By the Bonfire: The Cost of Sin (Part I)
The room was oddly silent, at least aside from the intermittent beeping sound of the heart monitor, everything else remained quiet as it had always been. Her eyes remained fixed on the expression that seemed so peaceful, he looked as though he had fallen fast asleep, rather than experienced a complete drainage of his magical circuits.
No, it was more than that, it was as though he had been drained just enough to put him into this state but not enough to kill him. Whatever Servant had been inside his body, whatever 'Caster' they had been. They knew exactly what they were doing, flawlessly entering his body and keeping themselves hidden away inside while ensuring there was no permanent damage done to him.
But she couldn't speak to what had happened until he was awake once again, then she could lambast him to her heart's content for his complete and utter stupidity in allowing a Servant to enter his body. Did he think he was Mash Kyrielight? Did he suddenly get a big head because of his success and believe he could possibly endure the strength of a Servant within his own body? More to the point, why would he even accept the idea of allowing another entity- a being as powerful as a Servant - into his own mind and then treat it so casually.
There was no way of knowing what sort of damage they had done to Fujimaru's mind, they had already drained his magical energy to the very last drop, they had puppeted his body and made him kill multiple Servants - all with frightening ease, which spoke volumes of their ability - and managed to conceal their true name from even a Ruler Class Servant. She managed to get that little tidbit of information from Mash in the aftermath, it had been the first thing on her agenda.
Finding out who just took control of Fujimaru.
Then she found out he had allowed a Servant to enter his body without ever discovering their true name, nor making a real attempt to discover it. She hadn't even bothered to ask what else happened in the Singularity thus far, especially since there were very few alive who had been a part of the original team to tell them and those who were still around were too injured to debrief at the moment. Well, that wasn't wholly accurate, there was still Mash to debrief.
…And one other.
"Hmm?" She was brought back into the world around her by the repeated use of her name, turning towards the voice and finding Doctor Romani staring at her with a strained expression, his arms by his side, concerned slowly coming upon his features the longer he looked towards her. "Was there something else you needed to say?"
The doctor opened his mouth to speak, then slowly closed it again. Letting out a short breath from his nose. "Just that Fujimaru-kun's vitals appear to have stabilised. There is no telling when he will awaken again but physically he is in very good condition, though I would personally chalk that down towards the magical aid he received from our latest arrival…" he trailed off and slowly directed his eyes towards the corner of the room just over her shoulder.
She knew what he was looking at, just as she felt the screaming silence of her very presence, the rising of the hairs on the back of her neck as the individual just stared at them. Bringing her arms to her chest, she folded them over and slowly let out a breath. Nodding once to the doctor, she could at least trust Romani to do this aspect of his job; he had proven himself more than capable enough in the past. This was his field of expertise.
Rising up from her seated position, she slid the wheeled chair backwards, turning her attention back to Fujimaru upon the bed. "See to it he recovers."
Romani nodded back to her, sending one final look towards the individual in the corner and then back to Fujimaru, approaching the bed and looming over it for a brief moment before humming to himself and directing his attention to the many monitors and equipment that surrounded him. Reminding the doctor just how important Fujimaru was would be pointless, he understood that just as much as she did.
When he woke up, she could chide him for his recklessness all she wanted…
…The sight of his bloodied hands passed through her mind, his vacant expression staring up at the sky while the fading bodies of the Servants he killed surrounded her. No, not the Servants he killed. The Servants he was forced to kill with his own hands, presumably while he was powerless to actually do anything about it, a prisoner in his own body.
Her eyes lingered on his expression for a few moments longer, her features tightening slightly. A short breath escaped her nose as her eyes closed themselves. Shouting at him would do absolutely nothing, neither would yelling at him. She knew what Fujimaru was like, the naive idiot that he was. Screaming in his face about how foolish his actions were wouldn't do anything, certainly wouldn't make his mental state any better.
…So long as he just woke up, that would be an achievement for her at the moment. Whatever came next was…just something everyone would have to work with.
Turning back around, her eyes fell onto the Caster variation of Cu Chulainn, though she supposed he was now the only Cu Chulainn they had. Given that readings indicated the Lancer had been obliterated during the battle with Gwyn, who had now escaped. The Caster glanced at her from the corner of his eye as he leaned against the wall near the door, the look lasted all of a few seconds before the crimson orb returned to the other individual in the room.
The other individual in the room was just as silent, though stood more tentatively than Caster. Oda Nobunaga had her sights fixed firmly upon the woman, her expression set in something resembling a challenging frown, as though she was just waiting for the opportunity to do something. All of the attention wa fixed solely on the final individual in the room.
The dark cloaked woman with her folded black wings silently stared towards the Caster, then to the Archer, golden eyes unchanging before they finally switched targets towards her. Olga felt herself momentarily stiffen under the weight of the gaze before the pressure vanished, the eyes closed themselves and the Goddess folded her hands over her waist.
When the eyes opened up, the shine in them was noticeably less intense than before, yet the slight tension remained. Olga was only marginally comforted by the presence of Cu Chulainn and Oda Nobunaga being in the room, though given the fact the Goddess had apparently followed them back during the Rayshift, there was probably a great deal they could do. It was only her healing of Fujimaru that ingratiated her enough to be allowed to remain. At least until Olga figured out what happened down there, days without contact and they arrived to find…
…whatever they found.
…It cost Chaldea dearly, that was for sure.
There was probably a better place they could do this, but with Fujimaru now secured and in no further danger - at least, not physically - she could finally move onto what happened down there. Her eyes lingered on the Goddess for a moment longer, then directed themselves towards Nobunaga. "I have Sulyvahn currently calling for Ash to be executed and Scathach is lingering outside his room and ignoring the prospect of rest. It is only the fact that Fujimaru has yet to awaken and give them orders, not to mention the vocal disagreement from Mash, that has managed to keep them at bay thus far."
Her eyes narrowed "What. Happened?"
Nobunaga was silent for a good few seconds, keeping her eyes on the Goddess, then flickered her eyes to her and grimaced in displeasure. "FUBAR."
She blinked.
Cu kept his expression cold, yet a snort still echoed throughout the room.
Her brows furrowed and she felt her lip curl downwards "...What?"
Red eyes closed, Nobunaga let out a breath "From the very beginning? Ended up inside a Reality Marble. People were getting put to sleep by whatever was going on in there, ruled by these weird bird people and their…" She made a cycling motion with her hand "…Goddess, as they called her. On the backfoot right at the start."
She jerked her head towards Ritsuka "Master said he got summoned all alone. Conditions in the Reality Marble were completely and utterly hostile to human life. Said this…'Caster' saved his life and in return, asked for a body." she raised the flat of her hand, shaking her head "It sounded dodgy to me as well, same with Ruler. Didn't find out until later but Master was fairly adamant he trusted them so…" she shrugged her shoulders.
Fujimaru trusted this Caster?
That worked out splendidly didn't it?
…
…That was a horrible thought to cross her mind, shame flooded her a second later. This was one of her subordinates - a civilian - who had been put in an already terrible situation which proceeded to get worse. Shaking her head slightly, she nodded for the Archer to continue.
"Basically it was the arctic. Cold enough that even we could feel it and prolonged exposure wouldn't have done us any favours. Ended up with Ash, wandered around for a bit and then walked into an encounter with Percival and this little demon kid. Travelled with them and learned of more Servants, eventually ended up in this little tree oasis run by this powerful nature spirit."
"Nature spirit?" That was concerning by itself, the presence of a nature spirit within a Reality Marble - that was another thing she was wrapping her head around - was something to be wary of. Namely because nature spirits were the senses of the planet. If one of them was in a place cut off from the world and still regarded as 'powerful' then it spoke volumes.
Nobunaga's face twisted slightly "Yeah…they were more neutral though. Neither with us or against us and mainly focused on keeping everyone else safe or something." shaking her head, she continued on "Anyway…well, actually before that, we got attacked by some of the Servants in charge of the Reality Marble and Ash got hit with this whammy mental attack. Started freaking out and panicking…nothing could be done for him, not even the Saint could find anything wrong with his head."
Olga frowned. "Some manner of mental attack?"
"He was hearing voices telling him to commit ritual suicide." She paused for a moment, then made a face. "More or less, turns out they were messages his mother implanted him with." she glanced towards the woman in the corner of the room "Nice daughter you got there, real family type."
The Goddess didn't make a single noise, content to seemingly remain silent.
"Anyway…oh yeah, turns out Ash is actually some sort of Demi-God or something." She added, the fact she considered that an afterthought briefly struck her as bewildering, actually having to take a few seconds to register the words in her mind before realising that Nobunaga actually had more to say. "Anyway, wouldn't have been a problem if the lady never showed up…turns out his mother did end up in the Singularity and…yeah…Very unpleasant woman."
"Just-" Olga cut the Archer off, closing her eyes and taking in a sharp breath. While this was all very interesting, and rather alarming, what she wanted to know was why there were now calls for the execution of Ash and why the Servants were now alarmed about him. That was the most pressing thing right now, especially since the last regarded readings she had seen before travelling down to the Singularity were the fact that his Saint Graph Reading was registering millions of individual rankings and it was growing. From all manner of beings.
Then they arrive and suddenly find a God roaming the streets.
"...What happened with Ash?"
Nobunaga's face twisted. "...He got kind of antsy. Walked off to be alone. Master goes over to check on him and then…" she closed her eyes and exhaled. "Turns out Solomon showed up in his mind and they had a chat-"
Olga felt her blood run cold the second she heard the name, vaguely aware of a gasp behind her and something clattering to the floor, presumably from Romani, but instead her eyes were firmly fixed upon the Archer in front of her. She could see the mouth move, but all she heard were muffled noises.
Nobunaga stopped speaking, her brows furrowed and her left hand came up, snapping her fingers directly in Olga's face. Something she noticed instantly and batted the hand aside with a frown. "Don't do that. Solomon showed up?"
The Archer frowned for a moment, then nodded. "That's what I just said. Ash apparently talked with the guy about something. Can't have been good because next thing you know, he's trying to decapitate Master."
He what?
"Solomon tried to get Ash to kill Fujimaru-kun?" Romani's voice from behind her, at least he was paying attention. Though that should have gone without question given their current situation, he was asking the questions before she could but he still voiced her thoughts. Then narrowed her eyes when she noticed that Nobunaga made a pained grimace, only compounded when they shook their head.
"Not as such, no." She replied "Turns out that was all his choice to do after the conversation with Solomon."
…Huh?
"What?" Once more, Romani voiced her thoughts for her, mainly because she was still repeating the sentence again and again inside her mind.
Ash…tried to kill Fujimaru?
That…that didn't make sense.
Why would he do something like that?
"Why would Ash try to kill Fujimaru-kun?" Romani continued onwards, confusion lining his every word. "That doesn't make sense! They've been working together since the Singularity in Fuyuki! Why would he suddenly try to kill Fujimaru-kun now?"
Olga was inclined to agree with Romani's words, that didn't make even an ounce of sense to her. For one thing, Ash had been vehemently on their side from the very beginning and hadn't shown even an ounce of unwillingness to follow Fujimaru's orders. The only time he had proven somewhat problematic was during the Okeanos Singularity but that was somewhat understandable, at least in part. She had been similarly infuriated by the complete foolery from Francis Drake on multiple occasions during their monitoring of the situation…
Well…there was whatever happened during that miniature Singularity during Rome at the hands of Nero, when he engaged that other Saber in a fight but that was chalked up to them not being used to holding back. Now she was being fed some sort of rubbish about Ash trying to turn around and kill them then and there?
He would just-just-!
He would betray them with no warning and conveniently after a single conversation with Solomon? It was completely unthinkable. For one thing, she had seen him fighting with them towards the end of the Singularity. So why would he do that if he was trying to kill them? In fact, he had just protected them from being smote by the God present in the Singularity and just barely managed to escape the attempt on his life at the hands of the Caster.
In the first place, what did Oda Nobunaga even understand of Magecraft in the beginning?
What did she even know about it? She was nothing more than a military warlord from feudal Japan at a time when mystery was all but eradicated from the country. How could she possibly understand what was going through Ash's mind immediately after he was on the receiving end of a mental attack? Sulyvahn was already a biased source from the onset with the fact Ash had been responsible for his death and had made his opinion on the Saber quite well known.
Suddenly Nobunaga was claiming that Ash did all this of his own volition after a conversation with the King of Mages?
She felt her lip curl down, her brows furrow and her eyes narrow.
Absolutely not. This was an absurd line of thinking to adopt. It was more likely that Solomon had noticed the lingering effects of the mental attack and targeted the Saber when he was weakened, as for his behaviour towards the end of the Singularity, it would simply be a matter of him breaking out of the spell placed upon him by the King of Mages. That was what happened, not that he tried to betray them again.
"I did plant the bomb under your feet and you, in fact, did die."
T-that wouldn't happen to her twice in a row.
That couldn't happen to her.
It just wasn't right.
Vehemently shaking her head from side to side, she rejected the argument instantly. "Nonsense. Far more that he was under the control of Solomon for a short time and then worked to try and kill you."
Nobunaga had the audacity to sigh at her "Listen-"
"No, you listen!" She hissed, cutting them off, everything from the last few days came flooding back towards her. The Singularity, Kalameet, the entire thing being orchestrated just to test her. All of it. Nobunaga paused, raising their brows at her but remaining silent as she continued.
"Your Master, my subordinate, is currently lying on that bed after having been possessed by a Servant, there is currently a God somewhere in the world with a Holy Grail in their grasp, we lost a good deal of Servants in the battle in London and now you're telling me-" something cracked, her voice rose in pitch "Now you're telling me that the Servant that has worked with us since Fuyuki, Ash, has just willingly betrayed Chaldea and tried to sabotage everything he's worked towards these last few months?!"
The breath came out of her in pants, her voice lowering back down from having screamed, focusing solely on the Archer in front of her, meeting her gaze with an expression of cool indifference. After what amounted to a few seconds of silence, they eventually spoke in a slow and piercing tone of voice. "You've been betrayed before then."
…
…
"Look." Nobunaga reached up, closing their eyes and rubbing their brows "You…I'm just telling you what he said. Hell, he all but announced his intentions as he tried to kill all of us. Though…given that sword, now I'm wondering how hard he was actually trying…" She muttered that last part quietly, eyes drifting to the side for a moment before they returned. "Whether you believe me doesn't change that."
She pointed squarely at her chest. "You know who I am. You know what my legend is." crimson eyes narrowed. "Do you really believe I wouldn't know a betrayal when I see one?"
Olga felt her shoulders slump slightly. "...He can't have…h-he helped-"
"Sure." The Archer agreed easily, nodding her head up and down "He helped at the end. Did damn fine work at the end. Probably saved Masters life when he did that. Doesn't change he tried to kill them first." she waved her hand "You want to know why? Because he got messed up in the head at birth and he doesn't get what humans are actually supposed to live like. That's why."
What the heck did that even mean?
What did any of that even mean?
He didn't look as though he was insane, he certainly didn't strike her as being anything like someone like Beryl Gut, so what was any of that supposed to mean?
Nobunaga raised her hands "Mind you, I've had a couple of my own retainers betray me in the past and as far as betrayals go, theirs went a lot better but…" she shrugged her shoulders, glancing past her towards the bed where Fujimaru currently lay. "Not my choice. I'd say it was Master's but he's out for the count for however long and you're the next rank up so it's technically your choice now."
Her choice?
Her choice for what?
Olga's eyes turned towards the Goddess in the corner and narrowed, the dark haired divinity met her glare with another cool look. Something which rather infuriated her, just some sense that she knew better than everyone else. Some smug aura that was hidden behind that calm mask. She'd seen that before. "And who even is this?"
The Goddess bowed her head slightly. "I was curious when that question would be posed. I am Velka, Goddess of Sin." her head came back up "...And I am here to accept your judgement."
…Huh?
"What?"
Velka continued onwards "It was by my hand that Gwyn was restored to life, and it was by my hand that my grandson was brought to the brink of madness. The intervention of Solomon was coincidental, the Singularity was constructed for him."
Olga blinked. The words that she wished to speak didn't arrive to her, instead she fixed the Goddess with a rather bewildered look. The way she was speaking sounded as though she was the one who was the architect of the Singularity in the first place. Which meant she was also the one responsible for everything that went wrong down there. Her eyes narrowed and she took a step backwards, opening her mouth and ready to shout out commands to the Servants in the room.
The command died on her lips, she met the expectant stare of the Goddess for a few seconds longer before her eyes narrowed. Her shoulders tensed themselves and she adjusted her footing, mentally sending out a call for Brynhildr to approach the medical office and be on standby. Just in case something happened.
Rolling her jaw, Olga found as though there were a multitude of questions that she wanted to ask, yet the only one that emerged was a simple one. "...Why?"
Velka remained silent for a moment before she exhaled, shaking her head from side to side. "From the moment my grandson arrived in your world, he was…limited. Holding himself back, both physically and mentally." she hummed "You would call it a willing blindness to the truth, both of himself and the world around him. I watched him through your journeys, learned of his mentality, and devised the perfect strategy by which those…pillars constructed by my daughter would be undone."
Olga clenched her jaw. "...Undone."
A nod of the head. "I knew he would find nothing of the Singularity acceptable. So much like his home…he would be unable to bear the weight of the land and he would break. Reaching a point where he would be forced to act in the name of his values, or the values instilled within him." her hands spread wide. "That was the intention, at least. He never truly was awarded the chance to properly confront his own self."
"...You created that Singularity…just for him to…mentally torture him?"
"My Granddaughter had the mentality and the means of unlocking his past, his parents were there to instigate a confrontation and then your Master would be there to pull him back from the brink." Her lip curled down ever so slightly. "...Though there was another incentive. Hence the presence of the other Servants, those suited for dealing with the divine."
Dealing with the-
Her eyes constricted. "You knew."
"That Gwyn would be there? Naturally. I ensured he was there." She explained, placing a hand on her chest and smiling somewhat, though it was rather strained. "Gawyn-"
"Ash." Nobunaga corrected from behind her with a noticeable edge in her voice.
Velka hummed "Of course, Ash." golden eyes briefly flickered to the Archer, the smile widened slightly, then returned back to Olga. "Ash carried with him the souls of very nearly every creature that ever walked the world. I had the means of awakening them once the time was right and he would be presented with one whose duty proved sinful, in contradiction to his own view of what is right with the world."
Smiling to herself, she spread her arms wide "Really, the plan went rather well. All the players were set up, all the pieces put in position, the moment Gwyn awoke he would doubtless reject the world that you exist upon and battle would ensue. Whatever betrayal Ash committed would be overlooked when he aided in slaying Gwyn. From that point on he could push himself into becoming free of Gwynevere's machinations and his own person."
…This whole thing…was her plan?
…It took every single ounce of will power within her not to order Caster or Lancer now outside the door to rush in and kill this Servant - this menace - on the spot.
The entire Singularity was orchestrated from beginning to end, just for one individual. Just so they could mentally break him into betraying his allies and then use him to resurrect someone else. They brought forth his worst fears, by the sound of it, and everything else that would have sufficed to get him to break. Pushed to the very extreme where there was only one choice he could make.
…She did it just to break his mind and whatever other goal she had with the God.
"...That obviously didn't happen, did it?" The words slipped from her throat with venom, not making an effort to contain her fury as she clenched her fists by her side, taking a single step forwards and all but ignoring the fact the individual she was speaking to was a Goddess. Right now, she didn't care. Chaldea had lost eight Servants in that fight, a not insubstantial figure.
If they could be returned, it would not occur until after the Master awoke.
Two of their numbers were crippled in mental and physical ways.
Ash had locked himself in his room the moment he had arrived and now had Servants lingering around outside his quarters waiting for the earliest opportunity to kill him and…
She saw red.
"What was your plan with Fujimaru!?" Olga snarled, uncaring for appearances right now. "Was him being-being puppeted like that, all part of your grand scheme!? What are you going to do when he wakes up and remembers having control of his body stolen out from under him just so he could murder three Servants?" she waved a hand towards the boy, keeping her eyes solely focused on the Goddess in front of him. "And what about the God!? He escaped with the Holy Grail! He's still alive and now we have Solomon and an actual God to deal with and the most capable individual we have is currently lying on that bed staring into space!"
Velka remained silent, meeting her furious gaze head on with an expression - what little of it could be made out from beneath the hood - with an expression utterly bereft of emotion. When she did speak, there wasn't a hint of shame in her tone of voice. "Seath was not part of my design, nor was Solomon…the latter could be accounted for, all they accomplished was accelerating the breakage." lips curled down, as though slightly inconvenienced. "The former was…unfortunate-"
A slap echoed throughout the room, Olga felt a slight tingling in her hand but was otherwise uncaring. The Goddess had stopped speaking and she could finally blast that stupid notion out of the window.
"This is far and advanced beyond the realms of unfortunate!" The words flushed with fury, body trembling and heart pounding, it felt as though her skin went cold with pure rage. "Fujimaru was just-just-molested into killing with his own two hands! I have a Servant two floors down who refuses to see anyone and is apparently suffering from another form of mental abuse and now there is a God wandering the world and it's all your fault! Unfortunate doesn't even begin to cover the sheer scale of idiocy that you have just spewn in my direction! You concoct this savage plan of yours to attack my staff and then you have the audacity to come before me and say that things are 'unfortunate' when the attack doesn't go according to plan!?"
This was one of the most insane things she had ever heard.
And why did her hand still hurt?
"How dare you even think you can show your face before me! How dare you even step foot inside this room to even think of providing help for Fujimaru after what your plan did to him! Every single casualty - all those dead Servants - their blood is on your hands! What was the goal!? What was the plan!? Did you even string enough brain cells together to even comprehend the depths of this hairbrained scheme of yours!?"
She stepped backwards, her hand flying upwards and finger pointed squarely towards the face of the Goddess rather accusingly. "And what was your original plan? You were going to mentally abuse one of my subordinates to the point where he would go insane!? This is what you claim your goal was and then you go waltzing through the halls of Chaldea with some self assured cocky attitude!? Even without the damage your actions have done to Chaldea, you willingly attacked human history and outed yourself as an accomplice of Solomon!"
The hand flew back down "And now you come strolling in here and talking about how you're throwing yourself to our judgement? Acting as though you're doing us some sort of favour, as though you showing up to admit your crimes is somehow going to earn you a modicum of respect!?" her eyes were wide and her jaw hung low "The only thing you have done is shorten the length of time we have to spend searching for you! So right now, I am demanding that you give me a single reason why I should let you continue living after the next ten seconds, let alone why I should even entertain the idea that you can continue walking through the halls of Chaldea!"
Her voice dropped into a low hiss "Your presence in this facility spits in the face of everything we're trying to accomplish! Trying to undo the incineration of humanity and then you proceed to sabotage our efforts, nevermind the fact your plan failed! The succession of your plan relied on the resurrection of a God!"
By the time she finished screaming, she took in a deep gulp of air and started to pant, uncaring for how undignified it might have looked. All she could see in front of her was the absolute idiot, the absolute moron who had made their jobs a billion times harder than they already were. Nevermind Solomon, he was a human mage - albeit powerful, he was still human - what they were now having to deal with was a full blown God returned to the world who now possessed a Holy Grail and the aid of whatever Servant had been with Fujimaru!
Solomon they could handle.
A God who survived being run through by Longinus!?
This Goddess might as well have slit their throats the moment she showed up for how big a help she had been!
…It was difficult to stress just how angry she was in this one moment.
It took her a few moments longer to noticed that the Goddess had fallen silent and her head was directed away from her ever so slightly, the faint tingling in her right palm got a touch worse, then the Goddess gradually lifted her left hand towards her face, fingers gracing her facing cheek and then pulling them away.
Olga blinked, slowly turning her eyes down towards her hand and staring at it, her brows furrowed slightly. When did it get in front of her and why was her skin now red? The confusion circulated in her mind for a few moments before she gradually peeled her gaze away from the outstretched limb and back towards the Goddess in front of her, who looked to be nursing…her…cheek…
She felt as though her heart stopped.
Silence stretched across the room as the Goddess slowly pulled her hand away from her cheek, then stared down at the palm of her own for what felt like years. When her golden eyes finally rose back up, they looked as though they pierced right through her, then flickered towards the direction of Ritsuka-
"Don't you dare look at him." Her response was quick as it was sharp, the eyes of the Goddess returned to her just as swiftly. "I have a Servant just outside that door who is waiting for my command to come in here and kill you. I have two more in this room who would likely be more than willing to aid them."
Olga felt her jaw tighten "The only reason you're still alive after hearing all this, is because Fujimaru is in the room and I think enough damage has been done." clenching her stinging palm, she refused to nurse it in front of the Goddess, not allowing any sign of weakness to be shown.
That and she recently had a very low tolerance for people who used others to achieve their own ends. Especially when it came at the cost of those she personally knew and held a small degree of respect for.
"How do you beat someone…who can command the sky to their will?"
She buried the memory of earlier events quickly, but used the emotion she felt to strengthen her position. She had beaten a Dragon that even the Gods feared, if only in mind rather than actuality. However foul that victory tasted, however fake that threat was, he had admitted that she beat him fair and square, even if she didn't think so. It would be insulting their views not to think so as well.
"If you cannot provide me with a single reasonable explanation for why you should remain alive - at all - within the next minute…I might just take the risk." The scary thing was that Olga wasn't sure if it was a bluff or not, logically she should have known not to do something so stupid as start a fight between Servants in Chaldea, especially right next to the last proper Master they had. Everything was screaming at her that it was a completely stupid choice that didn't matter in the least. But that was only the logical side of her.
…Her emotional side was feeling very illogical right now.
Velka looked her dead in the eye, when she spoke there wasn't an ounce of panic in her words, nor of shame "What I did had to be done." she raised the flat of her hand "Before you fly into another tangent or strike me again, I can assure you that Ash would have broken at one point or another. My goal was to do so in a less…variable environment. With the allies you had, I was certain that Ritsuka could have aided in bringing him back to a more flexible posture. Perhaps he could have…as for Gwyn…that was merely something I saw an opportunity for and took."
…That meant nothing.
That meant less than nothing.
That sort of reasoning wasn't even worth dirt to her.
"How do you know that?" Olga shot right back "How do you know that he would have broken? Do your eyes see the future? I would ask if you were a Goddess of wisdom but the answer to that should go without saying."
There was a choking sound from behind her, like someone swallowing back laughter, but she quickly ignored the noise and focused solely on the Goddess, placing her hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes. "What confirmation can you even offer beyond your own word which, I shall point out, is worth less than nothing to me at the moment. You are an enemy to Chaldea and human history in all but name right now."
She probably didn't even have any substantial proof she could offer, not that Olga even had reason to entertain anything she said in the first place. Whether these results were her exact intentions or not did not change the fact they were brought about by her, it didn't matter if she forgot the existence of Seath or whoever-
…Seath?
"...Seath?" The name registered with her a moment later, she felt her nerves start to boil over as memories flooded back to her as to who Seath actually was and what he was likely capable of. "As in the Dragon that invented magic in your world."
Her jaw ground together, eyes narrowed to slits and a feeling of burning fire rushing through her veins. If it were possible for her to do, she would have thrown her own bolts of lightning straight at this Goddess here and now.
Velka raised a brow rather innocuously. "You already knew of them? But yes, Seath."
…Two Solomon's.
Two Solomon's, one God and whomever had attacked them - killed Kalameet - in Scandinavia.
…
The Goddess exhaled "If you wish for proof, you may speak with Ash regards to this. He will tell you the truth of the matter and what would have occurred even without my intervention. If you still feel as though you wish to claim my head when all is said and done, then I shall bow and show you my neck." she offered, rolling her head as she did so. "I preside over sin. I am not above it. Even ideal success would have done a great wrong to you, this end goal was always my intention."
…She was too tired to think about this right now.
And she needed to go to other places.
The door opened up, Brynhildr stepped through with her spear at the ready, Olga glanced at her for a moment, then returned her eyes towards Velka who was still staring at her expectantly. Because of course she was, she came here to be punished and die or whatever else she believed her intentions were. Sorely tempted as she might have been to actually do something like that and grant her wish - it wasn't like she hadn't earned it - they needed information from a source close to them right now.
…Logical approach, logical approach, logical approach…
"Take her somewhere and dump her there." She ordered Brynhildr after a few moments of silence "One of the unused stores on the lower floors. Caster go with her and set up a bounded field around it. If she so much as dips a finger over that line I want to know about it." her eyes remained locked onto Velka as she gave the commands, then narrowed them at the Goddess. "And if either one of these two so much as catches the barest hint of you trying anything, anything they might deem as suspicious, then I am granting them full authority to put you down."
Rolling her jaw, Olga continued to glare at the Servant "You have earned yourself a brief reprieve only until I have a proper chance to examine the damage you've inflicted upon us. After that…" she trailed off, after that there was very little else left to be said. She had made her position clear enough and whether or not the Servant lost their magical energy before Fujimaru woke up or not was up in the air.
Provided she was even allowed to live past the end of the day, it would all depend on the ramifications of her actions.
Velka silently bowed her head and then turned towards the pale haired Lancer, Brynhildr stepped aside and let the Goddess pass her by before following her out of the room. Olga watched them depart with a scowl on her face, the unpleasant emotions swirled in her mind even after the Goddess had left her field of view, the mere thought of that thing roaming her facility sent shivers up her spine.
Her eyes flickered away from the door and towards Cu Chulainn, who hadn't actually moved from his position leaning against the wall and was staring at her with an…approving grin? Olga felt bemusement flood her features as she stared at the grinning Caster, who looked seconds away from cheering and whooping, as though he was a child. "What are you doing?"
Raising his hands in surrender, Cu rolled his lips to muffle whatever laughter he was going to bellow out before stepping towards the door and out of the room. When the door slowly closed itself, a silence descended over the room once more, Olga turned towards Nobunaga and opened her mouth-
"Pffftahahahahahahahaha!"
Her head snapped back to the door as muffled laughter rang out from beyond the realms of it, eyes narrowed and they kept focused on it with a new flash of irritation flooding her body at the fact she had just been interrupted, the fact the obnoxious laughter didn't end and only receded into the distance didn't help matters much either. She didn't think this was a laughing matter at all, nor had she said anything that should have been amusing.
Arms folding over her chest, she glared at the door for a few seconds and then returned her attention to the Archer…who was also smirking at her with some sort of approving lit in her eyes.
"I'll tell you something right now." Nobunaga said in a slow and meaningful voice, nodding her head up and down and looking the Director over rather approvingly "I am very glad I was here for that. Very nice slap, good form and nice echo." the Archer smacked the back of her hand into her waiting palm to produce a similar sound, all while looking close to laughter. "I've never seen a human slap a God and now I can say I have. I'm content."
Reaching out, the dark haired woman placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a thumbs up. "Nice job."
Olga stared at the limb on her for a few seconds, then followed it back towards it's owner and stared at her for a few seconds. The memory of slapping the Goddess in the face played on repeat in her mind for however long she remained silent, now acutely aware of the faint burning sensation in her hand like she'd slapped a wall. Certain that her hand was going to be feeling that for a while.
On the one hand, she had slapped a Servant in the fact - a Servant she wasn't contracted to and held no authority over - which was something beyond the furthest reaches of stupidity it was literally out of this world. There was no earthly way she would have done something like that if she was in a proper state of mind.
…On the other hand, there had been something cathartic about doing it.
"Aha! See? Knew you'd find the bright side!" The comment of Nobunaga brought with it the realisation that she was smirking, quickly dashing the expression from her features and turning back around to face Romani, who was doing a remarkable impression of a fish with all the gaping he was doing at her.
The doctor finally decided on opting for a single choice and snapped his jaw shut with an audible click, then slowly trailed his eyes down towards her hand by her side and strained his expression. "...Is your hand alright?"
…Was it alright?
Probably not. She might have broken something in her limb, now that the pain was returning to her more completely and the adrenaline was wearing off, she realised she might well have seriously hurt herself with that. The benefit of slapping the Goddess was quickly being outweighed by the cons. Whatever the case, she could focus on that later.
Her attention returned to Nobunaga "Follow them at a distance in the event the Goddess acts out, as per the standing orders of Lancer and Caster." there also came the understanding that Nobunaga was not actually her Servant so she had no real authority over them. "I might not be your Master, however-"
"You don't need to worry about such trifling details." Nobunaga assured her with a swift shake of the head, waving her hand and batting her concerns aside as though they were naught but flies. "When dealing with something like this, there is all the more reason to be proactive. Besides, considering what has occurred is entirely resting on the shoulders of that bunglar-" they jerked their head backwards "-I'm inclined to kill them on principle."
Olga could at least understand the motivation, though as reason started to seep back into her mind there was more reason to keep that at bay. "We need information on who we are fighting for a more direct source. I understand that Havel also knows this Gwyn but he is a Berserker and getting information from them would be problematic from the onset." her eyes flickered to the door. "If that…idiot, actually means what she says, then we can bleed her for information first and foremost before it is decided what should be done with her…and that depends on the condition of Fujimaru when he awakes."
The Archer remained silent for a few moments, then gave an approving hum and a nod of the head. "Interrogating an enemy for information even when you want them dead? Heh. Good head on your shoulders." turning around, they strolled towards the door. "I'll keep a close eye on that Goddess…owe her that much for messing with my Retainer."
Departing in silence, Olga watched the Archer round the corridor and then left just herself, Romani and Fujimaru alone in the room. She slowly turned back around to face the duo, eyes lingering on the young man for a few moments. Her last proper conversation with him had been marked by a threat to him and now he was currently on the receiving end of one of the worst things she had ever experienced. Apparently he had trusted this Servant and been betrayed by them…
…Not like she couldn't understand that.
"...Alert me when he wakes up." She remarked to Romani, he hummed in affirmation "And I will likely return shortly for an examination of my hand." She was convinced it might well have actually been broken by this pain in it by this point, now gritting her teeth hard just to avoid crying. Turning on her heel, she made for the door this time and exited into the corridor, unsurprisingly enough, she nearly ran right into Mash.
The two stared at one another, then she turned and walked away from the young girl, there was a brief hesitation in footsteps as Mash was clearly deciding whether she was going to follow Olga or going to remain with Fujimaru, she personally had no complaints whichever option she took.
"Director…are you going to see Ash-san?"
"...Yes."
The steps grew louder as Mash followed after her, apparently she was more interested in getting answers. That was good, because Olga was as well. Regardless of how much blame was placed on the shoulders of the Goddess, there was Nobunaga - who seemed on good terms with the Saber - proclaiming he had made a conscious choice to betray them, and as biased as Sulyvahn was he was proclaiming the same thing. Then there were the actions of Scathach to be considered.
…All of which pointed to something happening down there.
AN: Certified angry moment from Olga.
Velka and the dumbo schemes.