Section 12
Long ago, the Ultimate One of the Moon created Arcueid as a future host should he die. He would possess her body and be reborn, but that did not come to fruition as she was able to develop a mind of her own and reject him. Ever since then, she had been held up in her castle serving as a weapon of the True Ancestors, a race of vampires molded by Crimson Moon himself.
Altrouge Brunestud was just like Arcueid, a vessel. However, she was unstable at the end of the day and couldn't be used.
"I came in in response to Altrouge's ascension of power. Tasked to defeat her, but first I wanted to see all of you, to see what my father saw in all of you.", Arcueid says, sitting on a nearby chair.
"So, you're his daughter?", I ask.
"Yes but also no, biologically speaking. I was designed from him. Think of a homunculus made from his flesh."
"Well, I think you're very beautiful, he made you nicely.", I blush and look to the side. Though, Arcueid doesn't do the same.
"Thank you, girl. Though hitting on me will have no effect, I do not possess those feelings."
"I see…I'm sorry."
"You sure are hitting on every woman we see, huh? First me and now her. Do you have a death wish hitting on Servants and now a vampire?", Alter remarks while grinning at me.
"Ah, what can I say? I prefer women over men, so if I see one who's beautiful then I should at least try, not like I'm expecting anything."
"I admire your confidence, but please don't try to make such bold, human moves on Altrouge, you'll die."
"I'm not that stupid, Jeanne. She is attractive but not my type personality-wise." (Also, I want to live.)
"Speaking of Altrouge, she's my big sister.", Arcueid interrupts and gets us back on track. "She may have been smaller until recently, but she is older by a few hundred years. We never got along and she hates me, I dislike her too of course. But…"
She pauses and thinks for a moment, all of us silent as she does so. "I do not wish to kill her. She is still my sister and if she can be saved somehow, then I'd like that. Do not get me wrong, I will kill her if needed, but if there's another way, I would like to take it."
Olga looks at her, absolutely pissed at the thought. "I'm personally all for her dying. She's the one who killed Nick, so I want her dead. It would serve her right after all she's done to us."
Arcueid looks a bit sad, but also content. "I will not attempt to change your mind, not that you can do anything to her, any of you. If that were possible, she would be dead by now. On top of that, you cannot bypass her guards."
Olga grits her teeth and stands up, walking over to Arcueid with almost a hateful aura around her.
"Why you—!"
But Olga is pinned to the ground with gravity manipulation in an instant.
"Know your place, woman."
Ritsuka jumps up too and gets in between the two. "STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU!", he yells and Arcueid does as asked, not because she's taking orders from him, but purely because Olga cannot do anything to her anyway, the gravity was just for the sake of teaching her a lesson. Ritsuka goes to help Olga up but is slapped away and she gets up on her own. Wordlessly, she walks away from the group and out of the room.
Ritsuka looks down and then looks at the rest of the group. "I'm sure she'll be fine…"
Arcueid watches in silence and clears her throat. "I cannot say I've had anyone stand up to me like that. I can see why Father likes her."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Get on with your explanation.", Jeanne Alter rudely says, but that goes over Arcueid's head and she continues. "I was sent here to deal with Altrouge due to her rise in power via the Outer God. I am a weapon, and as a weapon, I need to deal with the problem of vampires, so here I am. But, I also came in response to my Father's death. I'm not particularly fond of him, but the very fact that he's gone is enough to warrant an investigation."
"What's so bad about him? He seemed nice enough when he was with us.", Ritsuka recalls the times when they spent time together. He was nice, but also sometimes an arrogant pain to deal with. But overall none of us would say he's bad.
Arcueid closes her eyes and thinks to herself. "To put it short, he only wanted me as a vessel, along with Altrouge and the other True Ancestors, but I'm sure you knew this part. He wanted to rule humanity and make them into his vassals, and when he didn't get that, he tried to send the Moon on a collision course with Earth, to wipe out all life but his own. He is the complete opposite of a good person, yet his possession of the body he used with you changed him because he was too hasty. The soul of the previous host was still in there, so when he took over, their souls mixed and created a third personality of sorts. In short, he gained humanity."
"Wait, what's this about dropping the Moon onto Earth?", Mash asks. Of course, all of us were drawn to that phrasing too, that just seems impossible to us.
"A battle long ago involving my Grandfather and him. He was driven by a single thought: "If Humanity won't serve me, then there is no value to this world.". He tried bringing an end to all you know now, but the Moon was repelled and the mirror image was destroyed along with him. And before you ask, his body was destroyed but not his soul, this why he tried to gain a new body later on, but failed and had to go with some random kid with good magic potential and non-existent mental barriers."
Yep, I'm never gonna be able to understand this magic stuff. This is just too much for me.
"Any other questions you have for me?"
We think for a bit, but it's Ritsuka who asks the next one, and possibly the most important one. "Are you on our side, or are you just going to leave once your needs are met? What is our relationship going to be like, because frankly, we need all the help we can get right now."
Arcueid nods, understanding his worries. "We have the same goal, defeat Altrouge and stop her from taking over the Earth, in your case to resolve the Singularity, and in mine to keep my throne, along with order in the world. I will help you to the end, you have my word on that."
The relieving news are said out loud, it looks like we gained one more ally. "So, are we going to stay in this prison forever, or…?"
"We're actually not sure what the plan is. We have what we need, but we don't know where to go next.", Ritsuka looks down at the ground in shame. It feels like for a while now our plan has gone off the rails and we've been acting on autopilot, but now we need to think.
"Let's ask Da Vinci.", Mash places her shield on the ground and contacts Chaldea, and like usual, they pick up.
"Looking for a place to go next? I would recommend Paris. It has a Magus Association branch there that you all could stay at I'm sure. It'll be safer than a hotel, and you could learn things there too. Besides, Paris is a nice place, so maybe it'll lower your stress levels."
A familiar voice talks from behind us. "Paris, huh? Got it, we'll head there next then. I'm sure I can get us into the branch.", Olga says. She must've just needed time to herself for a few minutes. "We rest up tonight and we leave early tomorrow morning. We have a long day of walking around as we can't rely on vehicles, or on Sieg with our limited summons."
"You'll have to spend a week walking from your current location to Paris. If you make no stops, that is.", Romani answers us after making distance calculations for a minute.
I can collectively hear all of our hearts drop.
"Yeah, that's not happening.", Olga says defeated. "Aside from the toll on our bodies, we just don't have a week to idle around, walking to the destination while Altrouge gains more power. By the time we get to Paris, she'll have taken over this world!."
She then gains a mischievous look on her face. "If we can't rent a car due to our licenses not adding up, maybe we just steal and hotwire one. It's not like it matters afterward anyway since that'll all get wiped."
Ritsuka shakes his head and refuses. "Someone needs that car, we can't just steal!"
"Then go ahead and walk for a whole week, if you think you can! This doesn't even include rest, or sleeping, so it's really closer to two weeks!"
Ritsuka immediately considers the stealing option now, it's told all over his face that he's about to go against his moral compass, but he hesitates to.
"If it is a vehicle you need, I can create one. My Marble Phantasm allows me to create anything I want. Mages of this time use a much inferior version called Projection Magecraft, do they not?"
…
"…"
"?"
"WHAT!?", most of us collectively scream. The blonde angel has given us an easy way to move from place to place.
"No, no, don't get hasty, everyone. What if we get pulled over, we don't have the papers, along with the license issue.", Olga immediately tries to poke holes in the plan, but Arcueid has another answer to that.
"I will use my Mystic Eyes to get the person to leave us alone and let us continue. We need none of that.", and Olga is convinced. "Doctor, how long is it to drive to Paris?"
He types on the keyboard and finds the answer. "Once you get back to Marseille, the land off the prison you're at, it's about seven hours not counting stops."
We're saved! The seven days have been cut down to seven hours. Olga sighs in relief and nods.
"Alright, that'll work. Tomorrow morning, we leave via car and get to Paris, hopefully, the same day before the sun goes down. We get into the Association branch and stay there for a while and prepare. Sounds good?"
We all agree with her and after that, we chat for a while, passing the hours. There's not much for us to do, so we all do our own things for a while until the night. Alice maintains her gear, I do some training, Ritsuka, and Mash practice combat as well, and the three Servants are with the two. Arcueid goes off on her own and the Director begins to carve runes to use for later. Overall, the day passed very easily for us and we went to bed early that night.
"How about a wager?"
A certain man stood in a village talking to a large group of people. He had long, blond hair and wore a black trench coat with red details and lines scarcely throughout. He had a black collar like a classic vampire would as well, but the weirdest thing about him was that his clothes seemed modern to the current day, not back in the year 200 AD. A white dress shirt with a red tie, along with gray dress pants and black boots.
"What kind of wager?", the village chief asked.
The vampire smiled and outstretched his arm to explain his cause. "You use that boy to summon monsters. If I can hold out until morning, I will slaughter you all, but if you kill me before then, my wealth, and castle are yours. You are the ones who were boasting about him after all, so shall we see if he can support you?"
The village chief thought it over, and unaware of who the man was, they accepted. "Very well, we accept your terms."
The man clapped his hands together and smirked. "Well then, whenever you are ready."
After waiting around, leaning himself on a tree and watching the horizon, he sensed several beings approaching him, and said beings were of course not human, but monsters of differing varieties. They resembled monsters the blond man had seen from the Age of Gods.
A bicorn, chimera, and lamia. To normal humans those are guaranteed deaths, but to someone who isn't human…
All three were destroyed in an instant by his claws and turned into bloody chunks of meat. "That is it?"
But as he said that, five more came out of the woods, all torn apart by the man in a near instant again.
This continued all night. They'd send out monsters and those monsters would be killed right away, some gave him more trouble than others. And after a long night, not one monster managed to even touch him.
"What a shame… well as I promised…" The man used his power and obliterated the village with a tornado of wind that blasted forward like a cannon. Everyone was torn to shreds as rock and shrapnel tore through them leaving not even blood behind.
Though, he did spare one building. A small hut made from stone and leaves. Smaller than the rest, it could've passed as a storage shed. The man walked over there and walked in through the "doorway," though, that was only a sheet of leaves hanging from the top.
Inside was a deceased boy lying on some hay. This was the same boy who created the monsters in the first place. The man came to this place in the first place because he had heard that this certain village housed a miracle child who could make summons from his body, but it seemed like doing so much one after another killed him.
The man grasped the boy's neck and bit into it, turning him from a human to a vampire. With a startled jump, the boy sat up and looked around.
"Huh?! But…didn't I collapse?", he said.
He had medium-length hair, down to his neck, black in color. He also had purple eyes and a red tattoo on his hand. "Did you do something?"
"Yes, I brought you back to life as a vampire. If you do not wish to live, I'll take it back and let you rest. But if you want to live, then follow me, your power is an interesting one that can be trained and utilized better. You have no one else to go to, correct?"
The boy nodded. "Okay then, I will follow you then. I am Merem Solomon, and you are?"
"My name is Brunestud. I am the Ultimate One of the Moon. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Merem Solomon."
"Mmmgghuh?", Olga's eyes open as she can hear stirring near her. Alice sits up from her mattress and stands up, then leaves. So it seems Alice woke her up. From what the Director can tell, everyone else is still asleep, including me obviously.
What a strange dream…
Olga thinks and grasps the wrapped sword beside her. She checks her watch and it reads 6:47 AM. She stands and walks out quietly, deciding to let us sleep for a while longer.
She brushes her teeth and puts on her uniform in a private area. And we all wake up too at the alarm at 7. We do the same as she did, then eat breakfast and get ready to head out.
"Once we're back on the mainland, we can disable the Bounded Field and leave.", Olga says. And after that, we all are flown out of there by Edmond like when we got here. Our time spent here was short, but important as Edmond got his upgrade and we met Arcueid.
"So, what kind of vehicle are you looking for?" Arcueid asks as a blue cube forms in her hands.
"Let's see… six seats as the Servants can go into Spirit Form to save room and a big enough trunk for the sword. So a van."
"Huh!? I don't wanna go into Spirit Form!", Jeanne Alter says. But Edmond elbows her to shut her up. "We need to save our energy. Just accept it, you'll be bored anyway."
"Hmph!", Jeanne pouts but goes with what he says.
As described, Arcueid creates a silver van that would fit the time period with eight seats. Driver, passenger, and two rows of three in the back.
"Since Alice and I are the only ones who can drive here, we'll take the front two seats. The rest of you can go to the back wherever.", Olga says and Arcueid immediately calls the back where she'll be alone. So that puts Ritsuka, Mash, and I in the front row.
"Wait wait wait! Arcueid, are you just going to go in that dress? You'll stand out.", Ritsuka gestures to her white and gold dress. Arcueid doesn't seem to have an issue with it, but yes, it'll stand out.
Arcueid nods her head and her body erupts in golden light like a magical girl transformation, and with a metaphorical poof, she's wearing normal clothes. She is wearing a plain white sweater and a short blue skirt with a silver necklace. She also has black tights and brown, nice-looking boots. Her hair stays as it is, long and nearly to the ground.
"Better?"
"Yeah…you look great!", Ritsuka gives her a thumbs-up and smiles. The bastard is now cheating on Mash as he likes Arcueid now. Just like her, we all are also wearing our casual outfits as Chaldea uniforms would stand out too much.
I wear my usual blue shirt and jeans, Ritsuka wears a sweatshirt, Mash wears her usual hoodie and dress, it's enough to pass as casual wear, Olga wears her uniform too, also enough to pass on its own, and Alice wears her gray hoodie and sweatpants with a black shirt underneath. The Servants have casual wear too so they can walk around just fine.
Olga gets in the driver seat and Alice gets in the passenger seat. I sit next to the window and Mash in the middle between Ritsuka and I, by my request of course. Arcueid gets in the row behind us with the wrapped-up crimson sword next to her.
"If you want to switch, just ask." Alice puts on her seatbelt and gets ready to go. "By the way, I have food if anyone wants some."
Mash raises her hand like a child on a school field trip. "What about breaks to stretch or legs or bathroom trips?"
"Well, I'd like to make it in one shot, but if you need to then I don't mind stopping. Please don't make me stop every five minutes though."
Come to think of it, I've never been on a road trip before. Back in Japan, I'd always take the train everywhere that's far enough.
"Shit, I need a GPS.", Olga places her forehead on the wheel at the obvious mistake. But as usual, Alice pulls one from her pocket dimension and hooks it up to Olga's delight.
"Bazett is very old school so she uses a GPS like this rather than her phone like everyone else. I keep a spare on me just in case."
"We're saved…", Olga blushes and inputs the address of…wait, where are we going?
Olga taps her wristband and asks Romani and Da Vinci for the address of the Association.
"Hôtel de Ville. By day it's a venue for celebrations along with a council building for government meetings and such, and on the side, it's run by the Magus Association. Just like the London Clock Tower, it's both the city hall and a hidden mage school and meeting spot for magi."
"And we get in how?"
"I'm not quite sure myself. You'll have to figure that out. Sorry~!"
"We could blow a hole through the wall and break in!", Edmond's disembodied voice says, surprising us all.
"No. I'm sure they have a way to notice magus and the like just like at the Clock Tower. We'll be fine, and if not, Arcueid can just brainwash them."
Arcueid nods her head and agrees. "Yes, it would not be an issue for me."
So, with a destination set and a vehicle, we head out to our next destination, Paris!
