust now coated the area around the space between the two of them, along with the shredded foam remains of their weapons.
Bringing their heads up, they wordlessly flipped them around, holding them now like swords as opposed to spears and then swung at one another once again.
Once more, the shattering sound of wood filled the air.
The layer of sawdust at their feet got larger.
Small fragments of wood fell between the fingers of the pair, staring at their palms rather mutely and then towards the other, neither looked as though they had any clue what they were supposed to do at this point.
Wordlessly, they turned to the announcer.
"Uhhh…I…I didn't think this would happen…uhm…w-we could get some of the spares? That would probably-"
"Punch him in the face, Heracles!" A shout from the same direction as Jason's earlier remark, leaving no doubt it was the blonde once again.
Ritsuka widened his eyes, then opened his mouth to say something before a strong gust of wind slammed into him, he wobbled and staggered back from the force, blinking twice and then staring at Berserker leaning backwards, staring at the sky and the still smoking fist of Heracles hovering directly before their face from where they had just punched him.
Their arm slowly retreated back.
Berserker lowered their head, sniffed the air, then spat something out to the ground - it looked like a tooth - and then gave Heracles a blank stare.
Another sound like a cannon going off, Heracles' head snapped to the side and faced the crowd, Berserker pulling their arm back from where they had retaliated with a haymaker against the Servant, shaking their hand a couple of times.
A thoughtful look passed across the face of the Demi-God, their jaw rolled a couple of times and then they brought their palm up, spitting something into it and frowning rather heavily. Their thumb pushed at whatever was in their grasp, Ritsuka had an odd feeling he knew exactly what it was and, sure enough, Heracles brought it between his thumb and index finger, revealing the item to the world.
A tooth.
With a blink and a grunt, Heracles turned his attention to Berserker and made a low growling sound, Berserker stared right back and then frowned. "You started it."
Flicking the tooth from his hand, Heracles slowly clenched his hand into a fist once more, at the same time, Berserker brought up his own arms and assumed an amateur stance on the pillar.
Ritsuka pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh boy…"
A cloth dabbed over the cut, eliciting a faint grunt from the Berserker as they retreated away from the cloth, earning a flat look from the person trying to treat him. "Don't act like that, it's your own fault in the first place."
Berserker winced at the words of Boudica, turning their heterochromatic eyes downcast for a moment in what Ritsuka would have assumed was embarrassment, the light dusting of red on the cheeks of the Servant was further proof of that, it was somewhat amusing to see the taller figure acting much like some scolded child, but that was after he was getting himself free of the worry of their injuries.
"But he hit me first!"
That almost drew a laugh from him, stifling a chuckle at the very last moment and bringing a hand up to cover his mouth as he did so.
Boudica rolled her eyes at him and drew the cloth back. "Yes, but aren't you the one who went up on that pole and started fighting every single Servant who went up to challenge you in the first place?" her argument was met with silence, Berserker wilted back into their chair and kept silent. "But you're quite right, the blame isn't yours alone…but did you really have to keep throwing punches at one another? You had to see that it was going to end badly."
With a pout, Berserker folded his arms over his chest and let out a small huff. "I was getting into it…besides, it looked fun at the time and the humans who were doing it seemed to be speaking highly of it…and I wanted to have a chance to compete with everyone fairly…"
Ritsuka offered a faint smile, lowering his hand from his face as he did so. "We caught the tail end of it before the whole mess with Heracles. You looked as though you were having fun as well…offering a hand to the fallen Servants too? That was good." he nodded his head approvingly at them.
"Yep!" Gareth praised as she leaned forwards, stepping away from the barrier and bringing the attention of the Berserker onto her. "It's always good to be courteous to your opponents whatever sport you find yourself in! Especially when it comes to clashes of skill such as these." she jutted a thumb at herself. "Like with jousting! It's just being chivalrous and respectful. So good work!"
The red on the cheeks of the Berserker got much brighter after that, though it was more to do with the praise than anything else, the smile that was forming on their face at it all seemed to be rather innocent, if a little abashed. "W-well…It just seemed strange to not respect them after all that. We met and fought fair and square, why wouldn't I acknowledge it, even if they did lose?"
"Exactly! It doesn't make sense any other way, does it?" Gareth raised a brow, frowning and shaking her head. "Honestly. The idea that some people don't act like that really ruffles my feathers."
His eyes drifted away from the pair, then he blinked twice and leaned forwards, moving around them and clasping his hands on the railing. "Hey…wait a second…isn't that-?"
"Sir Gawain?"
Gawyn felt himself blink twice at the address, loosening his stance as he faced the opponent before him, though they were more or less the same height, there was something about her that made her seem just a touch older. Perhaps only by a couple of years, but regardless, it was a minor thing.
A frown creased his brows. "No, I am Gawyn…I'm not a Sir either, I'm not actually a knight…" he admitted slowly, the look of bewilderment slowly faded from his opponent as they made a face of understanding, nodding their head up and down while looking a little apologetic.
"I see, you have my sincere apologies." She offered with a bright smile, then straightened herself out. "I'll introduce myself as well! Artoria Pendragon…or Artoria Lily? Yes, Lily!"
His brows pinched tighter. "Where does the Lily part come from?"
The girl in the white dress with polished steel armour raised a hand, then paused, lowered the arm, before she finally offered a small and rather confused shrug of the shoulders. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest with you…I'm actually rather new to this myself, I wasn't expecting to be summoned but I figured that it was the best chance to make the most of this!"
Bringing up the faux sword in her hands, a determined look crossed her features. "Which is why I shall give my all to this competition, as it will only improve my skill."
Something about her words resonated within him.
A ghost of a smile fell upon him, bringing up his own foam sword as well. "Yes, every opportunity is a chance to improve your skills. That is how it should be."
Lily seemed to approve of his words, the smile on her face got wider for a moment before it was replaced with a glint in her eyes, one that he knew the meaning of instantly. He was all but certain that he was staring at her with the exact same expression, while they wanted to improve their own skills, there was something else that burned within the two of them.
The desire to claim victory.
For the sake of proving to Master Ritsuka that he could do it.
"Are you ready, Lily?"
"Are you ready, Gawyn?" She shot back with a challenging look in her eyes as she tensed.
His footing adjusted itself, he gripped the foam blade tight with both hands and drew it back, preparing himself for either a counter or an attack. Something that he quickly saw replicated in the movements of Lliy.
He swung forwards-
"Kick his ass, father!"
A shout from the crowd caused them both to flounder, the eyes of Lily widened a touch and her head snapped away from him, it caused her to completely sidestep his strike and he similarly found his footing slipping as he swung right past the face of the girl without even touching them.
"Sir Mordred!?"
"Oh shit, father heard me Percival!"
Gawyn found himself blinking as he righted himself, arms flailing by his side as he stomped down hard on the pillar and catching himself, then jolting upwards and looking off in the direction the shout of encouragement had come from. Though he was rather bewildered as to the contents of the message itself.
His brows furrowed as he stared down at a pair of armoured figures in the sea of faces, a taller one clad in pristine white and a much shorter one with silver base coupled with red accents, a horned helm slammed atop their head and with a fist punched towards the air.
Slowly but surely, his eyes returned to Lily.
She similarly turned back to him.
"...Father?" He voiced back, hoping his confusion got across.
Lily offered a wry chuckle with a rather strained expression, bringing a free hand up and scratching at the side of her neck. "It's a…long story and not really…uhm…" a grimace and a turn of the head told him all he needed to know about it.
"I see."
They stood in silence for a moment, then he shrugged and swung at her head.
She countered with a parry and then a slash, before long they were trading blows with the other in a rather routine fashion, though he noticed that she had the edge when it came to combat, as was proven when she caught him in the shoulder with a thrust and nearly forced him off his perch.
He stumbled, throwing his weight forwards as he did so and ducking down, thrusting his sword for her feet. She brought up her foot and spun around, the dress fluttered outwards and briefly gave her the image of-
"Oh, so that's where the Lily comes from."
The spin ended and she chopped down onto the top of his head, he frowned and brought himself back up.
He hadn't landed a single blow yet, it wasn't that he was upset or anything but…after all the training he had been through, he would have assumed he'd have more to show for it. Especially after all the faith the Queen and Sir Llew had put into him, all the times he'd bested his brother.
With a shake of the head, he dismissed the thoughts and brought the foam blade back up, narrowing his eyes as he did so.
Lily met him with a stern look of her own. "You're definitely tough like Gawain, I can see that clear as day…I should have knocked you down plenty of times by now, yet you're still standing strong." her lip twitched for a moment, almost a smile but not quite. "...You're sturdy."
"Naturally." He offered back with narrowed eyes. "If I could be knocked down so easily, then I would not make for a good fighter…It is all about keeping yourself going regardless of how badly you are injured."
"I suppose I can understand that!"
She attacked, swinging down and catching his guard, he brought his sword up and blocked her with the foam blade, then shoved backwards and drew it across, sweeping his arm out and sending her into a spin.
His arm drew back and he thrust for her torso-
Her spin completed, transitioning into a sweeping attack like his own and sent his aim off, glancing just by the torso of the girl. He sharply drew his sword back and swung high, sending her own aim over his shoulder instead of into his face.
There wasn't a lot of room to move about here.
He thrust back, catching her in the wrist and forcing her arm back, a faint gasp escaped her as she wavered around on her podium, swinging back and forth.
A chance.
Drawing the foam sword across, he swung it out and across, aimed for the side of her body.
Lily's eyes narrowed as she tracked the attack, then he watched her press down onto her foot and push upwards. His sword sailed right beneath her as she flipped backwards through the air.
His eyes shot wide as he stared at her, dumbfounded by the sudden action, his attack all but forgotten as he watched her twist through the sky and then drop back down onto the podium right before him.
A shout escaped her, the sword was clenched with both hands and thrust itself forwards, the flat tip slammed right into the bridge of his nose and snapped his head back, a small noise of alarm escaped him as he fell backwards, stomping his feet down as one went skywards.
Balanced awkwardly on a single foot with his body teetering over the edge, he waved his arms around at his side in a motion that was nothing more than desperate flailing. By luck or the grace of the Goddess herself, he managed to right himself just in time to block the followup slash.
He shoved backwards as hard as he could, pushing the blade from him but no further, locking swords with Lily with neither one of them proving to be the stronger of the two. Their eyes bore into their opponent, neither one making an effort to back down.
So he resorted to the techniques taught to him by Sir Llew.
His other hand moved up, grasping the top of his sword and then dragging it across the length of his opponents, the hilt of the foam weapon snagged on the blade and carried it away with it, drawing it out of position.
His hand, positioned at the top of the weapon, clamped down tight as he pulled his other away from the hilt.
Now holding the sword by the tip, he swung wide and threw the aim of Lily's weapon far to the side, too far for her to be able to make it in time to counter his next move. He thrust the hilt of the sword forwards, past the ankle of the young knight, and then twisted it to the side and yanked backwards.
The hilt of the foam blade caught on her heel, the eyes of Lily widened before her head was pointed towards the sky, sweeping her feet out from beneath her with a small gasp escaping her.
Falling backwards, the girl landed on her back and then rolled off the edge, unable to catch herself in time before she plummeted into the ballpit.
Gawyn kept himself still for a moment.
He stared down at Lily as she fell into the multicoloured pit with a small grunt, then his eyes darted away from her and towards the crowd of faces.
It was a single noise that drew his focus.
The sound of clapping.
Master Ritsuka stared back at him, a proud grin on his face stretching from ear to ear as he brought his hands together, the only one who did so. Then, slowly but surely, others started to take after him.
He was left utterly dumbfounded at the sight of it all, dozens of faces of varying different builds and origins clapping their hands together.
They were…celebrating his victory?
He had…done a good job?
Something warm bubbled up inside his chest as he stared at that proud smile on the face of Master Ritsuka.
His own expression started to shift, something that he found himself unable to stop, soon he could feel it form. The same face that matched that of Master Ritsuka.
He knew what it was.
He was smiling.
As soon as he was close enough, Master Ritsuka brought up a hand and then dropped it right down on top of his head. He remained frozen at the sudden movement, more so when Master Ritsuka started to chuckle and ruffle the hand across the top of his head in much the same way he recalled someone treating a dog.
It should have been an insult and yet…
It only lasted for a split second, the eyes of Master Ritsuka widened and then hand was pulled right off him as though it had been set alight. Something that made him feel a bit emptier than before, initial concern that perhaps his head had done something to hurt them, but it looked more as though Master Ritsuka was concerned.
"Ah, sorry about that." They pulled the hand down into a fist, bringing it before their mouth and then coughing into it, avoiding the effort to meet his eyes. "Got a little ahead of myself there…but that was a good show, Gawyn."
The smile remained, however, on the face of Master Ritsuka. "Looked a little close there for a moment, but you went up and fought…was that King Arthur? Because it looked like King Arthur?"
A question directed towards Sir Gareth, they remained silent, still staring off into the distance where Lily had wandered off to, then their head turned towards them and nodded up and down, an expression of surprise upon their face. "Yeah, that was definitely my King, but I've never seen them like that before. Maybe it was something? But…I've just never seen them smile, so I was a little surprised!"
A King?
He fought a King!?
"S-should I apologise for beating them or-"
"Huh? Why would you do that?" Gareth looked rather dumbfounded by his sudden remark, as though he'd said something utterly bewildering. "You fought and won, fair and square as well. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the King went up there in a different set of armour to hide their face. That was what they did last time they lost in a jousting competition."
A feeling of his brows pinching together as he comprehended the words of the Lancer. "...Was that allowed?"
"...I don't think I ever asked."
"Dubious approaches to sports aside." Master Ritsuka spoke up, all while sending a somewhat curious look in the direction of the Lancer, their eyes settled upon him and the smile softened just a little. "That's definitely something, looked as though you had some fun while you were up there."
Fun?
He blinked, then frowned.
Was that what that warm feeling in his chest had been?
"I…I got distracted, it seems, and was-"
"Which I'm glad about, given the way both you and Arthur up there were smiling during the whole thing." Master Ritsuka continued on, he doubted they'd even realised he was in the middle of speaking. But their words gave him further pause, his eyes shot wide as he registered the sentence.
He had been smiling?
"I…I didn't realise I was…" Trailing off, he rolled his lips inwards and looked away for a moment. Slowly clenching his hands into fists. "It was a…they were a skilled opponent and I learned a lot from that fight, I will be sure to use that knowledge next time."
Yes, that was what it was about.
He was just pleased that he would benefit from the experience.
That was all it was.
"You mean you want to have another go on the podium?" He jolted at the words, snapping his eyes back towards Ritsuka as his dark haired lord rubbed at their chin, a thoughtful look on their face, a hum escaped their throat before shrugging their shoulders. "Well, we still need to swing by the water park area first to see if we can spot the Director, but I don't see why we can't come back around here if you want to go again."
"T-that wasn't what I meant-!" Stepping forwards, he brought up a hand to try and correct himself, then saw the flash of confusion on the face of Master Ritsuka, he internally grimaced as he tried to elaborate. "That is to say, I would not be against doing this again for training, but I-I mean I learned something valuable and…"
The blank stare of his lord continued.
He might have been making a fool of himself.
"...I mean, I would be satisfied if we returned here for further bouts."
"Alright then." The speed at which they agreed was rather surprising, it had been something of a selfish request on his part, but clearly Master Ritsuka similarly saw the value of it. That was fortunate. "Again, sorry about the whole…" they brought their hand up and gestured to the top of their head.
He frowned. "No…you don't need to apologise for that, I…I wasn't troubled by it."
"If you're sure but you don't need to force yourself to-"
"It's fine, really!" He clammed up after his outburst, bringing his helmet back around quickly and slamming it shut over the top of his head, hoping that it had been fast enough to hide the shameful expression on his face. A swift glance revealed that he had not been as swift as he had hoped.
Boudica was looking at him with an almost teasing smile, her hands placed on her hips with a single eyebrow cocked.
His face felt hot, he averted his eyes away from her. "Y-you may offer your compliments in whatever form you like."
There was a short silence, then a sound like someone stifling a chuckle drew his attention to Master Ritsuka, who was very pointedly no longer looking in his direction, speaking with a slight waver in their voice as though trying to fight back a surge of emotion. "R-right, I'll-snrk-be sure to do that."
Gawyn hoped he hadn't made a fool of himself.
He wasn't sure what he was supposed to have been expecting when he was granted directions towards the large glass dome and told that it was where the swimming area was, though the very last thing he had been expecting was to walk inside and immediately find himself staring at a rather large pool with a galleon floating in the centre of it.
His eyes remained fixed on the ship as it floated past, sails up and just parked in the centre, roaming the deck with his gaze he was able to spot a couple of familiar faces from past encounters but they looked rather cordial with one another.
"Ahoy, landlubbers!"
The shout drew his eyes to a figure waving at them from the deck of the ship, right towards the bow.
Ritsuka thinned his lips and slowly turned his head away.
Perhaps if they ignored him, then he wouldn't notice them.
"Oi! I know you heard me, you looked right at me!"
He couldn't spot the Director, so maybe she was hidden away by the other end of the water resort area, from the looks of things there were a few slides and what looked like a second cartoned off for surfing as well.
"Sammy! They're bullying me!"
"..."
He leaned his head back, bringing up his hand and pointing in the direction of the surfing spot. "Hey, isn't that the…uhm…Lothian, right?"
That was only his guess because of the blue wyvern crouched by the side of the little water sport and staring blankly towards the armoured man who seemed to be wavering from side to side, a rather awkward balance all things considered.
Squinting harder, he could see a purple haired woman standing by the dragon and what looked like some sort of bearded lion turtle.
"Mashie! You wouldn't ignore me, right? You can't ignore this face, can you?"
"Senpai, it is my solemn duty to report to you that I seem to be experiencing some manner of auditory hallucination." Mash spoke in the most toneless voice he had ever heard from the girl, he turned around and found himself staring at an utterly deadpan expression. "I appear to be hearing some manner of voice, but cannot place where it is. Perhaps we should move on from this place?"
He fought back a snort, barely, and closed his eyes.
"Me too, Mash. Me too."
Sure enough, the voice returned.
"What the hell guys!? I thought we were pals! Comrades in arms!"
He moved his hand up, scratching the underside of his chin as he opened his eyes back up, taking in the blank expressions of everyone in front of him. Except for Gareth, who looked a little bit confused. Giving them all baffled looks before slowly bringing up her arm to point in the direction of the voice.
"I think it's that Servant over there who is-"
Boudica placed a hand on the raised arm of the Lancer, then gently pushed it down while speaking in an almost indulgent tone. "Don't be silly, Gareth, there's nothing over there…unless they've gotten to you as well."
That only served to make Gareth look flabbergasted beyond words.
"But-"
"You guys are seriously rude."
Ritsuka jumped and snapped his head to the voice, which was now much closer than it had been mere seconds ago. The cause was identified instantly, Edward Teach poking his head through a black hole cut out in space itself, a ring of white light surrounding it.
The face of the man was rather blank as he leaned through a little more, just enough to bring his arms through and then cross them, a pout formed on his face. "Hell, I even did you guys a favour in trying to stop that guy from stealing away Euryale-chan! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
With the surprise gone, Ritsuka let out a sigh and dropped his shoulder. "Alright, fine. Yes…did you need something, Blackbeard?"
"I was just saying hello to you." The pirate grumbled as he stepped through the portal, soon snapping shut after he crossed through, the tall man looked them all over and then frowned disapprovingly. "Hey, what's up with all of you? Turning up to a waterpark and not a single swimsuit in sight? Well…I guess that maybe counts?"
He waved a hand in the direction of Boudica, the red head snapped her eyes down to her attire and then shot back up, a scowl formed on her face quickly, her eyes closed and her brow twitched several times. "Excuse me?"
Teach remained stone faced, then looked positively stupefied. "Wait, seriously? You mean no one has actually brought that up yet? Then again, I guess you'd be a Celt so it's not as bad as the Saint over there." he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, Ritsuka followed it towards the purple haired woman whose head snapped up and shot over to look at them.
He stared at her attire, then slowly brought his head back to the Pirate.
"...Saint?"
A slow nod of the head from Blackbeard. "Yep. Cross my heart and everything."
Bringing a hand up, he scratched at his forehead and sighed. "Right, okay, not what we came here for. I don't suppose you've seen a white haired woman…well, it would be a couple white haired women and one blonde?"
A frown, Blackbeard brought a hand up and then tapped away on his chin. "Hmmmm…Oh yeah, those guys." then he smiled rather widely, a light giggle came next which had Ritsuka lean back a little from him. "Real stunners they are, formed a idol group-"
Ritsuka could swear he heard the sound reality shattering like glass around him.
"-and called themselves the 'Swimsuit Swashbucklers' because they got Anne and Mary joining in and some lady with a teddy bear."
With a dopey grin, the man continued on. "...Even though they banned me from watching, I still catch some sneak peaks at them from a distance. Telescope and the mast of the Queen Anne's revenge are good for something, you get me?"
No.
No he didn't.
In fact, he was certain that the man was utterly mistaken.
"I think we're talking about someone else-"
"Yeah, Starfall, Glass Petal, Red Rose." Teach continued onwards, the names bounced in his head along with the impossibility of what he was saying. "Mistress Moonlight and the booty bounty hunters."
He breathed in wrong, that was the only reason he now found himself choking on nothing but thin air.
There was no way.
There was no damn way!
"W-w-where-...?"
"That a-way!" The man pointed while sporting a wide grin, "Trust me, I understand the allure as well, from what I've soon…oooh, my…"
His brain wasn't working.
This had to be a mistake.
This surely had to be something like a mistake.
…But what was he going to do if it wasn't?
"S-Senpai…m-maybe he's talking about someone else?" Mash spoke up, sounding as unsure as he felt but trying to pump some confidence into her words.
"Y-yeah…if the Director is involved, it might be as a manager or something?"
He knew how strained his expression was, he could feel it on his face.
He knew there was no reason she would even be the manager of an idol group in the first place.
"Uhm…what is an idol group?"
Blackbeard whipped around with such speeds that it was like he teleported, instantly brushing past him and crouching down in front of Gawyn. Then flipping the front of their helmet up to expose their face, making a noise of understanding. "Ah, young blood, are you? Not to worry kid, just call me your Senpai in this sort of thing. I'll let you know-"
"Absolutely not!" Mash shouted out with a rather strong degree of force. "I forbid you from calling yourself Senpai!"
"...Meh." A shrug, then the man clapped Gawyn on the shoulder and stood up, turning around and pointing straight ahead, all while grinning wide. "Come, my young padawan, we shall now induct you into the ways…of the Idol! Sammy, get the portal ready!"
…This was utterly insane.
Not-yet-summer resort: Interlude II
It was a rather peaceful time of it.
Or rather, that was how he envisaged it being.
Sure, they were near a park, but this little section had been cordoned off and converted into a small little nature resort with green grass and a thin stream moving down the middle. He wasn't sure how or why it existed but he was certainly going to make use of it.
Just him all by his lonesome catching some fish by the small little stream with only the distant sounds of enjoyment for company.
Yet, as Cu cast a side-eyed glance at his peers in this situation, he found himself more than a little annoyed. Namely because of the appearance of one individual in particular, the type who followed him around as though they were a living curse.
A certain white haired bastard who dressed in red.
"Ho? It appears as though I have a bite already."
Cu felt his nerves tick for a split second at the remark which was an obvious taunt against him, but he kept his temper in check and merely shot back in a thin voice. "It ain't about who has the first bite, it's about whether you can reel your prize i-"
"Hm?"
A splash of water cut him short, coupled with the questioning hum of the Archer Servant.
Cu turned his head like a poorly oiled machine to the direction of the asshole and stared, eyes flickering between the healthy sized trout in their grasp and then towards the expression on the man. A look that he immediately wished he had the capability of punching clean off their face.
Heck, he would settle for just punching their head off entirely.
The Red Archer all but waved their prize in his face before dropping it down into the bucket and casting their line off the moment they attached some fresh bait onto it.
Cu spared a glance to his own bucket and kept his expression even. It wasn't as though he hadn't caught anything, it was merely that his own gains weren't nearly as good as he was hoping for. But that wasn't to say he was disheartened, anything worth catching wouldn't just throw itself onto his line so easily.
That was the excuse he was running with.
"I don't see the need for showing off your prize. Anyone can get lucky when it comes to a catch."
Cu took in a short breath and turned his head further up the stream to the others who had joined them as well, forming some manner of line where nearly half a dozen Servants had congregated at this point and all had their lines cast out across the stream with a few more further up near the point where it turned into a lake.
The speaker, Rendal, reeled their own line back a little.
"But then again, a healthy dose of competition never hurt anyone…I've heard there might be some salmon further into the lake which might come out."
Cu raised a brow. "Salmon? Seriously?"
Rendal nodded their head up and down. "Only a rumour though, you would need to ask him for more information."
Cu turned his head to the direction they had indicated, spotting a man with lime green hair and a rather simple looking outfit with their own line cast over the stream. Standing on the opposite side, the man turned their head briefly towards him and nodded once before they focused back on their fishing.
"Oi. What's this I hear about salmon?"
The man perked up once again. "Oh, yes. I had a brief encounter with one before you all arrived. Saw it swim right past me and towards the lake. I figured they will eventually come right back. In which case…I will be ready for them."
With a snort, the Lancer cracked a wry smile at the man. "I think I'll be the one to claim that prize there, pal."
"Oh? Is that a challenge then?" Rather than appear insulted, the man offered only a polite smile. "Far be it from me to dissuade such a friendly wager. I see no problems with such a thing, and instead promise that when I catch the salmon, I will endeavour to split some of it with you."
Cu opened his mouth to speak again, then paused.
They all turned their heads further downstream towards the joining of the stream and the lake, watching as a man waved a hand over the top of it.
Cu blinked hard. "Oi, oi, oi! Are you casting runes over the damn water!?"
His Caster self turned around to face them, then waved a hand. "Just making the fish more lively is all. Giving them a reason to come further up."
"Incredible." Archer remarked with a slightly upturned lip. "A wise tactic, throw enough fish into the line of fire and you're bound to catch one or two. Not something I would have expected from you but…"
"Shut up." Cu growled at them, then glared at his Caster self and opened his mouth to tell them to leave the damn fish alone.
Water splashed onto him.
"What the shi-!?"
He whipped around and bit out a curse, only to pause as he stared at the sight in front of him.
Standing in the middle of the stream was the damn wolf and tightly clenched between its teeth - still wriggling in an effort to escape - was a rather healthy sized salmon. No doubt the one that the other guy had talked about earlier.
Cu flattened his features as he watched the wolf snap its jaws a few more times and upturn its head, swallowing the entire thing on one go before smacking their lips and plodding out of the stream, shaking themselves dry and catching all of them in the splash radius before they walked off without even looking at any of them.
"Well, that wasn't what I expected to happen." His eyes turned back to the man with lime green hair, now scratching the underside of their chin. "But I suppose I can allow them that. All according to plan, granting the wolf a sacrifice to leave the flock alone is the duty of a shepherd, after all."
Rendal made an incredulous noise, clearly seeing through the bull the man was trying to spew.
"You cannot claim to have planned that. You looked just as surprised as any of us."
"I was not surprised." The man defended with an easy-going smile. "I was merely shocked at how eager the wolf was to accept my generosity. Clearly it had been some time since it was shown such kindness and it did not wish to dally."
"...David, you were robbed by a wolf. There is no shame in admitting it."
"I am a shepherd of all animals."
"Your excuses keep changing."
"They are reasons, not excuses."
"David…"
Cu flatly stared at the stream once more.
Yeah.
Paradise.