Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 83 of the story! Has any of you already played the Stellar Blade demo? If not, then go play it! You were planning on reading this chapter? Go play the demo first instead! But for real, great stuff and it really makes someone excited from when the game do releases later this month.
AND OMG! The April Fools joke event this year was about football! (soccer) FGOxInazuma Eleven is actually real?! What were the odds of these two franchises having some sort of tiny correlation between each other aside from a user on the internet using the OST of one franchise in a fanfic of the other franchise? I swear someone at Type-Moon must have seen my story, because this event just feels like something I'd dream of happening. Now, being more realistic, FGO having an event around football is more a reference to the football animes in general (With the most obvious one being Captain Tsubasa), but still, it was cool seeing FGO having something football related. Even more right after the demo of the upcoming Inazuma Eleven game having come out.
And how that makes my desire to do a crack fic of FGO and football that I had on my head for some time increase...)
Anyways, with that said, let's start it!
DISCLAIMER: All of the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author
Washington D.C, 1 Hour Earlier
"Then come and die!"
Cú Alter dashed at the party, with one swoop of his Gaé Bolg directed at them, causing a wrecking slash inside Domus Aurea. It was clear he was thirsting to kill his enemies.
"Tesla Coil!"
"Bloody Devil!"
Using their respective spells, both Tesla and Geronimo threw a mix of a fiery thunder at the spearman who shield it with his own weapon and arms, provoking an explosion with the impact. Cú Alter quickly shoved the smoke away with his arm as he stepped out from it, running wildly torwards the group, completly unharmed from the combined effort of the two servants.
"This pal is a freaggin' beast! Billy commented, appaled at Cú Alter's resistance and durability.
Robin aimed his bow at Cú Alter. "We must eliminate him as quickly as-egh!" Spotting it from the side, Robin dodged from Medb's whip, stopping the thief from firing at her companion.
"Tsk tsk tsk! As if I'd let you!" Medb shook her finger. "Me and Cú have plans as the rulers of this empire and so much more on the future. You won't take my perfect warrior away from me!" She exclaimed, moving her whip at Robin's direction again.
"She'll also be a nuisance!" Robin grumbled, taking a shot at Medb's attack, successfuly cancelling it out.
"Marksmanship!"
Billy fired three bullets within a single shot, with Medb avoiding skillfuly the first two and parry the third one with her whip. The gunslinger reloaded the gun with one movement. "I betcha love must be really wonderful! But well have to put an end to it darlin'!" He fired his weapon again.
Medb dodged it by doing a cartwheel. "You damn yankee! You're making me burn calories way sooner than I had planned to!" She expressed her annoyance, striking powerfully her whip on the ground near Billy and Robin, making a hole in it.
Geronimo fended off against Cú Alter's spear with his own knife, despite havign felt yhe entire weight of it in the clashing. "Nero! How long can you maintain this magecraft spell of yours?" Geronimo asked to the roman emperor, wondering if they had a time limit to defeat Cú Alter and Medb before the theater dissapeared and all of the soldiers outside the pocket dimension came after them.
"As long as we need it!" Nero replied, attacking Cú Alter from the left side, their weapons clanking on one another three times. "Domus Aurea will only go down if I do as well! Otherwise, it'll be only us against them!" She jumped to the back, the strenght of the spearman having pushed her away.
"Keh Fine by me! Be it only us two against all of you six, disadvantage doesn't matter in numbers but how you perceive a battle!" Cú Alter smirked, rising Gáe Bolg and pointing it at Nero. "As long as I envision victory with my power, it makes no difference if I'm fighting ten or a thousand!" He exclaimed, launching his spear at her. Nero stepped out of its trajectory as fast as she could, with Gáe Bolg piercing the ground behind her. And the spearman wasn't done yet, charging at her and giving a punch to her body, being enough to break a bit of the roman emperor's defense and make her bleed a bit.
Cú Alter was then surrounded by Peko, Tesla and Geronimo, coming to help their ally. But the monstrous celtic servant showed them how much battle and experience he had as a seasoned warrior, blocking and hitting back in response to their combined attacks, dodging and swinging his tail around as he picked Gáe Bolg back up and just in time to clash with Peko and his sword.
"Nnghnngh!" Peko tried with all his might break through Cú Alter's spear and defense, something that was clearly being hard for him to do, gaining a chuckle out of the spearman.
"Having trouble?" Cú Alter asked to the boy in a mocking tone. "You shouldn't force it too much. Your straw bones may not be able to bare it!" He said with a big grin, his muscles stiffening even more, gaining advantage over Peko. "This is beyond your league pipsqueak!"
Words that sounded like truth once Peko was greatly overwhelmed by Cú Alter's unnatural strenght. "Kkghggaaaah!" The boy's back hit the ground, with Peko not even starting to lift his back up and already gazing at the spearman above him in midair, pointing the spear to his head. "Hm!"
"And it's time to get kicked out!" Cú Alter was about to launch Gáe Bolg into Peko's skull, the boy being too much paralyzed to even move his sight away. His fear was right in front of him, about to bring a gruesome death in a short timespan with a single blow.
Once again, the sheer violent presence of the corrupted Ireland's Child of Light was enough to render Peko immobilized.
"Off of him!" Tesla's loud thunder intervened, obstructing Gáe Bolg's way into Peko's head, snapping the boy out of it. Telsa fired more eletric beams from his mechanical arm, forcing Cú Alter to either block or dodge it, the chance of killing Peko right there having flied away. Ending it, Tesla summoned a dark tempest cloud above Cú Alter, filled with electricity.
"Exaggerating much?" Cú Alter looked above to it before the cloud discharged enormous thunders down on him.
Peko looked at the potency of Tesla's attack with a bit of amazement. "Those thunders are enough to strike down entire troops!"
"Oi Peko! Head on the battle!" Tesla warned the boy, prodding his shoulder with the elbow, calling him out. "We can't fail here!"
"T-Tesla! I-I'm sorry I-" Peko tried to explain ineptly as the inventor cut him off.
"Remember! He is counting on you to make mistakes! He wants you to feel that way!" Tesla told him. "You can only hit that bastard by proving him wrong!"
"Hm! R-Right!" Peko replied, having felt some guidance with what the inventor had just said. "Tesla's correct! How can I expect to fight Cú Alter and beat him if I still get apprehensive when seeing him? I have to change that!"
"Do you guys think that dealt good damage on him?" Geronimo and Nero went to the two's side before hearing a grunt on the theater, seeing both Robin and Billy having some difficulties against Medb who was being successful so far in fighting the two off with her whip, altough not with some scratches on her skin and clothes.
"Grrr! Honestly, this costume has more value and importance than you two morons lives ever had combined together!" Medb was furious, with the two servant's damages on her royal clothing having exasperated her. "And here you are ruining it!" She yelled, balancing her whip at them.
"I'd be sorry but that would be lying!" Robin replied, dodging the celtic queen's blow and firing an arrow beam at her, passing centimeters to her face. Billy then took a shot at her at almost the same time, hitting on her tight, making her even more livid.
"YOU DAMN FUCKERS! Medb shouted, swinging her whip harshly, deflecting Billy's bullets and hitting him and Robin upon touching the ground with rude strenght. "I'll punish you for this! No one hurts my most precious treasure! My own body!" She spitted out every word fulled with indignation.
"Eergh!"
"Urgh!"
Billy and Robin fell next to the rest of the group. Geronimo decided to act and not stand by.
"Get on your feet! We have to make through this!" He motivated the other two, about to help them get back up with the help of Peko, Tesla and Nero before a noise sounding off behind them.
"Tsk! This pain...Going all out already?" The figure of Cú Alter rised up behind the cloud of smoke that had emerged due to Tesla's thunderous attacks.
"He's already back up!" Peko exclaimed.
Geronimo took a quick decision. "I'll help Robin and Billy fight Medb. You three take care of Cú Alter!" He instructed to them before stepping away, leaving the trio with that task.
"Copy that!" Nero replied, turning around to observe the muscular spearman walking out from the dust.
"At least it feels like you guys are trying." Cú Alter stepped out, showing some bruises on his skin due to the electricity despite not having been way too damaging for him. "Unlike some." He stared down at Peko.
"What? You really expected us to hold back?" Tesla speaked up, not allowing the celtic warrior to mess with Peko. "If you are so afraid of us going all out might kill you, then just admit it!"
"Not really. I just want to feel something out of this, that's all." Cú Alter replied, smiling back at Tesla in the same way. "I wanna make sure that crushing you down will be good after such hard-fought battle. Otherwise, how can I even enjoy this properly?"
"On that you can rest easy knowing that my theater is home to the greatest entertainment!" Nero told him back. "But I'll have to inform you that the actor being slayed down here won't be us but you instead!" She pointed her sword at him.
"We'll see about that." Cú Alter responded, starting to walk to the right, not taking his eyes out from the enemy. "You'll fall one by one. And the brat over there will be the first one." He pointed his Gáe Bolg at Peko. It wasn't like the boy was the strongest or the most problematic of all of them for Cú Alter. Peko overall presence just pestered him. Ever since their first encounter. The words the boy told him there still not having left the spearman's mind.
Tesla took a step forward immediatly, putting himself in front of Peko. "I'd like to see you try!" He said defiantly. "Master has gave me orders to protect his friend at all costs. As per the contract and a man of word, I shall abide by it!"
However, Peko also stepped forward, standing next to the inventor and the roman emperor, not wanting to be seen as someone to be shielded and protected during this fight. By gaining enough courage, Peko would fight Cú Alter in the eye. "I'll prove you wrong!" He declared with a steady voice, his body not allowing the fear and nervousism get the better of him now. "I'll prove you that Cú Chulainn was a hero of great compassion! Not someone like you!"
Cú Alter stopped walking, finding Peko's choice of words intresting. "Compassion, eh?...Eh. Ehehehehehahahahahahahahahahaha!" The spearman put a hand in front of his face, holding himself to not burst out into a mad laughter. This boy was truly something ludicrous. "Hey, brat. Compassion is..."
Inazuma Eleven OST- Blast
Taking his hand away, Cú Alter stared at Peko. His eyes covered in shadow by his hood, with two monstrous red glows staring at the boy. "...nothing but a tool for the weak to use."
Widening his eyes for a bit as reaction to Cú Alter's glare, Peko quickly made sure to face the enemy with bravery and sword in hand. "Bring it!"
Stomping with his foot on the ground, Cú Alter dashed at the three, swinging Gáe Bolg horizontaly, giving another huge crack to the walls of the theater's interior and causing some debris to fall. Nero rolled away from some of the wreckage and sprinted at the spearman, the two clashing twice before the emperor quickly evaded Cú Alter's third blow, a trail of flying petal roses following her before landing a slice on her enemy's back. Feeling the sharp pain, Cú Alter went to slam his arm on Nero who tanked it with her sword. However, having taken into account, the spearman used his tail to grab one of the emperor's ankle.
"Hm!" Nero had been caught off guard.
"Have some retribution!" Cú Alter exclaimed, taking Nero out of the ground with his tail and violently throwing her at a wall, her body crashing into it.
Shortly after, both Peko and Tesla came to attack the celtic warrior. Peko fired a light bullet at Cú Alter as Tesla charged one of his thunders with the mechanical arm.
"Is that your best?" Cú Alter scoffed as he saw the light bullet's approaching, already in position to easily block it.
"No." Peko replied, with a swing of his index finger, that was the one to fire, changing the bullet's trajectory by ricocheting in the air, going above and behind Cú Alter.
"What?!" The spearman said in surprise, staring to the bullet behind.
"This is!" Peko said, with Tesla releasing a thunder ray from his hand at Cú Alter, forcing the spearman to tank it with only his arms and Gáe Bolg.
"Gnghgr!" Cleenching his teeth in an angry pain, Cú Alter felt the electricity was trying to attempt to mobilize his body and the light bullet was descending in order to hit right on the center of his back.
Peko charged at Cú Alter with the sword in hand, planning on dealing a fatal wound. "Take this, Cú Alter!" He yelled, getting ready to use his blade to slice his fearsome enemy while being two meters away from him.
"Khh!" With a momentaneous surge of animalistic strenght being called inside him, Cú Alter fought back against Tesla's electricity ans in time to block the light bullet behind him with a swoop of Gáe Bolg.
The sudden movement made Peko halt on his attack for a second, dumbfounded and speechless. "W-What a-ergh!" Having left himself open carelessly, Peko didn't react in time and ended up being grabbed in the neck by Cú Alter's tremendous hand.
"Peko-Argh!" Tesla tried to come to the boy's rescue before being pierced on the chest by the sudden thrust of Cú Alter's lizard tail, backing him off.
"Let's see who has the weakling's mentality here, shall we?" Cú Alter pulled Peko's face to stare closer at him before hurling the boy to one of the theater balconies.
"Grhg!" Peko grunted, his body having hit the material hard on the inside of the balcony. Opening his eyes while the dust settle down, Peko barely had a moment to collect himself as Cú Alter had jumped upwards and torwards him, knee in front to squish Peko. Moving away, the boy did it just in time as the spearman buried his knee agressively on the wall, shaking the whole interior of the spectators balconies, causing Peko to stumble on the ground.
"So you think you can defeat me?" Cú Alter removed his knee from the wall, staring at his opponent. "That you have what it takes?"
Getting up, Peko's response came in the form of a light bullet, shortly followed by an attempt to slash the celtic warrior with his sword. "I'm sure of-gh!" The light bullet was easily deflected by Gáe Bolg and Cú Alter ended up grabbing Peko's wrist, stopping him from making a cut, with the spearman thrusting his spear on the ground.
"Eh! Too denounced. Amateurish!" Cú Alter sneered, applying pressure on Peko's pulse. "Prepare to say goodbye to your arm-" Spotting Peko rotating his blade to try and hit Cú Alter's head in a miserable attempt, the spearman instinctively went to grab the weapon with his other hand. An unwanted mistake, as a powerful shock transfered to Cú Alter's body, exploding his body away. "WHAT?!"
"Great! I knew he'd fell for it!" Peko put his feet back on the ground, seeing Cú Alter's body down after he did what Peko predicted he would do.
"My...aren't you full of tricks?" Cú Alter slowly got his body up again, bleeding a bit from the unexpected explosion he suffered after touching his adversary's weapon. "Since you can't win with brawls and raw strenght, you'll try to utilize any schemes instead." He deduced, picking up his Gáe Bolg. He couldn't believe that he had suffered damage from someone he deemed to be feeble like Peko. And specialy in the way he did.
"That is my way to defeat you! There are no rules here to state the opposite!" Peko replied, gaining some more confidence. "I land my first hit on him! If I keep going like this, I'll definetly hit him more!"
Cú Alter smirked at Peko's comment. "True. There are no rules." He said, piercing his spear on the wall to his side. "Which means I can do this!" He swinged Gáe Bolg on the wall, extending the entire cut further on the large circular corridor he and Peko where now. More debris fell inside, with Peko managing to avoid them. "Start running brat! I'm coming for you!" Cú Alter shouted, puncturing the spear on the wall again and beggining to run torwards Peko, scrapping the entire wall with Gáe Bolg on his side.
Seeing the huge danger, Peko did indeed begun to run on the corridor as Cú Alter chased him from behind, causing more havoc in the process. "He plans to bring down the entire theater from the inside?!" The boy questioned while the spearman continued to go after him, leaving behind a huge trail of wreckage, the whole corridor shaking.
"You want to defeat me that badly to prove a point?" Cú Alter shouted as the dust from the destruction he was creating was being bursted out through the theater balconies as they passed one by one while running in the corridor. "Yet here you are running!" The spearman yelled again. "Running because you're a scared weakling! One that will never get the validation he craves so much for!" Cú Alter some smaller debris from the wall and threw them at Peko, injuring him in the back and legs.
"Agh!" Falling and rolling in the floor, Peko lifted up his head to see Cú Alter already next to him, about to tackle the boy with his shoulder and arm. A single drop of sweat falling from Peko's chin.
"I would never dare to lose to the likes of you!" Cú Alter thumped Peko with his limb, pushing the boy away from the corridor alongside himself through a destroyed wall, the two now on a free fall torwards the center of the theater where everyone else was.
"Ah, he's right." Peko tought to himself as both he and the spearman were in the middle of their fall. "I want to defeat him. I really want to. But I did nothing else than get a lucky hit so far."
"I need to do this! I need to be strong!"
"But are you really?"
"I must be courageous! Fight him on equal footing!"
"How?"
"Head strong Peko! You can do this!"
"Can you?"
"The others counted on me to do this! I'll do it for them!"
"Are you?"
Struggling in suppressing the pessimistic thoughts inside him, Peko ended up crashing on the ground in the middle of the Domus Aurea alongside Cú Alter.
"Crap!" Tesla watched the two fall down as he and Nero had finished recovering from the blows Cú Alter gave them. "That fall and with Cú Alter above him...I need to guarantee he's alright!" With the smoke fading away, the two servants were able to caught sight of Cú Alter, his Gáe Bolg pointing down at something in the ground.
"Keh!" The powerful spearman grinned with his sharp teeth. "It's over, brat. I-huh?" Perplexed, he found out that his spear hadn't skewered Peko's head as the dust before him became much clearer.
"Uff...ghng...ghggrrr!" Breathing with an effort, Peko held back Cú Alter's Gáe Bolg with his own sword, using the other hand to grab the blade part of his weapon while the usual one stayed at grabbing the hilt. Small sparks ignited with the sword's metal trembling as it tried to persist against Gáe Bolg's sharp tip. "I'm done with it..."
"Eh? You still breath?" Cú Alter replied to Peko's whisper, incredulous that he was still alive.
"I'm tired..!" Peko slowly rised his voice tone, blood seeping from his head and hand and his eyes fully open, staring right at his opponent's face. "I'm tired...of running away!" Exclaiming, Peko put all of the effort in pushing back against Gáe Bolg, the strenght being enough to allow Peko to release the hand from the blade and fire a light bullet right at Cú Alter's knee.
"Ergh!" Getting hit unexpectedly, Cú Alter's leg slipped and fumbled, putting the spearman down to one knee, the spear no longer applying pressure against Peko's sword who immediatly got up from the ground.
"I'll fight to survive! For everyone to survive!" Swinging his sword, Peko aimed it at Cú Alter's torso. "For their sake and my goals, I will bring victory over you!" With an indomitable face, Peko tightened his teeth and eyelids, doing a big slash on the spearman's chest vertically. ""CÚ ALTEEERRRRRRR!"
"Urghgr!" Having been greatly wounded, Cú Alter took some steps back inadvertently, holding to the cut before being slashed again, this time by Nero, and shot by a Tesla's thunder.
"Well done Peko!" Tesla said, with him and Nero staying close to the boy. "That was a great hit on him!"
"Definetly an highlight! It'll leave a dent, that's for sure!" Nero also commented.
"Thanks." Peko gave a smile. "I did what you instructed me to." He said to Tesla.
"Eh, wrong. You did what your heart and mind told you to. Not me." The inventor smiled back at Peko. He knew he could do it.
"Ghgrrr..!"Handling the pain from the attacks he had suffered, Cú Alter stared at the trio, gaining their attention.
"Pay attention! It isn't over yet!" Nero told the other two, wielding her sword.
"I know!" Peko replied, going back to his combat stance.
Touching the recent wound made by the boy with his hand, Cú Alter soaked it in blood, staring at it. Peko was indeed proving to be a nuisance to him. But somehow, the spearman find it appealing. "Heh. Hehehehehehe. Not bad brat..." He cackled, looking at Peko. He had to admit the boy improved since their first battle. "I might has misjudged you a bit."
"Golden Rule!"
Robin fired three arrow beams at once torwards Medb while she was fending off against Geronimo. The Queen of Connacht caught vision of the attack in time to avoid it by spliting her legs, lowering her body and then thrust kick Geronimo on the abdomen. Billy fired a shot to her right, with Medb bending her back to dodge the bullet, passing near her chest. The celtic woman fought back by sending her whip at the gunslinger, hitting him on the wrist. Despite the princessly looks and behaviour, Medb had no lack of combat experience nor hesitation to get her hands dirty, this battle being the case so far.
"Robin! With me!" Geronimo told to the thief, who nodded back at the native man.
"Roger that chief!" Robin stood behind Geronimo as the native man runned into Medb with the knife in hand.
"Guardian Beast!"
Geronimo used a spell to enchant his weapon, about to strike the celtic queen.
"Eh! You think you'll be able to land a hit by sprinting at me like that!" Medb put her whip in front of her, prepared to block it. "Pff! So predictable!"
"Hm!" However, Geronimo changed the direction of his knife at the last second, stabbing it on the ground, creating a green magicle cricle beneath Medb's feet.
"!" She wasted no time and jumped out of the way, staying out from the circle's zone. "You were sneaky there!" Medb smirked. "Too bad I have quite the mov-ugh!" An arrow came from behind Medb, hitting her straight on the back.
It was Robin, having teleported like the wind behind the celtic queen. "Nailed it!"
"H-how?!" Medb was shocked, wondering how Robin was fast in going behind her.
The thief teleported again, this time standing right next to her. "Time to finish this!"
"Ah!" Gasping, Medb narrowly avoided his arrow by tilting her body to the side, stepping away. She ended up stepping back on Geronimo's magic circle, an expression of dispair getting on her face. "Dammit!"
Geronimo's plan with Robin had worked. "Exactly where I wanted!" Grabbing the knife on the ground, the native man was ready to fully release his spell. "Come out, Ga'an!" Shouting, Geronimo had just summoned the spiritual wolf, prepared to tear Medb apart with his bites. It looked like to be the end for the celtic queen.
"Hmphm!" Medb smirked.
"Queen's Substance!"
Having healed herself, Medb covered her own ears as a pink magic circle appeared on top of Geronimo's.
"What?!" Geronimo exclaimed in shock, as a loud continuous roar emanated from Medb's magic circle, hurting his ears. "Kgh!"
"Egh!"
"Argh! What the heck is this sound?!" Billy questioned, with him and Robin also covering their ears as a bull like creature exited from Medb's magic circle and stomped over Geronimo's wolf.
"This can't be!" Geronimo stared flabbergasted as he saw Medb's bull killing off Ga'an, the mana of her magical circle overpowering his.
"Hehe! Since the beggining of this battle that I had already one of this spells set!" Medb explained. "And what better opportunity to use it than this one? You probably thought that I was just an airhead bimbo who couldn't craft a strategy did you? Sorry to inform you but this girl also as brains!"She said proudly and with ego as the bull finished with the wolf, ruining Geronimo's plan.
"No way..." The native man said, sweating a bit. They had almost got her.
"And now. I'll let it finish the rest!" Medb pointed at Geronimo, ordering the animal to charge at him while she hopped up on it. "Go!"
With a furious tackle, the bull runned wildly torwards the native man, planning to attack him with its two horns. "Tsk!" Geronimo enchanted his knife, prepared to tank the blow the best way he could. "Do your worst!"
Luckily, the native man didn't need to block it as Medb's bull got headshoted by Billy's bullet. "Not on my watch pal!" The cowboy backed Geronimo up alongside Robin. "Bad luck we had 'ere now chief! We gotta have to try somethin' new!"
"This has to be the most painful and hard job I've ever done before! Still, as long as we don't give up, victory will be closer to us!" Robin added, seeing Medb get down from the corpse of the bull as it dissapeared.
"Hey now! Did you really had to ruin my fun that early? I barely got to ride it!" Medb whined a bit, stretching her whip with both hands. "You'll pay for dirtying a queen's parade even more!"
With his two companions by his side again, Geronimo prepared to go back fighting the Queen of Connacht. "I want to see you try!"
"Stars in Heaven!"
Nero launched herself at Cú Alter, the spearman clashing with her sword as Peko came from the right, forcing Cú Alter to use his Gáe Bolg to parry the attacks from the two at almost the same time. When Peko would cling his sword on the spear, Nero would do the same and vice-versa, the two timing well their attacks almost together. Wanting to avoid to be pushed back against a wall, Cú Alter decide to use his tail, swiping it at the two. Peko jumped up while Nero blocked it with her sword. Cú Alter pointed the spear at Peko in the air, throwing it at him.
The boy dodged it altough it scrapped him a bit on the left side of his abdomen. Nero pushed away the celtic warrior's tail by doing a slice on it and proceeded to swing her sword at him, only being stopped by Cú Alter's bare hand. In the next second, Peko descended his sword at the spearman, shielding it with his arm, taking the hit.
"Gaaaaah!"
"Gaaaaah!"
Both Peko and Nero applied strenght on their sword's grips, trying to push through Cú Alter's defense. The spearman felt like he was being put in a tight place, frustrated by the adversities of the battle. But he couldn't lie, that frustration was making him feel very much alive. "Kkghrrr! Enough!" Cú Alter pushed the two away, freeing himself. But that made him become a perfect target for Tesla, who pointed his electric conductivity from his mechanical arm at him.
"Got you now!" Tesla released the powerful thunder from his hand, coming at Cú Alter at almost light-speed.
"Gh!" Calling back Gáe Bolg, Cú Alter tried to protect himself with it, the moment of impact releasing an enormous electric shockwave through the entire theater.
"Nice one Tesla!" Peko said to the inventor. "That one was...pretty good!" The boy was starting to feel a bit exhausted, the weight of the injuries he sustained so far starting to be felt on his body.
"Stand tall, umu! This isn't over yet!" Nero told to Peko, motivating him to not rest now despite the fatigue kicking in.
"She's right. This only ends when the two of them are done for." Tesla speaked, observing Cú Alter get back again after suffering another one of his lightening attacks.
"Ufff...Damn! You truly don't let it easy, do ya?" Cú Alter laughed, his body still remaining on its feet despite the visible wounds it had sustained. If anything, it showed how insanely resistant and how much endurance the spearman had.
"Hmmm, he's starting to get tired." Tesla noticed, seeing Cú Alter panting a little before reshaping his posture back to normal. However, he wasn't the only one. Taking a glance at the entire area, the inventor saw that his side was also beggining to accuse some tiredness. Altough Peko was the most visible of them, all of the servants from the party were having some traits of fatigue as well. "This battle has been going long by now. Our mana is getting lower with each passing minute. But so is theirs. If things keep going like this, I'm fully convinced that our enemy's side will run out of energy first than us!" Tesla concluded. "Peko! Nero! One more fatal blow on him and we might finish this!"
"Yeah! I am with that sensation too." Peko replied, staring at Cú Alter's state. "You're going down here!"
Taking two breaths, Cú Alter shifted his gaze at Peko. Such motivation and will on a child to continue fighting. It kinda reminded of the spearman of someone. "Keh! You're welcome to try...brat!" Cú Alter smiled, taking those words as a challenge.
Seeing that Cú Alter was invigorating him to attack, Peko took a step forwards. "Here I go the-"
In that moment, a lonely blue arrow beam, speed past in front of Peko, obliterating the wall on his right.
"W-What was that?!" Peko was startled, wondering where did that beam came from. Such sudden destruction had catched everyone inside Domus Aurea off guard. A new participant had arrived.
"I'm sorry for the my own lateness, rulers of the Celtic Empire."
"This voice..." Cú Alter seemed to recognize it.
"Up there! On the stairs!" Billy pointed out to the top of the staircase plataform that gave access to the center of the theater. On top of it, there was a single servant. A young man with dark skin, short brown hair, white clothes with soft tones of purple and a long bow.
Peko's mind went into stupefaction as he remembered of seeing a young man like him before with Nala. "Isn't that..."
"About time, Arjuna!" Medb said to the young archer who descended from the staircase. "Wasn't expecting that you could also break inside this place."
"It took some time. But as the outerior field started to get weak, I was finally able to enter." Arjuna explained how he got inside the pocket dimension theater.
"Arjuna?!" Tesla's heart skipped a beat when hearing the new servant's name. "One of the Pandava siblings from Mahabharata and son of God Indra!? Karna's rival and half-brother! That Arjuna?!" The inventor exclaimed, terrorized. "Fuck! This is bad!"
Peko looked back at the young archer after hearing Tesla say all of that. "The person me and Nala met that one time...is this person?"
"Are you serious that another one had to appear right now?!" Billy complained, also feeling the intimidating presence of Arjuna around the place.
Wanting to find a solution, Robin tried to look for it into Geronimo. "Oi chief! What do we do now?"
Trying to not give into despair while being confronted with this awful situation, Geronimo tried to come up with something. Arjuna's arrival changed the entire game here and not in their favour unfortunately. Unlike Cú Alter and Medb, he was fresh and with loads of mana to spare. Besides, the fact he was son to a hindu god and a legendary warrior from India's most famous epic, was enough to understand he was a level higher than the rest here. Taking all that in consideration, a grim realization came down to the native man.
"We can't win this fight. Not anymore." Geronimo said, shocking the entire party.
"W-What!?" Billy exclaimed.
"We're giving up?!" Nero said, appaled.
Tesla was the only one that understood the decision. "Our side is reaching its limit while theirs have gained a powerful backup. If against two is being hard, three will be nigh impossible!"
"Then what are we gonna do?!" Peko asked, the entire group reuniting as they had now three servant enemies to deal with, surrounding the party. "If only the others were here..!" Peko mentioned the other group and how if they still had the original size of the group they had before spliting into two smaller ones, perhaps this situation would've been more manageable.
"Are we suppose to stand here and hold on somehow?!" Robin speaked torwards Geronimo.
"Yes." The native man answered simply, his hair shadowing his eyes before turning around and putting an end on the thief's shoulder. "But not for you. Nor Peko."
"Huh?"
"What?"
"You have No Face May King. Use it to turn yourself and Peko invisible and escape from here." Geronimo told him. "We've came unprepared and have been surprised by the enemy. This mission is a failure. Yet, some of us have to stay alive and report it back to the others!"
"Get out of the city you two! No matter how far, make sure it's far enough so that you can be safe!" Tesla also speaked to Robin and extension, Peko. "We'll hold them back here as you escape!"
Peko was speechless at such plan. "Are you saying to leave you here to die? I-I can't do that!" He protested. "C'mon now! I'm sure if we push through enough and fight for it we can still win this! Don't you think the same, Robin?"
Having been asked that, Robin didn't exactly knew whom he agreed more with here. "I...I know that I should stick with the plan here but to leave you all behind is-"
"Aww, c'mon now buddy! No need for ya tears start runnin' down ya face as you sweep." Billy interrupted Robin, smiling at him. "If it's a last stand this cowpoke is gonna make, then it's fine fine by me."
"And I don't mind giving the protagonist role to another person! Umu!" Nero also said. "Being a supporting character with an incredible farewell scene is good enough for me!"
"Billy..."
"Nero..."
Both Peko and Robin stared at the other two, not expecting Billy and Nero to be so okay and conformed with the fact they were about to give up their lives for them.
"So ya better dont decide to make our good ol' effort be in vain, got it all clear chums?" Billy asked, smiling alongside Nero.
"The only thing you have to worry about in this moment is on yourselves! Forget about us, will you?" Nero speaked to them, encouraging the two to escape without the rest. "I'll open a breach at the edge of my Bounded Field so that you can pass through."
Billy put his fist in front of Robin. "It was a wild ride so far. Make sure to see the end of it for y'all buddy."
Robin sighed to the side before smiling. "Sure thing, pal." He fist bumped with the gunslinger.
Tesla perceived Peko's silence, a sad frown on the boy's face. "I'm aware that it ain't easy, but you need to go now and regroup with your team and the rest." The inventor put a hand on his shoulder. "Tell Ritsuka and everyone else what you've seen and learn here about the enemy, so that on the next battle, you can all have a better chance at defeating them."
"But...do we have to do it without you?" Peko replied, still not feeling okay on abandoning the four servants as he and Robin runned away.
"In wars, you win some allies as you also lose some. I'm sure you can find more people to aid you until then." Tesla cheered him up.
Geronimo agreed with the inventor. "If winning this war and solving this Singularity is at the cost of our lives, then we will gladly sacrifice them up. Do you understand that?"
"..." Peko had no way to argue back. They've all had decided. "Yeah." He replied.
"Then go!" Nero exclaimed. "You can't waste more time here!"
"On our way!" Robin replied, immediatly grabbing Peko's hand. "Let's go!"
"H-Huh!? Wait-" Peko was now running alongside Robin, on their way to exit the theater and escape the city. Of course, their enemies wouldn't let them.
"Hey hey there! Wait a minute!" Medb stomped her heel on the ground, preparing her whip. "We've heard everything y'know? And you expect us to just stand here and do nothing about it?"
"That's why we are staying behind!" Geronimo said, wielding the knife. "To prevent you from reaching them!"
"How foolish." Arjuna commented shortly, about to advance, only to slightly retreat when Billy took a shot at him, the bullet passing nearby.
"Ya hafta get over us first!" The cowboy told to the young archer.
"Ergh! How annoying you guys are!" Medb complained, looking at Cú Alter. "Big guy!"
"You don't have to say it!" Cú Alter replied before sprinting torwards Peko and Robin, about to catch them up and strike the two with Gáe Bolg. However, he was stopped in his tracks by Nero and Tesla.
"And you're going to have to deal with us!" Nero said, her sword struggling against Cú Alter's spear.
"Keep on running you two!" Tesla shouted to Peko and Robin behind him. "Don't stop for anything!" He said, seeing them continue on their way to escape from the theater. Peko however couldn't help but to look at the battle behind him as he got further from it.
Geronimo and Billy fended off against Medb and Arjuna. Wanting to go all out and buy time for his two allies, the native man decided this was the perfect situation to use his all.
"Step aside, Billy! I'm going all out!" Geronimo threw an enchantment on his knife.
"Understood it chief!" Billy obliged.
Kneeling and putting his forhead close to the knife, a green circle surrounded Geronimo.
"Oh spirit! Oh sun!"
A green mist begun to arise from the circle alongside some blue particles dancing around the native man.
"Lend me your strenght
for this moment!"
"This is chief's Noble Phantasm!" Billy said to himself, seeing Geronimo about to use his most powerful attack. "This will certainly by them more time!" "Go get them chief!" He yelled to Geronimo.
"Khg! Just what I needed now!" Medb looked at it with displesure.
"A Noble Phantasm eh?" Arjuna stared at the great spell of the native man with a bland stoic face.
With his mana, Geronimo materialized a giant coyote, who's howl conjured a giant fireball above it.
"The great trick..."
Lifting up his head, Geronimo pointed his knife at both Medb and Arjuna, sending the coyote at them.
"The One Who Makes the Earth: Tsago Degi Naleya!"
Charging at its enemies, Geronimo's coyote would burn them to ashes with its own sun, jumping at them.
"Yes! This is it!" Billy closed his fist, hopeful that Geronimo's Noble Phantasm would deal great damage on the two and maybe even kill Medb.
But...
"An intresting spell you had there." Arjuna commented, firing a single arrow from his bow at the coyote, absolutely destroying Geronimo's Noble Phantasm with such an ease, much to his and Billy's terror. "Unfortunately, my Agni Gandiva rarely met anything equal to rival its power."
"My Noble Phantasm was obliterated like it was nothing?!" Geronimo heart's sank, seeing that all of his remaining strenght had been swept away by Arjuna, doing the smallest of efforts to get rid of it.
"Ghg!" With a despairful exasperation, Billy hurridely aimed his revolver at Arjuna and shot at him, The hindu servant did nothing but take a glance at it, calmly deflecting the cowboy's bullet, proceeding to fire a quick arrow beam, moving in zigzag, piercing through Billy's chest, destroying it, "Erghrgh!"
"BILLY!" Peko shouted in horror, seeing the deadly hit strike down one of his companions.
"Grr!" Robin didn't even dared to look behind, the noise being indicative enough of what had happened. "Farewell, pal."
Tesla was also terrified by the small demonstration of Arjuna's power. "As I suspected. His might is incomparable to the rest of us!"
"D-Dang it..!" Billy fell to his knees, dropping the revolver on the ground. His body was quickly dissapearing. "S-Sorry chief..." He gave a last look at Geronimo, who stared back at him speechless. "I...screwed up..." He said, his body dropping dead and dissapearing shortly after.
"A enemy has been defeated." Arjuna said with little to no emotion, still focusing on the battle.
Medb clapped her hands together happily. "Yay! One of the insects are down! Moving up to the next ones!"
Seeing the things were going south, Geronimo put himself in front of the two, trying to stall them a little longer. "Curse you!" In a last attempt, the native man approached Medb with the knife, aiming for her throat. A meaningless effort once Arjuna shot him in the knee, blowing off his leg. "Gargh!" Geronimo fell immediatly, no longer sensing his lost limb. There was nothing more he could do.
"Well,well,well. That was laughable at best." Medb said with a smug, putting a heel on Geronimo's shoulder, tilting his body to look up to her by moving her leg. "Looks like your little hero's adventure has ended, redskin."
"How...did you got the power...to have an army in just a few months?" Geronimo questioned, breathing heavily.
"Oh, wondering how I managed to have thousands of soldiers to back me up in my conquest for this miserable country?" Medb giggled, her hand going behind her back. "Since you at least persisted this long, I can give you the answer." She showed him a golden cup relic on her hand. It looked familiar. "It was thanks to this bad boy here, Aka, the Holy Grail."
"The Holy Grail?!" Peko stopped running, staring back to spot the artefact on the celtic queen's hand. "So that where this Singularity's Holy Grail has been all along!"
"Hey!" Robin grabbed his arm. "We think about that later! Only concentrate on escaping now!"
"Ah...I see." Geronimo said, slightly surprise before putting back a normal expression. "That explains everything about your army..."
"Ah, but I didn't use this thing to just wish for an endless army." Medb replied, rubbing her hand on the Holy Grail. "It was thanks to this golden cup that I also got my wish to summon big guy over there!" She revealed, pointing at Cú Alter.
"What?!" Geronimo got even more surprised.
"Cú Alter is the work of Medb's wish to the Holy Grail?!" Tesla also reacted with shock, looking at the spearman while fighting him alongside Nero. "I get it now...The original Cú Chulainn would never side with Queen Medb, one of his mortal enemies from the Irish myths! Still, wanting to have the hero as her most powerful soldier, she created you through a wish, idealizing and molding the Cú Chulainn at her image!"
"Eh! Aren't you such a smartass?" Cú Alter grinned, dodging Nero's blow and hitting her back.
"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" Medb exclaimed. "Altough it eas probably pretty obvious to connect the dots. But yes, during my previous life, Cú Chulainn was the man I always desired to have and never got to. And do you have any idea how many men I've slept with? None of them would compare with having someone like him under my thumb! I realized from the get go that Cú Chulainn was the perfect man for me. That I coudln't rest until he was mine and mine alone!" Medb expressed her lustful desire she ever had for Ireland's Child of Light.
"Mhmm...It must have been quite dreadful that you never got him then..." Geronimo commented, feeling Medb pressing her heel even more on him.
"You have no idea how much." Medb stared at him coldly. "But then I got a second chance here in this place and the Holy Grail! And so, I summoned my love as quickly as possible!" She said with a lovely voice while blushing, closing her eyes and putting her hands together. "Of course, not without shaping him into my own version of how he should look and act. A fearless war machine. Ready to fight and do everything for yours truly, her lover!" Medb said with an evil smile, "As my future co-ruler, husband and king of the empire, Cú desires for nothing more but to destroy his enemies. That is, my enemies."
After ggetting all that information on his head, Geronimo couldn't help but to make a small laugh. "Then you didn't want a lover. You wanted a puppy..."
"Hm? Come again?" Medb stared at the native man, having felt slightly pricked by the comment.
"You think...you are high, mighty and untouchable...because you have a Holy Grail? Please..." Geronimo smugged at her. "Another part of my faction, people that come from the future...have already collected four holy grails!" He exclaimed. "Yours...is just the next one for the taking...You'll lose to them sooner or later."
Squeezing her grip on the whip, Medb was beggining to get angry. "How dare you..."
"..." Arjuna stayed silent, hearing the conversation with attention.
"Heh. I'm just saying the truth..." Geronimo continued taunting her. "You might have found the Holy Grail...but it doesn't belong to you...You don't own anything or anyone..." Geronimo looked into her eyes, seeing the fire burning with rage inside them, Medb about to lose her cool. "Not even...Ireland's Child of Light, Cú Chulainn!"
That was the final push. Medb had enough and kicked Geronimo on the chin before thrusting her heel in the center of his chest, piercing his Spirit Core. "SILENCE!" She yelled, having lost her composure for a moment there.
With the blood spilling out from his body, this was it for Geronimo. He couldn't keep going anymore. "Chaldea...Peko...Ritsuka Fujimaru..." The native man gazed at the golden ceilling, his body slowly fading away. "The rest...is up to you..." He smiled, closing his eyes and accepting to enter into a eternal rest. For his body would go back to the spirits of Earth and his soul reunite with his tribe brothers.
"Cac! Now I have blood on my shoes!" Medb said irritated, looking down at them.
"Do calm down Queen Medb." Arjuna adviced to her. "We still have a few more that need to perish."
Doing as he said, Medb eventually calmed down. "Yeah. Just needed to let some steam out, that's all." She told him, brushing her long hair with the hands. "Kill the rest of them."
Not responding with words, Arjuna dissapeared in front of the celtic queen, carrying on with the order.
Peko closed his eyes in pain, having also witnessed Geronimo's downfall. "It's happening again. Just like with Solomon!" The boy remembered of that tragic battle he and his team suffered at the end of the previous Singularity.
"Hey!" You've heard everything they said just now, right?" Robin speaked with Peko, breaking his train of thought.
"U-Uh, yeah!" Peko replied to the thief.
"Good! It's information that we'll need to share with the other-!" Looking to the front, Robin's heart jumped in scare as he saw Arjuna in front of the two, pointing his bow at them. "Crap!"
Arjuna was about to shot, but then, he saw Peko, being the first time he actually noticed properly his presence. "Hm? The boy I met at the woods?" He murmured, hesitating for a bit. He wasn't expecting such encounter here.
Noticing that Arjuna seemed to recognize him, Peko stood in front of Robin. "Yes, it's me! Why are you doing this? What is the reason to be allied to Cú Alter and Medb?" Peko questioned the archer, not wanting to believe the young man he and Nala had interacted with before was actually one of their enemies.
Not responding immediatly, Arjuna just stared to the side briefly. "So we end up on opposite sides it seems. What a shame." He went to look back at Peko and Robin, pointing his bow at them. "Had I knew it at the time, I would've let you die to the wolves."
"Hm!" Peko stared at Arjuna, dismayed that he was still opting to kill the boy despite the time they had together before. Arjuna just wouldn't disobey the orders.
"Tsk! Watch out!" Robin immediatly put Peko behind him, ready to fire an arrow back at Arjuna and even use himself as shield in order to protect the boy.
But a flashing thunder from behind prevented Arjuna from firing from his Agni Gandiva. "Your foe here will be me instead!" Tesla shouted, appearing in front of Arjuna, his arm coated in electricity.
"Tesla!" Peko exclaimed.
"Go! The exit to the theater is just right ahead now! You're close!" The inventor told the two to hurry as he confronted Arjuna. He then looked behind his hsoulder to look at Nero. "You don't mind fighting him alone, do you?"
"Not at all!" Nero replied, facing Cú Alter. "I'll handle him on my own!"
"Confident too much?" Cú Alter replied. clashing his spear on the emperor's sword.
"When fighting my opponents, always!" Nero replied, doing another clash with her weapon. "Specially a 'king' like you!" She blocked and attack from Cú Alter's spear, proceeding to dodge the next one and the go for a swing at his torso, almost hitting him if it wasn't for Gáe Bolg. "Is it true what that woman said? You have no aspirations as king of your own empire?"
"Not at all. Why? Does it concern you?" Cú Alter scoffed at her. "The only thing that matters as a king is to rule with absolute strenght and make the adversary fear you! I'll keep to kill and conquer until there is nothing left! And then, when that duty of mine as king ends, I'm going to fade away, for there is nothing more to fight for the empire as their ruler!" Cú Alter explained, slowly overpowering Nero. "Don't you get it? A king's only job is to annihalate his enemies!" He shouted, almost impaling Nero's body.
"How much foolishness!" Nero shouted back, indignated by Cú Alter's definition of king. "There is much more to nations leaders than only war and death!"
"Flowers on Earth!"
"To make your subjects laugh!" Nero clashed against Cú Alter.
"To make them smile!"
*clink!*
"To make them prosper!"
*clink!*
"To entertain them!"
*clink!*
"To love them and be loved in return!"
*clink!*
"To make them happy! A true king or emperor is aware of those facts! If you are not, then you aren't a true ruler!" Nero found an opening on Cú Alter's head, going for it. "Your lack of vision and aspirations is a disgrace!" She shouted. By now, she let her emotions do the battle on this part. And that was her mistake. Nero rushed whe she shouldn't have done it.
Moving his head backwards, Cú Alter avoided the emperor's sword, grabbing her by the wrist. "And you..."
"Ah!" Gasping, Nero was immediatly pulled closer by Cú Alter, who skewered her torso with Gáe Bolg.
"Need to shut up about it!" Cú Alter exclaimed, deepening the spear into her body.
"Blurghgr!" Nero vomited blood in an instant, her body having been fatally wounded.
"Nero!" Tesla looked at his ally, seeing the critically hit she got.
"You're open." Arjuna teleported right next to the inventor, aiming Agni Gandiva to his head.
"Ghgnr!" Out of pure instinct, Tesla put his arms in front of his face the moment Arjuna fired the arrow at him, sending the inventor's body to a wall before exploding.
"Tesla!" Peko screamed in despair, seeing both him and Nero having extreme difficulty to deal with the enemies.
"Ignore it! We're almost there!" Robin almost yelled to Peko, the two being close to the border of the theater.
Nero fell down as Cú Alter removed the spear from her body, the emperor hugging herself in the area of the wound. "K-kghgh!...Y-You..." Nero gave an hostile look to Cú Alter by lifting her head, the blood having stained her chin and bride clothes. "...disgust me...I have nothing...but contempt for you-urgh!" Nero coughed some more blood, feeling the pain worsening.
"Gabble whatever you like. It makes no difference to me." Cú Alter simply said, passing by Nero, knowing that her body would eventually succumb to the fatal injury. And being intertwined with the emperor herself, the Bounded Field begun to crack, the theater starting to fall apart.
Peko and Robin were some meters away from the exit.
"C'mon! Just a bit more!" Robin told Peko, getting his green cloak, No Face May King, in hand. "Get ready to use it!"
"Got it!" Peko replied back.
"On three!" Robin said. "One-aaaaargh!"
The duo however was caught by surprise as Arjuna fired an arrow, exploding right behind them and knocking the two to the ground, stopping them right at the theater's gate.
"You had total visibility and perfect angle to kill them there." Medb told to Arjuna, walking torwards him. "Did you missed on purpose?"
Arjuna lowered his bow. "I did not." He answered, still staring to the front. "I only think that I am not suited to kill the remaining two in this occasion." He looked at Medb. "The king should be the one doing such honours."
"Mhmm, you speak wisely." Cú Alter commented on Arjuna's opinion, not being against it. "Very well, I should do it then." He looked at Peko and Robin on the ground, scrapping his Gáe Bolg on the ground, igniting a red flame on its tip. "Too bad kiddo."
"Ggnhg..." Lifting his face on the floor while a bit disoriented, Peko look to his side to see Robin also on the ground, beggining to move his body after losing conscious for a brief second. He then catched sight of Nero's dying body more on the front. And then, more on the front, Cú Alter pointing Gáe Bolg at him, ready to throw while standing next to Arjuna and Medb. "N-No! It can't be!"
"You didn't fought half-bad this time." Cú Alter told him. "A pity that the world wasn't made for people like you. Cruelty is what makes one survive in this place. And you lacked it." He moved his elbow to the back, putting the arm in throwing position. "Therefore, you lose your life here!" And he threw Gáe Bolg at Peko.
"No!" Robin screamed, unable to do anything to save him.
"!" Seeing the spear in the form of a red projectile coming at him, Peko closed his eyes and shield himself with his arms, waiting for the moment the spear would impale him and this would be over in a blink.
"..."
But, Gáe Bolg never ended up hitting him.
"...Eh?" Opening his eyes again, Peko saw someone standing in front of him, having taken Gáe Bolg on the stomach, piercing through.
"What a...backwards view of the world...Aren't we suppose...to be at the peak of the Enlightment Age by this period..?" Tesla speaked as drops of blood fell from the ground, his whole body injured, mainly on his head from where he had taken Arjuna's arrow. "S-Sorry...I slept for a moment there..."
"T-Tesla!" Peko yelled in a mixture of surprise and worriedness, seeing the awful state of the inventor.
"Mhm!? He's still alive?!" Cú Alter reacted in bafflement.
Arjuna was speachless. "He survived to a blow of my Agni Gandiva?"
"Bah! Who gives? That guy is almost a walking corpse by now! We only need to strike him again!" Medb said to the two. Cú Alter called back Gáe Bolg, spilling out more blood from Tesla's body.
"Ggnhgr...ghngh..eh..eheh. I...wouldn't be so sure about that." Tesla smirked at the trio despite the pain, managing to stay on his feet.
"What makes you think that?" Cú Alter asked him.
"Eh...You see..."
3 Days Ago
"Found any enemy?" Nightingale asked to Tesla while being on patrol watch alongside Geronimo.
"Nothing to report." Tesla replied, not having spotted any monster near the town's perimeter.
"Then we're good for today." Geronimo told the two. "We can head back to the camp."
"Sure." Tesla begun to walk torwards the town with Nightingale, before being stopped by the native man.
"Wait! I wanna ask you something to you." Geronimo told to the inventor.
"Hm? Yes, what is it?" Tesla turned around, accepting Geronimo doing him a question.
"Do you...remember me?" Geronimo asked to Tesla. "Or at least, have you heard of me?"
"Hmm, yes. You're Geronimo, leader of the native tribe, the Apache." Tesla responded, not understanding what Geronimo wanted to get with this.
"Then, you must have known what happened to me and my tribe when you begun to live on this country." Geronimo told him.
Tesla's mind made a click. He and Geronimo have been alive during the same time period on America. How could he have forgotten that detail? "Kinda...Newspapers were a bit obsolete to me and I'd mainly spend my time on crafting my creations inside labs."
"I see." Geronimo said with a stoic voice, lowering his head a bit.
"Sorry. I was ignorant of your problem at the time. If things could have been different with the knowledge I attained after my death, I would've tried to find a better situation for you and your people back then." Tesla apologized out of courtesy. "Had I not been too focused on my own projects...If you hate me for such thing, I understand."
"No. This isn't about hate. Me and my tribe would gain nothing by blaming you. That time has long passed and what happened, happened." Geronimo told him, not wanting Tesla to feel guilty about such topic. They had higher priorities now instead. "I just wanna know one thing from you." He looked to the moon, shinning above them and the fields. "Are your creations, good of heart?"
"Hm? Excuse me?" Tesla asked to Geronimo, not quite getting it.
"That man, Edison. I can tell he is creative too altough misguided. The machines he makes can be use for good as well as to harm people." Geronimo explained. "And I've witnessed many men whose machinery destroyed things and harmed many people. Evil men, with souls full of disdain. Giving life to creations in order to take away from others." The native man stared at Tesla in the eye. "You aren't one of those men, are you?"
Tesla was taken a bit aback by such question. Yet, he was sure of his answer. "No, I'm not."
"I sure hope so." Nightingale speaked, approaching the two.
"Miss Nightingale." Tesla looked at the nurse.
"Inventors like you Mister Tesla, should be aware of one important lesson. That you can easily create life as well as create death with your inventions." Nightingale speaked. "Having been in a war, I've witnessed how machines can be terryfying steel monsters, blowing lifes away with just a pull of a trigger. How they're more destructions rather than creations." The nurse took out one of her gloves, now looking at her naked hand. "I think saving the number of lives I did with only bandages and medicine was the true miracle. Building such weapons to cause suffering on others is despicable."
"I have the same thought too. I never crafted a single invention of mine with warfare in mind." Tesla told to Nightingale, sharing the feeling.
"Then promise us one thing. That we can trust in your geniality and inventions to do good here!" Geronimo told Tesla, wanting to believe the inventor had good intentions with his creations.
"That you won't utilize them in the same way Edison does with his. That they won't be used to harm the innocent!" Nightingale appealed to him.
Tesla felt touched by such requests. He was aware of the power such inventions had if used wrongly. But he knew better than anyone, to never do such evil things with his own creations. "Don't worry." Tesla gave a comforting smile to the other two servant, putting a finger to his own forhead. "This brain here is only used for the greater good."
New York, 1884
"Tesla? What are you still doing here at such a late hour my boy?"
"Ah, . I was trying to give the final touches to this dynamo generator."
"Hm? Something's wrong with it?"
"In fact, yes. The electric calibration of the machine is off. Way more than the necessary."
"So you think it's a case of possible overload?"
"Much likely. I have to find a way to fix it."
"Now boy. I think that this machine might just be broken. I've already did many attempts at putting it to work correctly but it never happened. Perhaps it's a piece that has gone missing."
"I'm not so sure of it. The problem really appears to be technical. I know, I can find a solution to this."
"How about you take a break instead? You've been on the lab for quite some time I assume."
"Hmmm, maybe if I alternate the current and swap for another one instead, reducing the intensity of the electricity's flow...Wow!"
"Oh! I-I can't believe it! It's functioning! You put it back to work boy!"
"I...I did! I did hahaha!"
"That's the way champ! Have an hug here!"
"O-Oi! No need for that!"
"Hahahahaha! The shareholders will be pleased with this! Tesla, how did you managed to do it?"
"Well, I applied a different electric current to the dynamo's system. I might as well call it, the Alternative Current."
"Hmm, a different approach to my Direct Current. Not bad at all boy!"
"Thanks. I'm happy to show you my potential."
"You sure have boy. I knew you had the talent in there."
"How so?"
"Because you are like me. And there is a secret you must know Tesla. Inventors like us..."
JJBA: Battle Tendency OST- Never Be Mine
"Us geniuses...always find a solution!" Tesla said to Cú Alter, a smile stamped on his face.
"!" Peko's heart tighten, remembering of what Tesla told him the night before they entered the city.
"What a load of gibberish." Cú Alter commented, charging up Gáe Bolg again. "Try finding a solution to this!"
"And I will..." Tesla replied, static appearing on his mechanical arm before going through his entire body, the blue orb on his steel chest piece glowing up. With Domus Aurea about to collapse, the inventor stared to the dying Nero on the side. "This Bounded Field won't hold on much longer. I have to at least give Peko and Robin enough time to escape before it dissapears."
"L...Love...of the People..!"
Feeling an healing spell being casted upon him, Tesla stared back at the emperor, being the one who used it, her arm up in the air. "Nero?"
"This is...my remaining mana..." Nero speaked weakly, barely having any strenght to move her arm up. "...Use it well..." She smiled to the inventor as her body begun to dissapear. Nero took a sorrowful glance at her decaying stage, about to dissapear soon after her. Such tragic end for this artist's play. "I'm sorry old man... Elizabeth...Looks like our duel...has to be postponed..." And so, her body vanished.
Tesla was grateful for it. "Thanks Nero. Altough small, every help is fundamental." The electricity around Tesla begun to go haywire, with the thunders and currents going over the entire theater, their light shinning the area, making the Bounded Field even more unstable. "Robin, grab Peko and leave." He said to the thief behind.
"Sure thing!" Robin got up from the ground and went over Peko, grabbing the boy and putting him above his shoulder.
"Uh!? Wait!" Peko reacted against it, not wanting to abandon the inventor. "But what about Tesla? Can't he also come with-"
"Peko..." The inventor called out the boy, getting his attention. Turning his head to the back, Tesla gave a warm smile to Peko, making a goodbye gesture by putting two of his fingers next to his forhead. "Godspeed now."
"Ah...ah..." Peko was about to be on the verge of tears as Robin carried him, running torwards the exit, about to reach it. "Teslaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" He cried out, stretching his arm to the inventor as they got further for him and the electricity voltage inside increased.
"I did what I could master. Peko is safe." Tesla smiled to himself, knowing that his order had been completed once the two exited th theater. "Now..." Facing Cú Alter, Medb and Arjuna, the inventor pointed his mechanical arm at them, his hair starting to turn into cyan-blue and his body pure electricity as thunders fell down over the place.
"Natural Born Genius!"
"Khh! What are you waiting for Cú?!" Medb shouted to the spearman. "Throw Gáe Bolg before he destroys us first!"
Cú Alter remained calm however. "To still have all this mana reserved inside you. That's quite a work. You have my congratulations!" He said to the inventor. "With that said, perish now!" With those words, Cú Alter finally threw Gáe Bolg at him.
"Eh. Me, perish?"
Tesla aimed his arm at Gáe Bolg.
"No matter how hard you try, electricity is a free element, lightening the darkness out of nothing. It cannot perish!"
The spear got closer to him.
"Likewise, I can produce its lightening with my bare hands. I am one with electricity! A genius!"
He fired.
"And geniuses always find a way out of a problem!"
Panting tiredly, Robin and Peko were now hidden on an alley in the middle of the city,runned away from the theater.
"I think we are good for now." Robin took a peek around the corner, checking if any enemy had followed them. Thanks to his invisible cloak, it would be a bit of an hard task for their enemies to find them.
"Hey, Robin."
"Hm? What is it?" Robin stared down at Peko, who was with his back laid on his chest.
"Was I...Was I brave?" Peko asked to him, still feeling deeply the losses of Tesla and the others.
"Eh. Way braver than John Lackland I tell you." Robin replied to the boy, wanting to lift up his moral after such fight. "We must contact the others. Tell them what happen-"
"Crap! Stop touching it!"
Hearing a loud voice, Robin and Peko spyed on what was about, their worries returning.
"It can't be!" Robin speaked lowly as he spotted Cú Alter, Medb and Arjuna some meters away on an open street, accompained by three full soldier troops.
"It's them!" Peko exclaimed, his heart beating faster inside him.
"I was only trying to alleviate the pain!" Medb told to the spearman, looking at his arm, having been completely fried by Tesla's last electrical beam.
"Then get something that actually does that woman!" Cú Alter yelled, feeling the irritable burning and itching on his injured limb. Even when he was killed, the inventor got one last good hit at him.
"That type of wound looks to be something it won't be fully healed by a simple cure spell." Arjuna observed. "If anything, it will be needed a greater healing spell or just let it heal itself over the time." The hindu archer adviced. "For a simple and average human that he was, Nikola Tesla surely turned out to be a great servant."
"But now he's gone, so what matters that?" Cú Alter replied, hissing at the pain.
"Yep! Great or not, he was still no match for you big guy!" Medb told him. "A shame that our parade was ruined in the process, but I'm sure we can restart it by tomorrow!"
"Shut up with that!" Cú Alter told her. "Forgot that two of them have escaped? They must still be here in the city!" He reminded her of the fugitives that runned away from them before the Bounded Field theater fully collapsed. "I want you to be hunting them down instead! Search every last meter of Washington!"
"Not good!" Robin cleenched his teeth. "They'll start searching over the entire city for us!"
"We must go to the city gates and escape into the forest before they do!" Peko replied.
"It will be hard even with No Face May King." Robin said to the boy. "There will probably be soldiers in every street, alley, rooftop and etc."
"And that we shall do!" Medb smiled to Cú Alter before turning around to her soldiers. "You heard your king! Let's start the search with this alley right next to us!" She pointed torwards Peko and Robin hidden place.
"Dammit!" Robin cursed.
"They will already find us!" Peko said, trying not to panic. If the enemies found them, it would be over. All of their companions sacrifices thrown into the garbage.
Cú Alter stared at Arjuna, who remained immobilized, looking at something above them. "And why aren't you moving? I want everyone-...oh." Cú Alter stopped his own rambling once he stared to where Arjuna was staring, noticing someone on the rooftop of the building.
"Hum? Who's that?" Medb also stopped walking alongside the troops, all now staring to the same place.
On the rooftop, a feminine figure appeared, looking down on all of them. "I lament to inform you, but I cannot allow you to do your search!" She summoned a red spear on her hand. "But if you wish to, you'll have to fight me first."
"That voice..." Cú Alter seemed to recognize it, a grin appearing in his face. "Finally decided to show up, haven't you?"
"Who's that?" Peko also stared at the mysterious lady at the rooftop.
"I don't know, but she seems to want to be a bait. Let's take this chance to flee from here!" Robin said to Peko as the two started to head torwards the city's exit, camouflaging themselves with the cloak.
On their way, the duo begun to hear more combat noises, possibly of an ensuing battle of the three servants of the Celtic Empire against the mysterious lady. Having reached the woods, some kilometers away from the city, Peko and Robin felt safe to finally take out the cloak, resting against the trees.
"Okay. Now we can make the call." Robin speaked, contacting Ritsuka's group.
"Hey...Robin here. I have bad news..."
"Geronimo and the others...are gone."
"WHAT!?"
A collective heartbreak happened on the entire party that was on Alcatraz, not wanting to believe in such terrible news.
"Geronimo and the rest...are gone?" Ritsuka said, still processing what he just heard.
"And Peko?!" Nala shouted, fully concerned. "What about him?! Don't tell me he's-"
"I'm fine sis! I'm alive too!" The voice of Peko speaked through the ear plugs, feeling like a huge relief not only for Nala but also for Ritsuka and Mash.
"Oh, thank goodness." Nala put a hand on her chest, feeling her heart slowing down a bit.
"Where are you? What just happened?" Mash asked to Peko and Robin.
"We failed the mission." Robin answered.
"Fail the mission? How exactly?" Nightingale asked, wanting an elaboration of those events.
"It's too much to explain right now." Peko told the nurse. "We have to reunite so that we can tell to you properly."
"Understood! Know any place that we can do that?" Elizabeth asked.
"Hummm, I think I do." Robin tried to recall it. "Yes! We can meet up there!" He told the coordinates to the group.
"Okay! We're going there then!" Ritsuka replied.
"Good. See you there! Be careful please!" Peko told him and the rest of the group.
"We will! Watch out you two as well." Ritsuka said before ending the communications with him and Robin. "No time to waste guys! We have to reunite with them!" He ordered to the group, all nodding.
Having reached the night, the group's caravan arrived to the camp's location mentioned by Robin, hoping that he and Peko were already there like planned. Asking about them and directions to the soldiers of the place, they pointed out where they would find the two. And after some hurry walking, they did.
"Peko! Robin!" Ritsuka exclaimed, seeing them sitting next to one of the camp's tents.
"Guys!" Peko got up from his seat, happy to see his team and the others again.
"Peko!" Nala jumped torwards her brother, hugging him tightly. "You idiot! What was your idea worrying me and all of us?! Have you been hurt?"
"A-A bit!" Peko speaked, resisting to the hug. "But I'm fine now..!"
"You might be but I wasn't when I thought you had died!" Nala yelled at him. "Don't scare me ever again like that you stupid! Stupid!"
"Eh." Peko hugged her back, knowing what she truly meant. "I'm also happy to see you again sis."
"And so are we." Mash smiled to the boy. "Welcome back Peko."
"Fou!"
"How did your mission in Alcatraz went?" Robin asked them.
"Accomplished. I'm fully healed now." Rama speaked up, being a pleasent surprise for Robin and Peko. "Altough Sita had to sacrifice herself for it."
Robin put a hand on his shoulder, smiling to him. "I'm just happy to know I haven't had only losses today. It's good to have you back."
"Speaking about that, it mustn't have been easy for you two to escape the empire's stronghold after the lose." Nightingale said to Robin.
"And it wasn't. Thankfully, we had an extra help to bail us out." Peko responded to the nurse, getting the entire party apart from Robin confused.
"An extra help?" Ritsuka wondered.
"Yeah." Robin looked at a woman exiting the tent. "She was the one who helped us get out from there."
Approaching the group and standing in front of them, the woman revealed herself, wearing only a purple skintight body suit with some small iron pads on the shoulders and darker tones of purple in some parts, showing her well defined and distinctive curves. She had long purple haid and red eyes, wearing a mask to cover the lower part of her face. She looked beautiful, enigmatic, furtive and experienced.
"I'm aware of your recent losses. Care for me to join in?"
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 83!
Oh my god, back to back long chapters! But I think this one was justified since this battle couldn't be just rushed. Like, I know I could save myself a lot of work if I just skipped the battles or wrote them shortly, but I think that would be going the easy way. Per exemple, it would be weird that when a battle was about to start, it cuts off right to the end and everyone is either dead or injured and we don't get to see or read anything that happened in the middle of it. A.K.A. Off-screen.
Careful now, I'm not saying that every battle needs to be fully expanded and explored. But this ones when the team fights against servant kinda do. Against regular mobs tho? Meh, some few lines on how the battle went and yada yada. Like, unless you wanna know what a goblin is thinking and feeling as well as wanting to make it ultra powerful against servants, I don't see the reason for having a fully fledge fight against simple mobs.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say and see you next time on chapter 84! Peace!
P.S:
Peko (Cleaning the kitchen's warehouse): To think I got a relegation from host to a janitor of the restaurant after having punched Gil in the face...Ah! As if I'll let that bring me down! I'm sure my talent will eventually be recognized and I'll go back to cooking in the kitchen alongside the other chefs! I even made a soup and left in there as surprise for them! Once they taste it, they'll realize how much potential I have!
(Meanwhile in the kitchen)
Bhima (Stares at a soup in the middle of the kitchen): Gawain! Barghest!
Barghest: Yes? What is it Chef Bhima?
Bhima: Who made this soup?
Barghest: I don't remember doing one.
Gawain: Does it have potato in it?
Bhima: No.
Gawain: Then it also wasn't me.
Bhima: Oi, Chef Emiya.
Emiya (approaches): I don't know. I don't make soup with those ingredients.
Bhima (grabbing a spoon): Well then, I'll have to prove this nonetheless. It may be good.
(Back to Peko)
*Loud noises of a pot falling to the ground from the kitchen*
?: Chef Bhima?! Chef Bhima! Someone call an ambulance! He isn't responding!
Peko (Imagining happily): Hmmm, I wonder how much my pay rise will be.