Not-yet-summer resort: XIII

Atalanta knew that something was wrong.

Something was terribly wrong with this situation, though she kept her expression calm to avoid rousing any suspicion or make anyone panic just yet, there was no denying that there was indeed something amiss here and she wasn't sure what it was.

Yet every time she turned to one of the knights - the summons who had served as the guards - she could see each of them with their heads hung low, their bodies void of tension and more akin to the empty suits of armour they were as opposed to the creatures they had been before.

Everyone else was too preoccupied to notice it, still embroiled with whatever fun they were having elsewhere but she knew that this was wrong and worse it was dangerous.

With no sign of Solaire and Lancer a danger in all but name so far, there was only herself to protect the entire park if something were to happen and this was doubtlessly the perfect opportunity for something to happen.

"Miss Atalanta?" Her ears flickered backwards at the voice, turning her head ever so slightly to the speaker and smiling once more. Banishing any sign of tension or unease from her expression as she dropped down to her knees in front of the young girl before her.

"Yes, Nursery?"

The Caster Servant glanced around, a perceptiveness entered her gaze which did not belong on the face of one who looked her age. "Has something happened? All of the metal men feel different now…they all feel colder. Like someone has carved out all their hearts."

"I'm sure it is nothing." Trying not to appear too hasty with the dismissal, she shook her head from side to side and mentally prepared to call forth her bow at the slightest sign of danger. Until either Pharros returned to her with news or Solaire made an appearance, she was not going to so readily-

"Oi! Archer!"

That brusk voice could belong to only one Servant she knew of.

"Saber of Red." Keeping her voice calm, she turned back and brought her attention to the approaching Servant and took stock of the secondary figure walking by her side. Sir Percival, a man who had demonstrated himself to be a decent enough guardian of the children and, by all accounts, he was a man of virtue and honour.

As expected on one of the Round Table and as far from the Saber of Red as one could get, at least in terms of personality as opposed to skill.

"The fu-"

She glared at the Saber as she jerked a thumb, the blonde paused and then briefly switched her gaze onto the forms of Nursery, Jack and Caffrey at her side before returning to her face. A clear display of irritation swept over them for a few moments before she clicked her tongue rather loudly and made a pointed effort to correct themselves.

"What's the matter with the tin men? You run out of batteries or something?"

Atalanta stared at Mordred for a good few seconds, then switched targets to Percival and saw the knight offer only a small shrug of the shoulders before he similarly gestured towards the direction of the summons.

"We only ask because it is apparent that something has happened and Sir Mordred often has a gut feeling worth following in regards to these things. Like some manner of talented hound!"

The explanation was followed by a rather proud looking smile aimed at the back of the Saber, one that they clearly sensed if the sudden twitch was any indication and the visible effort not to respond to the comment.

Compliment or not, it sounded more backhanded to her ears yet clearly the knight meant it rather warmly.

With a shake of her head, she answered. "I have little reason to suspect that there is something wrong at the moment." with a glance to the children for a moment, she then turned back to the pair and quickened her pace to them until she stood before the two of them and dropped her voice into a whisper.

"Though I would prefer to err on the side of caution for the time being. My usual comrades are indisposed at the moment."

The polite smile on the face of Percival remained, yet his aura abruptly switched into utmost seriousness. The pressure behind his cordial face intensified at least tenfold to signal his alertness. Mordred just grunted and raised a brow at her.

"Seriously?" A snort from the blonde and a shake of the head. "What good are they if you can't find them in case of an actual emergency." then they waved her hand almost dismissively. "Well, not that it matters now. You got us to sort out any problems you have on hand and you don't need any more help than the likes of me."

Atalanta stared, then blinked once.

"...You will understand if I am not put at ease by your confident proclamation."

Mordred double taked, then snarled. "The heck is that supposed to mean?"

She ignored the remark and continued onwards. "In the event of a situation, I will prioritise the safety of the children above all else…if neither Solaire nor my other ally make an appearance at that time, I would like for you to assist the others in coordinating some manner of defence in my absence."

It was a selfish request, but she was always going to put the children before everyone else.

However, with help presenting itself, the least she could do was spare them some thought, even if they were Servants who could undoubtedly protect themselves if danger did spring up. It was more for the surprise of the matter than anything else.

She just needed someone who could make a safe haven while everything was sorted out.

Saber of Red was not the only one with a bad feeling about-

A low metallic groan drew her ears and her eyes towards the left, at the same time that the Lancer and Saber in front of her did the exact same thing.

Directly before them, one of the knights started to straight back out from their slump until they stood tall.

Yet something was wrong.

Their aura shifted, turning more outwardly aggressive.

The helm snapped towards her and fires billowed from behind the eye sockets of the helm.

She tensed her body, then heard the same noise happening from all around her, turning her head on a swivel and watching as the other knights started to rise up with a literal fire spewing from their eyes like the mouth of a furnace.

The bow formed in her hand, fingers dancing along the string of the weapon.

Raising up their hands, the large sword and shield fell into the grasp of the Servant as they armed themselves and fixed her and the other Servants with a glare which held only a single intention behind it.

Then it shot forwards with a burst of speed and swung down.


It felt as though the world itself had stopped around them, leaving only the image of Alma with his own sister mounted on the end of his scythe and affixed to the inside of her chair.

Then time resumed.

A whistle and then a crash, the chair was flung through the air and into the wall with enough speed to pass right through it, shattering the tower and letting light bleed through into the room. Ritsuka brought up his arms from the cloud of dust that rushed past him before swinging them back down.

Alma was now on the far end, scythe raised as though he had blocked something.

Chris was standing where the chair had been moments prior, sword pointed towards Alma while Hanleth was gripped in her other arm. Face utterly devoid of emotion as she inched backwards while keeping her gaze solely fixed upon the Lancer, something he didn't even look bothered about.

The situation crashed into him a moment later like a mountain upon his shoulders.

"Caster!"

The shout tore free of his throat as he swung an arm out, the light flashed in the room to herald the arrival of Gwynevere once again. He didn't bother to try and learn if she was well or not, all that mattered was the fact that someone was injured and they needed help.

"So soon? You humans truly…are…"

Gwynevere's words died in her throat, Ritsuka watched her expression twist as she whirled around and looked over the room in a clear display of shock, her eyes landed upon Hanleth in the grasp of Chris and then snapped over towards the direction of Alma, still holding the bloodied scythe in his grip.

"Ah, mother." With a flourish, Alma flicked the scythe to the side and whipped the blood clean from the weapon. Offering a friendly smile in complete contradiction to his demeanour thus far. "Back again already? I might accuse you of caring if we keep running into one another like this."

Alma got no response, instead Gwynevere had already marched across to the direction of Hanleth and all but ripped the Goddess from the arms of the Saber, not even trading words between them with the glow of her palms filling the air already, the gentle hum of a ringing bell and then a whistle.

Not that Alma didn't have problems of his own.

"Hmmm. Not even a hello? Talk about being rude, but that's fine." Alma's voice echoed as his body vanished into a blur, avoiding the attack from Gawyn with ease. The sword of the Saber buried itself into the ground with a crack, his head snapped to the side.

Alma reappeared, his leg raised up and vertical against his body, swinging it down like an axe-

They twisted and were suddenly spinning through the air once more, Ritsuka barely managed to catch sight of his amused grin as he hit the ceiling and in complete defiance of gravity, remained there.

Gareth slid to a halt and whipped around, glaring up at the Lancer who'd managed to dodge her thrust towards him.

Then Alma resumed his speech as though nothing had happened.

"Gwynevere is one of those mothers that leaves you when you learn to fly. Like birds. Sure, you can hang around her after you're all grown up but she's not your mother anymore. Just another member of the flock and you'd better believe she'll work a hierarchy into your life-"

"You're talking about birds?"

Ritsuka jolted at the sudden intensity in the voice of Gareth, the usually polite and soft spoken Lancer had completely switched her demeanour into one of cold fury as she stormed right to the front, shield in one hand and spear in the other.

The spear cocked and then hummed, the glow of the blue light started to brighten considerably.

"You intend to bring up such a conversation now of all times? After performing an act of utter revulsion?"

Shaking her head from side to side, Gareth continued onwards. "I think not, your true colours have at least been brought to the surface, cur. We all see you for the cowardly dastard that you have been…to strike your own family down in cold blood for nothing more than enjoyment?"

Alma cocked a brow. "Oh? And how do you know this is not in justice for-"

"Do not speak of justice. Else you would have brought this to our attention long before now."

Ritsuka nodded along with the words of the Lancer, acutely aware of the situation happening behind him.

Gawyn stepped forwards and drew his arm back, light flourished around his left hand before he swung upwards and hurled it forth like a javelin.

It was like a single stream of light for less than a second, shooting forth towards the Lancer before it was suddenly redirected back into Gawyn, striking them in the chest and sending them flipping through the air and into the wall.

Alma remained firmly on the ceiling, scythe gripped in his hand and pointed towards the direction of the Saber.

He wasn't going to play a game of cat and mouse with them right now.

"Form a circle around Gwynevere."

The order was accompanied by his own rushed movements, sliding to a halt in front of the Goddess and never once taking his eyes off Alma. Something the two of them had in common and, oddly enough, it brought about a rather pleased look from the Servant for a few moments before it shifted.

"Most packs leave their old and sickly behind to die, a sacrifice to the predators."

Ritsuka managed to stop himself from scoffing at the notion, instead he kept his gaze firmly on the Servant and replied in a clear voice. "Maybe, but I'm not exactly the ordinary sort of pack animal you would find. I'm not prepared to start ditching people just yet."

"Clearly."

There was something more here than his confidence, he didn't look concerned about the prospect of facing down this many Servants in the least, not even when the roster included their own mother and Gwynevere had already shown him a willingness to kill her own children if the time came for it.

Not that he was hoping to call upon that skill.

But he couldn't shake the feeling there was something more.

It had something to do with the tremor they felt earlier, that had to be it.

"Did you hate her that much?"

Gawyn's voice trembled slightly, a crunch of stone and the Saber pulled themselves from the rubble where he had been launched, standing up straight and shaking loose the dust from his armour. His sword arm shook as he spoke with barely contained fury.

Gawyn was angry she was injured and possibly dying.

Alma blinked, then tilted his head. "Where did you get the idea that I hated her? Because I just killed her?"

A flash of light struck the ceiling, but Alma was already on the ground with his scythe braced against his shoulders and both arms looped over the pole. The Servant raised a brow in the direction of the attacker.

Ritsuka noted the fading glow of Boudica's sword as made it clear to him she wasn't apologetic about the attempt.

Alma didn't even address the attempt on his life and continued on as though he hadn't been interrupted.

"You don't need to hate someone for that. No, I just killed her because that's how things work in the world. A watering hole, no matter how fine, is not a place where predator and prey can be at peace for long."

Ritsuka blinked.

He blinked hard.

"...For such a reason?" He voiced aloud, staring at the Lancer with furrowed brows. "You killed her because…what, you just got tired of not killing things and decided that she was a good place to start?"

It didn't seem as though it could be as simple as that, but he could find no other explanation for the words of the Lancer.

They snapped his fingers, then pointed at him with a sharp grin and an approving nod of the head. "As expected of you, little ant. You got it in one. That is precisely the reason that I killed her because that's how life works. Those who cannot defend themselves become food for those who can, just as those who cannot thrive must inevitably perish."

Survival of the fittest.

They just tried to kill her because they didn't think she was one of the fittest.

Alma pulled his hand away from the polearm and scratched behind his ear, raising a brow at him and looking as though he were speaking common sense all of a sudden. "Really, I always wondered why people didn't get that. Still though, I guess this just goes to show that maybe I overestimated you a little bit…but yeah, that's why I killed her. I did have a bit of fun walking around but it sort of pissed me off as well."

Stone shifted around them, bubbling up like liquid and then forming statues. Creations with a vaguely humanoid nature to them but little else. All pointed towards the direction of the Lancer who ducked down to the side in the same instance green liquid spewed from the mouth of the statues and to the ground.

They hissed and spitted, steam rising from the impact.

Alma reappeared, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and scythe leaning next to them, tapping his foot on the ground for a couple of seconds before he turned his head and looked across to his previous site.

"That was rather bloodthirsty of you, Caster…I didn't think you had it in you."

"Surprise attacks are a speciality of mine." Pharros answered in a cold tone of voice. "I guess that's why none of us can find Solaire, right? Called him away for a meeting and then killed him so they couldn't do anything to stand against you…or did you just get bored and opt for them first?"

Ritsuka straightened.

Solaire was dead?

The cool smile of Alma was answer enough to that question, then he shrugged and stepped off the wall, slipping his fingers around the shaft of his weapon and dragging it away as well.

"He was a little too at ease for an undead so I was curious to see how much he'd lowered his guard…" A moment passed, then Alma frowned rather deeply and cocked his head to the side with a disappointed grunt. "He didn't even show the slightest ounce of reaction before I took his head off…I don't think he really expected me to do anything…guess he trusted me an awful lot."

Ritsuka slowly clenched his hands into fists as his glare on the Lancer intensified.

"...You killed him because you thought he was getting too soft?"

It seemed such a shallow reason to kill someone.

Another streak of light leaped from the hand of Gawyn and towards the Lancer, he blurred and once more it was reflected back towards them with a wave of the scythe. The weapon blurred into a spinner of golden and then jerked to a halt, throwing the miracle back towards Gawyn.

This time, he blocked the attack with his sword and grunted in response as the lightning fizzled across his body.

"That seemed rather sudden." A scoff from the Lancer as he righted his polearm. "With all these interruptions, I'm getting the idea that you don't want me to speak. Which would be a bit strange, what with all these questions you keep asking me."

Ritsuka supposed that was right.

"Wait for him to finish speaking, at this rate we're just wasting energy on him." That was the only command he gave to the Servants before he narrowed his eyes upon the Lancer. "So what…everything in the Singularity was too peaceful for your liking then?"

Alma nodded along. "Yeah, that's exactly it. I won't lie though, I got the urge to kill a bit more than I normally would have but really, that was my sister's fault for that." jerking his head forwards and past him. "Trying to make everyone relaxed and all that but I prefer to follow my instincts, so I just tagged along and then I just got a bit annoyed with always having to repress not killing…You see some happy go lucky kid walk past without a care in the world and I just got the urge to…"

The slashing motion he made with his hand left little to the imagination, it was also the blunt way he talked about the murder of the child Servants which clearly had an effect on the others. Boudica in particular looked incensed to the point of bloody murder at the comment.

"Man. I almost gave in and swung out a couple of times too. Held myself back though." They kicked at the ground, sounding put off by his own actions.

"Until now."

"Yeah."

Ritsuka nodded along, then took in a deep breath before speaking once again. "...What was that tremor?"

"Hmmm? Oh, that." Alma grunted, then smiled. "Told you, Demons are just like humans. Wanting to do everything they could for survival so when I found out who we had in the basement, it seemed pretty obvious what I had to do. No watering hole is peaceful forever and all of that."

The sudden jump in readings.

"...The Demon escaped, didn't they?"

Alma's smile widened considerably. "Oh, they have done so much more than escape."

As if on cue, another quake shuddered around them, the tower jerked backwards and forwards before the distant sound of an explosion reached his ears. Ritsuka whipped his head towards the hole made earlier and stared, but he didn't dare try to move himself. Though he didn't need to either.

Not when the rising clouds of black smoke told him all that he needed to know.

"Fujimaru-kun! I'm reading dozens of new signals in the Singularity and the number is still rising! It's the same as the demons from earlier, they're appearing all over the resort!"

Romani's warning was confirmation.

Ritsuka turned his eyes back onto Alma and glared hard at the Lancer.

"Oh, that's a rather heated glare you've got there, ant." Alma chuckled, then cracked his neck rather loudly before glancing away to the side. "And I'd say that you're about to be stretched rather thin as well. All those demons running around and your friends have been lazing around for a might too long…who knows how many of them are going to be cut down before they can even blink?"

He caught the meaning quickly.

His eyes widened at the implication. "The relaxation field."

"Sharp ant." The cackle was a response, the scythe started to spin as it was twirled around in the offhand of Alma, the Lancer resumed his pacing back and forth. "So really, looks as though we're all going to get what we wanted in the end. Everyone got their relaxation and I get to see a fight for the fittest. In the end, we're all going to walk away from this in a very happy mood!"

They stopped and swung down, burying the head of the scythe in the ground and raising an eyebrow, a rather smug grin on his face. "Am I not a courteous individual?"

Ritsuka clenched his jaw and then called back. "How is she?"

He got nothing in response from Gwynevere, it only made his frown deepen as the look of the Lancer was a knowing one. He had a confidence in his gaze which remained even unchanged when Gwynevere arrived. Nor did he ever say he tried to kill Hanleth either. Speaking of her as though she was already past tense.

"Gwynevere-"

"Her spirit core was shattered on impact. It was a fatal blow…They knew where to aim." Romani's voice informed him with a quiet firmness. "I'm sorry, Fujimaru-kun. I don't think even a Divine Spirit could repair a spirit core with damage that severe."

Ritsuka spared a glance behind him for a moment, staring down at the freckled girl held in the arms of Gwynevere. The Goddess trailing a finger across the brow of her daughter before moving down to her chest, though she healed the visible wounds, Ritsuka could already see the golden motes peeling away from Hanleth.

His jaw clenched.

"Well, Chrysaor."

Alma spoke, but not to him.

"What are you going to do now?"

He turned back around, the eyes of the God were now upon Chris - or Chrysaor as she were more accurately called - and a single brow raised.

"Hanleth is soon to be gone from this land and she gave you what she said she would. You protected her little resort and in return, you got to meet with your mother. I would say you're even, aren't you?"

Chris remained silent for a short time, then nodded her head once. "We are indeed even with one another. I owe her nothing now."

Alma waited for a moment, then let out a small huff of amusement. "But you're still going to fight me, aren't you?"

"Yes." Chris didn't even allow for a single second to pass before she delivered her answer, sword clenched tightly in her grip. "She was not yours to take from me. She was mine."

Alma opened his mouth, then closed it and shrugged his shoulders. "Fair enough."

The posture of the God tensed, he drew his scythe from the ground and coiled themselves backwards, the grin on his face grew once more as his eyes gleamed with murderous intent.

The tower rumbled once again, harder than before and forced Ritsuka to brace himself in order to avoid falling over. But it had only been a single second that he was off balance, that was all it was.

It was all that was really needed, he saw it the moment he brought his head back around.

Alma's arm swung forwards, something flung from his wrist and hurled right towards Ritsuka, his eyes barely caught it but he didn't get the chance to move. Nor did he need to, the flash of orange which had been thrown from Alma was intercepted by Gawyn, stepping in front of the throw.

Then came a wet splash across the room as something exploded on the front of Gawyn, the Saber remaining unmoved. Silence passed through the room, Alma made a slow move of going for something on his waist while looking disturbingly calm.

Ritsuka glanced at Gawyn to speak, to ask if he were alright, then paused as he saw what was now lying at the feet of the Saber, the neon orange remains of a rather bewildering weapon.

"A…Water balloon?" Mash voiced aloud what they were all thinking, then as one their eyes turned onto Alma.

Ritsuka saw he now held something between his fingers, smiling innocently as he did so.

His brain comprehended what it was a moment later.

"Well, it was a balloon." Alma replied with a slow nod of the head towards the direction of Mash, then he flicked his thumb up the small match held in his grasp. The head sprung to life with a small flame as the Lancers' smile turned into a self-assured smirk. "But it wasn't quite filled with water."

The smell hit Ritsuka.

Coming from directly in front of him.

It was dripping down across the front of Gawyn, the colourless liquid was coated across the front of his armour.

The smell of gasoline.

Ritsuka's eyes shot wide as he watched Alma flick the match forwards with speeds he couldn't register, all he saw was the flicker of light as it streaked across the room like a comet before it slammed into the front of Gawyn without even making a sound.

Then Gawyn lit up like a candle.

And screamed not in pain, but in terror.


He was on fire.

He was burning.

He was there all over again.

The heat was all around him, on his skin, in his bones, in his very soul.

He needed to get it out of him, he needed to get away from it.

Nothing coherent passed through his mind, he was burning all over again.

Flashes of time he knew nothing of, echoes of a pain he had never felt but could never forget. An agony which stretched back through the future and affected him in the present, a single pain which seemed unending.

He couldn't breathe.

He couldn't hear anything.

He just moved, desperate to try and outrun the flames which clung to his body, pulling the helmet away from his head and hurling the burning orb into the distance as far as he could. Whether there was anything else happening, he didn't know, but he was on fire.

It was all over him, it wasn't coming off him.

The flames rose up, flashing over his skin as the burning spread across him, his throat rippled as the scream broke free of him in octaves beyond even his highest expectations, stumbling around and slamming his grasp over his armour, tugging and pulling as he tried to put out the flames.

He wanted to get out of here.

He didn't want to be here anymore.

He didn't want to be on fire.

He didn't want to hurt like this again.

Not again.

Never again.

It was all his fault, he hadn't been paying attention enough, he should have been better.

He should have been better.

He didn't care how it looked.

He didn't care how it sounded.

He didn't care about appearances, or symbols of strength or even his duty.

Gawyn just didn't want to be here anymore.

"Help me! Please help me!"

He begged for all the world to hear, pawing away at his armour with his weapon all but forgotten. He felt it circle around his heart and mind, the creeping cold to offset the burning on the outside.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry mother! Please make it stop!"

Something steamed against his face, streaking down his cheeks as his legs carried him forwards, no matter how much strength was forced into his legs, the burning remained as he sprinted forwards. Noises all around him faded into muffled cries and thumps, he couldn't hear anything beyond the crackle of the flames.

The flames against his skin.

It was going to happen again.

It was happening again.

The burning was going to take him all over again.

He didn't want that.

He didn't want that to happen.

Not now.

Not when he finally had something to live for!


The moment Gawyn burst into flames he ran, screaming and begging for all to hear as he dropped his sword and flailed around, peeling burning sections of armour from his body and hurling them away into the distance.

The worst part was that the flame wasn't even that big.

It barely covered the upper parts of his shoulder, but for all the screaming and begging from Gawyn, the desperate pleas for aid, one would have imagined that his entire body was on fire from head to toe.

But that was not where it ended.

It was the chain reaction which came next.

Boudica froze up the second that Gawyn started to scream and cry, eyes fixed on them with a horror struck expression.

The moment of distraction was something that cost them all, with barely enough time to raise her shield before Alma was upon her, breaking through the guard and slamming a heel into her gut, folding her over and then swinging up into her chin with the butt of the scythe, gripping her by the heel as she flew upwards and then spinning.

Boudica was ragdolled into Mash in the next instance, barrelling the shielder over right in front of him and forcing him a step back to avoid being nailed by the two of them.

It took every ounce of willpower in Ritsuka's body to tear his eyes off the howling Gawyn and onto Alma as he darted forwards, he vanished for all to see.

Ritsuka's eyes bulged as he moved without even so much as a sound, his eyes darting left and right as the whistle of the scythe moving through the air filled his ears, growing louder and louder until he saw a flash of white, the grin of Alma etched itself into his mind in the single millisecond before his face was showered in bright sparks.

Falling backwards at the same time, Medusa parrying the scythe upwards with her spikes and following through with a kick.

One that Alma caught with his wrist, circling his fingers around her shin and rolling backwards, dragging her along with him and throwing her into the ceiling and out of the roof-

A rattle and a flash, Alma was jerked into the air from the phantom chain which formed around his arm.

Chrysaor appeared in the air right next to them, leg arcing through the air towards the direction of the Lancers head, making contact with a dull crack and a visible distortion.

Lancer vanished in a blur that shot straight down into the floor, fresh holes opened up as the top half of the tower all but vanished in the explosion, Ritsuka wasn't sure how he was able to remain upright through the force of blow, let alone how he was able to keep his eyes open as the wind buffeted against his face.

Yet that wasn't the end, the rattle of chains and Medusa was dragged back into his field of view.

Lancer twisted his body and pressed off the ground with both hands, landing his feet into her block and sending her skywards, then twisted over a slash from Chrysaor, rolling his body like a corkscrew and slamming his hand down into the top of his head like an axe.

Her body jerked down and virtually flipped with the blow, face down and legs in the air.

Alma kicked them hard in the back and dropped them like a plank, debris mushroomed out as the tower trembled, the sound of fading explosions reached his ears as the Saber was kicked down into the depths of the tower.

He fell backwards like he was a puppet without strings, snaking along the ground and avoiding the thrusts and slashes from Gareth as the knight chased them down.

His hand flashed up, Boudica appeared with her sword already glowing a brilliant gold, arching through the air.

Sparks flew as Alma blurred the scythe in his hands, cackling all the while as he flung himself between the two Servants. Ducking and weaving between blows like they were oil and water, it was impossible to call what Alma was doing a fighting style, it looked more like a twisted form of breakdancing.

The scythe rolled over his body as he flipped it through his hands, knocking aside the blow of Boudica and then continuing the strike through, the scythe halted and then jerked forwards like a spear into the nose of Gareth, jerking her head back slightly.

A crack as the shield knocked the weapon skywards-

Alma let it go and threw himself to the ground, landing on his head and bringing his legs up, performing a splits as he twisted around on a pivot and blurred for a couple of seconds, the display brought both Boudica and Gareth into a retreat as Alma abruptly stopped and flipped up, catching his scythe as it fell back down and falling upon Gareth once more.

Ritsuka narrowed his eyes, acutely aware of the violence doubtlessly happening below them.

"Fujimaru-kun! The source of the Singularity is moving and heading closer to the surface, you need to get there and intercept it before-"

He was jerked backwards, Mash passed him by and brought her shield up, sparking along the surface as the scythe of Alma slipped along the metal before swinging back, hooking around the side of the shield and dragging it out of place, throwing a leg forwards into a kick.

Mash swung down, knocking the blow to the ground and retaliating with a straight jab to the chin of the God.

They kicked off the ground, avoiding Medusa just narrowly and hitting the with another retreating step.

"How long can you play around with me befo-oof!"

Ritsuka gaped, the God was tackled out of his speech by the burning body of Gawyn slamming right into his side and picking them up, the child didn't so much as slow down as he sprinted across the length of the platform.

It took Ritsuka only a moment to realise what his intentions were, but by then it was too late.

"Ash stop-!"

The Saber jumped, carrying the two of them over the edge and doubtlessly plummeting towards the ground.

Alma had never stopped laughing the whole way.

Ritsuka remained frozen for all of a second before his feet carried him forwards, sprinting across the length of the rubble and sliding to a halt at the edge, his eyes widened at the sight before him. Bursts of flame emerged from all over, another rumble brought about the rising of a large root like branch jutting out from one of the ground and showing no signs of stopping its growth.

Nor was it alone.

More and more of the roots emerged from the ground, shuddering the castle and knocking down everything that happened to be in their way.

His eyes tracked the small dots moving about at ground level, fighting amongst themselves.

Flashes of light from different combatants and the far away crashes of steel.

Then he saw them, the still burning comet of Ash and Alma as they struck the ground with a thunderous boom, mushrooming out for all of a second before the flaming orb that was Ash was punted clean of the cloud with a blur taking off after them, carting them away further into the battle.

"Get ready, we're going down after-"

"Just wait for a second Fujimaru-kun!" He barely managed to stop himself at the sudden shout from Romani. "The spell around Ash is probably going to be weakening soon, which means he'll be back to his old self."

Ritsuka stared at the screen.

"That signal, the Servant you found, is the cause of all of this and it is making for the surface as we speak. Right now, that thing is bursting to get out to the surface. It already has control of the castle if these readings are accurate, it needs to be stopped now."

He knew that.

He knew that.

"But Ash-"

"I know you're worried." Da Vinci spoke up now with a softer tone of voice. "But if we dally here then it gives the Servant more time to gather its strength. By the time it crests the surface, it could have an army of demons at its side and with the strength of a Holy Grail shard, that would still place above the likes of regular Servants."

A beat, then the woman grimaced.

"Worse if we account for the fact that Demons from this other world are some twisted cousin of the Gods…Ash might need to hold out by himself. Not that you can't send him some help."

He gritted his teeth.

Whipping around and pointing at Pharros. "Get someone down there to help Ash."

He turned on Gwynevere and briefly paused, whether she would be a help or not was something he couldn't really count on. It was more for the reaction that Ash would have for her rather than the other way around.

"Do what you can and then help where it's possible."

He glanced at the others, briefly looking in the direction of Chrysaor and then directing his focus to ground level once more. "We're heading down and intercepting the Servant with what we have. Try and lead some additional Servants we encounter. Targets of interest are the Demon we met and the Berserker we encountered."

Calls of affirmation.

He nodded once and then allowed Mash to pick him up.

It was the fastest way down, after all.

Back to falling it was.


She watched Chaldea leave, she let them do exactly that without even raising her voice once.

She had even allowed Nahr Alma to escape, or rather be carted away by the object of her obsession, purely because it was a fair exchange between the two of them. They had at least waited until she interacted with her mother before he enacted whatever plan of his this had been.

So it was fair to allow them the same thing.

It meant sense in her head.

Chrysaor remained utterly still throughout the entire thing, then shifted her attention towards the only other person who remained. The mother of Hanleth, she did not bother to remember their name nor did she truly care for them all that much. Being the mother of her summoner afforded them no courtesies.

Pulling her lips slightly taut, she watched the light fade away from Hanleth mote by mote, it would be perhaps a minute before she was utterly gone from this world. Even now, she were barely on the verge of consciousness.

It was startling, the comparison between Hanleth and her brother.

Clearly, Alma inherited all of the lethality.

She watched them in silence.

She blinked.

When her eyes next opened, she had Hanleth cradled in her arms and was moving off the tower and sprinting down the side of the building at full pelt. It was difficult to register the moment in which she had moved or even when she had picked up the dying Goddess, but the two things fell into line with one another.

Acting on instinct was nothing new to her, so she just let it ride out.


She watched them play, she watched them laugh and then she watched them part ways.

They were strangers, they held no relation.

They could not have been more different, yet they acted as close as family.

It was not even an attempt to mate, more like forming a pack. Yet it felt less than that, they did not live together. Nor did they move around together. They just interacted for short times during the day and moved off.

"Humans are social creatures, they crave stimulation for their senses. A bygone remnant from lesser times. You can remain just as productive without constant chattering from whatever random stranger happens to catch your eye on a particular day."

'Does that make it wrong?'

"No. I never called it wrong. It simply is what it is."

'Is it like the affection of a pack?'

"Perhaps, but not quite so severe. True, humans will stick together in times of hardship for survival. Making tasks easier for one another by offloading the more difficult and complicated work to those who are capable…but sometimes it is the need for solidarity."

'How do humans form their packs?'

"Why do you ask? Don't tell me that you're becoming fascinated with humans all of a sudden…no. You just thought it looked foolish, didn't you? Picking up strangers rather than forming closer bonds with their own families."

'It would be simpler if they kept it contained. Why bother with more than they have been given…are they not content with their family?'

The man fell silent after that.

His expression thinned, his eyes turned to his desk and he stopped writing his notes for the first time since they started speaking.

"...That would depend on the family."

He said little else for some time.

Then resumed writing once more.

"Families cannot be chosen. They are granted and sometimes, humans are dissatisfied with what they have been given. They might not admit such a thing, they might not even realise it. But the attention of a family is never quite enough for them, so they choose to seek out more."

'It sounds like a waste of time. It gives you nothing.'

"It can divert focus from the truly important things in life, yes…friends tend to consume much of your attention. But would it be a waste of time? That would depend on a definition of waste. This conversation has more value to you than to me, yet I indulged in it anyway."

She could not respond to that.

Her eyes turned downcast as the thoughts swirled in her head.

Then she spoke.

'Why did you?'

The man grunted.

"Because I wanted to answer. That is how instincts work. Sometimes…you do something because you want to, not just because you need to. One day, you act against your own instincts as well."

It sounded impossible for her.

'How does this happen?'

The man smiled, as though she told a joke. Only briefly before the smile faded away.

"I cannot explain it to you. You just need to wait for it to happen. It will happen for you, one day."

'...And then what?'

"...Then you can choose if you wish to act on your wants or your instincts."


The sound of battle filled her ears, it was distant but still closer than she would have been comfortable with. The possibility of being discovered was rather high and protecting herself and having time to speak with Hanleth was impossible.

She wasn't sure why she acted.

Or maybe she was.

Resting Hanleth gently on the ground, she propped her up against a wall and remained crouched by the side of the Goddess, staring at her as the breathing turned quieter and quieter with each passing moment.

She was fine with only this.

Then Hanleth spoke, a hoarse gentle voice.

"...Chris…did I…do a good job…"

She kept silent for a moment, her lips thinned as she stared down at the Goddess and let out a short breath. "I believe that, for a time, it was a comforting place for the Servants to reside. They were clearly entertained by it."

A slow nod of the head from Hanleth, the freckled Goddess raised her head slightly and looked her dead in the eye. A desperate flicker entered her gaze as she forced her next words out.

"Did…you…?"

Chris knew what she asked.

She took in a longer breath than before, turning her gaze from the Goddess and to the far distance. She could sense them, shining so brightly like a bonfire on the land. The essence of her mother, fighting and killing just as she had always thought them capable of. Meeting them had truly been a wonderful thing, even if she never saw the Gorgon entirely.

"...I fulfilled my desire. I met her…and I was…complete at last."

Something touched her hand, her eyes flickered down towards it and stared at the bloodied palm of the Goddess resting atop her own fingers, eyes traced back to the owner as Hanleth gave her a gentle squeeze, traces of unshed tears entering the eyes of the woman.

"I…wanted you…to…have more…time…with…."

Chris nodded her head in understanding, that had been her wish as well. Though meeting them alone was something that she could be content with, for any length of time, it was solely what her heart desired.

The hand of the Goddess slipped down from her own and thumped against the ground, the eyelids started to flutter and drop.

"...Thank you, for letting me meet my mother, Hanleth."

"Don't thank me…for that…it was…natural for me to…help…you…"

The lip of the Goddess turned upwards for a brief instance as the golden light consumed the rest of her body, Chris stared at the spot where the Goddess had been and found herself captivated by the empty space.

Until the very end, she truly gained nothing from all of this and she ended up dead.

She really didn't understand Hanleth.

Her eyes closed and she pushed herself to her feet, opening them up once more.

They were even, she owed Hanleth nothing.

She could just take a step back and let matters lead where they may.

Her sword comfortably fit into her hand.

But she wasn't going to let matters end just there, she was the security guard of Hanleth's wish. Charged with protecting the dream that she had made. So, until the very end, she would act to protect the sanctuary. She didn't know why and she didn't care why.

Ultimately, it was because she wanted to.

Because it was what Hanleth asked her to do.


His back hit the ground for all of a second.

An impact struck his gut, he went skywards in the next moment, pain lanced through his chest as the air was shot out of his throat, the world faded into a blur of multi-coloured images and sounds as he whistled through the sky.

His momentum slowed, he stared up at the sky.

A shadow emerged from the corner of his eye, a single flash of Alma twisting through the air before a heel crashed into his face and whited his vision, driving him down into the ground with a painful crunch.

He bounced, coughing out blood as he did so and gasping for breath.

He received not even a second to gasp, Alma was above him and striking him in the side with another kick, his body cartwheeled through the air.

Slamming through something made of wood - only knowing that because of the sound it made when he went right through it - and ragdolling through the air once more, at least until a grip tightened around his hair and dragged him back, not even allowed the time to scream before his face was rammed into the ground.

The feeling of moving and the painful sensation of his face being dragged along the ground mixed with the insane cackles of Alma before he was pulled free, light flooded his vision, the swift change from darkness to light blinded him for a brief instant.

He was struck in the chest during that period of time, hammered back into the ground but unable to even form a scream. He had no air left in his lungs to give, his eyes bulged as his limbs flailed uselessly around him.

Alma stomped down on his chest and drove him deeper into the ground, he leaned forwards and applied more weight to his leg. Locking eyes with him and cocking his head to the side, raising a brow and humming.

"I thought your attachment to this place would have made you a little more savage, brother. I thought I saw a little spark of something but…"

They sighed, as if disappointed, pulling his leg off his chest.

Gawyn scrambled up, hand swinging forwards as lightning crackled along his fingers, the miracle formed in his grasp-

Alma twisted, sweeping his body in a full circle.

He saw his raised leg flash in from the side, his eyes widened ever so slightly before his heel drove itself into his cheek, throwing him down into the ground and obscuring half his vision as he pressed his head down into the ground, grinding the sole of his foot into the side of his head and twisting it.

It hurt.

It was agonising.

His left hand swung up and grasped at the leg in an effort to push it off him, his body twisted and squirmed, yet for all his effort he found himself unable to remove the weight from the top of his head, no matter how much he tried.

Another sigh from above him.

"I guess this really is the best you can manage, little brother…I'm a little disappointed, to be honest. I mean, if this is the culmination of all your feelings then…"

They trailed off, sounding somewhat disinterested.

Gawyn felt red hot fire shoot through his body, his eyes shrunk to pinpricks and a snarl bubbled out from the back of his throat, blood leaked from between his teeth as he pushed and shoved to remove the foot from his head.

A roar, he shoved the leg from the top of his head.

"Hmph?" A faint noise of confusion, Alma stumbled as he were thrown from him.

Gawyn surged to his feet, pulling his sword from his bottomless box and swinging upwards at the fiend, the blade arced through the air-

They caught his wrist before the weapon could make contact, he snarled and pushed, hissing as he tried to force the sword onto his target. A desperate urge to take the head of this monster resulted only in him making a pathetic sound between a scream and a whimper, all while Alma looked at him without an ounce of emotion.

"Why!?"

It was the only thing he could think to ask.

This place, those people, they had been smiling so widely, it had been such a wonderful thing for him to see.

Such a wonderful thing to experience.

And yet this man-!

This creature that dared to claim relationship to mother-!

"Why would you do-ack!?"

They twisted his arm around, the clang of metal as his sword slipped from his fingers and to the ground. Alma scoffed and then brought his leg up, pressing his foot against his face and shoving him back.

He stumbled, tripping over his own feet and then fell to the ground.

He waited for the attack to follow.

It never did.

He panted, breathing in and out, turning his head to Alma and watched as he lowered his foot back to the ground, raising a brow at him.

"Everything that lives has instincts to it, a desire to do what they want." They shrugged. "I saw you and I figured that you had nothing, not an ounce of want within you…nothing but mothers little teachings so I figured that I, as a caring big brother, would do my best to lend my brother-"

They stepped to the side, smirking all the while.

Gawyn staggered past them, roaring as his punch failed to make contact.

A light shove in the back sent him sprawling to the ground once more.

"-my expertise on experiencing wants. Sure, this place fulfils your want for recreation. I will offer Hanleth my genuine praise on that…but there has to be a little something else. The ultimate desire - the want - for survival."

Gawyn rolled onto his back and glared.

Alma wasn't even looking at him anymore, instead he was pacing around with his hands on his hips.

"You don't have that spark for survival, you'd quite happily throw yourself into a literal fire for no real reason other than someone told you to. That's no way for anything to live…where's that passion to never give up? That spark which drags your broken body in the desperate hope you can see the light of the next day?"

His instincts screamed.

He threw himself into a roll, the flash of steel and clang followed next, he stared at his own reflection in the scythe buried not even an inch from his face.

Jerking backwards, Gawyn stumbled to his feet and shot his eyes towards Alma, he smiled as he dragged the scythe back, cutting a thin line in the ground and pulling it free, shouldering the weapon and tilting his head.

"But personally, I'd much rather see your desire to ultimately want something…to fight with all your might to achieve something not because you were told to do it, but because you want to do it."

They flashed a grin that was all teeth.

"I want you to kill me because you want to."

Gawyn jerked back as if struck, his words were utterly lacking in sense.

"You're insane!"

They frowned.

Pain lanced across his chest, Gawyn gasped and stumbled backwards, slamming a hand over his front and pulling it back to reveal it stained with red, shooting his eyes up to see the scythe now painted with scarlet.

With his blood.

When did he even move…?

"Don't dismiss me that easily, little brother. Just because you don't like my words doesn't make them insane."

The madman rolled his eyes.

"Don't you get it? Everything should want something. Strive for something, feel that burning passion for something."

Alma was right in his face, Gawyn's eyes shot wide-

His head snapped to the side, he stumbled and turned with the blow, feeling numbness in his left cheek as he whirled back around, seeing Alma with his arm outstretched, having backhanded him across the face.

"I ruined paradise. I killed your sister after she wanted to only help you. I set the Demons of Chaos upon your friends and master. I killed people just because I felt like it."

They started to walk towards him, his weapon dropped to the ground behind them, head dragging across the pavement with a grinding noise. They leaned his head back, eyes burning red and his smile stretching from ear to ear.

"After doing all of that, don't you want to kill me?"

His hands clenched into fists, he wouldn't let himself fall victim to something as foolish as this. As his mother had taught him, his duty was paramount above all else. His anger would cloud his judgement, providing openings for enemies to exploit. He needed to be the sword, he needed to be the sword, he needed to be the sword.

Straightening his body, Gawyn evened his expression and stared blankly at Alma.

"You are a threat to everyone in this Singularity, you have committed crimes against your own family and the royalty. Endangering the lives of the humans I have been charged with protecting. For these reasons, you must die."

His hand flexed, his sword formed in his grasp once more and his fingers curled tight around the hilt.

"Whether I am the one to kill you or not is irrelevant."

Alma stopped walking.

They smacked his tongue, "Still hung up on all that, are you? Guess mother really did sink her claws into you…she's not watching right now, you know? You can drop the loyal son attitude."

A scoff. "Not that she would ever appreciate it. You've flown the coop and no longer matter to her…if you ever really did."

Sparks flew between them, sword locked against scythe as he glared up into the eyes of Alma, they looked back with apathy.

"The Queen loves all beneath her."

Alma scoffed. "She doesn't know what love is. Face it, she's been sleepwalking through life for cycles."

A shove backwards, they broke away and then he swung again, slamming his sword again and again into his guard, frowning as he found himself unable to find an opening, the speed different between the two of them was just too-

They scythe swung around, the back of the weapon hammered into his temple and jerked his head to the side, a kick to his gut forced him backwards, he barely caught sight of the polearm racing towards his chin before it cracked into his head hard, jerking him backwards and into a flip.

He hit the ground, scrambling to his feet once more.

"You can see it in her life. I didn't even need to see her again to understand it. Rinse and repeat again and again."

He wished they would stop talking.

"How many times do you think she had kids before finally getting around to you?"

It didn't matter to him how many children she had, as long as they weren't like this one.

"She was just doing all this because she was told to do it. You can see it in her eyes when you speak with her. Utter dullness, like yours. She loves because she has to. That's her function in the world and nothing else. Go forth and multiply!"

His thrust was parried to the side, his shin slammed into his ribs and a backhand staggered him away.

"Who could possibly want to live a life like that? You have any idea how pathetic you have to be to accept living like that? Never doing what you want to do?"

He blocked a downwards slash, staggering as it chipped at his guard and reversed around, he sidestepped and swung with both arms.

They flipped over the top of his head and kicked him in the back as they moved over, he twisted with the momentum and swung upwards, they turned and avoided the slash before they landed and were upon him again.

They blurred, he caught the transparent image of them in the millisecond before they struck.

He brought his sword up, the impact reverberated through his arms and sent him skywards.

"And that's who you look up to as someone to impress? She's the last person you should aspire to be like!"

They were above him once more, swinging down towards him.

He slashed across, knocking the head of the scythe away from him and throwing a free hand up, jabbing them below the collarbone and snagging his hand around his rags, twisting them over and reversing his roles, Alma's back to the rapidly approaching ground.

Their knees were driven into his chest, flipping them over as he hit the ground hard, dust filled his vision as he rolled onto his front, pushing himself to his feet and straining his ears.

A whistle.

He blocked, steel sparked and a grinding sound echoed through his ears as the scythe scraped across the flat of his guard and like that, Alma shot past him and vanished once more.

Yet his voice continued to echo.

"I indulged myself in my wants and it was wonderful! I couldn't understand why no one else was doing it? You do what you want, when you want, and everything becomes so much easier!"

The air whistled again.

He turned and hissed, blood sprayed on the ground as he proved a hair too slow and the scythe nicked against his shoulder, armour shattered and flew from him as he fell into a roll, landing back on his feet and narrowing his eyes.

"They wanted me to be their God of War and so I took the job very seriously! More than they could ever realise!"

He turned to the whistle-

Their shin struck the back of his leg, his balance fell from beneath him and he dropped to his knee.

"But there is only one war that matters! The war for survival and I understood that, I relished it! Everything that lives does so according to its wants and needs. That's the only thing that remains constant in this world! Doing whatever your instincts demand at the moment!"

Another whistle, a flash of light.

He parried the scythe upwards-

A cough escaped him, his body folded over the knee, a hand gripped the back of his head and slammed him into the ground, his body bounced up.

Something gripped his leg and pulled.

The world blurred as he was spun around, it felt as though it lasted years before whatever was gripping his leg released him.

He soared without a sense of direction, weightlessness overtook him.

Alma features flashed in his eyes, a hand slammed into his face and his body was jerked backwards, he struck something with a groan, resistance around him contorted to fit his body with a sharp clanging sound, the hand was pulled free of his back just far enough that they could pull it back into a fist and swing forwards once more.

The blow sent him reeling, pushing through the metallic support as the rollercoaster collapsed without its legs, crashing to the ground around him as he struck the ground and bounced twice.

A foot stomped down into his face and halted his momentum painfully, lifting off him and stepping away.

"Where one side does whatever it needs to survive and thrive. Where it lives by its instincts. What goes for even the lowest of beasts should go doubly so for us. Gods, humans and demons. All of us are doing everything in our power to cling to the top of the food chain and we lie to ourselves about why we fight!"

Gawyn coughed, Alma barely noticed.

"Some claim to do so for the good of the world, others claim because it is their birthright and more will just claim its because they're superior to others. In the end, it doesn't matter what their reasoning is because it all is rooted in the same thing."

A hand found itself around his throat, dragging him from the ground and into the air, bringing him eye level with Alma as they stared into his eyes.

"Because they all know, deep in their blood, it is about survival of the fittest and if you aren't proving yourself the fittest, you're the food. Ideals don't keep you breathing, you think a deer can fight a wolf with fancy words and pretty notions about safeguarding the weak? About building up the strongest democracy or kingdom in the woods?!"

Gawyn gave only a weak groan.

"It's nonsense, all of it, don't you see? Don't you get it? It is the will to survive that pushes creatures onwards, that makes them reach their full potential."

Alma turned, Gawyn was flung from their grip with a rather weak force and struck the ground in a slump.

"The desire for something. To be the best. To be the biggest predator in the woods. Nothing else matters in this world. That is the war that is worth waging, the war that is built on that singular truth…The war to become the apex predator on this world."

His head jerked as Alma prodded it roughly with the butt of his scythe, he managed only a weak groan.

"And if you aren't fighting for what you want, then you aren't competing. You're just waiting for someone who actually has a desire to come along and eat you. What is living if you aren't living for your passions? For your wants? Nevermind honour and duty, heroism and villainy. They're all just excuses, layers upon layers of little lies we tell ourselves to try and separate us from our true nature."

The scythe buried itself in the ground, Alma's fingers tangled through his hair and gripped tight, yanking him off the ground and earning a wince of pain from him as they glared into his eyes.

"We're all just animals. So why pretend to be something we aren't? Why shackle yourself with such pointless things? Stopping yourself from doing whatever you want to do. Stopping yourself from thriving in this chaotic world…what are you, brother? Are you a predator or are you just another worthless lump of meat?"

…What utter insanity.

His eyes narrowed into slits, his head jerked forwards and pulled itself free of the grip of Alma, slamming his forehead into the nose of the Lancer with all of his might, feeling warmth explode across his face and feeling a twinge of something dark coil inside of him at the sound.

A sense of satisfaction.

He did not let it end there, his arms swung up on either side, palms crashing into the ears of the Lancer and earning a cry of pain from them.

It brought a smile to his lips without him realising.

His hands snaked around the back of Alma's head and pulled down, driving a knee into his nose once more and loosening his hold just enough to let go of his head, pulling his arm across and battering his elbow into the side of Nahr's temple and snapping his head down.

Gawyn swung up with all his might, his leg caught them in the chest and sent them spiralling through the air, crashing down a distance from him in a cloud of debris.

He panted in and out, shambling forwards only to pause.

His eyes drifted down to his hands, stained with the blood of Alma from his attacks.

They moved up, his fingers drifted along his features before pulling back as if they'd touched something hot. He was smiling, he was grinning at the savagery.

That wasn't…

"Hahahahahaha…"

It started as a low chuckle, a shadow rose up from the cloud of dust, sweeping it aside with a flourished swing of the arm. Alma stood with a bloodied smile, wiping clean the trail of crimson dripping from his crooked nose with a thumb.

"...That's more like it, doesn't it feel liberating to act on your instincts? Aren't you just ecstatic at seeing my blood colour your fingers? That pure little smile on your face tells me that you are~"

Gawyn stared, his hands dropped down to his sides.

"I don't want to enjoy hurting you…but those people…those smiles."

His hands clenched into fists.

"Their happiness was real. It might have been built on a lie but it was real!"

His fist slammed into his chest, he hunched forwards and snarled at them. He saw their smiles, he felt their joy and he relished in their mirth. Their genuine happiness, even though it was all built on the pain of another, he wasn't to say that made it all worthless in the end.

They were all pleased.

They were all happy.

"I shared in their laughter! In their joy! It was real!"

Alma raised a brow. "It was built on pain, little brother. That poor demon in agony, are you going to say that-"

"It was wrong! They didn't deserve to suffer like that but the happiness those people felt! The happiness and joy that I saw was real! It had value! Their laughter, their smiles, they all had value in this world!"

He saw red.

"And you destroyed it all! Anything that could have been salvaged! The chance for making it all right and you broke it all! You broke it all because you cared only about what you thought was right!"

Alma was grinning now as though they were listening to something funny.

"You don't care about people! You care only about what you want to see in them! Just because you want to act like a monster doesn't mean everyone else does!"

"...And?"

Gawyn's eyes shrunk to pinpricks.

A fire burned in his heart.

"...You're insane. Utterly insane. I saw their smiles. I…I experienced it for myself. I was happy."

He barked out a sound.

It was unthinkable, it went against everything he had been taught.

But it was…fun.

He had enjoyed himself.

Even the news of the demon in pain did not sour his feelings on the matter, but now it was all ruined.

Forget duty.

For the sake of those smiles this monster had poisoned, for this place that he had ruined with his own arrogance.

"Unforgivable!" His snarl ripped free of his throat as he swung his arm into the sky, lightning crackled along his finger as the bolt of sunlight raced for the heavens. It peeled apart, thin streaks of light twisted and curved through the air before dropping back to earth like rain.

Alma laughed all the while, dancing between the falling bolts like a dancer, as though he had not a care in the world. No, as if his efforts were somehow the funniest thing that he had ever heard.

"You're absolutely unforgivable!"

Light danced across his palm, rings of light were slung forth.

Alma rolled over them, spinning his scythe and hooking it around the ring, landing back on the ground and twirling around. Dragging the ring of light back across and hurling it right back towards him.

Gawyn brought up his arms in front of himself, the light slammed into him with an explosion, shrouding him in brightness as he swung his arms wide, eyes darting left and right before he shot skywards as a shadow danced across the ground.

"I won't let you get away with turning this place into a bloodbath!"

The spear of light formed in his grasp, his arm coiled back like a javelin and he pitched his body forwards, thrusting his arm to its full length and sending the spear sailing through the sky faster than he could blink.

Alma rolled over it, diverting the spear with a swing of his polearm and flipping forwards, bringing the scythe to bear and grinning all the while.

Gawyn skipped backwards, Alma crashed into the ground right in front of him, but he pressed the attack before the Lancer could recover, throwing a punch forwards with a roar.

It was caught in the palm of the Lancer.

They raised a brow at him.

"Talk about irony…but your true feelings at last."

Their smile turned softer, it made him feel sick just staring at it.

"Hello there, little brother. Nice to finally meet you!"

Nahr pulled, Gawyn was jerked forwards and swept off his feet as they spun in a circle, then released him at the apex of their spin and sent him through the air. With only the voice of Alma chasing them down as he shouted out.

"Big brother is here to let you vent all your emotions!"

They were unforgivable.

He couldn't let them get away with this.

Wouldn't let them get away with this.

It pulsed through him, a crackle through his brain.

Gawyn winced for a moment before he landed, righting himself and clawing his fingers through the ground as he came to a halt. Growling to himself more than anything else, snapping his head up and bringing up an arm in a block, grunting as the shock of Alma's kick reverberated through his whole body.

He pushed backwards, swinging his arm wide and diverting the kick back into the ground.

His other arm swung forwards, it was shoved down with a chop which converted into a jab to his chin, then their other arm swung forth and struck against his chest with a lightning fast blow.

The haymaker sent him reeling.

Yet it was as though a fog was being lifted from his mind, bit by bit, something was loosening its hold over him.

Like he was waking up from a dream-

"Gugh!"

He staggered with a kick, retaliating swiftly with a punch to the liver only to be thrown back with a powerful shove.

His mind loosened.

Images filtered through.

Names.

Faces.

He tried his best to suppress them, but they flooded his mind without end. Visions of battles, of deaths, of killings and of others. Memories with Master Ritsuka that he could not recall making, a name burning its way through his mind that belonged to him, yet it was not him.

What was-?

He caught a punch in his guard, his raised arms jerked back and slammed into his face with a thud. Gawyn stumbled backwards, feeling the wind surge past him as a shadow flickered through the corner of his eye, he whipped around fast as he could in an effort to intercept the shadow.

Swinging his fist down, his knuckles cracked the pavement beneath them-

A solid grip found itself onto the back of his armour, pulling him away and spinning him through the air before he was loosened. Turning airborne once more and sweeping his arms out, eyes darting in every direction and his senses focusing as much as they could. Anything to give him some indication of where Alma was coming from.

The attack that he knew would be upon him soon-

"Noble Phantasm."

He heard the words whisper through the wind, he felt the shift in the air as his body started to tighten.

"True Pain."

It was only a single second.

Then he felt it surge through his body, a true agony which could not be put into words.

Every cut, every scratch, every bruise.

Every single wound he had suffered felt as though it had been set alight, an unending agony which shot right down into his very heart. Such was the pain that he could not even muster the energy to scream, his throat tightened and his body locked up tight. Becoming little more than a brick falling through the air.

Then Alma rocketed down from the sky, their body spinning around.

A flash of movement before their heel slammed into the top of his head.

He struck the ground with a crash, yet he could no longer feel the pain of the impact, rather he continued to writhe and squirm on the ground. Muscles contorting and limbs spasming as the flood of pain never once abated, he could barely make out shapes through his blurred vision.

The shadow of Alma dropped to the ground, then stalked towards him at an almost insultingly casual pace.

His arms dragged themselves forwards, fingers clawing at the ground to find some sort of grip.

They twitched and trembled, unable to curl and succeeding only in feebly pawing at the dirt.

Through it all, the pain did not leave him.

He did not even grow accustomed to it, merely hacking and gasping as wave after wave of agony rolled through him.

"You're still conscious down there?"

Alma crouched down in front of him, a note of approval in his voice which made him sick, it burned more than the pain of his wounds.

Through teary eyes, he pulled his head off the ground and glared at the blurry shape of Alma with all the fury that he could muster up. A single desire shot through him, nothing else mattered at this one moment, not his duty or anything else.

He just wanted to kill Alma.

Pulling his left hand up, he stretched outwards with clawed fingers in the direction of the shape, snarling and hissing as he spat out from behind his teeth, the pain only serving to fuel his single desire to kill this monster and nothing else,

They rose up from his crouch and took a step slightly out of reach, his arm thudded down against the dust.

Gawyn stared at the space between them, such a distance that it might as well have been a world away.

His fingers curled.

Whatever strength he had left went into pulling his body forwards, clawing at the ground and heaving with all his might, he moved in nothing more than inches. But anything that brought him closer to the Servant was welcome progress.

They stepped back once again, he snarled and moved forwards, dragging himself until he finally caught something.

His fingers wrapped around the ankle of his left leg, his head upturned to glare into his eyes as rage focused his vision.

All he looked at when he raised his eyes was the beatific smile of Alma, as though he were watching something majestic.

"That's a wonderful look you have there, little brother."

Dropping down to a crouch, he moved a hand towards himself, without the strength to move all he could do was brace himself for the blow that was going to land.

Fingers gently stroked at his scalp, needling themselves through his hair and patting it down affectionately.

He froze at the touch.

"I'm so touched that you can show this face to me."

Their words sounded so genuine.

It only served to sicken him further. The disgust he felt for this thing was beyond any words that could be used.

"I…" He gasped, forcing the air through his teeth and shaking his head away from them, he only chuckled at his efforts. "I…will…kill…"

"I'm so glad to hear your earnest thoughts. Doesn't it feel good to be honest with yourself?"

He snarled at his words, tightening his grasp around his ankle.

He didn't know what he was trying to achieve, he couldn't put much effort into his grip but the urge to do something - anything - just to cause them pain was the single thought that filled his mind. It didn't matter what it was, just so he could stop laughing and cackling.

Their face just angered him that much.

Their revelry at this destruction and misery.

Their words of madness.

They were just…an eyesore he wanted gone.

He just wanted all of it gone.

He didn't even feel the weight in his grip being ripped free until he heard the grunt of pain and then the snarl of absolute fury, his eyes dulled as something grasped the back of him and pulled him up, looping over someone's shoulders as his weight was lifted from the ground.

Barely in a state to recognise the white hair in his face or the voice of concern that sounded so very familiar to him.