The Triumvirate Chapter 17:
We are Rome!
The Whore of Babylon locked eyes with the Chaldeans, her sinister grin never leaving her face. Instead, she then burst into a twisted cackle, sounds more inhuman than ever the groans Lev did as he transformed into a Demon God.
"Ah, I can't believe everything worked as perfect as it did. If they make cards to thank people for helping with evil plans, you all deserve one from me!" She taunted. The worst part? They couldn't refute her, they played right into her hands.
The Whore of Babylon then looked at Nero, her 'other self', who was holding back such rage against her enemy. Seeing it just made the situation all the sweeter for her. "You… You…"
"My oh my, I can sense your hatred, your desire to kill me! But also… Your impotence. For being my other self, you're the most pathetic being I've known."
With those words, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble and crack, with them having trouble just standing upright.
"Sadly, you're of no use to me anymore. So I'm ending your games, here and now."
She held the Grail up in the air, and from it a strange black liquid began to pour, sipping into the cracks in the ground and towards the Chaldeans.
"Everyone, look out! There's something coming out of the earth!" Roman yelled through the comms to them, and sure enough…
Claws emerged from the black liquid, first just a pair, then two, then five, then ten and before they knew it, the Chaldeans were entirely surrounded by the beasts that the Whore of Babylon conjured to fight them, made in the image of Nero's beloved pets.
The blackened and monstrous lions created a circle around the Servants and their Masters, with all of them getting into a defensive stance. Meanwhile, the Whore of Babylon grinned at Nero.
"Now, my other self, how about you and I settle this matter personally?" The Whore of Babylon said. "As for the rest, you will have to take care of my dearest pets. Just a small warning, they like to play rough."
The corrupted beasts snarled as they slowly walked towards the Chaldeans. Mashu instinctively got in front of the Masters and gripped her shield tightly. "Please stay behind me."
"Hate to break it to you, Mashu, but I don't think that's going to help much." Tatsuko said as she pointed at the lions behind them.
"I will handle this." Romulus said. The Lancer slammed his fist into the ground, summoning multiple roots to stab and pierce the skin of the corrupted beasts. The Whore of Babylon stared at the scene in annoyance. The Grail gurgled and shook in the Whore of Babylon's hand for a moment before blood started to spill onto the floor, and covered it entirely. With a snap of her fingers, parts of the puddle of blood rose, forming multiple different shapes as they surrounded the roots.
The different spears of blood broke through the roots almost instantaneously. Mashu immediately stepped up and slammed her shield to repel the attack.
"Lord Chaldeas!"
The weaponized blood struck the barrier, but the force alone caused Mashu to be pushed back a bit. Ritsuka and Tatsuko immediately rushed to her aid and kept her steady while keeping her Noble Phantasm activated. As that was happening, Nero continued to attack the Whore of Babylon with everything she had. The blonde emperor cut deep into the Whore of Babylon's neck, but the enemy Servant grinned as the wound healed quickly, and pushed Nero back. The Whore of Babylon clicked her tongue in annoyance as she looked back at the Chaldeans. They were a stubborn lot, she would give them that much.
"Well then, how about I try this?"
Several areas of the pool of blood started to blacken, and rise in humanoid shapes. The Chaldeans widened their eyes in shock as they felt the eeriness about them. Especially their weapons. One was a woman with long hair, and a large, heart shaped lance. Another, a man that looked like a knight, but with a modern hood, and a large sword. Beside them was a woman with daggers in her hands, and a skull mask. Another man with long flowing robes and a small sword stood beside her, and another man with what looked like sleeveless armor and a bow. Next to the bowman was a man with a large cloak and baggy pants. In his hands was what looked like an Egyptian staff. Next to him was a man with a large coat on top of a suit, and what looked like a small knife in his hands.
"Okay, they're on par with Heroic Spirits." Roman said. "But with the numbers you have, I think you guys can take them."
No sooner did she say that, the corrupted familiars charged at them. Romulus immediately went into action, conjuring roots to pierce the girl in the skull mask at multiple angles.
"There is something about that one that makes me feel uneasy." Romulus said.
The girl with the skull mask started to melt from the roots, only to completely reform as soon as she touched the bloody floor. The swordsman went in next, raising his sword to attack the Masters. Boudicca rushed to their defense, blocking the strike with her shield, and proceeded to do battle with it. The woman with the lance immediately came up from behind the swordsman, and lunged at the Masters. Mashu blocked the strike with her shield, and proceeded to slam the shield into the woman's face. As that was happening, Jing Ke easily fought against the man with the knife. She dodged all of his strikes, and cut him on the arm. The Assassin's eyes widened as she saw the cut start regenerating quickly. Jing Ke rushed closer, cutting the man continuously to try and win. But every time she cut him, she saw the wounds heal. She looked back and saw Sanson and Liz face the bowman, and the man with the shortsword together. The white haired Assassin deflected the arrows, forcing the bowman to try and escape. Liz blocked his escape, slamming her tail into his back, sending him crashing into the ground. The man with the shortsword shot multiple orbs at Sanson, but Liz destroyed them with her lance. It would seem that this one was a spellcaster. The bowman got up only for Sanson to appear in front of him and cut his arms off in one fluid motion. The man's eyes widened alongside Jing Ke's and Liz's as the bowman's arms regenerated almost instantaneously. Boudicca continued her fight with the swordsman, the two of them were about evenly matched, with no conclusion within sight.
On the other end, Mashu continued her fight with the woman with the lance. The Shielder struggled for a moment, but thankfully Ritsuka and Tatsuko immediately aided her in the fight, shooting spell after spell to hit the opponent, or to heal Mashu. As that was happening, Romulus continued his battle against the girl in the skull mask, while also battling the man with the staff. The Lancer simply blocked all of the daggers thrown at him, with the man with the staff to try and attack him from behind. Romulus grabbed him by the throat, and threw him into the woman with the lance. The moment he did so, the girl with the skull mask threw a barrage of daggers at him, with one of them hitting his back, and the other his shoulder. Immense pain shot through his body, but the Lancer did not buckle. It would seem she had some poison. Romulus now attacked the skull masked girl to try and keep her from attacking.
Jing Ke watched as Mashu now had to face the woman with the lance, and the man with the staff. The Shielder was now struggling even with the Master's help. Mashu still managed to wound the man with a staff with her shield. But the man healed quickly, and shot more beams of light at Mashu. The woman knocked Mashu back onto the ground, but Romulus came to her aid, and slammed the skull masked girl into the spearwoman. Jing Ke looked to Nero and the Whore of Babylon, and clicked her tongue.
Nero was now struggling, and with how powerful her opponent became, she was now in danger of getting killed.
Jing Ke snapped back to reality as her opponent lunged at her with his dagger. That was until Boudicca knocked the knife wielding man back onto the ground.
"Why are you over here?" Jing Ke asked.
"Lady Jing Ke, please help Boudicca save Nero!"
The Assassin looked back and saw Romulus now facing the swordsman, the skull masked woman, the spearwoman, and the man with the staff all by himself. Jing Ke saw Mashu next to the Masters being healed by both of them. It would seem her opponents wore her down, and she needed to rest a bit. A pair of roots clung to the knife wielding man and pulled him towards the others.
"How come Romulus isn't helping Nero instead?" Jing Ke asked.
"Romulus is the only one that can hold them off like this until help arrives." Boudicca answered. "We just need to hurry and help Nero."
Jing Ke nodded and ran alongside the Rider towards the Whore of Babylon. The two Servants attacked her from behind, but the enemy Servant blocked both of their attacks, and looked back at them with slight annoyance. "What made you both think that could possibly work?"
The Whore of Babylon flung them towards Nero, but the two Servants corrected themselves to prevent slamming into the emperor. The three women immediately charged at the enemy Servant, the three of them attacking at different angles to try and pin her down. The Whore of Babylon blocked all three strikes, but the force behind them pushed her back a bit. The enemy Servant stared at them in amusement. The Whore of Babylon raised her hand, and a torrent of blood shot towards the three women. The two Servants and Nero leapt out of the way of the torrent of blood, and then resumed their assault on the enemy Servant, deciding to attack on three different sides. The Whore of Babylon ducked under them, then cackled as the three women charged at her again.
As that was happening, the fight with the corrupted familiars continued. After the Masters sufficiently healed Mashu, the Shielder was then asked by them to aid Sanson and Liz in fighting the bowman in order to keep him off Romulus. Mashu agreed to it, but after the skull masked girl attacked her as she was leaving, the Shielder realized something interesting.
She was completely immune to the poison in the daggers. With this knowledge, she led the enemy familiar away from Romulus, and led her towards the bowman. The skull masked woman lunged at Mashu, but the Shielder grabbed her by the arm, and threw her into the bowman. Sanson and Liz took the opportunity to stab them, but the trio watched as the familiars merely regenerated from their wounds. The bowman was the first to attack, Mashu blocked his strike, and slammed her shield into him, forcing Liz and Sanson to face the skull masked girl alone.
Mashu lunged at the bowman, continuously keeping him on the defensive. The Shielder struck him with her shield before slamming it into his leg. The leg regenerated in an instant, and the bowman shot an explosive arrow at Mashu. The Shielder was knocked back towards Sanson and Liz, who were now on the ground groaning. The skull masked woman stood over them with her daggers. Mashu's eyes widened as she realized they were poisoned. The Spellcaster aimed his blade at the Masters, while the skull masked woman raised her daggers to strike them from afar, with the bowman also taking aim. A magical beam shot from behind the spellcaster from spinning orbs, while the other two familiars attacked in unison alongside him. Time slowed down for Mashu as she desperately ran to intercept the attacks. Thankfully she managed to get in between the projectile's path of attack and the Masters and slammed her shield down.
"Lord Chaldeas!"
The projectiles hit the barrier Mashu conjured up. While the daggers and arrow fell to the ground without much trouble, the Shielder felt the force of the magical blast push her back. The Shielder dug in her heels and decided to push forward. She could not fail them now. A large light enveloped her and the arrow, causing the Chaldeans to cover their eyes for a brief moment. Roman's eyes widened as he looked at the light and then to the monitor below him.
"Mashu's magic energy is growing stronger!"
The light dissipated, shocking everyone as they looked at Mashu, and their eyes could not believe what they were seeing. Her midriff was now covered by armor, along with her wrists, knees and lower thighs.
"Damn, Mashu's got a power up!" Tatsuko said. Ritsuka did not say a word. Instead, all he could do was stare at the Shielder in awe.
Mashu grunted as she kept her feet firmly planted on the ground. A moment later, the magic beam bounced off her barrier, and hit the ceiling. The Shielder panted for a few moments before she leapt up to deal with the spellcaster, the bowman and the girl in the skull mask alongside Sanson and Liz, the two Servants now recovered from the poison.
As that was happening Romulus continued to fight the four other familiars. While the familiars put up a good fight, they were struggling against the might of the founder of Rome. The man with the knife came up behind Romulus to try and stab him in the back, but Ritsuka cast a Gandr upon him, paralyzing the familiar, which gave Romulus the opportunity to grab him, and throw the familiar into the spearwoman and the swordsman. The man with the staff attempted to attack, but Romulus split him in half with his lance. Ritsuka and Tatsuko could not help but sigh in relief as they saw the familiar fall to the ground, and watched as Sanson cut the spellcaster in half alongside Liz who cut the bowman in half.
Unfortunately, their victory was short lived. The bisected familiars now regenerated instantaneously.
"Great, now we're going to be worn down." Tatsuko said.
"Not if we can help it!"
The two Masters eyes widened as a big blast shot fort at the man in the staff, blasting him in half again.
A moment later, a white blur attacked the swordsman, pushing the familiar back as pikes erupted from the pool of blood and attacked the man with the knife. Ritsuka and Tatsuko turned around to see Nobunaga and Vlad running towards them.
"Apologies for our tardiness." Vlad said.
"It's fine." Rituska said. "By the way, I assume that that's-"
"Altera, yep!" Nobunaga answered.
Altera looked at the two Masters with a hint of guilt. "I am sorry for killing your friend…."
"It's fine." Tatsuko said. "If my suspicions are correct, then Lev forced you."
The familiars recovered from the attacks, and readied themselves to attack. The two Chaldean Servants, Romulus and Altera readied back, and waited as the familiars went on the offense.
As that was happening, the fight with the Whore of Babylon continued. With the aid of Jing Ke and Boudicca, the fight became more evenly matched. The Whore of Babylon did not seem to mind this, but her smile faded as she blocked another strike.
"I'm starting to grow bored of this." She said. "I guess it's time to get a LITTLE more serious."
The three women did not have time to react as the Whore of Babylon blew them away with a flick of her wrist. The enemy Servant immediately rushed to Nero to end the fight once and for all, but the blonde emperor rolled out of the way in time. Jing Ke got up from the ground, and lunged at the Whore of Babylon's back, hoping to try and kill the enemy Servant.
Schlick!
Everyone's eyes widened in horror as blood dripped from Jing Ke's body. The Assassin was pierced all over by spears of blood, and her left arm completely destroyed. The Whore of Babylon used the blood to throw Jing Ke away like a sack of wheat. This left herself open for Boudicca and Nero to attack her. The Whore of Babylon blocked the attack, but was surprised at being pushed back by the sheer force of the blows. Nero lunged at the Whore of Babylon, stunning her for a moment as Boudicca came and cut into the enemy Servant's gut.
The Whore of Babylon proceeded to attack Boudicca, but the red haired Rider blocked the strike with her shield, allowing Nero to cut the enemy Servant's leg. The Whore of Babylon was forced to block every strike the two women made against her. The Whore of Babylon continued to grimace and growl as her two opponents continued to find openings in her defense, and continuously cut her. Just how are they doing this?
Nero thrusted her sword into her opponent's shoulder. The Whore of Babylon snarled and thrusted her blade towards Nero's shoulder, but Boudicca deflected the attack, and sliced into the enemy's hamstrings. However, what would have been a crippling blow ended up being countered as the Whore of Babylon used some of the blood around them to cover her legs, and kept her steady. The enemy Servant then flashed a small grin. She figured out their attack patterns. She just needed to break their defenses.
"You know, I'm surprised you're defending my other self at all." The Whore of Babylon said.
"What are you getting at?" Boudicca asked.
"I mean, you hate Nero, and yet you protect her." The Whore of Babylon said. "What would your tribe think?"
Boudicca glared at the enemy Servant. "Shut up."
"Oh, I know!" The Whore of Babylon continued. "I bet your tribe would curse your name. They would call you a traitor! Or perhaps a craven for helping her!"
Boudicca gripped her sword tightly, and gritted her teeth in anger.
"And to think people called you the Queen of Victory." The Whore of Babylon continued. "You don't bring victory! All you did was lead your people to their deaths!"
Boudicca did not say a word. Instead she just charged at the Whore of Babylon, screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Boudicca no! She's baiting you!" Nero shouted. Boudicca did not listen, her rage blinded her, making her focus solely on attacking the Whore of Babylon. The red haired Rider leapt in the air and raised her sword to strike, causing the Whore of Babylon to smirk.
"Checkmate."
Boudicca hissed in pain as a spear of blood pierced her side. A second later, she was sent flying to the steps of the throne. The Whore of Babylon turned her attention to Nero and grinned sinisterly. "Time to end this."
The Chaldeans looked on in horror as the Whore of Babylon closed in on Nero. The enemy familiars made sure that they could not help her without drawing them to her as well, and they knew it.
"Shit, we have to think of something!" Roman said. Ritsuka looked all around, until he saw movement from the corner of his eye. The male Master then turned to the throne and saw Boudicca slowly starting to get up, glancing where Ritsuka looked previously. The male Master looked down and looked at the pool of blood beneath everyone's feet. Ritsuka took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
He always had a theory about this, but now it was time to put it to the test.
Ritsuka's eyes shot open as he raised his arms, reared them back, and glared at the Whore of Babylon.
"Hey, bitch! Catch this!"
The Whore of Babylon turned to Ritsuka only to see him shoot his arms forward, and sent a small wave of blood towards her at blinding speed. The blood directly hit her in the eyes, blinding her. The enemy Servant grunted in discomfort as she tried to wipe the blood off her eyes.
"My turn!"
The Whore of Babylon managed to get some of the blood out of her eyes to see Boudicca, holding her injured side with one hand, her sword in the other raised to strike. The enemy Servant had no time to do anything as the sword came down.
Slice!
The Whore of Babylon roared in pain as Boudicca sliced off her sword arm. The wounded Rider ducked under a wild haymaker, and sliced into the Whore of Babylon's thigh next. Before she fell to the ground, Boudicca stabbed her in the foot to keep her in place.
"Now!"
"All I Do Is Kill; Nonreturnable Dagger!"
The Whore of Babylon gasped in shock as she felt something sharp pierce her spine. Standing behind her was none other than Jing Ke, shaking and on her last legs as she dug her dagger deeper into the enemy Servant's flesh. The Assassin gasped for air as she started to dissipate into golden dust, but gave a knowing look at Nero, and smiled.
"Time to finish it."
Not a moment later, Jing Ke dissipated and vanished into golden dust particles. The Assassin's last act was to give Nero the chance to end the Whore of Babylon once and for all. The blonde emperor walked towards the enemy Servant and took a deep breath as she readied her blade, and then pierced her Spirit Core.
"You're not the only one who can scheme." Nero said. "The moment you started to taunt Boudicca, we saw Jing Ke move, and hatched a plan to let your guard down."
The Whore of Babylon could not help but chuckle as she started to vanish with golden dust. "Well played, well played indeed. Enjoy your victory. Enjoy it while it lasts."
The Whore of Babylon then stared at them menacingly.
"This isn't over. I will be back. And when that day comes, you will all know true horror."
And with that final warning, the Whore of Babylon vanished in a golden light, and with her, the familiars finally sank back into the pool of blood. The Chaldeans looked at each other in concern as they thought of the Whore of Babylon's words. Boudicca looked down and saw the Holy Grail on the ground, and picked it up. The red haired Rider looked at the cup, then to Nero, who stared at her suspiciously. Boudicca simply shrugged and looked at the Chaldeans.
"Here you go."
The Rider smiled warmly as she tossed the Grail to Ritsuka, who caught it with shock in his eyes. Nero raised an eyebrow at the gesture, causing Boudicca to raise an eyebrow back. "What? Just because I hate you doesn't mean I'm going to betray everyone here and put human history in jeopardy just to get a crack at vengeance."
"Good to know." Nero said.
"Okay, okay let's not fight." Liz said. "Let's just calm down and be glad this is over."
"Yeah, now's not the time." Tatsuko replied.
"Especially with the losses we have suffered." Vlad said.
The group looked at the Berserker with slight concern. Roman cleared his throat and looked at them sadly. "I didn't want to say anything until we won, but what I'm about to say isn't something you're going to like to hear."
Half an hour after the death of the Whore of Babylon and making sure Boudicca was properly healed, the group returned to the battlefield thanks to a teleportation spell from Malgus. After learning, and mourning the deaths of Spartacus, Jing Ke, Siegfried and Astolfo, the group prepared to see the corpses of more soldiers.
Thankfully the dead were already counted and being given their rites. Only thirty had perished, and it was thanks to the leadership of the remaining Heroic Spirits that more did not join.
"While it saddens me that we lost fine men today, I am glad that the casualties were kept to a minimum." Nero said.
Ritsuka and Tatsuko nodded sadly. Boudicca walked up to them and gently put her hands on their shoulders. "You know, everyone who gave their lives wouldn't want you to be sad right now."
"Easy for you to say, but for people like us…" Tatsuko muttered.
"You're not soldiers." Boudicca said. "I probably should have worded that better….."
"Well we can't just move on and act like nothing happened." Ritsuka said. "Otherwise, what were our bonds all for?"
"You're right." Boudicca replied. "I'm sorry for being insensitive."
The sound of footsteps approaching caused everyone to turn around, and saw Jeanne, Leonidas, Malgus, Cleopatra and Caesar behind them.
"The surviving soldiers have returned home and have taken the casualties back with them." Leonidas said. "Malgus here will teleport Nero and him back to Rome when she's ready."
"I am glad that I did not have to destroy anything for once." Altera said. "You Chaldeans are indeed good civilization."
"They are indeed fine people." Romulus said.
Cleopatra looked at Boudicca with a curious gaze. "So, what will you do now?"
"Me? Well, I think I'll be going to Chaldea directly with them." Boudicca answered.
Caesar turned to the communicator to look at Roman. "How many more extra people can you bring back aside from Boudicca?"
"Well we have more than enough to bring everyone there back here." Roman answered. "But we don't have the power right now to do that, so we can only have the main team, Boudicca and one other person come back….."
"Then Cleopatra should be the one to go." Caesar said.
Cleopatra's eyes widened. "No, you should be the one. I don't think I'm-"
"I agree with Caesar." Leonidas said.
"I do as well." Romulus replied.
Altera blushed. "I do not think my opinion is important here…"
Caesar put a hand on Cleopatra's shoulder and smiled. "My love, you should go. The others want you to, so please, take the opportunity."
Cleopatra looked at her lover sadly, only to close her eyes and took a deep breath and nod. "Okay, I'll go."
Caesar smiled. Not a moment later he, Romulus, Altera and Leonidas were enveloped in a golden dust, signifying they were about to return to the Throne of Heroes. Romulus turned to Nero with a smile. "Keep your head held high, my child. Keep moving forward for the Rome you desire."
Nero nodded. Romulus turned to the Chaldeans with a calmer gaze. "You all have shown great resilience and the will to never give up in the face of adversity. Please, never lose that, nor your sense of self."
"Thanks Romulus." Ritsuka said.
The Lancer gave a small nod before dissipating into golden dust, and returning to the Throne of Heroes. It was now Altera's turn to give a small smile to the group. "I hope that we meet again under better circumstances."
"Same here." Nobunaga said. "And when we do, let's spar, but not try to kill each other."
"I look forward to it." Altera replied. The Saber gave a small wave to them before disappearing in a warm light as she returned to the Throne of Heroes. Leonidas was the next one to feel his time coming closer, so he nodded at the group, but looked at the Chaldean Trio in particular.
"You have proven yourself a capable warrior with that shield, Mashu." Leonidas said. "I look forward to seeing your progress when we meet again."
"Thank you." Mashu said with a bow. "I hope we meet again soon as well."
Leonidas gave a small chuckle before looking at the two Masters. "I wish you both luck. You both are fine Masters, and the world is in good hands with you at the helm."
Ritsuka shook his head. "This isn't a farewell."
Leonidas raised an eyebrow. "I don't follow."
Tatsuko smiled. "It's as he said. This isn't a goodbye. Think of this like a "see you soon" thing."
Leonidas's eyes widened. A sense of nostalgia flowed within him as he saw their smiles and heard their statements. He could not help but feel like he heard them somewhere before, but he couldn't put his finger on it. The Lancer shook his head, and smiled at the Chaldeans as he disappeared back to the Throne of Heroes.
As that was happening, Caesar and Cleopatra stared at each other lovingly before embracing. The two lovers leaned in and kissed for just a few moments before breaking it and touching their foreheads together.
"I promise that we'll meet again one day." Caesar said.
"I'll hold you to that." Cleopatra whispered playfully.
Caesar gave a small chuckle before turning to face the Chaldean Trio. "Please take care of Cleopatra for me."
The Trio nodded.
"We will." Tatsuko said.
Caesar smiled. "I can tell you all are fine people. I hope that we meet again so I can watch your progress."
With one last wave, Caesar disappeared into golden dust, and returned to the Throne of Heroes. Not a second later, Malgus walked up to the group with a mischievous smile. "Well this could have been worse."
"FOU!"
Malgus had no time to react as Fou launched himself towards him, tackled the mage to the ground and attacked him.
"Fou, please get off him!" Mashu shouted as she and Ritsuka rushed to pry him off the mage. The two were successful after a bit of a struggle, but Mashu managed to pull the critter off Malgus, and held him by the scruff of his neck.
"Why do you keep attacking him, Fou?' Ritsuka asked. "He hasn't done anything wrong!"
Malgus couldn't help but laugh. "I guess that little guy has it out for me."
"Okay guys, it's time to go." Roman said.
"Hold on a moment!" Tatsuko shouted. The orange haired girl walked up to Nero. The two women then opened their arms wide, and entered a big hug.
"I hope that we get to see each other again someday." Tatsuko said. "Even if you don't remember us, I hope we can still find a way to be friends."
"Umu, you've been a great friend to me these past few weeks." Nero said. "I know that you will do great things, so don't let me down!"
Tatsuko nodded and broke away from the embrace. The female Master then returned to the rest of the group, and with one last wave, disappeared back into the void.
(Back in Chaldea)
Roman heard the door to the Command Room open up and saw Emiya and Mata Hari walk inside. The acting director turned to face them with a curious smile. "Did you get the food and water?"
"We did." The Archer answered, showing the doctor the multiple bags in their hands.
"Looks like we're a little early." Mata Hari said.
"It shouldn't be long now." Marie said. No sooner did she say that did the coffins light up, and the Chaldean team and their two new arrivals appeared. After opening the coffins themselves, the team walked slowly towards the group, stretching their arms and legs.
"Great work out there." Roman said. "I know it was rougher this time around, but we managed to fix the Singularity and now we're one step closer to saving humanity."
"Hell yeah! Chaldean salute time!" Tatsuko shouted. The female Master raised her fist in the air, and soon everyone aside from the new arrivals did the same.
"Oh, this looks like fun!" Boudicca said. The Rider then proceeded to do the salute alongside them. Some of the Chaldeans turned to face Cleopatra in curiosity. The Assassin folded her arms across her chest and stared at them sternly.
"I'm not doing that."
Roman cleared his throat. "Well in any case. There is something that concerns me."
"What do you mean?" Ritsuka asked.
"Well, he said he was a Demon God." Roman said. "There's one problem with that. Demon Gods don't exist."
"Then what was he?" Mashu asked.
"We don't know." Davinci answered.
"In my humble opinion, I think we shouldn't think too much about it right now." Roman said. "In the meantime, I suggest you all get some rest. Davinci and I will take care of giving Miss Boudicca and Cleopatra the tour."
Not a second later, Emiya and Mata Hari gave the food and water to the returning team members. Mata Hari stopped by Ritsuka, and handed him more of the bags, shocking the male Master.
"I shouldn't be surprised." He said.
"Okay, time for you guys to get some rest and relax." Roman said. "We'll take everything from here."
The Trio nodded and walked out of the Command Room, leaving the others to speak to the rest of the staff as Roman and Davinci walked up to Boudicca and Cleopatra to start their tour.
June 17th, 2015
"So who do you think we'll summon?" Tatsuko asked.
"No idea." Ritsuka said. "Hopefully we get Siegfried back soon."
"I hope so as well." Mashu said. "Oh! Maybe King Leonidas will come today as well!"
"That would definitely be nice." Ritsuka chimed.
Tatsuko smiled as she quietly watched the two of them converse with each other. The past Singularity had definitely made the three of them feel much closer to each other, and with Mashu now having gotten stronger they feel much safer, and hope that this would give the lilac haired girl some much needed confidence in herself. The female Master stopped alongside them and chuckled.
"Well, looks like we're here." Tatsuko said.
The three of them opened the door, and were shocked to see no one inside it. They walked towards the panel, where they found a small note right in the center. Tatsuko took the note and gave it a once over.
"What does it say?" Mashu asked.
"It's just a note from Davinci saying that she already got everything we need to do the summoning ourselves." Tatsuko answered.
"Is it really safe for us to do this without any supervision?" Ritsuka asked.
"Oh we'll be fine!" Tatsuko said.
"Do not worry, Senpai." Mashu said. "If anything happens, I'll be here to protect you both."
"You have a point." Ritsuka said. "Okay, how about you go first, Tatsuko?"
"Okay, sounds good."
The female Master put in a saint quart into the slot, and then put her fingers on the lever. The low hum of the chamber caused the Trio to stand firm near the panel as the summoning circle lit up. The familiar shield and set of orbs appeared. The orbs immediately started to spin with a golden hue.
"You have some excellent luck." Ritsuka said.
"I know." Tatsuko said with a giggle.
The familiar pillar of light soon erupted, causing them to shield their eyes.
"Okay, we really need to have some sunglasses or something here the next time we summon." Tatsuko said.
"I shall ask Davinci about that later." Mashu replied.
The light finally died down, causing the Trio to widen their eyes and smile as they saw a familiar woman with blonde hair. She wore a beautiful toga, but the thing that stood out were a pair of golden pipe organs, and the two lions by her side. The moment she saw the Trio, she smiled and dematerialized the pipes, and patted her lions on their heads.
"You three look familiar…" The woman muttered. "Oh, what am I saying, there's no way we have met before! In anycase, I approve of your beauty, the three of you!"
Tatsuko smiled. "I had a feeling you would say that."
"Umu, so we're on the same wavelength. Excellent!" The woman said. "I can tell we will get along really well."
"I think so as well." Mashu said.
"Oh, where are my manners! I should be introducing myself!" The woman said. No sooner did she say that the woman conjured a giant red sword, and planted the blade onto the ground.
"Caster, Nero Claudius, here to answer your summon!"
CV: And with that, the Septem arc has officially reached its conclusion!
OC: It's been a really wild ride. We severely underestimated the length of not only this arc, but this chapter as well. But in the end, we managed to wrap things up in a nice little bow, and we even managed a couple more surprises in the end!
CV: It was truly full of surprises from start to end.
OC: I'll say, I mean we had the final battle with the Whore of Babylon, some familiar faces showing up, Jing Ke's death, and most importantly, CASTER NERO!
CV: Closest to Rider, which is her most powerful class, but without the whole "murderous psychopath" that comes with it.
OC: Yeah, for those of you that don't know, before we even started publishing and writing Chronicles, Vlad and I were still discussing his idea for Septem, and he wanted Chaldea to summon Rider Nero at the end of the arc. And for the longest time, I agreed with him. However, a couple of weeks ago I remembered that Nero was avoiding that Class like the plague on purpose, and for good reason. So I brought it up to Vlad, and we agreed on Caster as the alternative. I know some of you will be wondering why she's not a Saber, but this was something Vlad insisted on, and I think he would explain it better.
CV: As some of you may know, Nero normally can't be a Saber, and it's actually her weakest class, yet it's one she forced upon herself since it's the farthest she can get from her Rider class, her strongest, but like Owen said, she avoids it at all costs. Her Caster form retains some of the power from the Rider class (if you look into her passives it's obvious) while also keeping her sanity. And also to have Saber Nero be exclusively from Extra.
OC: And I know people will be wondering WHY Caster Nero isn't in a swimsuit because that's what she was in when she did the Class Change. Well I'm sorry to disappoint you folks, but some Servants WON'T be changing their Class just to change into a swimsuit. The whole thing is ridiculous, and it's more for gacha than anything else. However, there will still be Servants that will change their Classes when they get their summer forms, but those will be revealed later.
CV: Meanwhile Abby which stays a Foreigner in her regular and swimsuit forms be like "I'm five steps ahead of you"
OC: She is always ahead of us. Now I know a lot of people will be asking why the Whore of Babylon's power seemed a little…..wonky. Well she's still a Servant. Sure she's powered by a Holy Grail, but she had to also fight against three opponents at once, one of whom has a conceptual advantage against Romans, which she just so happens to be one.
CV: She couldn't become a…..particular Class for this arc, that would've been a challenge that this Chaldea would've had an extremely hard time beating. But that doesn't mean she won't become one later.
OC: Which brings us to the Whore of Babylon's death. As she told Chaldea, this isn't the last we will see of her. She will return at some point, but not in the Grand Order Saga. However, whether she has a certain….. Class, we will discuss later. Just know she isn't done yet. And be afraid.
CV: Be very much afraid, or else she'll send the spooky goo Servants for you! Speaking of, that's one of my favorite parts about this chapter.
OC: Gee, I wonder why? Oh right, because it was your idea for weeks!
CV: Yep lol. I saw a post on Twitter talking about how one of the ideas for Prototype was for Beast VI to summon blackened versions of the Servants from the Tokyo Holy Grail War: Arash, Ozymandias, Paracelsus, Serenity, Brynhild and Jekyll, and would pit them against Arthur, Cu and Gilgamesh. Well, since a certain someone has a connection to Beast VI, I decided to make a small reference to it.
OC: And it was definitely ominous. But it also gave us the perfect opportunity to showcase how powerful Romulus is. Seriously, he took on four of them by himself at the end, and was coming out on top.
CV: He could deal with them rather easily, which is why I decided to have them be able to reform even if their limbs or bodies were destroyed, something that Owen liked quite a bit.
OC: Hehehe, what can I say, I like villains that regenerate. It gives us more time to see the heroes practically use them like punching bags and beating the tar out of them instead of it being the other way around.
CV: True that.
OC: Too bad that didn't work for Jing Ke. So remember when we said Jing Ke was originally going to die in a mutual kill against Darius before we had to change our plans? Well, let's just say Vlad suggested that Jing Ke dies against the Whore of Babylon the same day we agreed to change our plans. Originally Boudicca was supposed to fight her first and get injured and then save Nero at the nick of time, but still survive, but Vlad decided to change things up, and it worked out better since we made it so that the three of them planned everything out the moment Jing Ke got back up to help with her dying breath.
CV: She was originally introduced in this Singularity to kill Nero, it was fitting that she went out trying to do what she tried to do at first. Even if it wasn't the same Nero.
OC: Yeah, it was definitely poetic. But nothing comes close to the sheer balls Ritsuka had to shoot a wave of blood at the Whore of Babylon like that. He never got a chance to do something like this in Fuyuki or Orleans, so it was only right to finally have Ritsuka use his element of water to save the day, and basically give an insult to the Whore of Babylon as he did so.
CV: Even in the second Singularity, Ritsuka proves he has balls of steel.
OC: He might be meek and mild mannered, but as we said before, there's a lion within him wanting to come out.
CV: Now I'm imagining Ritsuka jumping into battle with a lion onesie.
OC: Well now that's an image I can't get out of my head. And now we have another surprise guest appearance once more. Originally it was just going to be one person, but after the last chapter, we decided to bring in two more, making it three.
CV: Drumroll please.
(Mini-Nobus drumroll)
OC: Our first guest up is none other than-
(Crash!)
Astolfo: Hello everyone! Man, what a nice place you guys have, minus that hole over there.
OC: Oh Astolfo, you little prankster.
Siegfried: Sumanai, I tried to keep him from doing that.
CV: Can't say that it wasn't expected. But anyways, Astolfo and Siegfried everyone!
OC: But that's not all! Okay guys, hit the lights!
(Lights dim, and overhead lights shine on the curtain)
OC: Ladies and Gentlemen, our final guest for tonight is right here! You know her, you all have mixed feelings on her, and I know for a fact her catchphrase is contagious. Everyone, give it up for Nero!
(Curtain rises with Nero smiling and waving)
Nero: Umu, an excellent introduction!
CV: Glad to have you with us Emperor.
OC: I'm just glad we can have all three of you here.
Siegfried: I understand that you were wondering if Astolfo and I could show up last week, but unfortunately, we had some things to take care of.
CV: Fair enough, we weren't going to just pull you in the middle of a battle anyways. Alright so, with introductions out of the way, first of all, Emperor, a question. After everything that happened since meeting the Chaldeans, how do you feel about them?
Nero: Umu, they are wonderful, and beautiful people! I cannot wait to see them again someday.
OC: Well I know for a fact that'd you'd be wanting to talk to Tatsuko a bit, considering she was the one you bonded with the most. Now the next question is for Siegfried, however, if you don't feel comfortable answering it, then you don't have to. How will you greet Kriemhild if you two meet again?
Siegfried: I will welcome her to Chaldea, however, given how much I hurt her, I will let her make the first move in order to let HER decide on what she wants.
CV: I'm pretty sure I know what she wants.
OC: I'm just going to quote my friend Yatsu from Reddit. Big tittied. Goth. Tsundere. Waifu. Siegfried, you just won at life right there.
Siegfried (blush): I…don't know how to respond to that…..
CV: I could answer for you, but I don't wanna piss off a certain someone.
OC: And now for Astolfo. Who in Chaldea do you want to talk to the most? I'm quite curious.
Astolfo: That's an easy question. I'd like to talk to everyone!
CV: Talk about making friends easily. You are quite outgoing so it's easy for you.
OC: That he is. Now this question is addressed to all three of you. Out of the whole Chaldean Team that was in this Singularity, who did you like the most, and why? And Siegfried you're not going to say yourself. And also keep in mind you cannot say any of the Chaldean Trio either, that is too easy.
Nero: I would have to go with Cleopatra. She has a radiance equal to my own. I like people like that.
Astolfo: This one's easy! I'd choose Siegfried because he doesn't get annoyed whenever I mess up or do silly things!
Siegfried: I find it fun and refreshing, so it's always appreciated. As for my pick, I would choose King Leonidas. I'm interested in what kinds of tactics he can come up with.
CV: He's one of the most famous generals for a reason, even though one of his greatest feats was exaggerated. But eh, it's cooler that way so it's fine. Now, I have a question for Astolfo. How did it feel throwing Vlad off your hippogriff as the battle started?
Astolfo: It was pretty cool! I was surprised that he immediately agreed to it, and he even suggested where to drop him for maximum effect.
OC: Considering his usual demeanor I'd be surprised too.
CV: I guess he wanted to make an entrance.
OC: I'd probably decline on the offer since I hate heights just as much as Ritsuka. Oh, look at the time, sorry guys, but the interview is now over. Thank you guys for coming!
Astolfo: Thanks for having us!
Siegfried: It was my pleasure.
Nero: Don't hesitate in inviting me again!
(The three of them wave goodbye and walk through the hole in the wall)
OC: Well that went incredibly well.
CV: Minus the hole that Astolfo did in the wall.
OC: Eh, the boss did warn us he'd probably do that. Thankfully she also said that she'd take care of the damages herself.
CV: Good, we don't have to make the repairs ourselves this time. A bit of rest for the Mini Nobus too.
OC: True. Then again she did say she was checking on something big happening, but that it wouldn't hinder her duties.
CV: Something big huh? Well if she's dealing with it then I guess we won't have to worry too much about it. Well leaving that aside, it's time for us to close the Septem arc for good, we hope you all enjoyed our own version of the Singularity. A lot of work went into putting lots of ideas into it, and we feel really happy with how it turned out. CosmicVlad and Owenchaser signing off, see you all next week, and have a good night.