Chapter 5 - Trifas Section 2
"I'm Serena Mirai, and this is Alice Narukami. We are from Chaldea."
"We know you are from Chaldea. That is why we came to give you aid. Are there any more of you close by?", Jeanne asks while pointing at us.
"Oh, yeah there are. Want us to take you to them?"
"No need, Serena. I've already called them over.", Alice says as she looks up from her wristband. "They will be here shortly."
Sieg walks forward. "Even better, then. We can explain what's happening to everyone."
We hear footsteps fast approaching from behind and the remainder of Chaldea join us.
"You two! Of course, you get attacked!"
"Sorry, Director.", I scratch my head and avert my eyes.
"I'm just glad you're safe. Now then, who are these two?"
We catch them up on all that's happened so far…
"Attacked by a woman with a lot of cat body features, huh?", Ritsuka touches his chin. "I suppose those are Servants for you."
"That woman was Atalanta, the Archer of Red Faction, a former adversary of ours. Amakusa Shirou must have sent her here to scout for you."
"Amakusa Shirou?", Mash asks.
"Amakusa is the Servant that brought this Singularity forth to begin with, the one we have to defeat. He is also a former enemy of ours. I defeated him before in our war, but he's come back to enact his plan once more.", Sieg informs us.
"Back in your war? What do you mean by that?", The Director questions.
"When I was previously summoned, I fought in a Holy Grail War as a Ruler. A class meant to oversee Grail Wars, and subdue Servants of the seven main classes. During that war, things happened, and well, let's just say Amakusa and I do not see eye to eye. Sieg was a participant in the war too and we met fairly early on and traveled together for a while."
"Oh. So you are of the Ruler Class, and Sieg is..?", Mash tilts her head.
"I'm not a Servant actually. I am a homunculus, an artificial human. As Ruler said, we met during the Great Holy Grail War. With help, I escaped the ones who made me and met up with her. After that we stayed together until the end of the war, and past that."
"Then, how are you here if you're not a Servant?"
"What you're seeing now isn't my real body, it's a near exact copy of it that I created using magic from the True Greater Grail; a Terminal. I helped Jeanne create a Terminal for herself too, and we're using these to aid you. Our true bodies are in a place you can't reach, the Reverse Side of The World."
"The Reverse Side of the World? What's that?", Ritsuka asks the pair.
The Director explains the next part. "It's essentially a place inside of the Earth." She points her finger to the ground. "It's almost like another dimension but not quite. The mana down there is way too dense for normal humans to go there."
Alice nods her head. "There's an opening to it under the Clock Tower, but it was never finished so no one can go there even if they would survive."
"Yeah, that's just about how one could explain what happens there. It's where the ancient magic creatures of this world migrated to. Chaldea, what do you exactly need to do here?", Sieg asks us.
Olga Marie walks forward. "Destroy the origin point, retrieve the Grail for Chaldea, or destroy the Grail and cut away the energy to the Singularity. But we probably need to do both to solve the issue."
"You need a Holy Grail, huh? Like this one?", Sieg taunts us, manifesting a certain golden cup into his hand.
And just like that, all of us besides the two Servants are stunned in disbelief.
Nick side-eyes our group and the two newcomers. "So, are you our enemies here or not?" Shouldn't be too hard to kill them both if needed. He thinks to himself. He walks past all of us, his footsteps on the stone road echo as he moves. "We can get this done in less than a day then.", he says with an overconfident smile.
Sieg gets a surprised look on his face and moves to protect the Ruler Servant, with his left hand making contact with his sword's hilt. But Jeanne runs ahead of him and holds out her hand telling him to stop. "You misunderstand. We are not the enemies here! We stole the Grail from Amakusa Shirou a few days ago. That is how we have it. If we were the enemies, you would be dead where you stand."
"They're right. My Mystic Eyes would have warned me if I died in the next 30 minutes, so we are at no risk right now."
Nick looks back at all of us, then steps back and walks off toward the hotel. "If there's nothing to fight then I'll sit the rest of this out then."
"You're just leaving!?", Olga nearly yells.
"Oh?", he smirked. "You want me around that badly, Olga?"
"Call me 'Director,' not Olga. And fine, you can leave.", she huffs and looks back at the two guests. "Sorry about him, I'm not sure what his deal is, he seems to just like to fight a lot. I'll reprimand him later."
Sieg looks to the ground. "No, I can understand his view. We should've chosen our words more carefully and explained first. I'll keep the Grail on me so no one can easily steal it."
The Holy Grail vanishes and Sieg returns his arm to his side.
The Director begins to talk again. "So how did this Singularity come to be? Do you know?"
"Yes.", Sieg says. "A Holy Grail appeared here and it connected to the land. It then summoned Amakusa Shirou who must've still held a grudge against me and Ruler, for foiling his plans. After that, he took the Grail and summoned his allies in the event Chaldea attacked. It's strange though. Nothing in this place at this time is significant enough to be a Singularity…"
"How did he know who we are?", Alice asks.
"From what I can guess, The Holy Grail told him. It can fill Servants in with information anyway, so it must've done just that with you."
"So…", Alice looks around. "Where is this Amakusa Shirou now?"
A few minutes earlier…
"Welcome back, Archer. How did things go?", a white-haired swordsman asks Atalanta.
"The humans from Chaldea have arrived here, but worse than that, so have our two 'heroes'. Ruler dares to deny me my wish once again…"
The swordsman turns to the side and looks over the balcony and into the vast distance. "Did Chaldea's forces look strong to you?"
Atalanta shakes her head. "Of the two I fought, neither were Masters. The woman with purplish brown hair seems much more skilled than many humans of this age in non-magical combat, and the silver-haired woman is not strong at all. I'm sure even Caster could beat her. I was unable to confirm if there are more, but I assume they have at least one more acting as the Master."
Amakusa nods his head. "Thank you, Archer. Your excursion was of extreme value. I will form a plan to get the Grail back, until then wait on standby."
"Yes, Shirou." Atalanta nods her head and vanishes into Spirit Form.
"Assassin, how far are the Hanging Gardens from Trifas?"
The beautiful woman once known as Assassin of Red Faction appears behind Shirou. "About 16 kilometers away, Dear. They should not be able to see us with the cloud cover, along with my magecraft."
Amakusa turns around to face her. "Semiramis, we will attack Chaldea tomorrow, and give this a swift end. Those two bastards never know better than to not get in the way of my miracles, and this time they will pay for their transgressions."
Semiramis smiles at the proposition. "Of course, Shirou. We will be using the Hanging Gardens to reach them, won't we?"
Amakusa shakes his head. "No, I will head into the town myself and bring a Servant as my bodyguard. You can come too, if you want."
She approaches Amakusa and kisses his cheek. "You don't have to be wary, no kiss meant for you will ever be poisonous. Also, if I don't have anything to do in my fortress, yes I would love to join you.~"
I will make sure your mission is a failure, Chaldea. Will you be able to change that future?
Our group went out to get breakfast at 8:00 AM. After last night we said we'd meet up and discuss what we should do next with the two newcomers, so here we are to do just that.
"I shouldn't sit with them, it's too big of an age gap.", Olga quietly says to herself as she watches all of us sit down at a metal table outside.
"That's quite rude of you, Olga. By the way, I'm sitting with you for the same reason. Aren't they all 18, though?", Nick says as he pulls out a metal chair from the table she is about to sit at.
Olga looks toward our group. "Mash is 17 years old, Ritsuka Fujimaru is 19, and Alice and Serena are 18. Also, it's 'Director.'"
Nick looks toward Olga and gestures with his hand. "How old are you then, Olga?"
"22 years old. Also, you shouldn't ask a woman her age.", she responds.
Nick gets an annoyed look on his face. "That's stupid. It's information people need to know after all. Anyway, I'm 24 years old."
"You have two years on me, huh? Stronger than me and older.", Olga sighs with a heavy breath. "Why don't you just take over? You seem much more capable except for your personality."
Nick tilts his head in confusion. "Do you not like being the Director?"
She shakes her head. "I'm just not ready for it at all. I suppose you wouldn't know this, but my father passed away suddenly a while ago and I took over Chaldea in his place."
Her head then drops a bit. "He could've chosen much better, especially since he didn't care about me very much. He gave the family's Magic Crest to Kirschtaria Wodime after all, he was on Team A. He was my father's favorite and would've made a much better director, but as his daughter it passed onto me."
She places her head into her arms. "I'm not good at this one bit. 44 people almost died because of my failure. I should've noticed Lev acting strange."
Nick looks around the town, then back at her. "Unfortunately for you, I'm not gonna take over Chaldea. It's your job, so you have to get better at it. By the way, I don't think you're a failure, you're just doing what you can under the circumstances.
Her face rises and has a shocked look on it. "That's surprising coming from you. You're actually being encouraging and nice?"
You think so, huh? He briefly thinks to himself.
"Can I ask you something?", Olga asks the white-haired man.
"What is it?"
"Why are you so standoffish? You normally stay in your room all day and I don't see you doing much ever. I've seen Alice and Serena eating together, and Mash and Ritsuka training with each other, but never you. What's up with that?"
Nick averts his eyes and looks down at the table. "I don't hate it here, but I feel out of place I guess. I was born into a powerful family and am very strong because of it. Their magecraft doesn't compare to mine, so I don't want them to feel weaker compared to me, so I stay clear."
Olga's face dropped, not believing what she heard. "Are you trying to be a dick, or are you serious?"
"Probably both honestly.", Nick smiles.
"You can say something like that with a straight face, huh? Well, most magi are selfish jerks anyway, so of course someone here would be that way too. Knock this behavior off or they might end up hating you.", she says while gesturing to us.
"I'll give that some thought."
Olga then remembers something and looks into Nick's red eyes with a serious look. "Are you perhaps related to that Ketsueki family?"
"Yeah, I am."
Her head hangs after hearing that. "Ten years ago, the entire family was killed, right? How are you still here if you don't mind me asking?"
The air stands still for a moment. The wind stops and the chatter around them seems to pause. "On that day, I did badly in school. I think I scored badly on a test. Well, not bad, but not to their standards. And because of this, I was kicked out of the house for the night."
"Jeez, just for not getting a score they liked?"
"Yeah. It was winter too, so it was freezing out. I had no protection so I ran to seek shelter at a nearby church.", Nick then gets a pained look on his face. "When I came back the morning after, the police were swarming the place. Everyone in the house had been murdered overnight. It was like a monster killed them. Claw marks, high magecraft residue when the association checked things out, blood on every surface too."
Olga takes a quick sip of her drink. "I was twelve at the time, but it was big news for the magi world. A powerful family all killed overnight easily."
"It was a magecraft user who did it, and the motive could be anything. I doubt they cared or noticed that I wasn't there since no one came after me. I was treated as a failure all the time, so my brothers got more attention, maybe that's how I slipped by?"
I guess the two of us are more similar than I thought. Olga thinks to herself after hearing his story.
"Wait.", Olga scans his face. White hair and red eyes. "Wasn't Nicholas Ketsueki's hair brown and his eyes blue?"
Her body grew cold and she felt scared for some reason. Is this man not who he says he is? What if someone just took his place?
"…"
"…"
"Are you an idiot, Olga? My eyes changed to red after I learned hemomancy, and my hair is just white hair dye. If someone saw a 'dead man' walking, it would draw unneeded attention. I went by a fake name too."
She breathed a sigh of relief and her body eased. "I see. I was worried for a second but it's fine." She smiles to herself. "You know, it was nice to talk to you like this. I learned a lot about you."
Nick smiles back at her. "You too, Olga!"
"It's Di-rect-or!"
Nick just laughs it off as the Director grows bright red. As for what we were up to…
"Sieg, Jeanne, what kind of things are you into?", I ask as I bite down on a piece of bread.
Sieg tilts his head and looks up. "I like… no, just being alive is enough for me."
"Okay…? Jeanne, what about you?"
"Me? I like serving the Lord, helping others, and sleeping in piles of hay. I also like Sieg.~"
That's a more reasonable answer. Jeanne is probably Sieg's significant other by the way she was staring at him when she mentioned him. I find myself thinking.
"What about you all?", Jeanne asks.
"I like food, cooking, reading, and Niten Ichyru.", I respond to the saint.
"Niten-what?"
"It's Miyamoto Musashi's sword style. It's two swords: a katana and a wakizashi. A way of fighting with two blades."
Jeanne nods and smiles. "That is an interesting sounding form. I do not hail from Japan so I am not familiar with his legend, when was he alive?"
"The 1600s.", I say to her.
"Ah, I lived in the 1400s, so there is no way I could have known him. Haha."
"And the rest of you? I haven't been in the company of anyone else but Jeanne for a few years now.", Sieg asks my companions.
"Me?", Alice asks. "I like mechanics and firearms."
"Mechas are really cool to me, so I like that. And building their kits." Ritsuka says.
And finally, Mash speaks. "I enjoy reading and learning new things every day!"
"Such great interests. Say, are any of you experienced in magecraft?"
Ritsuka and I shake our heads. While Mash explains her Demi Servant status and Alice explains her ties to the magus association.
"Hmm. That is interesting how two normal people like you were put into this situation. It is much like a certain someone I know." Jeanne side-eyes Sieg. "How are you two handling it?"
"About as well as you'd expect.", Ritsuka says. "Everything is still so new to us. Hell, time travel like this alone is blowing my mind. Servants too. I never thought something like this would ever happen in my life. Last month I was a normal person and now I'm meeting people from the past. I have a feeling I'll never get used to this.", Ritsuka laughs off the frightening feeling of what his life has become.
"Back when I first came to be, I was similar to you. Just a homunculus who escaped death and then died again only to be saved by a great hero. The world was still new to me and it took a bit of time to get used to everything, but with the help of Siegfried, Ruler, Rider, and so many more, I properly adjusted to the world and decided to save humanity. So, Fujimaru-kun, Mirai-chan, don't worry, you'll both be fine."
Sieg's speech took us both off guard for a moment but we could do nothing else but smile at the young man's words of wisdom.
"Fujimaru-kun, Mirai-chan?", Mash mutters to herself.
Sieg grows slightly embarrassed. "Did I use those wrong? I'm sorry, I'm not Japanese, so I wasn't sure how to use those formalities."
Ritsuka shakes his head. "No no. It's fine, you used them right, but we at Chaldea don't use them. There are so many different types of people there that only using Japanese phrasing would be confusing to non-Japanese people, so we just stick with first names."
I nod my head. "I just plain don't like them. Too formal for my tastes. Unless the person I'm talking to is powerful and would have my head for calling them without formalities like a teacher or something. I call everyone else, especially friends by their first names. Isn't that right, Alice?"
"I never said you couldn't call me by my first name, Serena. Besides, it's the first name in England too, so I'm used to it."
"Oh…then why does Kyr- Mash call you by the name 'Senpai?", Sieg asks while looking at Ritsuka.
Mash interjects Ritsuka's explanation before he can even start it. "Senpai is the first person I met here at Chaldea who treated me as a person, rather than a tool, besides the Doctor that is. Since he is older than me, it is only natural that I would call him Senpai. As for the others… calling everyone senpai would get confusing and take too long if I added their names to it, so I call them by their names. Senpai was the first and is special to me, so I will keep calling him that."
"Special, huh? That's the first time that someone who isn't my mom says that to me."
"WAIT I MEAN NOT THAT KIND OF SPECIAL! I UHM…"
"Hoho, Mash's true feelings slip out, huh?", I tease the bright red eggplant.
"Serena, she just messed up a bit, it's fine!", Ritsuka defends her. I can even see Alice smiling to herself a little bit as she weakly tries to hide her amusement.
Jeanne d'Arc smiles to herself. "All of you seem so close to each other, it is nice to see you all can get along so well."
We all pause and smile back at her. We've only known each other for a few weeks now, but it feels like I can trust all of them so much…
How long has it been since I've been able to feel this way toward other people?
Alice can sense my brief depressive state and nudges my arm. "Are you okay?" She whispers so no one else can hear.
I was surprised she could even do such a thing, but I guess it's natural for an assassin who does spy missions and stuff for a living as a Sealing Enforcer. "I'm fine, thank you, Alice."
But then her body jumps a little and she begins to look around, and so does Jeanne and Sieg. From behind us, even Nick begins to stand.
"Something is not right here. Chaldea, be on guard. It is far too quiet.", Jeanne orders.
Olga taps around on her wristband for a moment. "Doctor, Da Vinci, is something in the area?"
The blue hologram of Romani seems to be looking at a screen. "No…there's no hostiles around. I can't see anything amiss."
And then a bolt of green lighting struck the town, sending everyone running away besides us from Chaldea. Alice pulls me back and Sieg and Jeanne get in front of all of us.
The lightning fades, and there stands a single man with green, spiky hair, black clothes, and silver armor. He has an orange cloth around his torso and it tails behind him in the wind.
Jeanne d'Arc immediately recognizes him. "Achilles!? You're…"
The man known as Achilles smiles at us and places his weapon of choice, a spear on his shoulders. "Yo Ruler, homunculus! Shirou wants his Grail back, and I'd rather you try to fight and keep it or this won't be fun for me!"
Sieg immediately begins to feel afraid and glances back at us, then back to Achilles, and steps forward.
"You wanna fight, huh?", Sieg asks Achilles.
"Of course I do, heroes live for that opportunity!"
Sieg maintains a glare at Achilles. He knew that only Chiron was a match to such a famous hero, but amongst everyone in Chaldea's side, Sieg was the second strongest in the group by a technicality on Ruler's Noble Phantasm's part.
"I'll make sure you don't live to report this to Amakusa!"
Achilles smiles as if he's happy at this response. "That's more like it, boy! But should you fail, I'll make short work of the rest of your party as well."
With that, we all equip our Mystic Codes and prepare to engage the enemy. But Jeanne stops us from moving. "This enemy is too dangerous for you to fight. You know who Achilles is, right? He's an invincible half-god. Until you have the perfect opportunity to strike his heel, you cannot do anything to him. If Sieg-kun loses this fight, I'll take over.
Ritsuka nods, putting full faith in his new companions. "Understood!"
As the fight is about to begin, I notice my friends. Alice looks tense and worried, Ritsuka looks a bit scared even if he's trying to hide it, Mash looks the same as Ritsuka, and the Director looks tense as she looks on, but Nick…he's smiling. A smile like a man who is anticipating something big. Does he want to see such a fight this badly? Or perhaps it's more?
Sieg's left hand glows. Something I had neglected to notice until now is a black Command Spell-like structure in the form of a dragon on his left hand.
"With a Command Spell, I order this body of mine…!" he chants as energy surges around him, his hair flies all around and then, a completely different person is in his place.
The man in silver armor raises a massive silver greatsword. His long white hair flows in the wind.
"So this is what's become of Siegfried, huh?" Achilles says. "I'll let you know…LAST TIME HE DIDN'T DO SO WELL!"
And in the blink of an eye. The two men practically vanish, only popping into existence every few moments. This is a true fight between Servants.
Ruler steps back and looks at all of us, then back forward. "Sieg, win this, I believe in you."
Sieg hears this but does not acknowledge it as if he did, he could potentially be killed. His sword clashes with the spear.
First, I must get this guy out of Trifas. There are too many civilians here to use my full power. Sieg thinks to himself, and Rider seemingly does the same. The two jump and streak across the sky still fighting and leave Trifas behind faster than any bullet.
The two land on grass and begin to fully attack each other once more. Achilles thrusts his spear and it impacts Sieg's shoulder. But thanks to his Armor of Fafnir, the attack is mostly negated.
Armor of Fafnir negates attacks that are B Rank and lower. Since Achilles' strength is B+, Sieg can shrug off most of its effects.
Green lightning surges and Sieg kicks the Greek hero away from him and quickly follows after, not giving the Rider a moment to breathe.
The evil dragon will be vanquished—
The handle of the blade is twisted.
In this moment, the world reaches its twilight!
The sword explodes in blue light, shooting into the sky. The sound it produces is like a jet engine as the jet takes off.
Now fall!
Sieg begins to bring Siegfried's blade down onto Rider. By now, Achilles has regained his footing and braces for the Noble Phantasm.
"BALMUUUUNG!", Sieg yells out and the ground around the two is obliterated and forms a crater.
A whistle comes from the green-haired man's mouth as he stands back up from the blast.
"Whew! You actually put a few cracks on my armor. But armored or not, I'll still kick your ass!"
Sieg readies his blade once more, not willing to yield just yet. He still has about 2 minutes left for his transformation.
"Not even going to settle for idle chatter?"
"You would still fight for Amakusa Shirou even though you know his plan is a ruse! I can't pity someone so idiotic!"
Rider readies his spear and waits, standing in a slightly crouched position. "I don't care if it is or not, I'll MAKE him grant the eternal glory that I and all heroes that succeeded me deserve! Just as it was back then!"
So most of Red Faction is at his disposal, huh? Is this because he put them all under his control in The Great Holy Grail War? He summoned them because most of them were already on his side. The only ones I can think of that were independent were Mordred and Spartacus. So were they left out? Sieg thinks to himself.
Rider of Red smiles. "You're such a letdown, not fighting like you hate my guts and want me dead. Hand me that Grail, now!"
"Never, humanity's fate matters more to me than you do."
"Then prepare yourself, you fake!"
Like a bolt of lightning, the one with the spear charges forward, but instead of attacking with his weapon of choice like expected, he throws it up into the air and punches Sieg in the gut.
After the first blow knocks him back slightly, he proceeds to attack about 50 more times in a matter of seconds with a flurry of punches. Then catches his spear and thrusts it into Sieg's chest.
The false Siegfried can shrug off these attacks, barely injured, and swings his mighty greatsword at Rider, yet he doesn't stop there. Rider ducks under the blade and goes for his back.
Siegfried is invincible most of the time. Unable to be injured due to his Armor of Fafnir gained from killing the dragon of the same name and bathing in its blood. Due to a leaf on his back, his body wasn't fully coated and a single weak point was left exposed on his back.
Ironically the one he was fighting currently, Achilles has a similar ability. His father Peleus dipped his body in the divine flame to give him immortality and invulnerability. But due to a slight error on her part, all but his heel was exposed to the water. His heel was covered by the hand that dipped him in.
Two great heroes thought to be invincible were now fighting. Both of them were killed due to their one weak point on their bodies being exploited.
If Achilles landed a stab on the one weak point, it would kill Sieg. The transformation would crumble and all that would be left is the run-through body of a Terminal.
"NOW, BALMUNG!" Sieg shouted as he activated the Noble Phantasm once more, swinging it at Rider. The once-green grass evaporates as the beam cuts through the air.
Achilles is thrown back, but as he's known for his invincibility, he just gets back up after a few seconds. It bought Sieg some time.
Normally when fighting such a person. They would try and go for his heel, the one weak spot on his body. But attempting that is easier said than done.
Rider erupts in magical energy and a chariot appears with several horses pulling it. A Noble Phantasm pseudo activation.
"Defend yourself, if you can!" Achilles snapped the reins of the chariot and began to rush forward.
"Troias Tragōidia!"
These horses are now more dangerous than Achilles can ever be at their speed. That is all Sieg could think to himself before the chariot began to move at light speed.
But instead of accepting what would be his fate, he did something only he could do. With a thought, he connected himself to the Holy Grail of the Singularity and drew mana from it, then he focused it all into both his body and his sword. Surpassing even the power of a Command Spell, he moved faster than light in that instant using his Galvanism and swung Balmung with all his might.
For this limited chance, he was able to match the speed of the chariot, no, he was even faster! Sieg felt his body tear apart since no mortal should be able to match such speeds, but this is something he has to do!
Sieg couldn't chant the Noble Phantasm, but it activated anyway. The beam of blue light appeared in an instant and was extinguished in an instant. The chariot is blown away and even Achilles is surprised such a speed was reached.
The explosion came before sound and a shock wave shook even the houses in Trifas like an earthquake had occurred.
The area was filled with smoke and dirt. But when I cleared. Sieg stood there in his normal form of a boy with brown hair and red eyes, rather than the giant of a man known as Siegfried. Only Sieg remained.
His eyes had grown blank and he stood perfectly still, unconscious from the amount of energy he just spent in that one attack. Achilles on the other hand was more or less fine. Half a dozen bruises, but no real damage was done due to his immortality.
"Ha…HAHAHAHA! AMAZING! GREAT WORK, BOY! YOU HAVE IMPRESSED ME!", he shouted out to the boy who had no hope of hearing his praise. "I don't really know how to extract that Grail from you, but I know who does. I'll just tell Amakusa to come over."
With that, Achilles walks over and picks up Sieg, throwing him over his shoulder and he begins to move back toward Trifas where we are dealing with our problems…
A few minutes earlier…
Jeanne turns around to face us after watching Sieg fly away. "Chaldea, we should try and find an area where we can be away from the homes and shops. We cannot harm the innocent, even if they aren't from the real world."
The Director agrees with that and just as we are about to leave, my Mystic Eyes trigger.
Huh? That's strange…!
"Everyone look out!", I yell out but it's too late. I dodge out of the way and black chains fly up and wrap around all of my companions.
"What is this!?", Mash says in confusion.
"I can't move!" Ritsuka says as he tries to wiggle his way out. Even Ruler can't free herself.
"Oh? One managed to escape my grasp?", a woman's voice says from behind me. I turn around and there is presumably a Servant with long black hair and elf ears. She wears a black dress with gold bits throughout and conducts herself well as she walks. She must be a princess or something of royalty.
"I will end this quickly, then."
Her hand raises as if trying to end me, but…
"Assassin, there's no need for that. I don't need them to die."
"Yes, Shirou. I am sorry.", she apologizes to a man who also materializes next to her. He has long white hair tied up into a ponytail and gold eyes. His skin is dark and he wears a red and gold outfit like an old samurai. Even at his hip is a black katana. Our outfits are more or less the same actually, but mine is gray and black rather than red and gold.
"You all must be Chaldea, right? And it's just my luck that you're with them, Ruler.", he says to all of us, me being the only one not chained up.
"So you've really come, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada!", Jeanne shouts. "Abandon this foolish resolve already!"
The one known as Amakusa shakes his head. "That's not happening, Ruler. Where's the Grail you stole from me?"
"You'll never obtain it again!"
"Ah, I see. You don't have it, but that accursed homunculus does. As for right now…"
Amakusa takes a step closer toward me. I take a step back in fear. I can already tell this person is not one to be messed with. Serena Mirai cannot fight a Servant and hope to survive.
"Miss? You seek to save humanity, no?", this is what Amakusa leads with when speaking to me.
"Y-yeah. I'm doing this because I want to save my parents. Humanity was incinerated by something and I want it back.", I meekly reply.
The samurai nods his head and begins to talk again. "Tell me, do you wish for world peace? For humanity to all be happy and get along? I'm sure you do, right? It's the natural wish most have in common, yet it's a wish that is unobtainable. Don't you agree?"
I almost recall a moment in my past I don't wish to relive and nod my head. "I would like people to stop fighting each other and hurting the innocent. I want jealousy to become non-existent. Things like that are what I'd want in humanity."
The white-haired man smiles and nods his head. "So you do understand! My goal is quite simple really. I wish to make it so humanity will be happy. No more fighting, no more jealousy, no more evil. Humanity will be reborn into a perfect world with no evil and only good."
I stumble back as he moves even closer to me and a familiar Saint's voice calls out from behind me. "Do not listen to him, Serena! He is not saying anything! What about the free will you would rob from everyone, huh!? As always, you hide that fact!"
Amakusa looks down and gets a slightly mad look on his face. "It's the price that must be paid for salvation.", he then draws the katana at his hip. "And you're in my way, Jeanne d'Arc!"
Ruler struggles more and more as Amakusa draws closer. And then I do something that surprises even myself, I stand in between the two and draw my sword. "I won't let you kill her."
It's fine, I don't sense the death of mine in the next 30 minutes. I can only see 30 minutes into the future at a time, and since there's a lack of one, I should be fine.
"Serena, don't! That's a Servant!", Alice shouts out but I ignore her. I don't want to give up my special ability to this man, so I keep it hidden for now. I don't like using them, but I will if I must.
Amakusa continues to step forward and swings his sword my way. I block his attack and notice that it's oddly light for a Servant's attack.
I continue to block his blows, all feel lighter than they should be.
"Still up for fighting, girl?", he asks.
"Not at all, but I have to, right?"
Amakusa smiles and brings his sword down like a meteor with much more force than before. I block it with my katana, but I'm still sent flying back. The attacks before were just warning shots, now is the real thing.
I am given no choice but to activate my Mystic Eyes All I can do at this point is try and dodge. And that's what I do, I use my future sight to evade and nothing more.
All my energy is spent simply rolling around, sidestepping, and blocking with my sword if I must.
"Hah!"
His katana is thrust and this time, I can't dodge it. A cut forms on my cheek as he grazes me.
Huh? Is all my mind can process. There's no death in my future, but for some reason, I thought that meant I wouldn't get hurt. Most people who fight for a living can just shrug off such an injury, but I'm just a normal person. Up until recently, I was a relatively normal high schooler, and my combat training never left cuts on me like this. So naturally a large amount of fear welled up inside me.
As if a switch were flipped, Amakusa begins to be more harsh on me. He rapidly circles me and slams his katana hilt into my back, then sweeps my leg causing me to fall. I sit up and kneel to stand back and…
The sharp edge of a katana is placed on my throat.
"I'd rather not kill you, but since you're being a pesky human and really getting in my way, I'll rid myself of you if I must, little girl.", that is what the white-haired man says.
The battle was over without any struggle. Serena Mirai cannot possibly beat a Servant.
Tears begin to streak down my cheeks. Even if I still won't die, there's no way I can contain myself in the face of this much danger. My trembling hands drop my katana and it clatters on the stone ground. I can do nothing else but lower my head in complete defeat.
Amakusa smiles and stays true to his word, moving his blade away from my neck and walking past my crumbled self.
"It looks like this is your end all over again, Jeanne d'Arc. Sieg could never save you."
His sword is raised, ready to lop off the Ruler's head. No matter how much she struggles, she cannot escape the binds, and without the power of the Command Spells that she had in her war, she could not order Semiramis around.
But before he could bring the blade down…
"ARTORIA ALTER!", Ritsuka screams out and presses a button on his right arm, summoning a Servant to his aid!
The knight in black immediately rushes toward Amakusa and swings her corrupted Excalibur toward his throat.
"!"
Amakusa quickly ducks and repositions backward away from the king.
"Shirou!", Semiramis shouts out as she moves over to his side.
As Saber Alter swings one more time, a bolt of lightning comes down and blocks her sword. A spear stops the sword in its tracks as Achilles has returned. He parries and runs the king through, making the shadow servant vanish.
"That was a fun three minutes I spent fighting with Sieg. Having trouble, Shirou?"
"Rider, welcome back. That's…"
Amakusa looks at Achilles and sees Sieg over his shoulder unconscious. At this sight, Jeanne begins to struggle even more, practically foaming at the mouth.
"Argh, you'll pay! I will break out of these chains and make you pay with your life for kidnapping my Sieg, Amakusa!", Jeanne growls furiously.
"Assassin, let us return to the Garden. We have what we need now thanks to Achilles."
"Yes, Shirou. Let us go.", Assassin nods and the two vanish into Spirit Form.
"Until next time, Chaldea," Rider says as he turns around. Boarding his chariot and flying off into the air. "Don't even try to pick a fight with me if we meet again."
"SIEG, I'LL COME GET YOU! I SWEEEEAR!" Jeanne screams out as he vanishes into just a dot in the sky.
The chains are undone on everyone and the air goes silent.
Honestly, I don't care about Sieg at the moment, all I want to do right now is run away. So that's what I do. I stand up and just run while wiping away tears further into Trifas. Everyone looks at me but I don't care, I just need to get out of here.
"Serena, wait!", Alice cries out and then moves to follow me. "Text me what you decide to do, I'm going after Serena."
Olga nods her head and agrees.
"So, what now? Sieg still has the Grail, right?", Nick asks.
"He does…and Amakusa must have some way to pry it out of Sieg. T-This time…I'm the one losing who I love…" Jeanne responds, clearly nervous as she can't stand still.
"We need to rescue him!", Ritsuka says while clenching his fist. "He's our comrade now, right? We can't just leave him!"
Mash also agrees and wishes to save him too.
Jeanne nods her head and smiles. "Thank you. I know I can count on all of you now. There is a place that we can go to that's not too far. It can be our base of operations for the time being. It is no longer safe here in Trifas, so we can spend one more night and then head over there."
"What is it?" Mash asks.
"The Millenia Castle, on the hill just over this town. There will be plenty of space for us to settle down there."
Nick smiles and nods his head a few times. "A castle huh, sounds great. That'll work perfectly for us."
And so it is decided that the fortress will be our next destination
Alice runs around looking for me and quickly finds me sitting in an alleyway in a ball.
"Serena…", she says as she walks up to me and crouches down. I wipe away my tears and look at her. "Alice, don't look at me right now!"
And so, Alice looks away and at the wall in front of her. "What's wrong?" She asks in a sympathetic tone.
"I'm not cut out for this at all. I thought that I wanted to save humanity, but I was so weak. That Servant beat me without any effort."
"Yeah, Servants are strong. Not even I could beat one most likely."
I place my head into my arms and cry a bit more. "I want to go home. I miss my parents. I lived alone and didn't talk to anyone, but I just want humanity back now. But if it's already this difficult…"
Alice keeps looking at the wall while she listens to what I have to say. Alice didn't have much of an idea of how to deal with this sort of situation due to her lonely upbringing.
"I should have never joined Chaldea. I thought it would be fun and better than being crammed in my apartment all day, but…I'm just not able to do this. I'm useless to the team, and humanity."
Alice spins her head to look at me. "That's not true! You saved my life, and the Director's! Who knows what would have happened if you hadn't told us the room was rigged? I wouldn't be here right now if you weren't at Chaldea."
"Alice…", I say as I look at her. She's sitting very close to me on the ground. Even though I told her to not look at me, she was doing just that with a pained expression on her face.
"Still, all this is just too much for me. Amakusa almost killed me there. He could've easily done it too. It was far too easy for him if he wanted to kill me and I hate it. I'm just scared, scared of him. For someone who looks so normal, it was inhuman to be able to move that way, to hit that hard, to be that threatening… At least with those monsters in Fuyuki, I could rationalize my death if it came to that. They were evil monsters that were not supposed to exist, so if I died to them I could pass it off as something like a monster movie. But for someone who looked so…normal to be able to do all that without breaking a sweat…I just don't understand…", I manage to get out before breaking into tears again, barely able to breathe.
Alice looks on at me not knowing what to do. This situation looks very familiar to her.
"What are you doing out here?", a woman asked Alice eight years ago.
It was a rainy day in London as a little girl was crouched outside of the Clock Tower, huddled in a ball. As she thought about nothing, a woman in a suit and trench coat approached.
"Huh?", the little girl looked up and saw her. "I'm running away. There's nothing for me here anymore now that Mom and Dad are gone."
The woman with purple hair crouched down and looked at the little girl. "And where will you run off to?"
"I'm not sure. I'll find somewhere.", she responded.
The woman looks around and then back at the girl. "Would you like to live with me? It's better than living on the streets."
"Huh? But you don't even know me."
"Then what's your name?", the woman asked.
"Alice Narukami, that's my name.", the girl replied.
"Narukami… oh, those were your parents. I knew them. I'm a fellow Sealing Designation Enforcer like they were. My name is Bazett Fraga McRemitz."
"You're Miss Bazett? My parents talked about you sometimes.", Alice appeared to think something over for a while. "Okay, I'll live with you then. Only if you can train me though."
"Train you?", Bazett then nodded her head. "Alright, I can train you in martial arts. But it won't be easy, you know."
"Fine with me, as long as I can kill the man who killed my parents."
Bazett helped Alice up and did something that Alice felt like she should do now.
Alice moved closer to me and outstretched her arms, embracing me in a gentle hug.
"Alice, what are you doing?"
"Everything will be okay, Serena. I'll keep you safe from now on, I promise. No one will hurt you as long as I'm around."
Her body was warm and her heart was calmly beating in her chest. Just being embraced by her was extremely calming for me at the moment and I almost didn't want her to let go of me ever again.
"Even if it kills me, I'll keep you safe."
"There's no need to go that far for me. Letting yourself be killed, I mean.", I say back, appreciating the thought but not liking the idea.
"Serena. You're my best friend, so I don't want you to get hurt anymore. So I don't mind if I die saving you."
"I mind. I would be sad if you died, especially for me."
Alice laughs a little and pulls herself away from me. "Then, how about I just protect you as your bodyguard from now on? Does that sound okay?"
I smile and nod at her, the tears have finally stopped. "Thank you, Alice. I accept your offer."
Alice smiles back at me and stands up, helping me up with her. "How about we go back to our room for now? I'll cheer you up as best as I can."
"Alright!"
And so, after that, we return to our room for the night. They say it has been difficult, but we will make it through no matter what and solve this Singularity.