Chapter 133: A wrong call.

The Chaldeans had opted to rest not long after the dragon - the Servant who called herself Akal - had departed. Not that anyone would blame them, the sheer size of the creature had certainly blown what little moral they had out of the water with the reveal.

It was a giant in every sense of the world, with its body composed of what looked like solid stone there was no way that thing should even have been able to move and yet it had done so. The fact the Servant could have unleashed that upon them at any time during the fight but didn't because she was 'Testing them' was something that burdened Olga's mind as well.

Especially because she was left with the question of what she would do when the Servant wasn't testing them and did intend to fight them for real.

The Director sat upon the roots that Torin had grown from the earth, the plantation serving as a makeshift bench for the meantime but that would be about it. It was certainly better than sitting down in the snow, that much was certain.

She raised up her sleeve, activating the communicator "What was the assessment of the Servant?" she asked in a toneless voice, she could already tell the news was going to be bad based upon her own experience.

Meuniere's grimace greeted her, the man adjusted his glasses as he leaned forwards with his hands on the desk "Analysis of the Servant before the deployment of their Noble Phantasm placed them as weaker than the Lancer you encountered a few days ago." he started off with, the news prompted a raised eyebrow from the woman but she didn't interrupt "Her class also seemed to be registered as a Caster although she didn't do much in the way of spell casting."

That earned Cu's attention, the druid hummed before he pointed towards Torin as he worked to make sure all the Norse were comfortable. "That guy is a Caster as well and he swings about a big axe. They chucked about fire so…must be the only class they can get summoned in."

Meuniere nodded "That was one of the theories we had discussed as that she was a combat Caster. Perhaps also using some manner of spell on herself to keep up…at least that was before she turned herself into a Dragon." he muttered before shaking his head "The sudden jump in magical energy and the necessity to invoke a name leads us to believe that the Servant deployed their Noble Phantasm."

"Umu." Nero nodded her head, her fingers still touching her crooked nose and frowning heavily as she pulled them away. Seemingly more concerned with her physical appearance than she was with the discussion at hand. "I do not see how a Servant could possess such an ability as a mere spell…"

"She deployed her Noble Phantasm and didn't even use it to attack us." Olga muttered out, her hands tightened their hold on her trouser legs "She was right here…The Servant who claimed to be making all of the wyverns was right here and we let her escape."

"I don't know if getting blindsided by a giant dragon counts as letting someone escape." Cu huffed quietly, smirking as he scratched his cheek "Way I see it, we actually lucked out there."

Olga whirled on him with a scowl, opening her mouth to speak.

"We didn't lose anyone, we kicked her ass so hard that she had to use her trump card, and then she ran away before we could resume kicking her ass." Cu pointed out, raising his fingers consecutively with each point he made. "Chin up, Master. We now know about another enemy we're gonna be fighting."

"How are we supposed to fight them though!?" She growled out, glaring at the Caster "How are we supposed to fight a Servant that seemingly doesn't feel any pain at all and can change into a giant dragon!?"

"Kill them before they can change into the dragon." Cu remarked with a shrug "I mean…you don't really want to get in prolonged fights with someone who clearly doesn't feel pain."

"Umu, umu." Nero nodded twice as she pulled her hand away from her face "The many blows that landed upon her and the numerous wounds she sported by the end of our bout, in addition with her tough skin and lack of response means that this Servant clearly has high resilience."

Marie raised her hand "Do we have anyone who can end fights quickly?"

"If I had my spear…" Cu trailed off meaningfully with an annoyed frown on his face, then nodded to Olga "But we can't get him over, can we?"

The white haired woman looked down, causing Marie to send a scowl towards the Caster "Not that we need two of you right now." the Queen remarked as she moved towards Olga and parked herself on the bench next to the woman "We would need a way of subduing them before they could activate their Noble Phantasm, wouldn't we?"

Cu pursued his lips for a few moments before he made a small smile "Actually, I might have something for that." he stated after a few moments "Using your noble Phantasm is all about having enough magical energy. Turning yourself into a dragon is gonna be taxing on your reserves and there's no telling how long that is gonna last-"

"In a normal situation, yes." Olga closed her eyes "But the Servant has a link with the Holy Grail, or their Master is in possession of it. Which grants her a near limitless supply of magical energy. There is no telling how long she can maintain that draconic form of hers without expiring."

That was true enough, if the Master had a huge supply of magical energy to give out and was backed by the Holy Grail it would mean that the Servant could use their Noble Phantasm for as long as they truly wished to. Unless…

Olga thinned her lips, her eyes narrowing slightly as she considered something "We need to fight her Master as well."

Several heads turned to her in confusion.

"Umm…Director." Meuniere coughed into his hand "I realise that would be the regular sort of strategy in a normal Grail War but with what we know of previous Singularities, the Master here is almost certain to be another Servant that we might not have encountered. What if they turn out to be more dangerous?"

Olga almost wanted to laugh.

More dangerous than the hill sized dragon?

"Whether that remains true or not, we need only fight them." Olga stated as she made to explain her reasoning "If it is a Servant and they are engaged in battle, they will also need their magical energy. No matter how large their power source is, the Servant can only expel as much magical energy as their mana stat will allow them to."

Cu slowly widened his eyes in understanding "Oh hohohoho! That's a sneaky little plan you've got there, lass!"

Marie furrowed her brows "I…I don't follow?"

The Caster turned to her "Right, this Servant would be using his own magical energy for two things. Themselves and the Servant who has the ability to turn into a dragon. The dragon being the most expensive at the time. So if we are to fight both of them at the same time then if the Caster was to use her Noble Phantasm she would have to do it quickly or risk draining her Master and if they're in the middle of a fight that would be the worst thing to do."

Marie maintained her confused expression, then turned to Nero to see if she had understood what was being said. The Emperor had a serious expression on her face, cupping her chin and staring at the Caster with a look that could only be described as resolute.

"...You mean to suggest a war on two fronts?" Nero replied, turning to Olga and raising an eyebrow "Keeping both sides unable to use their full power as it would risk drawing resources from their ally?"

Olga nodded her head once in affirmation.

Brynhildr hummed "That is a viable tactic, however there remains one issue…" she turned her head to Olga and thinned her lips "One I am sure you are aware of as well."

The grimace on the Directors face was all the info any of them needed, Meuniere nodding along through the screen.

"Even removing the Noble Phantasm from the equation, as a combat Caster that Servant was certainly something menacing." He remarked with a shake of the head, scratching the back of his neck "Saying nothing about the Lancer you guys fought earlier. I don't think they would even need their Noble Phantasm to kill you and if you're gonna be fighting two or maybe three Servants at once you'd have to divide your forces and your forces aren't all that great." He paused for a moment before adding on "No offence."

"It's fine." Marie waved him off with an understanding smile "I am aware that I'm not a warrior Servant to begin with, the best I can provide is support."

"Yeah…I'm armed with a stick and some fancy symbols." Cu stated easily enough "I've got a couple tricks to further weaken her magical energy though, so that would serve to better our odds but that would still leave her absurd endurance." he frowned "That might be another sort of Noble Phantasm…"

Meuniere blinked "You think so? The readings weren't showing anything like a continuous Noble Phantasm activation…although her magical energy readings were sort of high but I just assumed that was because they were a dragon as well." he shrugged his shoulders, turning his attention back to the group "They only started to spike when she brought out those big hands to start trying to punch with and stuff. So that might be a Noble Phantasm as well."

"Wouldn't surprise me." Cu grumbled to himself "Also 'Akal'? I ain't never heard of someone like that before." he jerked a thumb at chest "I might not be the most well-informed guy on most shit but I'd like to think that I would at least be aware of the lady who could turn into a giant dragon. That seems like the kind of thing people would write down."

Olga slowly turned her attention towards Tarkus "You've never heard of them before, have you?" she asked with a flat expression.

"Oh, no." Tarkus shook his head, leaning back on his hands as his legs straightened out from underneath him. He had not been exaggerating when he talked about his weakness to heights, the subsequent fall from being kicked in the gut by Akal had successfully broken both of his legs. Though the knight didn't seem to let something as trivial as broken limbs keep him from being rather upbeat "Also I noticed something really odd, Mr Caster."

"Did you now, lad?" Cu gave Tarkus a raised eyebrow "What did you notice?"

"She kept avoiding your lightning." He pointed out, looking around to the others "The Dragon Lady used her hands to hit everyone else but when it came to your lightning she kept using her flames to block it." There was a pause for a moment before he made a noise of understanding "I suppose it makes sense, dragons were defeated by lightning."

Cu gave a slow blink "They were what?"

"Hmmm? Did you not know that?" Tarkus spoke in a surprised tone "Everyone knows that the God Gwyn used lightning bolts to defeat the dragons at the start of ever-oooh. Right, you guys didn't have that, did you?" he looked down to his legs "Sorry. I forgot about it. I was a little confused why you all didn't comment about it but now I remember it's a different world."

He fell silent, pondering something to himself before raising his right hand and waving it from side to side "I mean, I've also never heard of Miss Akal either-"

"Don't be polite to our enemies!" Olga rebuffed him with a shocked tone of voice "She's trying to kill everyone!"

"But being mean to people in return just keeps making them be mean to you, at least that's what my mother says." Tarkus remarked in a perfectly innocent manner of speech "You should only chastise people for being rude. That is why I hit Miss Akal so hard during the fight. Because she was being a bad person."

"Woe unto Akal, then." Nero whispered to Marie, prompting the French Servant to give a light giggle and playfully slap the arm of the Roman Emperor.

Olga shook her head at the words, dismissing them as irrelevant as she focused on Tarkus "They were felled by lightning, did you say?"

The man nodded his head "It's really common knowledge back home that if you're fighting dragons you use sunlight spears." he had the decency to pause as he looked away from her and scratched the side of his face, his helmet removed and revealing his slightly chubby features and messy dark hair "I don't know any miracles though…sorry about that-"

"Nah, nah." Cu waved his hand towards the Saber, putting on a thoughtful face "He's got a point. The girl didn't care about anything else hitting her but made an effort to avoid lightning. Some sort of conceptual weakness maybe?" he looked to the Director and shrugged "Worth a shot if we fight her again, I'd say."

Olga nodded her head at that "That remains true enough. However, there are still other issues for us to be aware of. Least of all being our lack of effective firepower." she motioned to the Servants they had "It has already been demonstrated that a single Servant can match ours in combat-"

"Probably 'cos we were all getting in each other's way." Cu remarked with a shrug of the shoulders, pointing to himself "I'm not really gonna start throwing around all the big rune spells because that would just blow everyone up and at the same time shouting out 'Hey, get out the way so I can start using big spells' is probably going to alert someone so…"

The Director thinned her lips, rising to her feet and cupping her chin "For the time being, we should continue to head North…" she turned her attention onto where she saw Torin still speaking with the Norse "With luck he has been able to convince them to turn back after that display…"

Brynhildr stepped to her side, whispering to her "Or their warrior's spirits have been roused after watching you fight such a foe and seemingly scare them away."

Olga did a double take "Scare them aw-they ran off on their own! They were just there to test us and then leave!"

"Yes, but remember how they looked." Marie whispering in support of Brynhildr "The Caster Servant took a lot of damage in the fight and they did run off so it does look like we won that." the Rider paused for a moment before she continued on "As we are still alive, I would say that we did win that."

Olga opened her mouth to respond, then paused and slowly shut it again. It was hardly like she could argue with that particular piece of information all that much. It hadn't been a defeat as they were still alive and had only suffered mild injuries. Broken legs for a Servant was nothing, in return they had forced the Servant to use their Noble Phantasm as well as uncovered a possible conceptual weakness.

There were ways that could be exploited, there just had to be.

"Alright…alright…" Olga exhaled "Yes…" she pulled the communicator up once again and looked at Meuniere "Ask around Chaldea and-" she turned to Tarkus "You said the Gods fought the Dragons, yes?"

Tarkus nodded his head.

Olga snapped her attention back onto the screen "Ask the Servants from the alternate world, those from the time of the Gods, regarding details on how they defeated dragons. Anything from them would be useful…provided we are even dealing with the same species-"

"Oh, yes." Tarkus nodded his head "The stories always talked about the giant dragons made of stone and their scales that were impossible to break with anything except Miracles."

"..."

"...Oh…That's another one of those things I should have talked to you about earlier as well, isn't it?"

"..."

"Sorry, Miss Animuspear."

"Just-" Olga closed her eyes, counting to ten in her head before she opened them up again "We will get the information from another source…do not concern yourself with it further." she turned away from Tarkus' direction, then found herself staring at the all too pleased face of Marie, her expression scrunched up "What?"

"Nothing." Marie quickly composed her expression, although her eyes still contained that knowing look.

"What? You're giving me that weird stare and it's getting on my nerves."

Marie relented "I was just expecting you to be a little more annoyed with him is all." she whispered to her, making sure that Tarkus couldn't hear.

Olga regarded her with a flat stare "I have simply come to know what I am working with whenever he speaks. If I were to become irritated at every mistake he made then I would never know a moment's peace."

"Is that why you haven't tried to correct the spelling of your name?" Marie raised an eyebrow, Olga sighed.

"That was one of the first things I gave up on trying to fix." She admitted quietly, crossing her arms over her chest and drumming her fingers along her coat. The eyes closed as she realised something, pulling her hand up to cup her features "...Lancer will be down here soon, won't he?"

"Oh! Will he?" Marie's expression turned jubilant "I'm looking forward to it! He's really inspiring isn't he? I heard he has an exercise club in Chaldea, I might just join it!" she exclaimed, smiling widely as she did "What about you?"

Olga was about to tell her that - no, she most certainly would not be - before she paused and slowly thought back to touching her toes.

There was something about proving that Lancer wrong and that she could touch her toes that was oddly cathartic to her. Her lips drew themselves into a thin line, her expression turning thoughtful for a moment. Her hesitation was swiftly noticed by Marie, who grinned openly at Olga.

Something the Director noticed immediately "Get whatever thoughts you're concocting out of your head! They are absolutely wrong!"

"I'm astounded by how-how you can continue to-" Torin growled, thumping the butt of his axe against the ground and briefly causing the earth to shake around them. Brynjar stumbled slightly, blinking several times before shaking his head and fixing the Caster with a stern expression. "After that display I cannot see how-"

"What I saw was you fighting a woman who turned into a dragon and then fled-"

"She put my head through the ground!" Torin gestured to his helmet "She broke my nose and broke his-" he pointed his hand over to the direction of Tarkus "-legs!"

Brynjar nodded along "Yet you still forced her to flee! She turned into a monster and then ran away from you!"

Torin reached up and placed his free hand over his face, growling into his palm before he lowered it again "Listen-"

"No one here is a fool, Jarl Torin." Brynjar cut him off "With the way you all moved…we know we stand no chance against any of you, nor those you fought." he explained swiftly before the man had a chance to counter him "But from the very beginning, none of us were planning of fighting dragons." he scoffed at the notion, pointing at himself "Their babes gave us more than enough trouble but that is what we're here for."

Torin squinted at him "To fight the wyverns?"

"Yes. Because we can." Brynjar nodded his head "And while we fight them, you can fight the true enemy. We can do that much." the blonde man shook his head from side to side "Your words won't dissuade me or anyone else. The possibility of death was always there but with that comes the chance for Valhalla."

The Millwood knight sighed, throwing his head back and staring up at the sky "...Fine. Fine." he stated to himself before he looked back at Brynjar "I…You will not change your minds, even after what you saw. If that will not dispel you of this foolish notion then nothing else will. I shall not waste my words further on this matter…"

Brynjar nodded his head "You have to respect our choice here, Jarl Torin. Would you so quickly give up your home?"

Torin barked an ugly laugh. "That was the problem…we did not know when to retreat." without elaborating further, he turned on his heel from the man and marched in the direction of the Chaldean group. He could see them assembled and speaking with one another about something.

His eyes zoned in on Olga as she spoke with the French Rider, the former looking rather agitated while the latter looked incredibly amused. Torin personally didn't know what there was about this situation to be amused about in the least.

"Chief Olga." He called out as he closed in, the woman in question turned to him almost immediately, her expression turned somewhat defeated as he drew nearer.

"They intend to stay, don't they?" She guessed with an exasperated sigh, reaching up and cupping her forehead as her head inclined back. Marie at her side did not look at all surprised by the news, however there was a touch of saddened resignation about her features.

"I knew they would." Marie commented as she looked between the two of them "The love for one's country is a powerful thing and even something like a dragon won't stop the willing from fighting for their homes." she gestured towards the Norse "It is more likely you will end up accidentally insulting them than convincing them to leave." the woman smiled, "I know your intentions are good, and they know that as well, but they are determined at this point."

Olga released a low growl from her throat but didn't say anything in response, her hands going to her hips as she looked towards the Caster "...Supplies?"

"We're carrying enough for another day if we ration." Torin explained, easily sliding into the shift in topic "And that would be to ration heavily. Unless we find some method of getting more supplies to us-"

"I will see what Chaldea can send in terms of supplies, that will be my concern." Olga dismissed easily, her eyes fixed upon the Norse "If they are going to be following us around without any sign of leaving, then having them do so in a fatigued state might well be sending them to their deaths. We still have a good deal of ration packs made for lengthened Singularit-"

She suddenly cut herself off as she realised something "...It's been three days for them." she shook her head quickly "They are in London…they can get supplies." she stated easily before returning her attention to Torin "Regardless, there are supplies that can be sent from Chaldea."

"...Intriguing." Torin merely commented, dismissing his axe and crossing his arms over his chest "This Tribe of yours can truly aid us in this way as well?"

"Hmph. Naturally." Olga jutted out her chin in a rather prideful manner "If we could not even keep our operatives fed, then we would be unable to properly defend mankind at all."

Torin grunted "In that case we need not worry about supplies for the time being. What we would need to concern ourselves with is the location of our foes home." the man fell into a silence as he looked between the two of them "...Well?"

Olga stared at him quietly before she pulled up her communicator, flashing it open and having Meuniere appear once again. "Have you completed a scan of all of Denmark?"

"Yeah." Meuniere nodded once "Even without getting into specifics, there are some pretty obvious readings to the far north. All of the wyverns you fought came from the north of Denmark as well and all our information we have on hand points…Well, north." he shrugged his shoulders, leaning back into his seat with a casual look on his face "So I would assume they would be north. If it's anything like France, then the roost of all the wyverns is going to be pretty easy to spot."

Olga nodded and lowered the communicator "Which means we must continue our trek north and then once close enough, we can narrow down where we need to go." she explained to the Caster patiently, then could tell what he was going to say "I am no fan of marching around the entire country, blindly looking for the Grail either but there is little choice in the matter."

Torin raised his hands in a placating manner towards her "As you say…" the hands lowered "How long before you would have us set out again?"

"...About ten more minutes." Olga stated after a moment of thought "Tarkus still needs to be healed up so he can at least use his legs and it will give everyone plenty of time to get themselves calmed down before we continue onwards." her expression turned questioning "How far are we from when we first arrived at your village?"

"Two miles west, more or less." Torin explained as he pointed in the stated direction "I had us move further from the coast when we initially started our trek. That and the town is likely already destroyed, it's location is now known to our foe and predators will often return to sites where they know their quarry have been."

In other words, going back there would be a stupid move.

Something Olga understood and agreed with, considering that there was no guarantee a dragon hadn't burned all the village to ash anyway even without them there.

Olga exhaled and turned back to face the Servants around her, they had a half hearted plan so there was a good chance it would develop along the way. They had also discussed the possibility of additional Servants being present in the Singularity as well.

Or rather, Brynhildr had discussed the possibility of Sigurd being present and that - right now - almost seemed like wishful thinking. A dragon slayer summoned in his home country, one of the most famous dragon slayers in history, and a Singularity full of dragons?

That would just be the best news in the world.

Sigurd's whole body ached, he tried to hide it as best he could but it was painfully apparent that he wasn't being healed as fast as he normally should have been. The dragon warrior had no doubt broken nearly every rib in his body during the fight, he knew he was tougher than that which meant it was the effect of the Mystic Eye.

Perhaps one that weakened whomever it gazed upon?

That seemed the logical deduction to be made, but then there was the invisible grip around his body. Perhaps that was a spell the dragon used upon him? He was aware that dragon language had its own manner of magecraft to be used so that might have been some manner of binding spell woven into the attack.

It was pointless to debate the complexities of it at this moment.

"You're favouring your left side." Gordin whispered from his side, Sigurd's lip twitched upwards bitterly before he gazed at the knight from the corner of his vision. "I realise that would be hypocritical of me to comment upon but you are our best fighter. Does the weakness still assail you?"

Sigurd remained quiet for a moment, then looked over his shoulder.

The dragon's flight from them had given the people the wrong impression it had been fleeing for its life. While that wasn't true in the least, it served to mollify what would have otherwise been quite the terrible news.

"It is still upon me." Sigurd admitted quietly, turning back to the front and nodding his head slowly, fighting back another grimace of pain. "It has lessened since the end of the battle, however. I believe I shall soon be free of it."

"Kalameet…" Gordin whispered the name to himself, shaking his head and coughing again as he used the spear in his hands as a walking stick. He had borrowed one from the spares they had, he would never have even humoured the idea of using the sword on his back for anything like that. "The Black Dragon…"

"You know of them." Sigurd stated "Might I ask for the legend? I confess my own ignorance in such a story."

"It is no surprise, given the difference in worlds." Gordin explained "Though the stories of Forossa still speak of the war at the Birth of the Flame. Where the Gods and their Silver Knights waged mighty wars upon the everlasting dragons."

Sigurd pointedly looked over his shoulder before looking back at Gordin "Ledo is one such knight. It would explain the reaction." he was going to withhold judgement on the Silver Knight. By all accounts he was a warrior who had served at the command of his King, nothing more and nothing less.

"It would…By the end of the War, there were only two notable survivors of the Everlasting Dragons. Seath the Scaleless, whom many believe was born at the advent of Flame and Kalameet. The Black Dragon of Chaos…or so the stories went." Gordin continued on "The dragon lived for many years during the reign of the Gods, the glowing eye upon its head made all attempts to slay it pointless…though the Four Knights were never said to have attempted the slaying."

Sigurd frowned "A survivor out for revenge? No…his goal seemed to be more than simple revenge."

"It was strange to even hear them speak." Gordin confessed "The Paledrake founded the sorcerer schools so I would know of them but all stories portrayed the Black Dragon as some manner of savage brute…"

"Fafnir was much the same." Sigurd confessed with a shrug of his shoulders "The dragon was no fool, smart as any man I knew. Yet they were motivated by their own avarice…they were an evil dragon without a doubt." he pursed his lips "Yet when the Dragon Kalameet spoke…I sensed no malice in his words. Nor was there any sign of falsehood. Had it not been for the arrival of Ledo…I suspect we would have parted without violence."

Gordin looked at the Knight, though his helmet disguised his expression Sigurd could feel the disbelief coming from the knight. "Without malice? He means to slay or banish all the humans from their homeland."

"I did not say his actions were without brutality, merely that his motives were more selfless. He wished to build a Kingdom for his people." He raised an eyebrow at Gordin "Can you say that trying to do such a thing is truly evil?"

The silence of the opposing knight stretched on for a few seconds before shaking his head "No. Forossa expanded through conquest, it was our way of life. To call another evil for such a thing would be to confess my own people as such. I do not make claims that it was noble but Kingdoms were birthed on conquest and empires grew through it. To slay and take strength…that was the way of the world."

"This will not change my stance though." Sigurd stated in a determined voice "The Dragon Kalameet must still die…but that does not mean that I will ignore his desires. We are merely on opposing sides but that does not mean I shall despise him." his eyes closed "He is merely doing what he feels is best for his people…given the near future that awaits the Scadinavians…it is not as though I can pass judgement."

Gordin tilted his head "So why does it concern you?"

"Learning of the motivations of your opponent allows you to learn of them as a person. How they might fight." Sigurd explained "During the battle when he was enraged, Kalameet relied purely on raw strength. There was little skill to speak of in his blows and it speaks to him as a person…he is naive. Lacking the experience of dealing with others." He frowned "Though given what you have just told me, it seems to be unsurprising."

"Then your speaking with him was also to learn of his way as a fighter?"

"You can learn about your foe before the battle even commences, just as you can learn of your foe when battle has begun. It is a matter of examining them." Sigurd raised his hand "It means that he shall be exponentially more dangerous when we next battle him."

Gordin nodded his head "If we encounter him once more, he shall be more determined-"

"And unlikely to be blinded by his hatred. He will battle us with more care…Even during his anger, he still utilised his mystic eye and the results speak for themselves." Sigurd let out a quiet breath "It might be best to utilise my Noble Phantasm upon him swiftly…However, he did not utilise his own Noble Phantasm during the battle either."

"We would have no way of knowing if it can counter yours and he-"

"He has magical energy he can spare." Sigurd confirmed "I could use Gram at its full might perhaps once and be able to move around after that for a short while…If he were to somehow survive that, even unlikely as the possibility is…" he trailed off but he did not need to complete his words.

The both of them understood the full consequences of that. A Noble Phantasm was a trump card to be used to settle a match quickly. With Sigurd's as powerful as it was and without a Master to support his existence, there was little doubt that even if it killed Kalameet, he would not be able to maintain his being for much longer after that.

Which meant they would have to consider that possibility as a final resort unless the situation changed.

"On a lighter note." Sigurd coughed into his hand, looking to Gordin with a raised eyebrow "What did you make of Lady Alsanna?"

Gordin blinked behind his helm "What do I make of her?"

"She was rather silent until earlier, and she said she emulated her King." Sigurd pointed out, smiling lightly to himself "It is clear she values him a great deal and the manner in which she spoke was rather commanding, was it not?"

"I…I would suppose?" Gordin replied unsuredly with a half shrug "Having not met her husband nor spoken with her at length during the time she has been here…" he trailed off meaningfully, then looked over his shoulder to the woman in question. Still riding atop one of her shadow cat mounts.

"Her aura is off putting, is it not?"

"There is indeed that point." Gordin admitted with a nod of the head, turning to face Sigurd once more "I am also wary to avoid the giant cat. That is a greater concern than the Queen."

Sigurd snorted at that "Yes, they do seem rather fearsome do they not? She has not yet told me how the other one is fairing after it was injured." his lips curled down in worry "It would be upsetting if the wounds were grievous, though they did not appear so."

"They looked to be the size of a dragon-"

"They are smaller than Fafnir, but they are large and quite the powerful companions." The Saber pointed out with a smile "For allies, they are indeed the wonderful boon. Though they are…they lack the stealth to catch a Servant by surprise."

"With their size and power, I very much doubt that they require stealth."

"Yes, but as Kalameet demonstrated during the battle, he was quite the counter to them." Sigurd grimaced "And with the same divinity coursing through their souls, there is no doubt that they hold no distinct advantage over him. A troubling development and as a dragon he would stand at the top of Phantasmal beasts…even as a Servant his magical energy might have been below that of Fafnir, yet that makes it all the more dangerous."

"Is that high?" Gordin could not help but ask "You speak of Fafnir with great worry…were they a powerful dragon?" he gestured to his head "Tyr offers me some wisdom on the matter but they are names and faces…the contents are lost to me."

"Fafnir is possibly one of the strongest dragons" Sigurd explained "With Servant containers, we are often weakened or strengthened when compared with our original selves. I suspect Kalameet was weakened given his origin. To still have such high magical energy even after that…" he sighed and shook his head "There is no use in debating such negatives, however. We should be confident in our victory."

Gordin looked down at the limp's they both sported and then away "If you believe so…" he muttered vaguely. Then jolted his head as if a sudden thought had come to him. His left hand came up to his helmet chin and cupped it while he hummed quietly. "Wait…how far can the beast travel from her?"

Sigurd raised an eyebrow "What do you intend?"

"Scouting parties are a habit here, are they not?" Gordin inquired "Would it not make sense to send one of the beasts on ahead to investigate the land along with a Servant and then return."

The Nordic Saber put on a thoughtful frown as he reached up and adjusted his glasses "That does indeed hold merit, though for any locals that remain at this distance…they might become rather concerned by the appearance of a large tiger draped in dark shadows and with burning red eyes." he pointed a thumb over his shoulder "It took our own group many a day to get used to it simply lying down, few approach it even after we have assured them of its benign nature."

"That is why I suggested a Servant…although…"

"Most of our number has some manner of divinity that would alarm the beast and make for a poor partnership." Sigurd nodded his head with his eyes closed "We have only two whom might be able to travel with it. The Lady Alsanna and Erik, the latter is a Berserker who will be unable to speak in the presence of women due to his wife's influence."

"Provided she does not outright kill them for speaking to him…" Gordin trailed off, they had inferred that much from Erik himself during later conversations. It would appear that Gunhild was truly possessive of the man, to the extent that she could curse even Servants for daring to speak and or approach the Berserker if they were of the opposite sex. A useful tactic in battle.

Less useful for when you were around allies.

"We cannot be without Lady Alsanna's aid." Gordin shook his head "We means we might indeed have to petition Erik to travel with them, as long as the Queen is amenable to the request." he paused for a moment "I would suggest you speak with her."

"Not yourself?"

"...No." Gordin shook his head "I…am still ill at ease around her, I confess." the man looked down "It is through no fault of hers, merely my own fear and discomfort." his left hand pressed against his chest while his right tightened its hold on the spear "I suspect I shall find some manner of recovering from it but for the meantime it is simply being around her gives me a sense of unease…as though something prickles my skin."

"I feel the same way." Sigurd admitted with a half nod "But I still make the effort to entreat with her. As well you should also, she has proven to be a capable ally and it would serve to bolster our unity if you were to speak with her." he reached out, placing a comforting hand on the shoulder of the knight "Worry not, brother-in-law. I have every confidence in your safety."

Gordin looked to the limb, then back to the knight before he exhaled "...If you say so." he spoke in a resigned tone as he slowed down and turned around "I will adhere to your advice."

"You should not force yourself-"

"No." The Forossan cut him off with a shake of the head "You are correct. My actions have been somewhat dishonourable towards her. She has done no wrong and I have responded with disrespect, I shall make amends to this." he turned back to Sigurd "I will speak with her on this matter of scouts and return to you."

Sigurd smiled at him reassuringly, giving a single nod of the head as he turned to resume his trek forwards.

All the while, Gordin moved further back the line and passed by the refugee's around him as he zoned in on the large shadow cat that Alsanna rode.

As he drew closer, the woman turned her head to look upon him with her usual cool features. Gordin felt the hairs along the back of his neck stand up on end and the strong feeling to sharply turn away coursed through his body, he bottled down that feeling as he closed in.

Also doing his best to ignore the giant tiger that briefly turned its head towards him and made sure to expose the fangs that were the size of his leg. That was somewhat disconcerting and very nearly as terrifying as he found the woman to be at times. Perhaps that was the point of it?

Alsanna clearly noticed his discomfort, moving her hand to the back of the cat's neck and pressing her palm against it. "No, Lud. I shall allow it."

Gordin withheld his sigh of relief as the cat retreated its gaze from him, focusing once again on plodding along at a rather gentle pace. Not too fast so that it overstepped the refugees but not too slow that it was outpaced by them.

"You approach with questions." Alsanna stated from atop her mount, looking down at Gordin as he walked by the side of the beast. "Speak them, I shall answer."

Steeling his nerves, the Saber worked to start speaking "We were curious how injured your second companion was, the one who fought the dragon."

"Zallen is still wounded but they are not crippled." Alsanna dutifully responded "Your next question relates to their well-being?"

Gordin did not deny it "Yes, myself and Sigurd came up with the suggestion of sending both your tracker and Erik out as scouts to report back to us. Though it would depend upon your own opinion at the time."

Alsanna remained silent as she debeated it, her expression betrayed nothing and the silence itself went on for longer than Gordin was comfortable with. Least of all because the extended quiet meant that woman maintained her gaze upon him without changing her features once nor making a move to speak.

"The suggestion of Erik comes from your unwillingness, I would assume." Alsanna merely commented, no doubt having seen through why they suggested the Berserker "He lacks the light of yourself, Sigurd and the Knight Ledo. Such marks upon your soul would be disrupting to my companions."

"That is what we determined, yes. As they are…" Gordin looked at the cat and swallowed "They do play on my nerves, I shall not deny." if only because he didn't think he could lie to this woman. That would similarly be disrespectful.

"I see." Alsanna nodded along "Zallen is not fit for battle, but should the task remain that of scouting I shall prove my generosity and fulfil my obligation as defender of these people. He shall be put under the care of Erik, should he similarly agree to the proposal. Though if he is to encounter the citizens of this realm, I shall withdraw them both."

Gordin nodded in understanding "That is agreeable-"

"There are conditions."

That was not what he wanted to hear.

"...Conditions, you say?"

"Naturally. You are here to request a boon from a Queen, did you expect it would come without reparations?" Alsanna looked at him as one would look down at a child. Gordin would be lying if he said the thought had not crossed his mind, but all his dealings had been with fellow knights. He had not once truly dealt with royalty to any meaningful degree, not even with nobles of higher standing.

"What manner of cost does this request take from me?" Gordin asked slowly "Not that I am unwilling to pay it…" he hastily added on "Merely that as you well know, I am ill-suited to being able to afford a boon from you-"

"That is for me to decide." Alsanna cut him off, her lip quirked upwards for a split second before it returned to one of apathy. "And the cost shall be paid simply enough, provided you are able to stand in my presence long enough."

"...What is it you would ask?"

"I wish to learn of the homeland my husband came from." Alsanna stated after several seconds "You are a knight of Forossa, are you not? My husband did not boast of his own achievements and my duty to Eleum Loyce bid that I did not leave the Kingdom. Therefore, I shall hear from you the land of my husband."

Gordin blinked behind his helmet "You…forgive me, I did not know your husband hailed from my homeland, though my own stories will be from second hand experience." he admitted "Tales of our Kingdom from better days, I was born mere decades before the Kingdom fell to ruin-"

"It is no matter to me when you were born, I shall hear your legends regardless." She paused for a moment, then spoke in a slower and almost gentle tone "And I would ask if you have heard the name of Ermingild before?"

"The Sword of the Dawn?" Gordin spoke quickly and in surprise "I had not thought you would have heard of him, but I suppose even beyond the borders of Forossa the man was a true legend. Perhaps more so than the great general Lothian, though they served during the same period of time." the knight spoke, oblivious to the expression Alsanna was making "Though Sir Ermingild was a knight unlike all others." he chuckled "It would not be remiss of me to say that he was perhaps the ideal image of a knight."

"Is that so?" Alsanna sounded a touch amused "You admire this man greatly then, do you?"

"Of course." Gordin responded without even a hint of hesitation in his words "Though tales of his exploits would be rather long winded-"

"I have time." Alsanna remarked with a wave of her hand "Consider this the cost of allowing you use of one of my Kings gifts."

If all she required was for him to just talk to her about tales of knighthood, then he could at least allow that much. It was fortunate for him that it was a topic that he was similarly well-versed in. Telling the tales of legends many times his betters did not dissuade him in the least.

Rather, he always considered it somewhat inspiring to him. A story to compel him to try his absolute hardest.

That and it was nostalgic, reminding him of the times where he was told those stories himself by his uncle.

Akal hadn't been expecting a welcome when she returned, no that wasn't quite right.

She had been expecting Artoria to be waiting for her, though that would be by pure coincidence on part of the knight. With precious little else to do until Kalameet commanded otherwise, Artoria had been relegated to a patrol duty.

Akal imagined that if the situation did not change soon, then the Lancer would start to get somewhat antsy. A knight such as her could only remain idle for so long and at present it was hardly like the Archtree needed much in the way of protection.

No, what Akal wasn't expecting was to find Kalameet standing near the entrance to the Archtree with his arms crossed over his chest and clear signs of battle all over his scaly hide. Slashes, cracks and holes covered his body. His eyes fixed themselves upon her as she approached, landing down upon the ground with a thud and retracting her summoned wings.

Kalameet looked her up and down, noting her own rather generous battle damage as well which could likely compete with his own. Her left arm was still unmovable, there was likely damage to her shoulder bone and she could tell several of her ribs had been shattered with her knee being in a rather bad way as well.

The pair of them stared in silence at one another for a good few seconds, the black dragon eventually speaking.

"Artoria said that you went out to find the humans she encountered." He uncrossed his arms, gesturing to her up and down "I would assume you did succeed in finding them, given the manner in which you return." his maw curled down, his voice dropping into a more curious tone "Did you slay them?"

Akal debated how best she could answer this before she decided to go all in. "I did not, as you can see they proved more capable than I had expected them to." which was true, she tried to keep the pleased tone from her voice as she explained that. It might end up giving him the wrong impression.

"Hmmm. Understandable." Kalameet nodded his head once "The humans I did battle with were fearsome as well…" he rolled his jaw from side to side, "Along with the knight adorned in silver that travelled with them."

That brought the woman's thoughts to a grinding halt. "A…Silver Knight? Here?"

"Indeed." Kalameet shuffled, looking away from her in an almost ashamed manner "I…his words had me become rather infuriated." he closed his eyes and exhaled "And then there was the sister of Dark-"

The sister of who?

"-and then her words gave me pause for my purpose." He closed his eyes and exhaled, Akal internally blanched. Did she miss out on what she had been expecting to happen? Wait, but he said they gave him pause. His posture might have changed but it seemed more subdued than previous, not at all like he was despondent as she had been expecting.

"What manner of pause do you speak of?"

"She claimed that my actions were no different from the Gods." He stated simply, Akal grimaced but did not reply. "And the lack of surprise on your face tells me you knew this as well?"

"...I did."

"...I see." Kalameet reached up and clasped the front of his face "I am…hmmmm. You're smarter than I am, wiser. Like Artoria you know more things than me." he admitted as he lowered his hand "So I guessed that already, before you came back."

"Does that concern you?"

"Artoria said I might concern myself with the vision of my people later, as a King my first duty is to keep them safe." He stated, clenching his hands into a fist "I fight for my people so they might one day have dreams of their own, for the time being…Artoria said that my dream was the most important."

Akal nodded her head, it was sage advice if a little simple. Though she doubted Kalameet would fully appreciate the complexities of a political climate and differing agendas. Well, Artoria had been present while she was gone.

Hmmmm. Was this what humans called envy? She was a little let down; she had missed out on her chance but the shift in character more than made up for it. That explained his posture, if only a little.

"So that is what I intend to do." Kalameet declared, clenching his hand into a fist "Even if it makes me no different from the Gods, I shall with my entire being for this ideal of mine. I had determined as much but now it feels correct…no. It feels…right." he scrunched up his snout, as though he was having difficulty articulating the words "It is…hard to speak of but it is-"

"The manner in which you feel is nothing short of pure." Akal surmised for him "As though this state of being is the only one that exists and there is no other, rather this is the only path you can see yourself travelling down."

"Yes, that is it." Kalameet nodded to her "Perhaps my motives do not matter to the humans but they matter to myself and that is…that is something I can take confidence in." he declared "Pleasing as it would be to have the humans acknowledge my dream, it is not for them I am doing this."

"It is for yourself."

"Yes." Another nod "To that end…when you work on birthing the next generation with wyverns who have arms…I would like for you to make them more like me."

Akal raised an eyebrow "Like you?"

"The ability to think and speak…so that they can actually understand what I am doing." Kalameet declared "Even if it will take generations before the effects are realised, I want my people to at the very least know what I am doing, even if they are only doing so because I am telling them to."

"And this is different from now because?"

"Because they will be aware. They will know that I…I have their best intentions at the core of my soul." Kalameet pressed a hand over his heart "If they know that…If they can understand that and entrust themselves to me…"

"You don't need to say anything more." Akal smiled at him, shaking her head and holding up her right hand to stop him. An eyebrow was raised at the larger Servant when she noticed his gaze fix itself suddenly upon the extended limb, his eyes focused on it rather intensely.

"What is that you hold?"

"Hm?" Akal opened up her palm "Ah. This was knocked from the leader of the humans, her name was White Flower." she showed off the metallic disk in her grasp, she saw the taller dragons look of confusion, or as best as he could generate with that face.

"White…Flower?" Kalameet repeated slowly, reaching towards the metal disk and taking it between his finger and his thumb, careful not to crush it in his grasp as he dropped it into his massive palm on his opposite hand. "Do humans normally take their names after plants?"

Akal shrugged "Some of them have been known to do so, but I have never heard of one quite like that."

"I…see…So you met with the leader then? What was she like?"

"She said she fought for humanity's future and was leader of some Kingdom called Chaldea."

Kalameet was still for a few seconds, then looked from the construct to Akal "She fought for the future of humanity, you say?"

"Quite so…" She smiled.

"So that is why you were interested in them."

"Am I becoming transparent to you now?"

"No." Kalameet shook his head at her, then returned his attention onto the disk and brought it closer to his face "It just seems like the sort of thing you would do, is what I meant…" he leaned his head to the side "What is this?"

"I am not sure." Akal shrugged, walking past Kalameet and towards the entrance of the Archtree. "I just thought it looked interesting…I shall retire to heal and then begin work on your new subjects." she paused for a moment "My King."

"Hmmmm." Kalameet responded with a hum, though his focus remained upon the small device in his hands. He continued to examine it, looking closer and seeing that upon the surface were a great deal of smaller circles some of which had different colours to them. Or dulled colours at least.

He brought up his clawed hand, extending a finger towards one of the buttons and pressing it.

The disk lit up, each of the buttons flashing with green lights, save the larger disk in the centre that was red in colouration while a circle near the top of the disk was blue.

He blinked several times, then paused for a moment.

The red light seemed more appealing and it reacted when he touched it.

His finger halted just above it before he reached down and touched it again.

Leonardo Da Vinci was hard at work trying to find some method of communicating with the London Singularity, she would be lying if she said she wasn't worried. Between the lack of communication for three days and the readings they were receiving that seemed almost too good to be true, the universal genius would admit her own suspicions on the matter.

Though that is all they remained at this moment, suspicions. She was confident in Fujimaru and Mash's abilities to protect themselves, they had cleared three Singularities at this point, not to mention that they had several other Servants with them as well.

Although…

There was something about Ash, something that Romani and the Saber were keeping to themselves.

If it were another time than right now, she probably would have pressed them for information on the subject but that could wait until they had resumed communication with them. A small part of her was thrilled by the seemingly impossible challenge laid out before her, a larger part of her was troubled by it.

Unlike in the Rome Singularity, there didn't seem to be any reason for the disturbance.

And if Fujimaru had not yet attempted to establish communication with them, it meant something was blocking them from their own side of London which meant their initial guesses were wrong.

The genius was never wrong on something like that. So it meant that someone clever was down there and not just the sort of clever that was haphazardly tossed about.

Someone actually clever was down there.

That was a worrying prospect, the lack of communication with Chaldea meant there was a very good chance they were not allies.

Which meant this required her full attention-

Her communicator started blinking next to her, her eyes briefly flickered away from what she was working on and towards it. It was coming through on the priority channel so someone apparently wanted to talk with her desperately.

It might have been the control room, but she had left that up to Pharros.

The woman was capable enough.

With a gentle sigh, she put down her tools in her left hand and reached over to press the button without looking at the screen. "Ciao, chiamante!" She spoke in an upbeat tone to hide her slight stress "You've reached the workshop of the resident genius, how can she help you on this fine day~"

She expected a response, then frowned when she didn't get one.

Turning her head towards the screen "Hey! I put my soul into that greeting, the least you could do was say…" she trailed off, blinking several times at the screen.

The thing on the other end blinked in response.

Its head was arrow shaped, the snout thinned out the further it got from the face and horns jutted from the back of the crest like skull, the head twisted and she got a glimpse of a glowing eye through the screen as it stared at her up and down.

The head pulled back and granted Da Vinci a better look at her unusual caller.

"Well." Leonardo blinked, then crossed her arms over her chest "Who might you be?"

The eye blinked once "...Kalameet." the voice rumbled from the other side of the communicator "Hmmm. I was not expecting this…" they spoke further.

"Just out of curiosity…where did you get this?"

"The disk? Akal said she picked it up after the Chaldeans dropped it and fled…" Kalameet paused as if considering something, then tilted his head at Da Vinci "Are you one of the Chaldeans?"

She placed her hand beneath her chin "And if I said I was?"

"Hmmmm." Kalameet hummed thoughtfully "Would you…be willing to talk?"

"Talk?" Leonardo did quite well to hide her surprise at the sudden question "And what would you be wanting to talk about?" she looked over him once again, he had fairly draconic features and from what she had heard, the Singularity involved wyverns.

Yeah, it was clear that this individual was an enemy and yet he wanted to talk.

There was a distinct lack of aggressive boasting as well.

"I…would like to know what this is." Kalameet said, then reached for the screen and pushed his finger through the hologram before he withdrew it, staring at the limb "Hmmm. I cannot touch you? Are you…are you some manner of ghost?"

"...A ghost?"

"I have heard of them but never seen one." Kalameet replied, his voice betraying his obvious confusion "But…they all had stories of being untouchable? I believe…though I might be mistaken."

"I am not a ghost." Leonardo informed him, leaning back into her seat and raising an eyebrow "Suffice to say what you're holding is just something that lets me talk through very long distances." she grinned "I designed it myself, you know! Made to withstand all measures of stress and damage!" she paused for a moment "Don't test that though."

Kalameet's expression was hard to discern, though that might have been as a result of his inhuman face. "You made this…small metal thing?"

"If you want the technical name it is the 'Advanced Communication Disk' or the ACD, for short." She boasted with a proud smile, even in front of the enemy she would never lose out on the chance to boast.

"A…C…D?" Kalameet replied slowly before shaking his head "You made this to talk with others without being close to them? I…did not know humans advanced so far." there was something in his tone that Leonardo picked up on instantly.

"Oh~" She grinned "You sound impressed!"

"I am." He didn't deny it in the least "I am wondering if my own people might one day make something like this."

Leonardo leaned forwards, inclining her head at the dragon "And just what is it you hope for your people?"

"I'm taking over this land so that we dragons have a home of our own." Kalameet explained easily, watching the woman's reaction. Leonardo blinked once before nodding her head several times "You…have no words for it?"

"Well, I can't say I was expecting it." Leonardo admitted with a shrug of her shoulders "The last time we fought dragons and wyverns, they were burning and destroying an entire country at the command of someone out for revenge."

"Was…that there only reason?"

"Yep." A quick nod of the head was his response.

"...Oh." His tone was clearly disappointed in the answer.

"Does that bother you?"

"It's just that…what is the point of destroying everything?" He replied with "Removing the old to build something new is…well, that is something I am still coming to terms with. But to destroy everything and leave it as a ruin seems to be a waste…"

"Hmmm." Leonardo turned back to her tools and resumed her work.

"Are you making something else?" Kalameet asked with intrigue, Leonardo almost laughed at how much like a child the rather imposing dragon sounded, that innocent tone in his voice was almost charming. A shame he was an enemy in the Singularity, but he understood that as much.

She thought so at least.

"You do know we are enemies, don't you?"

"We are opposed, yes. You fight for the future of humanity, I fight for the future of dragons." Kalameet simply stated "We have opposing goals but…I do not hate humans, though if you would not speak with me then I shall not speak with you."

"Well, I'm not going to tell you what I am working on because that would be a little revealing, wouldn't it?" Leonardo looked to him with amusement "I'm not asking you what you're building-"

"I'm cutting down trees to make my own Camelot."

That time, Leonardo did pause "...Your own Camelot?"

"Yes."

"Why are you telling me that?" She looked to Kalameet with obvious confusion, something that prompted a blink from the dragon.

"An equal exchange of information. I tell you what I am building and you tell me what you are building." He tilted his head "I…would very much like to know. I have never built things before so I think that speaking with you will let me learn."

"Ohohoho! An up and coming inventor, are we?" Leonardo grinned more openly "But I still can't tell you, it's supposed to be a secret…but, it will let us talk to our other friends that are in danger elsewhere."

"Oh, that makes sense. You are worried about your brothers and sisters. Hmmm. If mine were in danger, I would be concerned as well." The dragon hummed "Inventor? That was the word you used…is that what you call someone who makes things?"

"Yes it is." Leonardo nodded her head, turning back to her work and continuing on. She could multitask making the booster for the communications and speak with this unexpected caller at the same time. "And you are speaking to perhaps the greatest inventor in human history! The one and only Leonardo Da Vinci!~"

She didn't get the applause she was hoping for.

"Hmmm. Are you famous among humans?"

"...Quite a bit, yes."

"I see. I am not human so I do not know you."

"I have gathered as much, yes."

"But you claim to be the best inventor?"

"I don't claim so much as I know."

Kalameet hummed in response "The best inventor…can we speak further? Though I suppose we are enemies."

"Well…I am a little curious about a dragon who fancies himself an apprentice inventor…I suppose I can spare a couple minutes. Especially since you managed to call me directly, although I suspect it was by accident." She paused for a moment "Though I hope you understand I am rooting for you to lose."

"I would be surprised if you were cheering for my victory." Kalameet honestly remarked before he frowned "Though the scaleless one did…hmmm. No. Nevermind." he dismissed and looked back to the inventor "So…you make things?"

AN: Yep. Kalameet talking with Leona and all the fun stuff!

Anyway!

You will be happy to know that in the next chapter, the two groups are finally going to meet!