132: We are Argonauts!
Silence follows Hercules's disappearance - the oppressive quiet of those condemned. The sound of waves on the shore is all that can be heard, and as I glance at each of the people present, I can see each one going through their own internal struggle.
Mash grits her teeth, her eyes flicking back and forth between the distant star that Hercules had pinned to the sky and her shield. Cu Chulainn - no, he said his name is Grimr now - scrawls runes into the beach as he prepares a magic circle, a small scowl on his face. Benkei simply sits staring straight ahead, face pale as sweat pours down his face. Jason meets my eyes briefly before looking away with a guilty grimace. Medea and Rigel are both refusing to meet each other's eyes, similarly guilty looks on both of their faces. The old man Mash brought with her - David, I think he said his name was - moved away from the group, and I can see him lightly tapping the strings of his harp as he sings something I can't hear. Nobunaga's head has a kind of desperate grin stretched across her face. And the labcoat-wearing guy carrying her - opens his eyes, with a strange resolve, breaking the silence first.
"Well, never mind all of that. For now, I have a patient to treat," He says. "Medea, assist me. We need to reattach her head as soon as possible."
"...As single-minded as always," The witch says, a bemused sigh leaving her mouth. "You'll still help them, despite what Hercules promised us?"
"I don't particularly mind one way or another who wins. Whether I'll achieve less or more in a history without the gods… I can't answer that. Nor can I answer which world might achieve greater heights of medicine." He sighs. "In that case, I'll simply have to treat the patient in front of me."
"That's great!" Nobunaga says. "I was really worried you might just decide to abandon me or something!"
"...So that's one of you working with us for now," I say, glancing at Jason.
"I'm…" He pauses, glancing again at that distant star. "I'm gonna need some time to think."
"It's gonna be tough to stop him without you," I offer.
He doesn't respond - and, grinding his teeth with terrible agitation, he turns and walks away.
…I'm serious about that. With Hercules changing classes again, we're gonna need someone who knows the ins and outs of all his different classes to give us some kind of hint about what we're up against.
But for the time being- "By the way, Rigel, what the hell did you do with my communicator?"
"Sorry, it kept beeping, so I threw it in the ocean," he deadpans.
"...Boy, I sure am glad the director couldn't hear that one," I chuckle, and the very next second the communicator on Mash's wrist begins to beep furiously.
"Now you've done it, Senpai," Mash gives a small smile as the peeved face of Director Olga Marie springs to life in holographic form.
"You know, we were all totally shocked when we got our monitoring back and saw that, not only had you survived through all of that, you had registered the enemy leader as a Chaldean Servant," She says, a fake smile plastered on her face as her eye twitches. "But, you know, I told everyone it would be fine. My brilliant disciple surely would have thought through the consequences. He definitely wouldn't do something like wire a Demon Pillar into Chaldea's system as something like a one-off joke. After all, he respects his teacher, and wouldn't want to upset her, right?"
I feel bad. Really, I do.
But…
"Demon pillar?"
I can't waste this perfect setup.
{Now.} I tell Rigel telepathically.
""Right, there was something like that, wasn't there?"" We say in stereo.
Slowly, she lowers her face into her hands in utter defeat - and then her shoulders start shaking, and for a moment I'm worried I finally pushed it too far and broke her.
"Pft." And then, finally, a small snicker leaves her lips."Heh… heheheh! I can't… even after all of this… you… pft…"
Sensei raises her face again to look at me with slightly puffy red eyes, and a wry grin on her face. "...You freaking idiot. Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?"
!
…Crap. I'm blushing now.
"A-anyway… it seems like there were compatibility issues and Zepar lost his ego, so…" I scratch my head. "Basically, Rigel is in control, not the Demon Pillar, so I thought it would be fine as a temporary measure… Sorry, it was a bit of a heated moment."
"...W-well, as expected of the student I saw potential in! It seems like you've managed to recruit or neutralize everyone except Hercules on your own, so I'm proud of you," I feel myself flushing more and more as she heaps on the praise. "Now all that's left is- hey! Hey, you damn fairy thing, move! Get out of the way! I'm talking to my pre- my disciple! You wanna die, huh!?"
"Rem, please don't bully sensei," I say, reaching out and gently pulling the palm-sized buzzing orb of light away from the communicator. Touching her is still a strange feeling - she's mostly immaterial, weightless, and can barely even communicate. And yet, there's something about her presence that puts me completely at ease. Smiling slightly, I pull her close with both hands, and she floats up to about face level, hovering there for a moment, pulsing intermittently with light. "...Sorry, I don't really get it."
She dims slightly, and then floats over to settle on my shoulder.
"...Well, this is to be expected from Senpai at this point," Mash says. Why does she sound so disappointed by that…? "In any case, that strange creature is…?"
"Ah, this is Rem. She's not in her body right now, but- no, come to think of it, you're acting a little differently, aren't you?" I turn to glance at her, and her light blinks in confusion. "You're not usually this assertive. Maybe it's something to do with your form?"
The light gives a small, noncommittal-looking wiggle.
"...Well, putting that aside for now," Sensei says. "Let's get back to the situation at hand. We've finished our analysis of Hercules's Spirit Origin. I'm sending it over now."
"You guys can detect everything besides the Noble Phantasm, right?" Grimr asks. "As far as that goes, I can say that he's at least got that [God Hand] thing from Fuyuki-"
"Well, we're doomed, then," The Director says.
"Seriously? Just how bad is…" I ask, looking over Mash's shoulder as she scrolls down the holographic display.
And scrolls.
And scrolls.
"This… freaking… glitch character…" I mutter.
"I… think he might actually be more broken than Reinhard," Rigel says.
"...I dunno, I kinda got the feeling Reinhard could keep getting new Divine Protections of the Phoenix, so he might outlast him," I mutter.
"What does that one do?" Rigel asks, and I blink. Oh no.
"It, uh…" I cringe a bit. "Revives him one time if he dies. But then he can just get a new one after that, so he can revive again."
Rigel groans. "...I wish he told me about that." He probably killed himself over and over to save him, huh? No wonder Regulus was hell for him.
"So we need to kill him twelve different times, for which only attacks of EX rank will suffice, with a special exception for Extra classes, who get the privilege of dealing lethal damage with A rank attacks," the Director says.
"Eleven, actually, for what it's worth," says Grimr. "'Cu Chulainn' took a life off him before he went down. Also, a non-servant could manage it with an A-rank attack too."
"Isn't the A-rank attack of a normal human only something like C or B rank for a Servant?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "It's a conceptual defense that deflects 'all but the highest tier of attack'. As long as it's nominally A-rank or higher after accounting for the rank downs from his Nega Skill, it doesn't matter whether it's an attack that stubs the target's toe or annihilates a planet. On the same principle, it doesn't matter how many pluses a B-rank attack has, it still won't pierce [God Hand] unless it crosses the boundary into A-rank."
"It's a moot point, anyway. I've only got one spell that would maybe reach that level, and I don't think I could cast it on my own even with a Holy Grail backing me up," I say.
"The Animusphere Magecraft could manage it," Sensei says. "But our lessons didn't reach that point, and you'd need a powerful… mystic… code…" She trails off, a wicked grin filling her face. "Subaru, once Asclepius is done with Nobunaga, I want you to do everything you can to get him to agree to joining Chaldea and rayshifting over here. Tell him we have wounded for him to work on."
"Director, that's a terrible idea!" Doctor Romani shouts, appearing on the holographic display as well. "Even with the help of a god of medicine - freezing the injured masters was already a human rights violation!"
"If it works, he won't have anything to complain about, Roman. Or do you think that Kirschtaria Wodime is the type to be stopped by flimsy concepts like 'human rights'?"
Jason
I hate this.
"Simply stand aside - I shall save you all."
As if I could just do that! I don't want to be saved! I want to win, dammit! There's no glory in it for me if you just run off and create my kingdom for me, and then just plop me down at the top of it!
No, in the first place, are you even going to put me in charge? Come on, Hercules, there's no point in building a utopian kingdom if I'm not in charge of it!
I know. I know, I'll be happy, in his world. Hercules will make sure of it, because we're friends.
I know that, dammit.
"But, if you swoop in and solve everything… where do I put all this guilt?"
"A scapegoat?" Rigel asks.
"Yes," David nods. "You can think of that as a kind of 'keyword', the characteristic shared by any manifestation of Beast V. Although it represents the sin of [Retribution, the better way to describe it is probably the sin of 'refusing to take responsibility'. Usually the word means, 'a single person blamed for all ills', but-"
"There's a school of thought that suggests it goes deeper than that," Romani says. "'All collective problems are solved by scapegoating', or so the theory goes - whether the scapegoat is a person 'blamed for' or a person 'entrusted with solving' the problem - at the end of the day, a single person serves as the psychological receptacle for everyone else's worries, so that the rest of society can forget about the problem. Heroes, kings, civil servants - none of them actually have the ability to fully fix a problem in every last detail, but they''ll still bear that responsibility."
"So Hercules is representing the sin of 'those who can but will not save themselves'. As far as that goes, we can expect that the world he creates won't be some sort of dystopia where all those who fail to be perfect will be purged," David says.
"But, even so… I think the world he's aiming for is unforgivable," Romani says. "If a perfect king solves every person's problems for them, then what's the point of those people even existing? If one man embodies all the good in the world, then what's left for everyone else?"
"You already thought it through that much, huh?" David says, closing his eyes for a moment. "...What a wise kid."
My mistakes are my own. I can't just leave them all for someone else to clean up - what's the point if I do? How could I call myself a hero, then?
It finally all clicks in my head as I gaze up towards the stars.
"...That's right. What the hell are you doing, Heracles?" I ask. "Didn't I tell you!?"
Didn't I tell you to stay by my side, to follow me?
"If you do this kind of thing… you'll never reach a world where people will understand you."
Where do you get off getting such a big head, anyway? [God of heroes, are you kidding me? You're an Argonaut! Part of a crew, my crew! And that means we go together, and conquer the sea with our friends!
"I won't let you become the only god! Not all alone! Not without me!" I shout, and I pull it out.
A squirming, black thing, recovered from the body of some arrogant albino. I don't really understand it, but apparently it can make you invincible at the risk to your life.
So what. At this point, with all of my Noble Phantasms destroyed, with Nobunaga to provide adequate enough strategic advice, I don't have anything else to offer.
"I'll risk my life! Of course I will!" I shout, reaching a hand towards the constellation carving our deeds into the night sky.
"Because we are Argonauts! Heroes, every one!"
-In a spirit of near selflessness, concerned only with the fate of his friend, Jason thrusts the Greed Witch Factor into his chest.
…Unfortunately, that is precisely the wrong spirit with which to approach this particular Witch Factor.
-I collapse. Black blood pours from my mouth and eyes as every part of my body starts to self-destruct.
"Ah… Ahhhh." Feeble moans manage to come through my lips.
No.
No, isn't this wrong?
Come on. Come on, come on, come on, seriously!?
Wasn't this my big heroic moment?
Wasn't this my big turnaround?
I've been a useless bastard all the way up to this point, but now-!
Any moment now-!
Where's my sudden powerup? Where's my hope to save the day? This can't be it, can it?
Surely, there has to be something I can do! Some way, any way, to become the hero I know I was meant to be!
I'm dying. I'm going to die here, die again, beneath my ship written in the stars. crushed under the weight of a hope I couldn't reach.
Please. Someone, notice. I know I wandered off alone, but someone had to be paying attention, right? Medea, Asclepius, even Grimr might be able to do something. I can't die here! There has to be something-! Someone-!
…Goddammit.
The stars… so close… I can almost…
"Are you satisfied with this?"
"...Of course not."
"Then, let us make a compact. I am Forneus. The great Sea Fiend, who teaches men, gives them a good name, and makes them beloved of their friends and foes alike."
"Piss off, then. I've got nothing to say to you."
"Ignorant. Our goals align for the time being. The defeat of the Beast of Heroes is required for us as well."
"So? What the hell does a guy like you have to offer in the first place? You gonna fuse some suspicious crap into me, make me like that Alter Ego? I'm not interested."
"Did you ever wonder, how another Natsuki Subaru was brought to this world in the first place?"
"..."
"Some limited access to the Kaleidoscope, the operation of Parallel Worlds, is within the capabilities of us Demon Pillars. Thousands of possibilities are at our disposal. Thousands of versions of you - even those who achieved your dream."
"..."
"...Do you wish to see it? The future that you might have claimed, had fate played out even slightly differently?"
"...I want to! I want to, goddammit! I want to see it so badly I'm gonna cry!"
"Then the compact is sealed."
A star, the first of thirty-two, the prow of a certain ship written in the heavens - plunges from the sky and crushes what remains of 'Jason'.
"Since we've resolved to fight, I might as well reveal that I've become a Ruler now," David says. "I've lost access to my sling, but I'm still capable of using the [Ark of the Covenant] and [Sacrifice, though the former will probably be very difficult to get Hercules to touch, so-"
His explanation is interrupted by blinding light as an explosion lights up the inner island. And, emerging from that practical flashbang, a young blond man clad in golden armor, marked all over with bright points of light, walks into view with a huge grin on his face.
"Who-?" Natsuki Subaru asks.
"Who even knows at this point!?" The man laughs, wild-eyed. "I don't even know my class, and as for my True Name - 'Argo Navis', 'Super Jason', hell you could even call me 'Space Jason' if you want! But I'm ready to win this thing, so line up and get ready to follow my orders. One of our crew wandered off on his own, and we've gotta drag him back whether he likes it or not! Argonauts… Assemble!"
Class: Voyager
True Name: Argo Navis (Super Jason)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Armaments: Power Armor, Lasers, Beam Sword
Manifestation Cost: High
Bio:
To draw power from other versions of oneself is no simple task - but it can be simplified by simply selecting one single version of oneself to draw power from, in a limited form of possession.
This is the method of operation used by the infamous Kaleidosticks. This is the method used by Zepar to disastrous effect in both this world and another, to call up demons beyond himself that he had no chance of dominating.
And, as for the one called forth by Forneus, the strongest possible version of Jason-
Perhaps it was the influence of certain suspicious particles. Perhaps it was simply a matter of fact that Jason would never achieve anything of note outside of the most outlandish of circumstances.
In any case-
His story begins a long, long time ago, in a Servantverse far, far away…
-That said, his consciousness is still the normal Jason, so he doesn't understand where all this sci-fi gear came from.
The constellation Argo Navis has always existed in our world's sky, and as far back as people have been making boats, there were those that described the constellation's shape as that of a boat. Whether the Argo was, as some Greek writers claimed, the first boat made by humans, or whether the first was an Ark created to preserve humanity from a great flood, or any other possibility - Argo Navis was identified with all of them.
Embodying a vessel that Voyages out in advance of the rest of humanity, Super Jason has accomplished a class container that possesses no name, the first of its kind- in this timeline, at least.
Later in this story, when he meets the witch Circe, she will give it a placeholder title that for some reason feels right to her - [Voyager].
Parameters
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: B
Mana: C
Luck: A
NP: A
Class Skills:
Riding: A
Contact with Civilization: D
Independent Navigation: D
Personal Skills:
The Rumored Goldenfleecium: -
A mysterious metal discovered by Space Jason in Season 3 of the original TV serial. Not only was it the secret to counteracting Space Agamemnon's Death Dust, it doubles as a renewable fuel source, the secret to cold fusion, and an excellent pillow!
…We don't get it either.
Writing our Names in the Stars: A
Skill that empowers those sailing on the Argo - all those aboard receive a rank-up to their parameters, and those among the original Argonauts will receive this benefit even when not aboard.
Inspiration at Death's Door: A
Noble Phantasms:
The Radiant Ship that Tears the Heavens: Astrapste Argo
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Army
Range: 1~10
Maximum number of targets: 50 people
The gleaming metal ship used by the Space Argonauts for their voyage through the stars. While inactive, it transforms into a suit of powered armor. Having integrated the defenses of the Aegis partway through season two, it is highly resistant to enemy attacks, and its cannons are powered by pure Goldenfleecium, making it an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm
Our Jason has no idea how to operate any of these high tech functions, though, so in his hands it remains Anti-Army like the original Argo.
Regardless, he can summon the full crew of the original Argo to assist him with this Noble Phantasm, although they can refuse to help based upon their personal preferences.
Authority of Greed: ?
Rank: -
Type: Anti-Unit (Self)
Range: 1~20
Maximum number of targets: 100 People
Despite acquiring the Greed Witch Factor, Jason has no clue of its effects, and it remains dormant for the time being.
