Chapter 135: A reunion
Da Vinci wasn't sure what she had been expecting from Kalameet as she roughly explained the 'Incineration of Human History' in layman's terms. She had specifically done so to ensure that the dragon could understand it.
She wasn't going to call him an idiot, because he wasn't if his curiosity and willingness to ask questions was any indication.
What he was, however, was ignorant. Through no true fault of his own as she suspected he had no real way of understanding in the first place, the Incineration wasn't just something that the average Servant could understand and it was only through Gwyndolin's proclaimed experience in temporal irregularities that he had even understood a fraction of what had occurred before he came to Chaldea.
Regardless, the Caster explained everything they more or less knew about the Incineration and what it actually was. The fracturing of Human History in key sections with the end goal being of destroying it, or at least that is what they could infer so far.
His eyes had directed themselves upwards as she made mention of the Band of Light in the atmosphere, he'd stared at that for a few moments before returning his attention to her.
Kalameet had been silent through the entire conversation, even as she explained the degradation of Mystery and why the Dragons had retreated to the reverse side of the world. Hence their complete lack of a presence in this time period before his arrival and why their numbers had dwindled out.
He spoke not a word, nor did he look in her direction when she had finished speaking.
The Dragon simply stared out towards the horizon, his hand balled into a fist and his chin resting atop it. That was how he remained as he held the communicator in the free limb, still sat atop a rock and in a pose reminiscent of a thinker. What he was currently thinking of was something Da Vinci could only hazard a guess.
She'd admit that a part of her was expecting him to shout and rage, to throw his magical energy around and call her a liar. That was only a very small part of her though, in truth this was the reaction she had been expecting most of all.
Dead silence, neither words of denial nor pleas of desperate hope.
Just silence.
Kalameet's body shifted, taking in a small lungful of air before he sighed out. "A Singularity." He spoke out after a few moments "I live in history that has already occurred and you are from the future where it had happened and intend to protect it."
"...Yes."
"If my goal continues, even if it is not my aim, it will result in the extinction of the entire human race." Kalameet spoke slowly, pausing to take in another lungful of air before he breathed out his next sentence "And even if I succeed…this era would be wiped out regardless, rendering all my hard work, all our struggles…pointless."
Da Vinci didn't answer him that time, still staring at him with an expression devoid of emotion.
Kalameet turned to her, inclining his head slightly "Is that not right? If my people win…yours will die? Then we will soon follow when the history behind us collapses as well."
"...Aren't you going to call me a liar?"
"Why would I call you a liar? You have told nothing but the truth." Kalameet bluntly replied, turning his head away.
"I could just be making it all up, stringing together a very elaborate story in order for you to lose heart and make it easier for us to defeat you." She pointed out in response, a light frown on her features "I could be doing that, using our built up good will to my own advantage and playing you for a fool."
"Are you?" The crimson eye at the side of Kalameet's head darted in her direction, locking gazes with her and holding them for what felt like an eternity of silence, the two held the complete attention of the other for that brief moment.
Da Vinci sharply turned her head, breaking eye contact with Kalameet but not answering. Not that she needed to, however. Kalameet knew the answer already.
"Hmmm." A low hum came from him, the hand propping up his chin fell down onto his lap and remained there while he brought the communicator around to his front. Looking down at the screen at Da Vinci "...What do you think we did wrong?"
Da Vinci's attention returned to him, a curious eyebrow was raised in the direction of the dragon whose own attention was elsewhere, still locked onto the horizon "Pardon?"
"Us." Kalameet pointed to himself "Dragons, wyverns, wyrms…all of us. What do you think we did wrong?" he looked down at her, tilting his head and speaking in a voice of complete innocence "I'm curious…be it my own land where the Gods slaughtered us all without exception, ensuring we would never again be as we once were…Or this land, where the very planet exiled us to another realm to remain forever."
He exhaled, his eyes closing "I pondered it for many years after my escape of our fate, I wondered why we were killed. I believed I had found the answer recently but the question that plagued me for so long had now returned." the eyes opened up again "So…what did we do to deserve this fate upon us? Where did we go wrong that we…"
Da Vinci thinned her lips "Not everything happens because people deserve it. Some good men deserve long life and instead die too soon, some evil men deserve death and live long happy lives. That's the thing with the world, it was never fair to begin with. Everything that happens just happens…you can put it down to divine providence or to destiny but the end result doesn't change. Bad things still happened."
"Bad things happen for no reason." Kalameet commented, his voice devoid of feeling "That is the answer then, is it? The reason for it all is…there is no reason. My people are robbed of their chance again and again…just because?"
"...Yeah."
"Why you?" Kalameet asked, eyes narrowed "Why humans? What made us so different, what made you so special that the world chose you over us…what was the difference? Where did you go right, where we went wrong?"
"Humans are pretty weak." Da Vinci stated as if that explained everything, Kalameet blinked once and then tilted his head. The woman raised a single finger to stop whatever else he was going to say. "Homo Sapiens were consistently the 'underdog' in the situation. We're not all that strong, we're not all that durable and compared to even the mundane predators in the world we don't stack up well."
Kalameet frowned "Weakness is a quality of power?"
"Of course it is. When you're weak, you're aware of how easily you can lose. Be it your life or your next meal or something else you love. When you are weak, you know you can't go it alone so you form little tribes to protect yourself better. Getting food is hard because the big prey are much stronger than you, so you find a method to kill them from a distance. You see what I am saying here?"
"Weakness…inspired you to try better?"
Da Vinci nodded "As a dragon, you're powerful. Absurdly powerful, so what have you to fear? What have you to change about yourself to fix any weakness you have?" her lips were pursed "You don't. Protecting yourself is a simple matter of opening your mouth and spewing fire, so you don't need to form groups. Prey? You're as physically touch as a Phantasmal can come, so what do you need to worry about prey being stronger than you."
"...But that is…dragons are…"
"You might have weak individuals, but you are a strong species. We had strong individuals, but are a weak species. That's the difference, we have plenty of reasons to keep pushing and bettering ourselves, whereas you didn't. A human will understand they are weak from the moment they are born to the moment they die, acutely understanding that anything can kill them. For a dragon? What do they have to fear from anything but another dragon?"
"I'm changing us now, though." Kalameet argued, pressing a hand against his chest "I'm working to make us different! To have us better ourselves-"
"Because you know of your own weakness. As you said…the Gods killed your people, so you know you're not stronger than they are. You know what can kill you and what to watch out for, so you're better than most but the list of things you had to fear is still pretty small. If I were to put it another way…Humans are constantly aware of the fear of dying, so that propels them onwards."
"Then our crime was we weren't scared enough?"
"Those who come from weakness, understand the value of strength. Those from strength, cannot comprehend weakness. That was simply it, in the grand scheme of things…Humans were chosen because we keep pushing onwards to understand and correct any weaknesses we have. Your weaknesses were few and far between…in effect…You were too good for your own good."
"Too powerful for our own good." Kalameet parroted the words back to her, mulling them over in his head "We were too strong and that never inspired us to change? Or so it went for my people in this world…"
"Pretty much." Da Vinci nodded in affirmation "I can't make judgements for your people back home, but what do you think they would have done?"
Kalameet was silent, considering his experiences for a few moments before he exhaled "Nothing. I am what I am because of my experiences…But my entire people could not think as I have. Maybe we would be different or maybe we wouldn't." another gentle sigh "I suppose it is not going to do much good right now, is it?"
"Hmmmm." Da Vinci hummed in response, her lips pursed "So…what are you going to do now?"
"Now?" Kalameet muttered before nodding once, rising into a standing position "Now, I'm going to find a way to save us. If the world deems us wrong, if history wants us dead…I will reject them both. Our people came before the world was formed, from when time did not exist. What do I care for the demands of concepts I am older than?"
He turned to Da Vinci "My answer is that my quest remains unchanged, my ideal is now further from my grasp but will perhaps never be as close again. If I did not take this chance, this impossible hope for my people to finally better ourselves…when would another emerge?"
Da Vinci responded with a mirthful huff "I suspect it wouldn't. So, you're still going along with it then?"
"I am. It will make us enemies but I cannot weigh mankind's survival against the impossible future for my people when it stands before me."
"I'm not condoning you, it's nothing for me to complain about. It really is an impossible chance that will probably never happen again." She smirked "I'd say reaching for that goal and declaring you will do something like defying the World is actually…very human of you."
"You think so? In my current state I am probably part human due to the soul inside me." Kalameet commented as he ran his claws over his heart in an idle fashion "...I am curious about something though. If you can answer me."
"I'll talk for as long as we have time."
"Do you not have other concerns at present though?" Kalameet ventured "I would not seek to demand all your time…"
"Hey! Who do you think you're talking to?" Da Vinci cracked a confident smile, pointing at herself with her thumb "This universal genius can do whatever she likes with her time and still do everything she planned to."
"If you say so." Kalameet nodded in acceptance "I would like to know about the one who leads the Chaldeans here. White Flower."
Sa Vinci's expression faltered for a moment, then she rolled her lips inwards to muffle her laughter, raising one hand to cover her mouth as she turned her head away while the other was held towards the screen.
Kalameet stared at her laughing face for a few moments, then found himself frowning at her continued display of amusement. "Have I said something amusing to you?"
"N-no!" Da Vinci spoke in between chuckles, muffling her laughter as best she could and trying to control it so that she could continue speaking. "W-White flower." Another snicker followed the words, the woman leaning forwards and cupping her face with her hands. "Y-you said it with such a serious face that I couldn't."
"Couldn't…?" The dragon tilted his head and waited until she had stopped laughing, which went on for a longer timeframe than he had actually been expecting.
As her laughter died down, she wiped away the glimmers of tears around her eyes and flicked the water from her fingers. "Sorry about that." She apologised, still with mirth in her voice as she returned her attention to him "As for that, yes. 'White Flower' or as well call her here in Chaldea, Director Olga Marie Animusphere."
Kalameet blinked once "I thought her name was White Flower?"
"Nero calls her pale rose, so that must have been where you heard it from."
He said nothing for a few moments, then tilted his head "But if her name isn't White Flower…why would she be called that?"
"It's a nickname. It's cute and I personally find it highly amusing." Da Vinci explained with a winning smile.
"Nickname?"
"A little name you give to people you have closer bonds with. You might care for them more than others so you come up with a name that's a little more intimate than you otherwise would call them. For instance, someone I know calls me 'Leo' as opposed to my full name." She raised a single finger "But he's the only one allowed to do that, though. Before you get any ideas about calling me it."
Kalameet hummed in response "Names given to people you are close with? So people you care for more than others…is what you mean?"
"Yep."
"I see. Thank you, Vinci."
The woman raised an eyebrow "Already? That was quick."
"It is faster than saying your full name and it feels…different." Kalameet admitted, resting his free arm on his lap "Strange but calling you something like that feels correct, somehow."
"Well, I'm glad to know you care so much about me." Da Vinci grinned back at him before schooling her expression "As for the earlier point, why do you want to know about Director Animusphere?"
That prompted a noise of confusion from the dragon "Is it strange to want to learn about my opposite? We both fight for the same goal, though our desires are different. Therefore I would like to know what she is like as an individual. How different is she from me? When I meet her, I doubt there will be much time to discuss such things-"
"So you would like to know now, to get a good understanding of your 'rival' so to speak?"
"Rival…Yes, my rival." The dragon nodded his head at the word, it felt appropriate "She is my rival and I wish to learn who she is." turning his head to Da Vinci, he let out a low placating growl "Though if you do not wish to tell me, then you don't have to. It is not something I will force you to-"
"No, no. It's fine, I suppose." Da Vinci waved her hand at him "If you just want to know what she is like as a person, I suppose I can tell you that much."
"Is it acceptable?" Kalameet tilted his head "I did not wish to pressure you for information you cannot give me."
"I suppose I might get in a tiny bit-" She pinched her fingers together with just a millimetre of space in between them to emphasise her point. "-of trouble for talking to you in the first place without telling anyone else. But I would consider this something worth far more than a lecture." she assured him, noticing what she imagined to be the distressed face on him. "You care an awful lot for your enemies, don't you?"
"Well…just because we are on opposite sides does not mean we cannot treat each other equally. You have your own reasons and I have mine, there is no need for this to be a case of hatred." He grimaced, snout curling down in distaste as he turned away "I have…done enough of that. It's shocking how easy it is to kill out of anger…and for that to be your singular motivation."
"I was wondering why you felt so strongly about the wyverns in France." Da Vinci muttered back, cupping her chin between her fingers and giving the dragon a scrutinising look "So, that's how it was for you, was it?"
"Had it not been for my sisters, I don't know if I would have gotten to this point." Kalameet admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "It is an odd thing to consider, I had once thought all were equal but their experiences were different from mine from the very beginning. They could see…more of the world than I could and even you can." he waved his hand at Da Vinci "You see even more than them. But I would still treat you the same, even as an enemy…For the most part."
"That's just called having respect for someone." Da Vinci explained, nodding her head in understanding "You can see your siblings have more wisdom than you and you can respect their knowledge, your enemies have their own motivations just as you do so you respect those reasons. It is not a bad way of thinking." she assured him, giving a half smile "It makes you…well, it makes me a little bit sad." she pouted, crossing her arms "Why couldn't you be some revenge crazed murderer? I wouldn't feel so bad about the idea of you dying then."
Kalameet laughed, the noise sounded more like a jeep starting but the dragon laughed. The noise escaped him easily, placing a hand on his chest "I am sorry for disappointing you then." the mirth died down, tilting his head "Hmmm. Speaking with you has…I feel a little bigger than I was before." he tapped a single claw atop his chest "Like it…isn't as hollow."
"Speaking with you has been an experience for me as well." She pointed at him "And don't go apologising for the way you are. It might make me feel a little bad, but you're still contributing to the incineration of humanity in some aspects. Can't let that go on now, can we?"
"Of course not." Kalameet agreed easily "And as Chaldea represents a clear and present threat to my dream, I cannot let them continue to live either." he stated somewhat casually "That is the way it is. You have your own motives and I have mine. So long as we understand one another, there is no need for disrespect on either side."
"Hmmm. How nice." Da Vinci giggled, coughing into her hand and softening her expression "Now then…as for Director Animusphere. She's a bit temperamental, exceedingly demanding for the best, prone to panic and sometimes is a little too unaware of how people really think about her, she also has a nasty habit of comparing herself to her father. I say nasty because personally I hate the man."
Kalameet's brow ridges rose up, his eye on his forehead dilated considerably as he stared at the woman. He hadn't been expecting those string of words, not least of all the blunt statement that she hated the Olga human's progenitor.
"But-" Da Vinci continued on, her expression shifting to be more genuine "I don't think you will find someone in Chaldea more dedicated to this than her. It might be a point of pride for her but…I think she really does believe in it." she looked to the dragon, explaining further "The future, I mean. Under that tough exterior of hers…She really is the type of girl that cares. She might struggle to show it at times, thinking the worst instead but she does care."
Kalameet was silent for a few moments, nodding his head up and down as his eyes flickered around to indicate he was thinking. "So that is what she is like then." He simply stated after a few moments. "One who does believe in the future and cares for her people?"
"Yep."
"...That's good." Kalameet exhaled, drumming his fingers on his leg "That is good. I wasn't sure what to expect but…for one who fights for their own future, that is good. I look forward to meeting her then." he nodded to Da Vinci "You can tell her about me, if you have not already. It is only fair that we learn about one another."
"You aren't concerned about your true name?"
"I introduced myself to a Dragon Slayer within the first few seconds of speaking with him." Kalameet bluntly replied "I would introduce myself to all without concern. She will learn my name from you or from me, I will introduce myself once again regardless of what you choose."
"...You're a little carefree, aren't you?"
"Am I?" Kalameet blinked "I think I might be rather…" he frowned, lifting his hand up "When I think of the future, my body tingles. My hand sometimes shakes and I don't know why…."
"That's a different sort of stress, although it could also be excitement for the future." Da Vinci pointed out "But I was going to tell them anyway, but it's nice to know you accept me doing that and give me permission. Makes me feel a little less guilty." a pause "I probably wasn't going to feel too guilty anyway, but taking advantage of your naivety would feel a little underhanded to me."
Kalameet merely hummed in response, his claws raking against his chin as he continued to think to himself. "Hmmm. If you say so, as you can imagine we didn't have…much before the Flame."
Da Vinci pursed her lips, a curious expression fluttering across her features before she opened her mouth "What was it like before 'The Flame'?" She could tell the question caught Kalameet by surprise, judging by the way he abruptly jolted and turned to face her. "I've heard a lot about it and from what you're telling me, it basically made the world what it is, but you're older than it. So what was it like?"
Kalameet was silent, staring at Da Vinci with an indiscernible look upon his reptilian face before he closed his eyes and exhaled. "It was…different." He shrugged his shoulders "That is the best way I can explain it. There was…everything was different. It was a world without disparity, all were equal and identical. We did not have individuals and we did not change our number. Eternal and Everlasting since…" he made a noise of puzzlement "I have a perfect recollection of everything that ever occurred to me and I have no knowledge of a time where I did not exist. None of us did…before the flame we simply were."
Da Vinci cupped her chin "That would mean you arrived at the same time the planet was formed…and it underwent no changes for the entirety of that period. The very first form of life for who knows how long, except the world didn't have anything…No concepts of comparison or the like, a world without…change."
She was silent for a few moments, then made a small noise "Sounds completely alien to me. Also more than a little boring."
"We understood neither boredom nor excitement." Kalameet countered, although his own tone of voice was lacking in intensity. "We simply existed and that was how we…I will not say 'lived' because there was neither life nor death."
Da Vinci made a face "Hang on a moment, how can you exist if there is no concept of life?"
"My form before the change was made of stone." Kalameet simply explained "We all were, beings of stone and…after the Flame we became alive, so to speak. Before it was akin to…I cannot explain it well. Perhaps I don't know enough words or perhaps I just cannot explain it to someone who wasn't there at all."
"No, no. I get it…You were Elementals." Da Vinci hummed to herself, giving the dragon a new look "Elementals who looked exactly like dragons, or you were dragons that had the same characteristics of elementals. Obviously not anymore but at the same time you were…Hmmm. Now that is interesting. So, the flame comes and what do you feel?"
"Change." Kalameet bluntly responded "Everything just changed. It was something we became aware of. We had no emotions and were suddenly bombarded with awareness of the entire planet. Fear, joy, happiness and anger was…overwhelming. The panic was the first to set in as we tried to understand what had been done to us but we never arrived at any conclusion."
"I imagine so. You were basically an entire race of newborns."
"That was another thing that happened. Births…new dragons." Kalameet looked at her "Can you imagine it? Our number was unchanging since the beginning of all and then suddenly more of our people appeared? There were…differences, though. Some lacked our stone scales and had different ones and then others had two wings instead of four." Kalameet growled under his breath "The first of the new dragons though…Was scaleless. Pale-skin and full of resentment. He wanted our scales but could never have them but…I don't know what he did but he helped the flame-kin fashion a method of destroying us."
"Hmmm. I see."
"Few survived…had it not been for the actions of the Light-kin offspring, we would have all perished." Kalameet fell silent for a moment, then shook his head "But this is not what you asked. As for before the flame…I don't know, as for after the flame it was a jumbled mess. We understood nothing and had nothing to learn from. No examples to follow and no method to understand the world. The Flame-kin attacked during this confusion."
The dragon was silent for a few more moments, then exhaled "After my escape I drifted the world. Moving from place to place and…There is a reason they call me the Dragon of Calamity. Without knowing it, my heart burned with anger and jealousy towards humans and Gods that they lived while we died. So I would see towns and cities and…I just despised seeing them."
"So you destroyed them." Her voice was blunt and her tone bereft of judgement, it was a simple statement of fact but the dragon still flinched at the words.
"I did. I destroyed them for the sake of destroying them because I just hated seeing it. I didn't want to see it, see what my people died too, see what was built atop our graves so…" He shrugged his shoulders "I burned and destroyed without ending, then I encountered the one of Dark and he did something to me. It was as though a hole in my chest was filled and my body warped overnight. It was painful but when the pain left me…I felt different. So I lingered in the land a little longer, trying to make sense of these feelings."
"Did you?"
"No, I was shot from the sky by a Giant and then killed by a human." Kalameet bluntly stated, not sounding too distraught by his end "I did get this chance to make sense of these emotions though. So I will not destroy without meaning ever again and my envy of humanity has faded. We have our chance now…if it fails, it will be my fault for not being strong enough."
"Alright then." Da Vinci nodded her head several times, drumming her fingers on the desk and then turning back to the device she was working on. "I'm almost done with this, so I'll soon be heading up somewhere we can't speak. So don't feel lonely if I'm not talking to you."
"There are others I can speak with."
"Maybe. But there's only one universal genius who can bestow her wisdom upon you!"
"You like to congratulate yourself a lot, don't you?"
"Of course I do. Someone has to and what's wrong with a little confidence in your own abilities, Mr 'I'm going to reject the world!'." She joked with a teasing smile, Kalameet let out a sigh and shook his head from side to side.
"I cannot say you are wrong. This has been an interesting talk. I hope we will speak again before the end."
"...I think that would be alright as well." Da Vinci nodded her head in agreement, then pointed at him "I still hope you lose, though." a pause "Also you need to guess what I painted!"
Kalameet gave a mirthful huff "I hope you lose as well." he countered, earning a roll of the eyes from Da Vinci "And I will make a guess, as soon as I can." he looked down at the device in his hands "...How do I work this?"
"The button in the top right corner is blue. Press that gently to turn it off."
"Ah, I see." Kalameet nodded his head, moving a claw and extending a single finger towards the glowing blue button, halting just shy of touching it. "Until we speak again."
"Until then!"
He pressed the button, shutting off the communicator and rising up from his seated position. That was a long conversation and one that he felt was very fruitful, there was a clarity of mind about him now. The world fit together nicely in front of him, perhaps he would encounter stress as he built up his Kingdom, but for now it was simply a matter of winning the battle.
He could focus on that simply enough, turning around as he strode in the direction of the Archtree, the communicator gently cupped in his left hand so as to not allow any damage to come upon it. He didn't know if Akal had figured out what the contraption did, but that didn't matter to him so much.
Kalameet was glad he got to speak with someone like Vinci before the end, win or lose.
Olga watched as the Servant atop the cat continued to pace around in front of the group, still keeping a respectful distance but their nature was still dubious enough.
"This is stupid." Olga bluntly stated after a few moments, earning a curious glance from Marie to her right as she pinched the bridge of her nose "Months of Chaldea encountering lucid, if slightly unhinged, Berserkers and the one time we encounter one in the field they are actually behaving as the class dictates they should?"
Marie gave her a sympathetic smile, reaching out and gently patting her on the back in a reassuring way. The fact the Director didn't even attempt to spurn the physical attention was either proof that she was getting a little better or proof that she just didn't care anymore. One of the two, at least.
"I'm sure that whoever spoke with us over the wind is going to explain everything." Marie suggested, giving the Berserker and the large cat a glance from the corner of her eye. The beast gave off a strange aura and she'd noticed Brynhildr had been on edge ever since it arrived.
The same with Torin, the pair of them had been holding their weapons a touch tighter ever since they laid eyes upon the cat, she hadn't actually spoken with either of them about it however.
"Could be worse, I say." Cu mumbled behind them, leaning on his staff and maintaining his focus on the cat and Servant "At least they ain't dragons, we would know they were hostile if they were."
That was a silver lining, Olga supposed. Her hand lowered and was placed upon her hip as her face turned more calculating. "So how long do you suppose we would have to wait?"
Cu made a thoughtful face for a few moments, then shrugged his shoulders. "No idea. Launching your voice over the wind ain't easy and judging by the fact we've been here waiting for a good few minutes with no sign of anyone except tongue biter over there and his feline friend, I'd say we'll be waiting a good few minutes more."
Rolling her eyes, Olga looked down at her communicator on her wrist and activated it, this time blinking as instead of Meuniere it was Romani's face that showed up. "What are you doing? I thought I ordered you to bed?"
Romani nodded his head up and down, fighting back a yawn as he rubbed his eyes "I know and I got a couple of hours sleep, so that's better than nothing." he added on, then nodded away from the woman and to somewhere else "But Kerry was saying that Leo called the control room and said she had finished working on the signal amplifier and was heading up to the command room now."
Olga raised an eyebrow "And how do you factor into this?"
Romani slumped "Leo initially thought I was lazing about in my room and then came to get me." reaching up, he scratched his cheek and gave an awkward smile "Then she found out I was actually sleeping and told me to just stay in bed…"
"And you are not currently in bed because…?"
"...I figured being in bed right now was a pretty bad thing to be doing." He exhaled, looking down for a moment before he shook his head and refocused on the screen "Besides, I got some sleep so I'm all good to go. At least until we make contact with Fujimaru-kun, then I can rest easier than I was doing…" he looked over the top of the screen to somewhere else "Meuniere was telling me about what happened and I looked over the readings, so I'm more or less up to speed."
Olga grunted "Where is Pharros?"
"Hey." Romani made a noise as he suddenly found his personal space invaded by the aforementioned Caster, the woman leaning over the doctor and grinning at the Director "I had a look over the encounter and reviewed the footage."
"Very well, your assessment?"
"Never heard of Akal before in my life." She bluntly stated, shrugging once "The design that was recorded though? Definitely an everlasting dragon which is…really strange because there shouldn't have been any of those left in the world after their war with the Gods. Well…except for Seath the Scaleless but he definitely wouldn't be anything like that." she waved her hand dismissively "So, weaknesses would be lightning miracles, those were what the Gods used to-"
"We were made aware of that much." Olga cut off the Caster, the woman blinked once and then looked to Romani, the man shrugged his shoulders and the pair returned their attention to the Director. "We have a general plan on how to engage the Servant again, what I need to be made aware of is if we are being approached or not? We made contact with another Servant, the Berserker from the Third Singularity, and they are awaiting the arrival of another group of Servants or magi."
"That is…a lot of information to take in." Pharros muttered back before shaking her head "Alright then, expanding the sensors…" she leaned over Romani, the man made a noise of discomfort as she pressed against his shoulder and started to fiddle with the keyboard without even addressing the man whose job it actually was in the first place. "Annnnd there we go!" grinning, she leaned back and rested her left arm on the back of Romani's chair.
"Seriously?" Romani mumbled under his breath "I could have done that…" he leaned forwards and frowned "Yeah, you've got several Servant signatures incoming from the north but…" he raised his brows "You've got an exact copy of the cat thing in front of you along with what looks like a couple hundred humans as well."
Olga widened her eyes, feeling a faint glimmer of hope swell inside her "Humans, you mean to say more survivors?"
"Could be." Romani nodded his head, his own expression getting lighter "With the readings we're getting on the Saint Graph of the approaching Servants, they aren't all that weak either and all of them have a reading of Divinity of some nature or another. Although one of them looks a little odd…" he thinned his lips "It seems close enough to the 'Abyss' readings we got in Rome but it doesn't appear as unstable."
Olga cupped her chin, frowning in thought as she recalled what they knew of it "Abyss…that was what they referred to as the Dark Soul gone out of control, I believe." she nodded to herself "Which would mean that a more stable reading would imply that this is perhaps one of the original holders before the soul became what we saw in Rome."
Romani shrugged, then looked towards Pharros behind him for any suggestions.
The Caster blinked as she suddenly found herself the centre of attention "I don't know anything about the Dark Soul." she admitted unashamedly. "You'd be better off asking one of the resident Gods we have."
Olga sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose "Fine, we will assume as much for now." she lowered her hand "But the readings you speak of mean that there were indeed other Servants summoned much further North and have been working their way down south."
"So…we might get some reinforcements after all." Cu cheered with a smirk, looking down at the Director as he leaned over her "And if they're coming from dragon territory with a couple hundred survivors, then they're good at their jobs or very skilled not to get detected." he looked up at the pacing tiger and snorted "My guess is on the first one though."
"Same here." Romani nodded along "Saint Graph readings identify them as two Sabers, a Berserker and a Caster. Combined with the Berserker in front of you that would make for a grand total of five Servants in one group." he made a noise "And considering they would be without a Master…there must be someone pretty charismatic or something there."
Olga blinked "How do you figure that?"
"He's not wrong." Cu gave a begrudging nod to the doctor "With most of us, we have different methods of doing stuff as we all come from different time periods. Depending on what class we get summoned as, our personality can overgo a radical change." he grimaced "Like if I was summoned as a Berserker, I wouldn't be nearly as reasonable and would have charged straight up north and killed anyone who tried to stop me. Five Servants working together well enough to keep that many people safe? Someone knows what they're doing."
"Then we will have to wait until they arrive." Olga nodded her head, then looked over to where Torin was still glaring at the Berserker Servant and the large cat "Tell him about the news and get him to stop glaring, the last thing we need is for us to be starting needless fights with potential allies."
Considering all the ground behind them had been covered and, barring any more stubborn Servants like Torin, there was a good chance they were going to bolster their forces considerably after this encounter.
All they needed to do was wait.
"How far away are they?"
"About a mile or so." Romani replied as he squinted "Maybe a little further? At their current rate they'll be with you…within the hour." he guessed "I suppose all we need to do is wait for-"
"Resident genius appears!~"
"-that." Romani finished with a roll of his eyes, both he and Pharros turned around as Da Vinci burst into the room with a small metallic box under her arm.
"Ah, you're here as well." Rather than appearing off put, Da Vinci instead grinned wider at the appearance of Pharros in the command room. "You can bear witness to my latest invention that should break through some of the interference." she boasted, moving towards the terminal and placing the box down. "I modified one of the ACD's in order to try and boost the signal. So it should work to get in touch with Fujimaru and the others!" There was a pause. "It might take a while, but it should work."
"Excellent." Olga nodded her head and spoke in a pleased tone of voice "Perhaps we shall finally be able to get a report as to why they failed to make a call back to Chaldea."
"Hmmmhmmm." Da Vinci nodded her head "In the meantime, Director, I believe you lost the backup communicator that you were sent out with." the woman mentioned almost casually as she worked to set up the device on the terminal, flipping it open and pressing several buttons. Then turned to flash Olga a carefree smile.
The Director blinked once "Excuse me?" she made an indignant noise "I would never-" she trailed off, feeling the usual weight of the disk in her left pocket was now suspiciously empty. "But that doesn't…" she trailed off, widening her eyes as she slapped her hand over the empty pocket and looked around "How can…the fight with the Servant."
Marie blinked "But that was hours ago." she stated with a raised eyebrow, then looked to Da Vinci "And how do you know she lost it?"
"All our equipment has tracking systems built into them." Da Vinci explained as she turned back to the equipment "It helps in case we lose something or need to monitor the location of anyone in the Singularity." she paused for a moment, then chuckled "It also helps to know the communicator isn't in the hands of the person you sent it out with when they actually call you up."
She let the words settle for a few moments, then darted her eyes away to see the heads of everyone had swivelled in her direction.
"...Excuse me?" Olga raised an eyebrow, looking at Da Vinci in a dumbfounded manner "What do you mean…called us?"
"Well, they called me specifically." Da Vinci explained with a shrug of her shoulders "They hit the priority message by mistake and we got to chatting."
"You have been in dialogue with one of our enemies and you're mentioning this now!?"
"Well, I only finished my conversation with them about ten minutes ago." Da Vinci replied as if that explained anything "There wasn't much of an opportunity to inform you without hanging up and calling you and that would be incredibly rude, especially since it was a rather stimulating conversation."
"What the heck did you even talk about?" Romani asked with an utterly baffled face, leaning back and looking the Caster up and down "And how long did you talk?"
"A couple of hours."
Olga made a strangled noise and Marie's brows rose, Pharros let out an impressed whistle and Romani just sighed and rubbed his face.
"And we talked about the renaissance." Da Vinci explained "We also talked about all sorts of other stuff like paintings." she snorted "He had no idea who I was and he asked if I was a painter."
Olga opened her mouth and closed it several times "Wha-what does that have to do with anything in the Singularity?"
"Quite a lot, actually." Da Vinci shrugged as she stepped away "We got to talking about motives and his are actually very understandable, of course we can't allow them to go through but they're very understandable."
Marie tilted her head, now slightly interested "What are his motives?"
Da Vinci gave a hum "He wants to build a Kingdom for Dragons." she explained "Imagine human society, but instead of humans it was dragons." was the additional information she added on "That is basically what this entire Singularity is about, he's clearing the land of the natives to make his own little settlement. It's basically a repeat of colonialism except this time, humans are the Native's and the Dragon's are the settlers."
Olga opened and closed her mouth several times "That is…what? That can't be…" she furrowed her brows, squinting at Da Vinci in complete confusion "Is that…Are you being serious?"
"Oh, yes." Da Vinci nodded once "Like I said, understandable motives. He's a dragon who wants to make something of his people. That's all he really is."
"But he can't-" Olga blurted out "The Age of Mystery is vanishing and he exists within a Singularity, anything he created here would be crushed by the world or wiped out as history itself collapses! His goal is utterly-"
"Impossible?" Da Vinci cut her off with a knowing look "I told him as much as well. You know what he said to me? 'I reject a world that says my people must die' or along those lines." she gave a genuinely impressed smile "Quite a character and surprisingly charming."
"Were you flirting with the enemy?" Romani asked with an odd tone of voice as he stared at the woman, Da Vinci merely grinned teasingly at him.
"Awwww~ Are you jealous?"
"Wha-no!"
"You don't need to be so bashful, Romani." Da Vinci rolled her eyes at him, then loosened her posture "And no. I would say his demeanour was…it was more like educating someone. That's why he was so interested in learning about the renaissance and the communication disk I found." she grinned "He was actually incredibly praising of my abilities."
"Did you at least find out anything useful?" Olga asked, running a hand over her face and trying to make sense of the reveals and opting for a calmer approach.
"I did, actually." Da Vinci nodded her head "He told me his true name, although he didn't care about it in the least. Telling me he told a dragon slayer the exact same thing before they fought. He also appears to have some understanding of Camelot as well, telling me he was going to build his own version." she leaned back, crossing her arms "I think it curious that he was ignorant to human society as a whole but was aware of Camelot specifically."
"That…" Olga opened her mouth, then closed it. That was actually a good point, someone who had no knowledge of the renaissance and… "Did you tell him your true name?"
"Yes."
She bit down a response to that "And he still asked if you were a painter?"
"Indeed."
That was just baffling to her, aware of a very little about humans except Camelot? Which meant someone spoke of it.
"Wait a moment here…" Romani cupped his chin "So someone tells him about Camelot and the Lancer you fought on your first night…" he turned in his chair, pressing several buttons on the keyboard "Her style of fighting was almost a match for King Arthur in Fuyuki and going by the same style of magical energy distribution and dragon core…" he cupped his chin "King Arthur was said to have a sword and a spear as well. Excalibur being the Sword for when they are a Saber and the other weapon would be Rhongomyniad."
Olga paled slightly "King Arthur, again?"
"It is as possible a guess as any." Romani admitted with a wince "It could very well be a stretch, but it fits all the pieces of the puzzle really conveniently."
"Forget that for the moment, the true name of the Servant you spoke with?"
"Hmmm. Yes, he called himself Kalameet." Da Vinci nodded her head "Considering I have never heard of him before…" she trailed off, making gestures with her hands.
"One would assume he's from the other world as well." Olga inferred with a nod of the head, thinning her lips. "I will question the Servants, ask around Chaldea and see if there are any who recognise the name-"
"Kalameet is the Dragon of Calamity." Pharros rattled off immediately, bringing the attention onto her "One of the more famous dragons purely because they had a name. Right up there with Seath but for entirely different reasons. Mainly because Kalameet was regarded as the last survivor of the true Everlasting Dragons from the Age of Ancients. He was killed some time in the distant past for me and his body was cut up and forged into weapons and armour for some cultists or something like that."
"...Very well then." Olga coughed, surprised at how easy the information was to get "What else does his legend state?"
"Hmmm? Oh, that's it." Pharros replied "He was a dragon from the Age of Ancients who survived into the Age of Fire. I guess…The person who killed them isn't really mentioned at all and all I know is that the Gods didn't go near him, although the story changed depending on which Kingdom I was visiting at the time. Either Kalameet was too skilled at hiding for their hunters or he was so strong that they could not beat him in open combat…or they just didn't care enough to hunt him down."
A shrug "Like I said, it changes from story to story. A couple rumours here and there that he became an Abyss dragon but no one ever confirmed that so…" Pharros waved her hand "I wouldn't put too much stock in that one."
"Then what we know is that we might be facing King Arthur, again, a dragon no one has ever heard of, a dragon that is known but is either one who specialises in escaping, is strong enough to challenge Gods or just isn't worth the effort in battling to begin with?" Olga listed off, her eye twitching with each point she made.
"More or less." Pharros casually remarked with a shrug of the shoulders, her lip twitching upwards "Is this how you folks usually do things around here? Because it sounds remarkably dangerous most of the time." the Caster then made a noise of dismissal "Not that I really have room to complain about it, though. I usually went around from place to place without putting much attention into learning about things so…I was pretty much in the dark wherever I went. It's actually how I work on the regular."
"That isn't-" Olga cut herself off, pinching the bridge of her nose and exhaling "...Nevermind." she lowered the hand and placed it on her hips "We'll think more on that later." she looked to where the other Servants were "We'll wait until everyone forms up and then regale the new Servants with this information as well. If they are unaware, there is no sense in repeating the same set of information twice over within so short a period of time."
"Alright then." Da Vinci commented from behind her, then tilted her head "So what are you going to do now then?"
"With that Servant camped out in front of us there is little chance of us getting past them without a fight." Olga stated, exhaling and looking back out towards the Servant in question. "In addition to this, with the news that there are perhaps two hundred refugees heading directly towards us headed by what looks like a number of potentially allied Servants. They are coming to us so there is no reason to move." turning her head away from the communicator, she stared out across the Norse they had accompanying them "At best, it would be easy to use this time to rest and recuperate. The people with us can exercise or something and we can assign Servants to watch until they arrive..."
She turned her head to look out for Cu, then squinted at him "He can establish a quick territory in the event of a situation but that is beside the point at present." Olga returned her focus to Da Vinci "That is what we shall do." then her eyes narrowed "And if you ever make contact with a hostile Servant again, for any reason, you will immediately inform Chaldea not whenever you feel like it or after you finish your conversation in order to avoid being rude." she pointed at the woman "You might gather information all you wish, I encourage it as it his been somewhat useful, but it is not so trivial a matter you can simply drop it into a conversation like that."
Da Vinci stared back at her, then nodded her head once "I'm probably going to talk with him again at some point. He also asked about you."
"...He what?"
"Yep. He wanted to know all about the type of person who was fighting against him."
Olga blanched "What did you tell him?"
Da Vinci regarded her with a blank face for a few moments before she made a small noise "I told him what we do at Chaldea, more or less, and that you were someone fighting for the future of humanity." she smiled "His response was that he was very happy with the type of person you were."
"...What?"
"Hmmm." The Caster nodded her head repeatedly, leaning on the desk "Is that odd? He said he looked forward to when he gets to meet you. Maybe I can call him again and you can speak to one another."
"I don't want to talk with him." Olga scowled "He's...His motives are irrelevant! He is a danger to all of human history so he needs to be eliminated."
"I know that, I told him as much myself." Da Vinci casually remarked "I told him repeatedly that I hoped he would lose."
"Really?" Romani looked up at her in surprise "And he just...kept speaking with you after that?"
"He said he would find it odd if I wasn't wishing for him to lose." Da Vinci replied with a half shrug "He's that sort of person, or dragon I should say."
"...Whatever." Olga stated after a few moments, closing her eyes and shaking her head "Keep me appraised of any new developments regarding Fujimaru's team and immediately alert me if Da Vinci tries to make contact with hostile Servants to discuss the weather or whatever else she intends to speak with them about." With that, she turned the communicator off.
The waiting wasn't as bad as had been expected, although the presence of the Berserker pacing back and forth across the giant cat was still a present source of concern, the lack of hostile movement for nearly half an hour managed to soothe some of the worst worriers amongst the group, convincing them that it was just going to stand there.
That being said, both Torin and Brynhildr never once parted their gaze from the beast.
"Oi." Cu called out, his voice spreading out across the camp and bringing the entire attention towards him. The Servants who weren't on watch turned to face him and stared at him, the man turned to face them and waved his hand. "They're approaching us now!"
Olga got up from where she was seated, and started to walk over to him. As she moved, she looked to her side and raised her brow as instead of Nero or Marie walking by her side it was Brynhildr, the Lancer was moving at a rapid pace with an apprehensive expression plastered upon her instead of the usual cold features.
From the looks of things, the woman was also fidgeting as well.
"The Servant has not made a move in the time they have been pacing around." Olga stated with a wave of the hand towards the large cat and Berserker still sitting atop it. "Is there something about them that has you continually on edge?"
"It is not that…" Olga now did a double take at the nervous and almost maidenly voice of the Lancer, actually stopping walking and staring at the woman. "It's just that…I feel a beating in my heart, a sense of tension that won't go away." red dusted her cheeks and she let out a faint moan "Ahhh…I feel this…I know this feeling…"
Olga stared at him for a few seconds before she blurted out "What is the matter with you?"
Brynhildr wet her lips, still staring out towards the gradually enlarging figures of the mob approaching them. "I know this, I know what this is…" Her eyes widened, her mouth parted and she felt her heartbeat quicken "He's here…" it started out as a whisper and gradually grew louder and louder as she repeated the words to herself "He's here! He's here! He's here!"
It devolved into a shout by the end of it, Olga actually stepping backwards and Cu from up ahead turning around and raising an eyebrow towards the shouting woman.
"The heck are you bellowing about?" He called out to them, placing a hand on his hip and tilting his head to the side "What are you trying to-Woah!"
He widened his eyes as the woman twirled the spear in her hands, narrowly avoiding striking Olga in the back of the head and buffeting the wind that it flopped down in his face. Olga herself released a panicked cry of alarm and fell down to the side as the Lancer rushed past her, the aftershock of her sudden burst of speed had her falling backwards into the snow.
Cu rolled to the side in order to avoid being run over by the Lancer as she charged down at full speed, the woman blurred past him without even registering his cries of alarm and moved full pelt towards the approaching group.
Olga made an annoyed noise as she flicked her hair back and glared at the back of the charging Lancer, then squinted her eyes and watched as a Servant towards the head the approaching pack separated from the group and advanced towards the advancing Lancer.
Despite the situation, the Servant had his arms spread wide with his pale coloured cape fluttering in the wind almost as if he was welcoming an old friend.
Then Brynhildr thrust her spear towards his head.