Section 7
We had been searching for hours, but couldn't come up with anything. No signs of vampiric activity anywhere. All the houses were clear, shops clear, nothing in the alleys or basements. Even the Servants couldn't find a thing.
Since it began to get dark, we checked into a hotel. Naturally at this time of day, all the rooms were full so we had to get the most expensive room to fit all of us in. The Director was NOT happy about this one bit.
Obviously the boys were sent to one side of the room while us girls got the larger half, though both sides had beds, at least. Normally, this room would be made for super rich people, so there are only two beds. The thing that made this room so expensive was how spacious it is.
There were two king size beds for us to sleep on, and the bathroom was pure luxury. In the meantime, our Servants remained in spirit form to maintain surveillance for us. Edmond is all over the place constantly moving around the hotel, Jeanne is on the roof, and Haydée is in a chair in the corner.
"Well, it's night time, what do you say we all relax?", I say.
"Yeah, I can't imagine we should be outside tonight with Altrouge roaming about. I've already set up runes around the room that should prevent her from coming in, but you can never be too safe.", Alice responds.
"Alice, you have our pajamas with you, right?"
"Yep."
Mash looks over. "Now would be a good time to change into them anyway now that it's too late to go anywhere."
Alice dispenses all of our pajamas.
"As for how we get changed…", Mash looks over at the two boys on the other bed.
"Let's go into the bathroom and change in there, while the boys can stay out here.", I suggest.
"Sounds good.", Olga then glares at Nick. "And no peeping!", she adds.
Nick seems annoyed. "I'm not that childish, anyway. And Ritsuka is too afraid to do it, he knows his limits."
Me and the other girls walk into the spacious bathroom and close the door, while the boys relax on the bed.
"Do you have any sleepwear, Nick?"
"Just the clothes I'm already wearing. It may seem uncomfortable to you, but it's no problem for me. And you?"
"I tend to just remove my jacket and change into sweatpants. The ones I'm wearing get really cramped if I sleep on them."
"I've been through that crap before, so I agree."
Meanwhile in the bathroom…
Come on, Serena. This is no different than the school locker room. Calm yourself…I really haven't had to do this sort of thing in a long time.
"Serena, what are you doing in the corner there, staring at the wall? Are you going to change or not?", Alice asks.
"Yeah ye- How did you all change so fast!?"
"?"
"Never mind. I'll change."
I take off my clothes and put on a blue nightgown. Alice is wearing a large dress shirt and men's shorts. Mash has some normal fluffy pajamas on, and the Director has an orange top with black shorts.
We all walk out and I jump in the bed.
"How are we gonna sleep anyway? There's a lot of us. I'd be fine with being in the same bed as all of you.", I say.
"I guess there's not much of an option. We turn off the lights, close our eyes and try to talk the least amount possible.", Olga says. "Just keep a good distance."
"Alright."
"I'll take the floor, Ritsuka, you can take the bed."
"The floor? But Nick, there's a lot of space here."
"I'll get in if I start feeling uncomfortable. I appreciate your concern, Ritsuka."
I glance at the clock and it says 11:36 PM. "Wow, it's so late already. We should probably just get to bed now.", Ritsuka says while sitting in the bed.
"I'm gonna head out for a bit first. I want to look around the hotel.", Nick starts to walk toward the door.
"Are you sure you'll be okay alone?"
"Relax, Olga. Edmond is somewhere out there. And I'm strong, I'll be okay."
"Please, don't be out there for too long."
"Hmph. I'll just kiss you good night when I'm back, if you're that worried."
Olga looks away from Nick and pouts.
After he leaves, Ritsuka lays down in his bed, and falls asleep within mere moments.
"Wow, he's really just out, isn't he?"
"Senpai has always been good at that. I found him asleep in the hallway when we first met. And he's always been able to fall asleep really quickly."
"Anyway, how do we cram into this bed?", Olga points at the giant mattress.
"All four of us can fit in there, I believe. Mash and Serena can go in first and stay in the middle, me and Alice will go to the sides. I know how much you like Alice by now so I'll let you two get comfortable. Mash, I'll be right with you."
"I don't mind, Director.", Alice says, regarding Olga's suggestion.
"Guess I'll have the Director by my side, then. Tap me if we're ever in danger, okay?", Mash requests to Olga. She's our local Demi-Servant, and it's very easy for us to assume she's on standby to near danger even in her sleep.
We all lay down in the bed. Alice lays down on my right, and Mash on my left, with Olga on Mash's left. Overall, none of us are touching and there's still wiggle room.
I flip to my side facing Alice and she's on her back looking up. She notices my gaze and smiles at me, grabbing my hand from under the sheets. I smile and squeeze back, closing my eyes and attempting to drift off to sleep.
"This'll be our first time sleeping in the same bed, Alice.", I quietly say.
"Yeah, I hope I'm not a bother to you."
"You could never be a bother to me. Goodnight, Alice."
"Yeah, goodnight, Serena."
Meanwhile, Nick walks around the hotel hallways, inspecting every corner. There are about five floors to this hotel, so it'll take a while for him to check everything. And thus he makes sure to walk through every floor carefully, to not wake up anyone.
After a bit, he finally finishes his search. The building is clear and Altrouge is nowhere to be seen.
Is the bar still open at this hour?
Walking over, he sees that it is still intact, open. Sitting down at the counter, he orders his drink and waits.
Being a vampire, he's not able to get drunk, but he's always liked the taste of alcohol, wine specifically.
After receiving his drink and paying, he begins to drink.
Altrouge, what is she after? Power obviously. But that can't be it. It's a Holy Grail, she can do plenty more with it. And she's clearly saving up for something big, but what? There are more oddities in this Singularity, too. Why did she not summon any Servants? Did she think her guards were enough? What the hell is even in her mind!?
Nick finishes his drink and gets up to leave.
"Is this an all night bar?"
"Yes it is. As this hotel is higher end, parties are usually held here. And so the bar is open overnight and closes at 6 AM daily."
"Wow. I'm surprised this town has something like that. You make good stuff."
"Thank you, sir!"
Nick walks away after waving the barman goodbye.
2:36 AM. I've been gone for way too long…
After a quick elevator ride, Nick reaches his floor and opens the door to a quiet room. No noise other than a fan running.
"Hm?"
Everyone is asleep, except a certain director standing on the balcony looking at the city.
Nick walks up behind her and touches her shoulder.
"Eek! Ah. It's just you, Nick."
"You're still up. What's the matter, you couldn't sleep?"
"Yeah, I needed to get some fresh air. You can go to sleep if you wanna."
"Then I'll make you company. It's pleasant, but I don't need to sleep either.", Nick says with a wink.
They both look at the city which is lit up and pretty. Street lights litter the streets and a few people walk about, people who have overnight jobs or like nightly walks, all sorts. The two do this for a while in silence.
"You look nice, Olga. That outfit suits you well."
"Stop teasing me…" Olga says with a slight redness in her face.
"I'm not teasing you for once, I mean it. You look good."
"It's really nice seeing you in something other than your Chaldea outfit. I never see you without it, even while you're off duty. You always seem on edge, so seeing you be able to relax like this, or at least look like you are, makes me happy."
"I wish I could say I was relaxed. But I rarely get the chance to be completely free of mind. I really need a vacation. Altrouge might be too much for us. You're strong. But Serena is scared to use her eyes, Ritsuka is brave, but frail. Mash is still learning how to be a Demi-Servant, and Alice is strong, but seems to have attached herself to Serena to the point that if she got hurt, Alice might drop everything to help her. Our Servants are strong too. But will even that be enough?"
"Well? What about you? You're strong."
"I'm a one trick pony. I have some crummy basic magecraft and one strong ultimate spell that drains me completely. I try to get stronger but I just can't without having my family's crest. I'm no Director, I'm not even an amazing leader either."
"Not true. For someone that had to step up to the position of Director in a time of crisis, you're doing well and everyone's counting on you and the decisions you take."
"I know, I know. But still, I want to be more useful to everyone…"
Olga slumps over the rail.
"Have you tried to use what you already know but in a different way?"
"How so?"
"That Anima Animusphere. Can it only be a meteor shower? Maybe you could try and reshape it. Use your hands to fire those meteors like they're bullets, completely under your control."
"It uses the stars in the sky to work. My magecraft revolves around space and the stars. I can't just shoot it from next to me, it has to be from above."
"Then…meld them all together. Turn them all into a giant falling meteor and drop it on whatever comes to you."
"That sounds powerful, but that would also create a massive impact. How would we protect all of them?", Olga says while looking back at all of us inside.
"Yeah…It would work as a last resort though. When there's nothing else you can do, and no one to save…"
"Let's hope it doesn't get to that point, ever."
"Yeah…"
Olga points to the night sky. "Hey. What do you think is out here? In space?"
"Planets, stars, galaxies. The entire cosmos is out there."
"I know that. But, what else?"
"…"
"Probably…no, most definitely there are other lifeforms. We are not alone in this universe."
"You really think so?"
"Yeah. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing in the world."
"My mother always wanted to know the answer to that question. Just like my father, she also loved astronomy and would stare up at the night sky all the time."
"Your mother? You've never mentioned her before."
"She passed away when I was young. She got sick and her case was terminal. I don't remember her much, so I'm not too sad when I think of her. But, ever so often I do miss her. And now my father is gone, and Trisha too…"
Olga looks down, as if the weight of remembering the ones lost to the past is holding her down.
"I have no one left.", she lets out a small, unconfident laugh. "Heh, I don't even know what I'll do after Chaldea. Alice will go back to the Clock Tower, Serena and Ritsuka will go back to their ordinary lives, Da Vinci, Romani and Mash will still be around but who knows if I will? I've screwed up so much I wouldn't be surprised if I had to step down from my position, and after that I don't know what I'll do."
"…"
"Sorry I vented. I need to have some hope too…"
Nick walks over and picks Olga up in a bridal carry.
"Nick!? What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Hold on tight!"
Nick leaps off the balcony and jumps from roof to roof. Olga buries her head in Nick's chest. Of course he won't drop her but for some reason she still has doubts.
Is he taking me out of the city?
The wind blows through their hair as he rapidly moves toward the edge of the city.
Most of the buildings have their lights off, but the few that are still awake make the cityscape look pretty at this hour.
After a few more minutes, the two reach an open field far enough from the city where it's just in the distance. Olga props herself against a tree and catches her breath.
"Why did we come here!? We can't just leave Chaldea back there!"
"They have three Servants to guard them. They will be fine. As for why we are out here…"
Nick materializes his Mystic Code. "Fight me."
"What?"
"Fight me. Use your spells. Try new things with them. It'll help you get stronger, help you let off some steam, and tire you out too. I won't fight back or do you harm, I'll only dodge. And don't worry, nothing you have right now can hurt me."
Olga ponders for a second and then nods. "I don't have a Mystic Code on right now, so I guess it's a good thing you're not fighting back, this outfit can't protect me at all. Prepare yourself, vampire!"
She raises her arm and charges up a Gandr to start. Firing it, Nick easily dodges it by simply moving his head to the side.
"You can do better than that, right?"
Raising her arm again, she fires off more shots, each blocked with his arm or dodged. She continues to fire off the meaningless spells toward the man when a black shot is fired out of her hand, knocking Nick back slightly.
"What was that one? That surprised me. It's faster than the Gandrs."
"It's just a variation I made. It's not very good, but it can catch people off guard easily."
Nick smiles. "Alright, send over more of those. Come on, hit me! You've wanted to do that for a while!"
"Maybe I did. I can't physically abuse my coworkers for my enjoyment. But for training purposes…"
"Not that you can hurt me anyway with your small body."
"S-small!? I'll have you know I'm average for my age."
Nick looks up.
"I'm under the Moon. Due to our little link, I'm way stronger while it's out."
"Oh, the whole vampires being stronger under the Moon thing. Yeah, it makes sense. Prepare yourself then!"
Olga begins firing off more shots. Nick continues to dodge as usual.
"That's right, Olga! Use it all!"
After fighting for a while longer, she reinforces her legs and jumps right at Nick, going in to land a kick. Nick blocks with his arms and the earth around him breaks.
Nick grabs her leg and gently flings her back in front of him.
"Oof.", Olga sits up. "That didn't work, huh?"
"Nope, but I could tell it was a strong kick. You've got really strong circuits to reinforce your limbs like that."
"Thanks. But I'm not done yet!"
She reinforces both legs and both arms and begins to run forward, rhythmically kicking and punching Nick which he blocks each attack.
"Hah!"
Nick's body moves downward slightly in response to the downward kick. He knocks her off again and she lands on her feet.
She aims her arm at Nick and her limbs light up.
"Olga?"
"Hold still, let me test this. It's experimental. My father tried but failed to use it, but I've been studying hard."
Her arms glow brighter and brighter and…
*Pop*
The spell fails and she holds her arms in pain.
"AAAAAGH! Shit…!"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just recoil."
"What spell are you even trying to do?"
"It's called "Ultra Burst". It's a black hole. But I've never been able to pull it off successfully."
"Hm? Let me see."
"Nick walks over and touches her slender arms, running his hand over her, feeling her circuits below."
"Ah!~ Nick, that feels weird."
"Sorry. You might feel a bit funny while I get your Circuits connected, but please bear with it."
After running his hand over her arms, he moves to her shoulders and rubs those too. Then her waist, then thighs, and finally legs.
"There, the analysis is complete."
"Huh?"
"Your circuits are good, but they can get better. May I try something?"
"Eh? Sure then…"
"I'm thinking we should try a Mana Transfer, as it will strengthen your body. I know this isn't something you should do with just any person, but I'm trying to help you here."
"I-I know what you're getting at…"
Olga goes bright red, then closes her eyes and seems to pucker her lips readying herself for a kiss.
"What are you doing, Olga?"
"Isn't this how mana transfers are done?"
"Well yeah, but I had the traditional kind in mind this time. Kissing is just a quick transfer of energy, this will be long term."
"Traditional!? BUT WE ARE OUTSIDE AND IN THE OPEN. WE CAN'T DO SUCH AN EXPOSING ACT HERE!"
"What the hell are you on? I mean the spell you dumbass. Wait, you thought- HAH, THIS IS HILARIOUS! HAHAHAHA! YOU THOUGHT I WAS ABOUT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU OUT HERE!?"
"SHUUUUUTTTTTTTT UUUUUUUPPPPPPPPP! YOU'RE THE WORST MAN I HAVE EVER KNOWN!"
Nick walks over to Olga and places his hand on her shoulder. "This won't hurt, just keep your body relaxed."
"Fine. Be gentle."
"Yeah. Close your eyes."
"Mhm."
Olga's eyes shut, and mana is poured into her. Everything goes dark.
Fire, death, destruction.
A crater lies in Souya, Japan. The vampire known as Vlov has been bested and his body crumbles away.
It's over.
Nick breathed in the air. After a long fight, Vlov is dead. He used all at his disposal and won.
Tomo…
Nick turns around to collect his friend's body. He cannot leave it here.
"I did not realize you were here. But I have found you due to you going all out with your powers. Killing one of your own? How odd."
Nick walks forward. The girl is in his way.
"Step aside, Arcueid."
Without waiting for a reply, Nick walks past her and over to Tomo's body. Bending down, he lifted it into his arms and began to carry him away.
"Where do you think you are going?"
"Getting him out of here. He belongs to the Burial Agency, so he should be buried there. If you're going to kill me, do it after I can lay him to rest. I will have no regrets."
"…"
"You have changed…the old you would have never done this."
"Yeah…"
"Leave, Arcueid. You may be spotted by humans."
Without another word, Arcueid's body vanishes like she was never there in the first place.
Nick channels his energy into his legs and begins to move. The Agency has a branch in Japan, the place where Tomo worked. A vampire like himself will have no issue getting there.
His body feels weak. After the fight he just had, not much remains, but he must at the very least get his friend to the Agency.
After what felt like days, he made it. He knocks on the large church door and waits. Not long after, the door opens and a man answers.
"Sorry sir, we are- That's- !?"
"I couldn't save him. I'm sorry."
The man looks shocked and calls many others over to take the body away, while allowing Nick inside.
The rest is a blur. Nick told everything that happened, people praying over his body, before placing it in a casket. A certain nun cries while others comfort her.
He stayed through everything. And once he was eventually buried, he remained by his grave all night. His eyes not once straying from the Moon up above.
Days later…
"Excuse me, but I don't believe we have met.", a man's voice says from behind him.
"Huh?"
Nick still remained at the Burial Agency. They allowed him to stay as long as he needed to, so he took advantage of that and hauled up in the library.
"You're…"
"My name is Merem Solomon. Who are you?"
"…"
"My name is Nicholas Ketsueki."
"Nicholas, huh?"
He takes a seat in front of Nick.
"What are you reading?", the boy asks.
"Just a spell book. I'm not really a mage, but I find all this interesting."
"Yeah, vampires have no need for magecraft. I couldn't imagine you reading it for anything other than interest."
"You can tell I'm a vampire?", Nick says while looking around.
"Yeah. It's clear as day to me as I am a fellow vampire."
"Then, what are you doing at a place that kills vampires?"
"They allowed me to stay here after we made a deal. I get treasures, and I kill their enemies and become an executioner. I have no issues with it."
"Why not? Do you not have anything else to do?"
"Not much. With Crimson Moon's death, and Gransurg Blackmore's suicide, I don't have much of a reason to travel. Well, that's a lie, there's one girl I hate, but oh well. She hasn't been seen in years."
"Who is this girl?"
"Her name is Altrouge Brunestud. That damn fake disappeared years ago from the face of the Earth. No one knows where she is now. Maybe she got scared and hid or something."
"Altrouge Brunestud, huh? From what I've heard about her, she's not the type to just hide like that. Wasn't she fairly public?"
"Yeah. She ruled over a faction of vampires. So she made fairly common appearances to remind others who's in charge or whatever. But as of late, she hasn't been seen."
"Oh, but there's a rumor about her going after some creepy book. That's just a rumor though. I'm sure that bitch just got scared about something and turned tail."
"I see. Yeah, I don't know why she wants a book. She's already a Dead Apostle with two even stronger bodyguards. What else could she want?"
"That's tr-"
"Merem Solomon. Are you down there? You're needed here!"
"Oh, I must get going, thanks for chatting with me, Nicholas Ketsueki."
"No problem."
Merem runs upstairs.
"It was nice seeing you again, Merem." He smiles to himself before going back to reading.
Olga's eyes flutter open.
"And on today's news, several people have gone missing today. Their names are…Please report to the police if you have any information.", the news reporter on the TV says.
She sits up in bed and looks around. The only other person in the room is Nick who seems to be reading a pamphlet for the city.
"Huh? How did we get here? Last I remember we were all the way out there and then we did that mana transfer."
"Yeah. You did wake up after that, but fell asleep fast due to exhaustion. So I carried you back here and put you back in bed."
"Where are the others?"
"They went out for lunch and then they were going to do some investigating. The Servants went with them. I stayed behind to watch after you. It's just us two here."
"Wait, what time is it!?"
She looks at the clock and it reads 12:37 PM.
"I really overslept! Why did no one wake me?"
"We tried but you wouldn't budge. In fact, you just swatted away Mash's hands when she tried to shake you. So we just left you alone. How do you feel?"
"The transfer was a success. My body feels good, I'll have to test it later."
"That's good. By the way, did you have any weird dreams?"
"No, should I have?"
"No. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Don't worry about it."
"Alright." Olga stretches her body. "Well, I'm going to take a shower then since no one is here."
"You might as well just take a nice bath. They left not long ago so it'll be a bit until they get back."
"Alright then. I shouldn't be too long."
"Oh? Are you sure you want to be quick? The bath is pretty nice and even has jets."
"Really? Then maybe I will take my time!"
Olga grabs her uniform and new underwear and walks into the bathroom.
"She didn't even wish me a good morning. That's just like her…", Nick thinks as he goes back to reading.
Might as well use this bathroom in full for how much I paid for it. Olga starts running the tub and strips.
I'll dry my hair out there when I'm done. Serena has a nice blow dryer.
She gets in the now full tub and relaxes her body. "Ah.~ This is bliss!"
Truth is, I actually did have a dream last night. There's no way I could have actually mentioned it though. I don't want to remind him of that. Though, I do have some questions. Her name was Arcueid…why does that first name sound familiar to me? Did I ever see it in one of my books?
Olga sighs and leans back. My body feels good. My circuits also feel better. I guess the transfer really did work.
Olga's eyes shut for a moment.
Splash.
Huh? What was that?
Olga opens her eyes and sitting in the tub in front of her is none other than Altrouge Brunestud.
Olga goes to scream but Altrouge instantly puts her hand to Olga's neck and her other hand over her mouth. "Yell and you're dead. Try and attack me and you're dead. Clear? I'm just here to talk."
"W-what are you doing here?"
Altrouge moves her body back and sinks into the tub. Due to her small body, she can fit quite nicely, even with Olga taking up half.
"As I said, I want to talk."
Olga takes a look around. "In the tub?"
"There's no better place to have a talk than in the bath. No interruptions, the calm noise of the water. And, neither of us have clothes on, so we can't spring any hidden weapons on each other."
"What do you want to talk about? Why not just kill me now?"
"You're the director of Chaldea, and I'm the head of a vampire faction. As we are both leaders, I wanted to attempt to compromise with you. No one has to die, you know."
"Compromise? Sorry, no can do. You and I both need that Grail that you have and neither of us are willing to concede. Nothing can be done."
"Well, if you wait until I'm done with what I will do with it, you are free to take it and leave. All I ask of Chaldea is to simply wait a few more days. Simple enough?"
"And what will you do with it?"
Altrouge rests her bare arms on the sides of the tub, leaning her upper body back to rest on the tub's end.
"Gain power. That's all I want."
"For what?"
"To kill my bitch of a sister. Well, there's another reason, but I can't talk about that."
"Well sorry, that won't work out. We need to kill the cause of the Singularity too. So we need you to fall. That's the only way to correct history."
Altrouge lets out a laugh. "Kill me? Hahaha. I don't think you understand your position. My guards rival Heroic Spirits with ease. I can beat your Servants. We can kill all of you whenever we want. But you all are less than insects to me. You are alive because I allow it. Let's get this straight: You either attack and die. Or, I get my wish, and you move on. I won't even remain here for long afterward, so that should solve your issue."
"And then what will you do after you kill your sister?"
"The world will be mine. I will rule as the Ultimate One of the Earth."
"I cannot allow such a thing."
Altrouge raises her finger. "One more chance."
"Chaldea will be declaring war on you, Altrouge Brunestud. We will not let you achieve your wish, and will not let you rule Earth either. We will kill you, and go home."
Altrouge breathes a disappointed sigh. "I gave you a chance. Don't forget that."
Her claws sharpen and swing right at her throat. But Olga, now with her upgrades, fires back. Her hand was already aimed this whole time. But, all it does is throw Altrouge slightly off balance with the help of the already slippery tub.
Olga flies out of the tub and runs right for the door. Nick can help her out here, all she has to do is open the door.
"Huh?", Nick looks up from a book puzzled.
"What's all that racket? Do women normally make so much noise in the bath?", Nick says to himself.
I do have to admit. The walls here are pretty thick but I guess that's what we get for buying such an expensive room. I'll pay her back in full later.
Altrouge grabs Olga and throws her to the side of the room away from the door and into a wall.
"Yeah, white hair can't hear us very well. I made sure to muffle the room when I appeared. You should know how simple of a spell that is, mage."
Olga raises her arm and fires off some Gandrs to stop the girl. Unfortunately for Olga, Altrouge simply continues her walk forward, not even phased by the puny attacks being thrown at her.
Altrouge sighs. "Don't you see it's pointless?"
She licks her lips and slightly crouches down with a smile on her face.
In an instant, Altrouge pounces, grabbing Olga by the throat and begins to squeeze. Pressing her against the wall, the small girl raises her with only one arm and Olga now has no footing, and she's struggling to breathe.
Olga's hands move all around, but she can't focus enough to make a spell and vision begins to fade to black.
"Farewell human. I'll make you mine after you die, and you can serve me too."
I can't…I need to live!
Olga stretches her hand out in one last desperate move.
"Ultra…Burst!"
At her hand, a black sphere forms. Altrouge takes notice and senses something bad. The apple sized ball explodes and Altrouge's free arm vanishes from sight. Of course, it easily regenerates, but now she looks ticked off.
"You've really done it now!" Her hand raises and her claws sharpen. Soon, Olga will no longer have a head.
Fuck. Even that attack was pointless and now I'll die. Nick couldn't even come…
Olga quickly shuts her eyes, awaiting what is about to happen. Her fate is sealed and her life is over without a doubt…
Nick jolts up in surprise.
A spike in mana? Why is she doing magecraft in the bathroom? Maybe…no, no no no no, NO!
The door to the bathroom barges open with a bang, and Altrouge's arm is sliced off in a flash, sending Olga to the ground gasping.
"You!?"
"You dumb fucking bitch, do you think I'll just let you kill her!?"
Nick kicks her into the wall, and in a fluid motion, throws his sword into her stomach, pinning her to the wall and leaving a bloody mess behind her.
But, Altrouge just smiles, grabs the sword and removes it, gracefully falling into the tub she was just above. The wound closes just as fast as it appeared. She calmly steps out of the tub, water pools on the ground under her and her black dress appears on her body.
"If I'm going to have such a large audience, I shouldn't be naked, should I?"
She looks at the sword and inspects it.
"I recognize this sword now…hey, how do you have the Crimson Moon's Knight Arm?"
Nick looks behind him to make sure Olga is still there.
"You've got some nerve to attack Olga while she's vulnerable. Are you really that weak that you have to rely on sneak attacks?"
"Oh yes! I'm soooo weak, whatever will I do if you attack me head on!~"
Altrouge tosses the sword back over and Nick catches it with one hand.
"I don't know what your deal is, but that sword. You shouldn't have it. The least you could do is commit suicide with it for wielding it. Yes! You should just waste away, you mongrel!"
A shadow opens up from below Altrouge and she sinks in. "If you have such a death wish, then come fight me. I'll love to see you dread your decision!~"
And just like that, Altrouge vanishes into shadow.
The bathroom falls silent and Nick turns to Olga, noticing her body is a bit bruised.
"Olga! Are you okay!?", Nick crouches down and touches Olga's bare shoulder. "Your neck is purple. She didn't bite you, did she?"
"No. She was just strangling me."
"Alright. Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"No." Olga lets out a few painful sounding coughs.
"Luckily, you used that spell. I sensed it and thought something was wrong. Glad I came in when I did."
Nick takes Olga's body into an embrace and holds her. "I'll protect you. Now and always, Olga. And next time, I'll go inside with you. I'll have your back, seeing as going anywhere alone is proving to be much too dangerous…"
Her eyes begin to water and it all pours out. Olga cries and sobs like she hasn't done in so long.
Nick's grip only gets tighter as she cries into his chest. It was like Olga shrunk in his gentle hold, and she couldn't keep any of her emotions within her for any longer. A thousand things had just happened to her within a few seconds and she had been just put through another near death experience. But Nick was there to keep her safe and this was the only thing she could think of.
And Nick himself only had this in his mind: Had Olga not used that spell, Altrouge would have killed her and left a gruesome display for Nick to see once he opened the bathroom's door, and this negligence would have been something he couldn't live down. But he was able to save her, and this fact alone was the only thing going through his head and it nearly brought him to tears. He couldn't let this happen ever again!
Even though only a few minutes had gone by, it felt like hours. And Olga didn't want to let her savior go.
*Sniffle* *sniffle* "I-I-I know…I-I can count on you…right?" *hic*
"Yeah, you can.", Nick lets Olga go so she can stand up, but her legs can't take any of it and she immediately falls over. It would have been painful, if Nick wasn't right in front of her.
"Ha…being this close to death again really messed me up."
"Here, I'll dry you off while you calm down."
Nick grabs the towel that was neatly folded and begins to dry her body.
"She tried to reach a compromise with me but I just couldn't accept it, so she tried to kill me."
"Damn that woman, I couldn't hear a thing. She must've put up a bounded field or something…"
"How did she get past all those runes?"
"I'm not sure. I guess she has higher magic resistance than we thought."
Nick finishes drying her body and starts to dry her hair.
"Thank you for saving me."
"I'd do it again a thousand times if I could, Olga."
Nick gives up on thinking rationally and lifts up her bangs, planting a kiss on her forehead. Olga doesn't know how to react, nor does she know that such a gesture is like an oath. A sworn oath to love and more importantly, protect that person.
"Nick? What was that for?"
He smiles. "Now I know how I feel about you. I love you, Olga. I'll take care of you, even when you become stronger than you already are. I don't want to lose anyone else that is so dear to me again."
Olga's face quickly flushes. "I can't tell if you're trying to take advantage of the moment of weakness that I'm having, or if you're serious. And if you are serious, I don't know how to respond to you…I really am such a humongous failure if I can't even do that!"
Nick continues to comfort Olga by embracing her again and kissing her head and face a few more times, not minding that her body is making his clothes wet. He was sure she'd come to understand what his gestures meant to her and that he was scared too, more than he was letting on.
"I decided to let my heart speak, for once in my life. This was stuck in my throat ever since we started working together, I just couldn't find a good time to say it. At least not until now."
Nick touches her neck and uses his Hemomancy to get rid of the massive bruise.
"There. That'll clear the mark up."
"Thanks. That'll save me from the pain I'd feel when I go to sleep."
Nick finishes drying up Olga's hair and runs his hand around it for a bit.
"Your hair is dried up now, do you want me to braid it too?"
"Please do, Nick."
Nick grabs the side of her hair and starts to braid it into the familiar braid. He braids the hair on Olga's left side of her head, which doesn't take long to do, nor is it difficult. But once he lets that go and looks down lower on Olga's body, he reacts the way that any man would.
"Oh." He finally realizes that she's still completely naked. He was so focused on calming Olga down that he didn't notice her bare body at all.
Olga blushes and shyly attempts to cover her chest and nether regions with her arms. Nick also blushes and looks away. He gets up and grabs her clothes.
"Shit. I was able to ignore your beautiful body for this long because I was taking care of you, but I guess that time is up now. Did anyone ever tell you you're beautiful?"
"I'll pretend you never said a thing."
Olga grabs them and Nick turns around and walks toward the wall where the sword stabbed through.
They won't be happy about this damage.
He carves a rune in the wall which casts a reversion, fixing the damaged floor and walls by reversing the flow of time. It looks as good as new.
"You know how to use runes?"
"Not really. I just found a book on them in the library so I studied them. Is there any other da-"
Nick turns around and sees Olga is now in her underwear.
"Sorry!", Nick spins back around.
"Hmph. You said you love me, and now you won't even gaze at me to show you mean it."
Nick hears the sounds of clothes rustling and Olga's arms wrap around him from behind. Seeing as Nick is a lot taller than Olga, she can't reach him to peck his cheek.
Nick tries to glance behind him but decides against it.
"Thank you so much, Nick."
Her arms pull away from the embrace and she walks toward the bathroom door, with Nick following behind her. They still needed to keep appearances and not reveal their situation to the rest of their team.
But for now, if they needed to go somewhere, Olga and Nick would set off to it together.
"I'm hungry, and I need to get my head off the fact that I have just been attacked by that shithead child."
"Yeah. This whole time I was waiting for you. Anything else you wanna do, Olga?"
Noticing that Nick wasn't too far from her, Olga stopped and turned around to look at him again. He seemed much happier now, and this opportunity was perfect for her to approach Nick, hug him and finally kiss the heroic knight's cheek.
And that was exactly what Olga did, she judged Nick to deserve all of it.
"You're tall, so I got a little mad that I couldn't do this before. But now I can!", Olga said to Nick, before pecking his cheek again. "You'll have to teach me how to kiss your lips later, though."
"When you're comfortable, simply tell me. But it's your fault if you get hooked on that!"
"Maybe I'm just wanting to respond to your feelings in a certain way now.~"
Olga sits on the bed. "Hey, your sword. What did she mean by that? Actually, I want to know more about you, your past and stuff. I saw some stuff in my dreams that concerns you and I'm sorry for your friend. What was that all about?"
Nick sits next to her. "Did you really dream about all that because of the mana transfer?"
"Yes, I'm sorry for lying."
Nick looks at the wristbands on the bedside table.
Good, they're turned off.
"What did you see?"
Olga cannot open her mouth right now. After what she saw, how could she easily remind him of that trauma.
"Alright, can you promise me you can keep a secret?"
"Yes I can. I promise. I've kept the secret that you're a vampire, haven't I?"
"Yeah, I guess so. But this is way different."
Nick slouches over and puts his hands to his face, breaths in, and then looks into Olga's eyes. "I will tell you about my past then. I'll summarize it as best as I can. Including who Arcueid is and who I really am, seeing as I wouldn't be happy with hiding those things from you for any longer, and neither would you."
"Is it okay if we give that a pause, Nick? I don't want to skip lunch…", Olga asks him. She looks a little embarrassed to ask him this.
"You can stop me whenever you want, we'll even call for the hotel room service to bring our lunch up here so we don't have to leave. I wouldn't want to tease anyone over food, much less you."
"You know how to be sweet too. Okay, get started.", Olga says to Nick, holding his hand.
He gives it a little pat then stands up to grab the menu that came with the room. "Lots of fancy options here. Wanna go with something expensive?"
"Depends what the expensive food is."
Nick hands the laminated menu to Olga and she gives it a quick read. "I'll have this." She says while pointing at a specific menu item near the bottom.
"Seafood, huh? Lobster, shrimp, shellfish, oysters. Quite a big dish, don't you think, Olga?"
"I wanna share that. It'll be cheaper that way."
"Might as well. Not like I need to eat anyway. I'll have what you don't eat."
"Sounds like a plan!"
We walk through the streets of Saint-Émilion. The town is quite peaceful at this time. All sorts of people are out and about enjoying the good weather. Perfect time for snooping around.
We've checked alleys, stores, anywhere dark. And we've found nothing. Even the Servants have found nothing.
I plop down on a bench. "Where the hell could she even be? No matter where we check, we just can't find her!"
Ritsuka sits next to me. "I have no idea. and since our communication is cut from Chaldea, we can't even rely on them to find Altrouge."
My eyes pan the cityscape.
House, house, store, house, bakery, chu-store, restaurant.
And we've already checked most of these places. "Maybe we should just head back and try again later. Maybe do this again during the night.", Mash suggests.
"Yeah, you might be right." I continue to look on.
"Elesia! Come on, you're almost there!"
"I'm moving as fast as I can, Father!"
The blue haired girl appears to be carrying a giant, heavy bag of flour over to a storage room on the side of a bakery.
Even innocent people like this will get hurt if Altrouge continues to exist here. But at the same time, we can't do anything. And at this rate, we will be too late to stop her.
Ritsuka stands up. "Let's just go.", he says in a defeated tone.
We start to follow him down the street and back to the hotel.
"This is such a pain in the ass. I really want to just roast this bitch!", Jeanne Alter exclaims to no one in particular.
"I feel the same as you, fellow Avenger. If only we could just locate…her."
"Hm? What's wrong, Edmond?" Haydée asks as Edmond seems to realize something.
"It's so simple… she's using a Bounded Field, a wide scale Bounded Field. They can be used to not just weaken, but even weaken the senses and hell, make it so we can't even see the building she's located at, or intentionally skip over it. A charm of sorts."
Mash nods her head and begins to think more about it. That would make sense. From what I've read, it's a common thing to do in the mage world, so why wouldn't Altrouge?
"Haydée, are you able to clear away this sort of thing?" Ritsuka asks and she nods her head.
"Yes I can, but because the Bounded Field is a constant thing, I'll have to only focus on one person to use it on. Edmond?"
"Yes, focus your energy on me. I'll find this missing building, but, let us get higher up." The couple goes into Spirit Form and reappears higher up onto a clock tower. Haydée places her hands on his back and energy begins to flow into his back.
"Do you see anything out of place?" She asks, also looking around, not that she could see anything.
Edmond focuses his vision and looks around at every single building in the city with his Servant enhanced senses. Several buildings are normal and ones he's seen before. But one in particular is new to him.
"Haydée, do you see a church over there?" Edmond points straight ahead to a gray church.
"No? I do not see anything like that."
Edmond grins wildly. "Then there's our vampire!" He steps away from Haydée and the two return to Spirit Form, meeting back up with us.
After telling us what he saw, we decide to return back to the hotel rather than just rushing in and getting killed without the Director and Nick.
We get back to the hotel and make it up to our floor. We hightail it to the room and throw open the door.
"Director! Nick! We know where Altrouge is!", I yell out.
When we open the door, the two of them are finishing up eating a huge meal while watching TV. They look up and are shocked at what we just said.
"You what!?"
Ritsuka steps forward.
"This is what happened…"
"Interesting. Something happened to us too. Altrouge came here and tried to kill me."
"She what!?"
"Here's what happened…"
"That's awful!", I exclaim while covering my mouth.
Edmond manifests.
"To think she would attack so directly. It's odd she tried to make peace first, but not out of character."
Olga stands up.
"Well, now that we know where she is for sure, let's get her. We end this today."
"Are you sure you're okay enough, Director?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I can fight."
"Alright then."
"Do we have a plan?", Nick asks.
"Didn't Svelten say that Strout would stay by her side? And she will most likely be in the main part of the church, the altar. So if Svelten breaks off from the other two, we can get him while he's alone, then storm the main room and kill the other two.", Alice says.
Nick raises his finger into the air.
"Edmond and Jeanne will be our key players here. Incinerate them until nothing remains, that is the best way to kill a vampire, especially an immortal one. And we have to do this now since it's day time. We don't stand a chance at night, so consider that we have a time limit that lasts until the sun goes down. We retreat if the sun goes down and they are still alive. Sounds good?"
"That works for me.", Edmond agrees and naturally Haydée does too.
"I can't wait!", Jeanne says.
"And I still have plenty of Servants left. I'll summon Amakusa, the other Jeanne, Vlad would work too, Saber Alter is a given since she's so strong, Karna would be perfect because of his cool fire and sun powers, and maybe Emiya since he always has something up his sleeve. Those are my top choices."
"Good choices, Senpai. I will protect all of you the best I can."
"I will mainly attack from range, but I can go hand to hand if needed. And I still have two Fraga's left that I can use."
I divert my eyes.
"I guess…I will use my eyes to support, but I can't actually fight them head to head. I'll die if I do, the best help I can provide besides that is to kill whatever lesser Dead Apostles come to get in our way."
"Fine with us. Support us to your limit!" Olga says.
"I will do my best to support you all as well.", Haydèe reassures.
Olga walks over to the door and grabs the handle.
"The Second Singularity ends today!"
"Right!" We all say in unison.
And with that, we head out the door to what we believe to be the final battle…
