Hello everybody and welcome back to the start of chapter 89 of the story! And guys, I have a confession to make. As of recently, I did the unthinkable...I started playing Honkai Star Rail (thunder noises)...And the game is indeed pretty great! Enjoying the gameplay and story so far. Will my brain eventually melt from trying to understand and find context in most of this universe cosmic and enigmatic aspects of dumping lore that will make me feel like a stupid 5yr old lost at a supermarket? Perhaps. But hey, has someone who has been a Kingdom Hearts fan since childhood and dwelved in the Nasuverse, I can also dwelve in the Hoyoverse with no problem. (I hope)
So yeah, congrats to HSR and MiHoYo for making me do the rare thing of playing another gacha game other than FGO!
But now with that out of the way, 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
"It's you!"
Elizabeth exclaimed, looking up to the man who had saved her from Beowulf, having just now arrived to the battlefield.
"Oi oi! You look like a strong guy!" Beowulf said to the newcomer, impressed that he stopped the norse's king attack. "Up for a duel right now?"
"If it's a well-fought duel you want, I'll give you one!" The master of Bajiquan, Li Shuwen said, having arrived to Elizabeth's and the North Army's rescue.
"Ah! It's that guy!" Helena exclaimed, seeing the chinese martial artist standing up to Beowulf. "What is he doing here?"
"I thought it wasn't in your plans to join this war!" Robin said to Li Shuwen. "What made you change ideas all of a sudden?"
"Yeah! Didn't you said you wouldn't help us?" Elizabeth added, remembering of Li Shuwen's neutral stance on the conflict originally.
With the qiang on his hand and body prepared for battle, the martial artist moved his eye to give a quick glance at the lizard idol on the ground before returning his sight to Beowulf. "Another deal..."
Some Hours Ago
"Gngh...ghrg..."
"Hey! You still alive? Wake up! Talk to me!"
Li Shuwen asked frentically as he encountered the moribund body of Scáthach, having been severly damaged in the battle against Cú Alter. He wasted no time in giving the spearwoman assistance. And much to his fathom surprise, despite of the injured and destroyed organs, Scáthach was still breathing, her Spirit Core barely standing together.
"With wounds like that, it's a miracle your heart still beats." Li Shuwen said, henuinely impressed. But he could tell Scáthach hadn't much time left in those conditions. The martial artist had happened to stroll around the region when he witnessed in the distance the entire explosions and brutality of Scáthach's fight against Cú Alter ravaging the entire forest on that area, having shortly arrived to the scene after the battle had ended. So if anything, the spearwoman was lucky that he had found her rather quickly.
"Ehng...C...Cú..." Scáthach could barely speak, her eyes almost entirely devoided of life. She had one more minute at best in this Singularity.
"Hmmm. Don't move." Li Shuwen tried to come up with something. Positioning his two fingers together, the martial artist begun to thrust them into specific parts of Scáthach's body, performing acupuncture on her. Altough he knew it wouldn't save Scáthach from certain death, it helped slowing down the effects of the bleeding in her body, buying the spearwoman some more additional minutes. "Sorry. This is the best I can do for you. An almost painless and tranquil death. Nothing else can be done to prevent it." Li Shuwen said as he sat down, crossed his legs and closed his eyes, now making company to Scáthach in her final moments.
"Gngh...Hgrhg!"
"Hm?"
However, much to the martial artist astonishment, he saw Scáthach making a huge effort in lifting up her arm in the air, struggling to materialize Gáe Bolg Alternative in her hand. It looked like she was refusing to die.
Li Shuwen tried to convince Scáthach to stop. "Hey! What are you exactly doing? You're wasting the time that's left by pushing your own body like that!" He scolded, knowing that the spearwoman's body was fatally and hugely wounded to a point where the most simple of tasks would be difficult for her.
Yet, Scáthach chosed to ignore, fully summoning her weapon. And as a last attempt, she put everything of her remaining mana into it, proceeding to bring down her arm, puncturing the tip of her spear in the ground in order to call her second Noble Phantasm: The Gate of Skye.
"You summoned your Gate?" Li Shuwen was baffled as soon as he saw the giant gate appearing in front of him and its resident. "But why?"
"Hgnhg...T-take...me there..." Scáthach weakly requested to Li Shuwen has her body started to vanish.
Initially confused with her intentions, Li Shuwen mind fastly realized what the spearwoman meant to do with this. "The Land of Shadows!" Grabbing her body before she could completely dissapear, Li Shuwen runned torwards the Gate of Skye and crossed it while carrying Scáthach, reaching to the simulated version of the spearwoman's residence on the other side.
Once there, the bleeding stopped as well as the erasure of Scáthach's body. After all, the Land of Shadows made her immortal, unable to die in her own domain. Li Shuwen carefully laid down her body on the ground as it would now begin its own healing process, borrowing the mana of her own Noble Phantasm to restore herself. With this, Scáthach had narrowly evaded death.
"That was a risky gamble of you." Li Shuwen told her as he sat down next to her. "Another more second and your body wouldn't have made it."
"I...I know..." Scáthach replied with a deep breath, feeling her insides regenerate. "That Cú Chulainn...I wasn't able to stop him...My heart faltered as I feared..." She lamented her failure.
"Not enough courage to kill your own student." Li Shuwen commented about it, understanding the spearwoman's sentiment. "Well, you can still have a chance to fix that."
However, Scáthach wasn't so sure of it. "As of now...my body will take...a long time to heal itself properly..." She told to the martial artist. "At this rate, by the time I fully recover...the war might as well be over...even lost in the worst case scenario..."
"It sure will take it's time. That guy almost blasted you entirely out." Li Shuwen said, looking at her wounds. "But do not take the war to be lost already! Those kids and their group will find a way to win it! We didn't trained those two for nothind did we?" He said, not wanting Scáthach to admit defeat in this final battle that had just started, assured that Peko, Nala and their entire faction could take care of the situation. "I believe in them. Don't you?"
"I do..." Scáthach replied, knowing for a fact that she and Li Shuwen's training of the two kids would be helpful for themselves. "But...I wanted to help them more in this...but I can't. Not like this..." Scáthach was sure that her participation in this war was certainly over, having to take a forced rest during the event's period. She looked at Li Shuwen. "I know that by this point...I may be exaggerating on it...but I'll need another favour from you..."
"I'm not a type of genie you know?" Li Shuwen was a bit unpleased with it, this going to be the third time Scáthach had asked him for a favour.
"Just...this one more time...it will be the last...I promise..." Scáthach said, knowing well she had been stretching the deal of favours with the martial artist. "I probably can no longer partake in the war...and thet need all the help they can...Please, be my replacement on aiding them...The army up north...doesn't have as many Heroic Spirtis as the one of the south...Lend them your strenght if you can..." She implored.
Lowering his head, Li Shuwen tought a bit about the spearwoman's request. Under normal circumnstances, he'd assume the person would be abusing of his generosity to be granted this favours. However, with this situation being of a war that had the whole future of humanity at stake, Li Shuwen couldn't say that Scáthach was being greedy or acting on her own intrests. The martial artist ended up sighing. "Fine. I'll help them out. But you better stay alive! Don't forget about our duel!"
Scáthach nodded, a smile appearing on her face. "I won't...I'll be sure to survive!...I also look forward to it..." She promised to the martial artist.
Satisfied with that declaration, Li Shuwen got up from the ground. "Then I shall be going already and join the others." He stared to Scáthach before turning around and walking to the exit of the Land of Shadows. "Be sure to rest until this is over."
"Yes..." Scáthach said lowly as she saw Li Shuwen leaving her domain through the gate. Now aware that the martial artist would help Chaldea and their allies, the spearwoman felt some comfort in that before slowly closing her eyes and dozing into slumber, letting the magic of her homeland continue to work on healing up her body.
"I sure as hell hope you do survive! I don't want to be doing all this effort for nothing!" Li Shuwen wished for Scáthach's survival as he eyed Beowulf in front of him, having stopped the norse king from killing Elizabeth. "But this guy...he also looks like a formidable opponent. Let's see what he's capable of!"
"Eh eh. So you're saying that you're gonna give me the fight of my life? Is that what you meant?" Beowulf smiled, intrigued at seeing Li Shuwen. Just by looking at the seriousness of the chinese servant's face and posture, Beowulf could tell he wasn't here to play around.
"Funny. I too look for an opponent great enough to entertain my combat hunger." Li Shuwen replied, spinning his qiong. "Will you match what I'm looking for?"
"Ah! You tell me!" Beowulf replied, liking the way the martial artist was calling him in for the fight. "No one talks like that unless they know what they're getting into!" The norse king pointed his iron club to Li Shuwen, the chain connecting his two weapons jiggling. "And do you know what you're getting into?"
"Yes, I do." Li Shuwen responded, prepared to face Beowulf. A little smile appearing. "A fight between two warriors and their thirst for battle!"
Beowulf smile widened, lifting up his head to the sky in pure exhilaration. He had met his match. "Oooooooooooh yeah! Bring it!" He shouted, bumping his two weapons into one another before charging at Li Shuwen, violently clashing with his spear, the force of the impact shoving away any soldier that was near them.
"Wooah!" Elizabeth, stucked her spear on the ground in order to be taken away by the impact as well.
Advancing, Robin shot down some celtic soldiers as he reached Elizabeth. "Hold on!" The thief told her as he picked up Elizabeth and distanced from Li Shuwen and Beowulf's fight. With every blow their weapons traded, the rude vibrations would set off, the two fighters incredibly concentrated in the combat that had started just now. "They really aren't kidding here! Glad that guy came to help after all! He is on par with the enemy!" Robin commented, watching the fight rolling out.
"And we certainly won't stand by!" Elizabeth said, releasing herself from Robin's arm, to then swing her spear at some foes nearing them. "Let's retribute the favour!"
"Sure thing!" Robin agreed with her, firing at other wave of celtic soldiers, knocking them down. "We can't afford to lose here! Even as bait!" He expressed, gunning down other enemies alongside Elizabeth.
While that happened, Li Shuwen had landed a hit on Beowulf. Jumping up, the martial artist landed his feet on each hand of the norse king, holding back both Beowulf's sword and iron club, gaining a opening to his face that Li Shuwen proceeded to punch before jumping back on the ground.
"Ghahahahahahaha! Only some few seconds have passed and I feel this is everything I asked for!" Beowulf laughed, ignoring the blood running down from his face. "Your style of fighting is like none other I've seen so far!"
"Could say the same thing about you!" Li Shuwen replied, parrying Beowulf's sword and attack him with his spear, with the norse king also deflecting the martial artist's attack with his iron club. "I admit, your addiction is almost contageous!" He complimented Bewoulf, showing a bigger smile. Li Shuwen enjoyed the type of fighters Beowulf was. Bold and battle hungry but with the head in place, timing well the martial artist's attacks.
Rushing in, Beowulf striked against Li Shuwen almost non stop. With precision and intuition, the norse king caught a small opening on his enemy's waist, slashing his sword in there.
"Hm! Not bad!" Li Shuwen remained composed and calm even if injured, blocking the next attacks of his opponent before taking chance of Beowulf's upcoming blow to crouch down, avoiding it, and kick him in the stomach as a counter. "But I won't let the next one happen that easily!"
"Blurgh!" Beowulf coughed some blood from the impact before staring down at Li Shuwen. "Eh! Let's see!"
More to the north of the battlefield, Helena fought off against the troops of celtic soldiers with the help of some helter skelters. She had noticed Li Shuwen's combat with Beowulf. "Guess this means someone will take care of the enemy's Heroic Spirit. As for us, we will take care of the rest of their army!" The occultist proceeded to give a look at some soldiers of her faction behind her. "Hey! How is the presiking doing?" She asked, knowing that the blow Edison suffered from Beowulf was quite strong.
"T-The presiking has taken quite the good damage!"
"Of that I know already!" Helena replied. "Just tell me when is he-"
And she got her answer instantly as loud and bright threads of electricity appeared behind her.
"IF YOU NO-GOODERS THINK A MERE PUNCH IS ENOUGH TO DEFEAT THIS LOVING PATRIOT, YOU DO NOT KNOW ME WELL ENOUGH!"
"Presiking!" Helena exclaimed in happiness as she saw an energized Edison get up from the ground, fully decided in taking Beowulf down.
"Take care of our men, Helena." He said with a serious face, staring at Beowulf in the distance. "I have a threat to take down."
"Aye aye presiking! Wreck him up!" Helena said, saluting her leader before Edison sprinted across the battlefield with lightening following him.
"Over here scum!" Edison shouted to Beowulf once he reached close to him.
Being occupied with Li Shuwen, Beowulf didn't saw Edison coming in. "Hm-Erghhgrhg!?"
Delivering a strong jab on the norse king's face, sending electricity down to his body, dealing some good damage on him. "Your retribution. For having caused pain on America." Edison said, closing his hands and putting his arms into the position of a boxer.
"Wow! That one punch got him all that fired up?" Elizabeth said, watching Edison vigorously coming back to the battlefield.
"No one feels this country more than him." Robin replied. "Edison will fight tooth and nail for it!"
"Sorry for the interruption, my dear companion from the Far East." Edison speaked to Li Shuwen. "I hope I didn't interrupted something important here."
"Eh. Not at all. Feel free to join in!" Li Shuwen replied, accepting Edison's help. "I think our opponent here also doesn't mind, does he?"
Recovering from the blow, Beowulf laughed at what the martial artist's said, passing a hand on his own face. H ewasn't annoyed by it at all. "A two versus one?! Now that's gonna spice the things up!"
And so the battle continued into the late hours of the afternoon and beggining of the night.
Present, Washington D.C
Having arrived to the headquarters of the Celtic Empire and once capital city of the United States, Chaldea and the South Army were 'welcomed' by Medb and her huge troops right at the entrance square. The Queen of Connacht had been preparing for their eventual appearence. It was to say that Chaldea and the South Army were kinda surprised seeing Medb right here at the gates instead of being sheltered in her own palace some kilometers more away.
"So you decided to show up." Rama speaked, looking directly to Medb on the other side of the square. Both armies stood still, awaiting for any orders from their leaders to start attacking.
"What? Can't a girl spent some time outside nowdays?" Medb replied sarcastically. "If I wanna see your demise, better be up close."
"Oh yeah? Because I do think that will be your fatal mistake!" Nala responded back.
"Hehehe, dream higher kid." Medb showed them the holy grail in her hand. "As long as I have this object in my hands, defeat will be impossible to happen. Did you came here for it?" She asked, jiggling the golden cup in her hand.
Ritsuka took a step forward. "You can hide and summon all the soldiers you want to protect you, we'll still going to knock you down!"
"Uuuh, I better look out for random dark haired boy and his group of friends then!" Medb mocked him, not feeling threatened at all. "If only you knew how many people said the same thing to me before."
Mash noticed an important figure on the celtics side was not present. "I don't see Cú Alter anywhere. Where is he?" She questioned Medb.
"Is he too afraid to fight us now that we made him run with his tail between the legs?" Nala smirked, throwing the insult.
Medb tried to dismiss it. "Hphm! My perfect warrior fears no one! He's just taking a rest at our palace. There's no need for Cú to deal with you any longer! I'll take care of that work for him!"
"You can try! He'll be dissapointed when he sees that you failed!" Peko told Medb, who in reaction giggled amused at him.
"Oh, such big brave boy that you are. And kinda cute now that I look at it." The Queen of Connacht said, this being the second time she had encountered Peko. And only now she found it adorable how in her mind, the boy was trying to act tought. "Hmmm, I know! If you kneel down and say 'I'm sorry Queen Medb' thirty times, I might consider letting you go." She proposed to Peko.
Obviously, Peko refused. "Sorry! Not happening! I won't be going anywhere until we defeat you!"
"If the info that has been passed to me is right, then you really are the one behind the existence of Cú Alter." Nightingale speaked, staring at the Queen of Connacht.
"Yep! The one and only who brought such fine man to life! Me!" Medb said with a prideful smile, praising herself for having come with the twisted and altered creation of the hero that once was Cú Chulainn.
"I see. No wonder why he looks such an illness!" Nightingale responded. A response that didn't seemed to have been to Medb's liking.
"What?!" Medb increased her tone, having the face of someone who had just discovered their favourite mirror had been shattered to pieces.
"You heard me! How can someone look at that brutal empty husk of a man and be proud of being his creator?" Nightingale continued, not pulling any punches down. "A true creator makes their inventions for good, with the goal of helping others!" The nurse said, having just known an inventor who was like that. "And people like you who create these abominations to hurt people, are as sick as their own inventions!"
"Couldn't put it better myself!" Rama told her before looking at Medb. "True that every creation has its flaws, but yours has flaws that were deliberately put there by yourself!"
"Tsk! Flaws? What flaws?" Medb replied, getting sick of the conversation. "My Cú Chulainn is perfect! Materialized in the way I always fantasized! Do tell, if an invention does corresponds to the vision of its maker, doesn't that automatically qualifies it as perfect?" She argued. "I do not care at all about your opinions on him! Cú Alter was made by me and only for me! As long as he continues to be the fearsome warmongering killing machine that I envisioned, he will be perfect forever!"
"A person that kills innocent, even more so for shallow reasons, will never be perfect!" Ritsuka said, confronting Medb with the reality of what her Cú Chulainn was.
"Eh, whatever you say. I've grown bored of this little useless chit-chat." Medb snapped her fingers, retreating to her personal chariot behind her as the celtic soldiers stepped in front of their queen, forming a line and ready to attack. "As prove of my love to him, I shall offer Cú your heads as present." With her hand, Medb signaled for her soldiers to charge, starting then the most decisive battle of this final war.
"The enemies have decided to charge!" Mash exclaimed, setting up her shield for combat.
"We shall do it so as well!" Rama said, pointing his sword onward. "Attack!" He ordered to the soldiers of the South Army, charging as well, the two front lines clashing into one another as they begun to fight.
"Hmm, spectator's seat..." Medb murmured as she sat nicely on her chariot from a comfortable distance of the battlefield. "This will be nice."
Firing up his sword, Rama slashed down some enemies coming from his left. "Here's the objective everyone: Open a way so that we can reach Medb and take the grail from her!" He gave the goal to the South Army troops.
"It will take some time! There are barriers upon barriers of celtic soldiers shielding her chariot!" Peko said, seeing the huge enemy crowd that separated their army from Medb, surrounding their queen. "Plus, the fact she can keep summoning more soldiers to fight will difficult the things!"
"But I'm sure there must be a cooldown to how fast she can summon those soldiers!" Nightingale said near the boy, kicking down two enemies coming at her. "We just need to kill the soldiers faster than she can summon them!"
"Right! If we make an enough good effort, we'll eventually push through!" Ritsuka replied, standing near Mash.
"It would also be great if we could defeat Medb before Cú Alter decides to show up!" The shielder said, protecting her master from getting hit. "How's Fou by the way?" She asked to Ritsuka, who had the animal resting on his shoulder, looking tired.
"Fou..."
" Still looking nauseous. The appearence from Merlin must have indirectly done something to his body." Ritsuka replied, seeing how ever since that wizard made his brief visit to them, Fou begun to feel a bit sick.
"Fou fou...(Why that stupid didn't warned me?)"
"Bet he's just feeling hungry or something! A carrot or two should aliviate him!" Nala said, slashing down some enemies while looking at the next ones.
"I dunno." Ritsuka said, looking back at Fou. "What's wrong exactly Fou?" He asked the animal on his shoulder.
"Foooouuu..." The creature just let out a weak groan, showing that it wasn't in great disposition to answer.
Ritsuka accepted it, putting back his focus on the battle. "Okay, we'll think about that later!"
As some minutes passed on the square, Medb watched their enemies gain some meters on the terrain, starting to push back her troops. "Eurgh! These incompetents can't do their jobs right." She was displeased, knowing that if things continued like that, her enemies would eventually reach her. That was when she decided to brought something up, staring at the grail in her hand. "Time to make things a bit more intresting fufufu."
"We are doing it guys! Keep pushing!" Rama exclaimed, seeing the South Army's collective performance beggining to overpower the Celtic Empire as he commanded them upfront.
"Do we take the grail away from Medb's hands after or before we defeat her?" Nala asked, before clashing with a celtic soldier and kicking him in the face. "Yah!"
"I think it will depend of a few things." Peko replied, slashing down an enemy before looking torwards Ritsuka. "What do you think Ritsuka?"
"Getting the grail right away would be great! But we could take the risk of losing it again if we don't defeat Medb!" Ritsuka said, giving his opinion while paying attention to his surroundings. "So I say that we-"
"Master, watch out!" Mash exclaimed, noticing a quick shadow sprinting torwards them, immediatly putting her shield in front of him, protecting Ritsuka from whatever was about to attack him. Nightingale came right after, kicking the shadow thing away from both Mash and Ritsuka.
"What's this?" The nurse asked, staring at the humanoid shadow getting back up from the ground. It had a sword and other characteristics that couldn't be well obsevred since the figure was all covered in shadows.
"Is this...another type of those demons?" Peko thought, thinking that this shadow enemy that appeared had some correlation with the shadow imps they've fought a couple of times on their journey by now.
"No! This figure feels like something else!" Rama said, sensing a signal of the shadow fighter. "It's like...it was some form of Heroic Spirit!"
"What?!" Peko reacted in bafflement.
"You're telling us that shadow is a servant?" Nala asked to Rama.
"But how can that even make sense?" Mash questioned.
"It's because it isn't an ACTUAL servant in its true definition!" Romani showed up on his hologram. "The thing you're seeing now is but a mere cheap copy of a random Heroic Spirit that used as reference to borrow their skills! In other words, it's a Shadow Servant!" Romani revealed.
"A Shadow Servant?" Ritsuka replied, never hearing that term before.
"See it as an inferior demo version of an actual true servant! While the cost of mana to summon them is way lesser than that of an actual Heroic Spirit and pratical to mages, their abilities are limited! But don't think that means a Shadow Servant is weak! One alone can cause serious problems to our side!" Romani warned them of the danger that a Shadow Servant was.
"Good! That's just what we needed now!" Ritsuka replied, seeing the new headache that was this enemy for them.
"Hehehe, enjoyed the new feature?" Medb talked to the group all the way on her chariot. "Because there is still more to come!" She exclaimed, summoning a couple more shadow servants to attack her enemies.
"Gah! Medb summoned more of them!" Peko told to the others, seeing the Shadow Servants taking down some soldiers of the South Army, starting to turn the tables for the Celtic Empire.
"And she won't stop until we take the grail away from her!" Nala exclaimed, trying to pierce through the crowd of celtic soldiers in front of her, only to be stopped by a shadow servant. "Ghg!"
"What are we going to do now? These shadow servants are almost as hard as real servants!" Mash said, thinking that this battle was slowly getting out of their reach.
But Rama refused to let such thing happen. "By not giving up! We didn't go through all those troubles and watch allies depart to fall here! We're gonna make every single harship we've surpassed on this Singularity worht it!" Stating that, Rama put his fist close to the chest. "Sita, give me your strenght!"
"Charisma!"
Charging up his sword with pure mana energy, Rama slashed down a great percentage of the celtic army that was in front of him, having completely changed the situation to the South Army with this single attack.
"W-What?!" Medb stood agape, incredulous of what just happened.
"Wow! That was amazing!" Nala exclaimed, impressed.
"Way to go Rama!" Ritsuka told to the king of Kosala, who was attacked by two shadow servants.
With swift agility, Rama cut his two enemies down. The servant was finally displaying the best of his capabilities, that he couldn't show during this Singularity till now due to the curse that he suffered from Cú Alter before Chaldea had arrived. Now, here he was, showing why he was indeed a great ally for them. "Let's thrust forward soldiers!"
Seeing the moral of the South Army gotting railed up by Rama's demonstration of his true power as well as losing a good part of her army, Medb cleenched her teeth in anger. "That damned servant..!" Looking again at the grail in her hands, Medb took a decision. "There isn't even a reason for me to waste time here anymore. Gotta retreat and reunite with Cú. Then, we can use our wild card to end with these morons!" Having taken a new course of action, Medb stared at Chaldea and the servants, smirking. "Well, would you look at that? It's time for me to go back to the palace!" She said, snapping her fingers, giving an order for the two bulls of her chariot to start moving the transport away. "See ya all there! If you can!"
"Medb's trying to get away!" Ritsuka said, seeing the queen of Connacht starting to leave the battlefield.
"We can't let this chance of retrieving the grail get away!" Peko replied. "We need to catch her!"
"No worries then!" Nightingale speaked, punching down a handful of celtic soldiers with a single punch.
Rama followed after by slashing another barrier of celtic soldiers in front of them. "We're gonna open you a way torwards Medb! Now go!" He said to the Chaldea team.
"Understood! Let's go then!" Mash said, not wasting time and running torwards Medb's chariot alongside the rest of the team.
Medb herself noticed her pursuers. "Please, can't you just give a girl some privacy?" She summoned a small group of shadow servants and sent them to the chaldeans, trying to stop their chase.
"Of course it wouldn't be easy!" Nala grumbled a bit before clashing with one shadow servant and killing it with three slashes.
Peko also confronted another shadow servant, hitting his sword on the enemy's weapon and proceeding to kill it with a light bullet.
But even with two down, there was still more two shadow servants to take care of. At this rate, Medb would be able to escape them.
And Mash knew that. "Keep going ahead! I'll hold back the remaining shadow servants!" She said to the rest of her team.
"Okay! You got this one Mash!" Ritsuka told her as he, Peko and Nala advanced while Mash blocked the tackle of the two shadow servants with her shield, keeping them occupied.
"It still won't do! We need something else to slow Medb down!" Nala speaked, seeing Medb still in the distance.
Coming with an idea pretty fast, Peko pointed his finger to a tall building more away in the distance than Medb's chariot. "This could do it!" He said, powering up his hand with mana before firing a powerful light bullet torwards the building's foundation, exploding it and causing the building itself to start collapsing.
"Huh?" Medb looked up to see the incoming wreckage about to fall in front of her, causing the bulls to slow down, allowing for the trio to get closer to her chariot.
"She's at our reach now!" Ritsuka said. "That's our chance!"
Sprinting torwards the chariot, Nala slashed down one of the two bulls as she jumped to the front of the chariot, surprising Medb while both Ritsuka and Peko jumped on the back of her transport.
"Hi there! Mind me if I get this?" Nala said as she tried to take the grail away from Medb's hands with the chariot beggining to lose control due to one of the bulls dying.
"H-Hey! Get off here brat! You don't have a ticket for this ride!" Medb fought back, the two now struggling and fighting each other for the holy grail. The Queen of Connacht slammed her hand on Nala's face to try and get the girl off of her, with Nala responding back by biting her fingers, causing some discomfortable pain to Medb. "Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Just give it already!" Nala shouted, stretching her arm for the grail.
Medb however continued to fight back. "You wish! Get the hell off!" She kicked Nala in the stomach, throwing the girl out of her chariot as it was about to crash down at the same time the wreckage of the falling building. "Crap!"
On the outside and leaning to the back of the disoriented vehicle, Ritsuka and Peko tried their best to cling onto the chariot as both noticed the building about to fall on them.
"We're about to get crushed!" Peko shouted.
"Hold tight then!" Ritsuka grabbed the boy as he jumped off the chariot with Peko in his arms right before the building hit the ground, liberating dust and smoke everyone.
Coughing a bit, Nala tried to get up from the ground as she waved away the dust near her.
"Nala! Are you okay?" Mash speaked in the distance as she appeared from the middle of the dust, reuniting with the younger girl and helping her get up.
"Y-Yeah. J-Just some...dirt in my face!" Nala responded as she cleaned her own face.
Mash went to stare at the scenery in front of her. "Oh no..."
"W-What is it-..." Staring to the same direction as Mash, Nala also observed the entire demolition of the building now on the ground, blocking the street. Under it, the chariot had been destoyed and the two bulls dead. And no Ritsuka and Peko in sight. "Peko! Ritsuka!" Nala went immediatly near the debries alongside Mash. "Where are you?"
"Master! Peko! Are you two okay?" Mash shouted, trying to get a response from them on the other side of the debries. But no response came. "I'm sure they are alright! They must have!" The shielder said to Nala, putting a hand in her shoulder, not wanting her friend to already be thinking on the worst.
Nala nodded back, wanting to think the same too. "Yeah. It wouldn't be mere wreckage that would kill those two." She said before turning her head and spotting the holy grail on the ground a few feet away from her and Mash. "Mash, look! The holy grail is there! Let's pick it!" She said, walking torwards the magical artifact.
"Eegh...My head..." Medb groaned a bit as she slowly got up from the ground, a bit dizzy and injured from the fall of her chariot. And looking to her right, she saw her precious vehicle destroyed alongside the dead bulls. "O-Oi! What are you doing? Get up!" Medb grabbed one of the bulls head, trying to make the animal get up but to no avail. "Uff! Stupid creature!" Medb kicked the bull's corpse in frustration.
Meanwhile, Nala was walking torwards the holy grail about to grab it. "At least it won't be in our enemy's hands no more."
Mash nodded, behind Nala. "Sure thin-uh? Nala watch out!"
"Huh?" Nala looked back at Mash in confusion, right in the same moment as a whip curled up on her leg and with a hard tug, made the girl fall to the ground, dragging her away from the grail. "Aaah!"
"Hold a minute you two!" Medb speaked as she appeared behind the two girls. "You think you can just invade my domain, destroy my beautiful chariot and steal the grail from me? You really think I won't deliver you some karma?"
"The grail was never yours to start!" Nala replied, shaking Medb's whip away from her leg.
"Nor this country!" Mash added, standing by Nala's side. "You've done nothing but steal and hurt others! You're the one who's getting karma!"
"Blah blah blah! I already know I'm the bad guy here!" Medb scoffed, with a movement of her whip, hitting the grail and make it slide on the ground all the way torwards her feet.
"No!" Nala exclaimed as she let the grail get away, back at Medb's possession.
"Mash! Nala!" Nightingale voice sounded as the nurse came running torwards the place alongside Rama.
"Did you made it? Where's Ritsuka and Peko?" Rama asked the two girls, questioning why the two boys wheren't with them suddenly.
"Unfortunately no." Mash answered. "For a moment we almost had it."
"As for Peko and Ritsuka..." Nala gave a glance at the debris. "Let's hope they're fine."
"As long as there isn't blood, the probability of them being alive is good!" Nightingale was optimistic the two were okay. "We'll find them soon enough! But first..." Nightingale gave a rude glare to Medb. "We have a disease that needs to be sanitized!"
Seeing the four of them prepared to fight her, Medb sighed. "And I was planning on going back to my love. You jerks really like ruinning my plans!" She hit with her whip on the ground.
"Discipline of the Queen!"
Casting a spell on herself, Medb stretched her arms and back a bit. "Welp, what is one or two fingernails broken am I right?" She giggled, before facing her small group of enemies. "Stepping on you like insects will make up for it!"
"Chinese Martial Arts: Liu He Da Qiang!"
"The Wizard of Menlo Park!"
Using their skills, both Li Shuwen and Edison charged at Beowulf at the same time.
"Berserk!"
And as response to that, Beowulf attempted to block both attacks. Altough he managed to stop the lightening fist of Edison, the norse king still took the powerful punch of Li Shuwen, having broken his defense.
"Eurgh!" Beowulf was sent some meters away, having some blood spilled from his mouth. "Hehehahaha! That was a good one! Almost took out my breath!" Panting a bit, Beowulf straightened his body, still up for more fighting despite the wounds. But it wasn't like his two enemies weren't also wounded.
"Lively opponents like him are quite a pain." Li Shuwen commented, cleaning some sweat off his face. "But damn if they aren't entertaining as well!"
"Eh, you tell me! This is feeling like a great box match with the biggest number of rounds ever!" Edison replied, also recovering a bit from his own fatigue.
"This is insane. For how many hours straight they've been fighting already?" Robin commented, looking at the three.
Ever since the sunset of yesterday, Li Shuwen and Edison haven't stopped a second in their fight againt Beowulf and nor did the norse king. All the way through the night and into the morning of the next day, not taking a single minute to sit down and rest. Even when both armies did, the three didn't. A duel that would be the longest ever seen by every soldier in that battle. Neither Li Shuwen and Edison nor Beowulf would give up of the victory, staying resilient and strong in their fighting conviction.
"I know Presiking was always a very active and energetic servant. But to think he's been fighting with the other two for this long..." Helena said, standing next to Robin and Elizabeth, also amazed at the endurance of her leader.
Elizabeth knocked down two celtic soldiers. "That means he's really into wanting to win this! And so should we!"
"Correct!" Helena nodded, firing beams from her magical tomes at the enemy. "Let's give all the support Presiking and Li Shuwen need!" She also commanded the helter skelters, sending them for the attack.
"Let's hope that by now the other army is about to win this war in Washington D.C at any moment now!" Robin speaked, firing his arrows at the celtic soldiers. "They must have realized by now that we're bait, don't they?"
"Urgent! Urgent! We have received some news of the South Army!"
"Eh? Really?! Well, do tell us what is it!" Helena speaked to the soldier who had arrived next to them, bringing information.
"Good and bad news! The bad news is that general Karna has died! The good news is that the South Army has reached the Celtic Empire headquarters!"
"Karna's dead?!" Helena exclaimed in shock. "It can't be!"
"That's one less allie to us." Elizabeth briefly lamented before picking up her determination again. "But at least we know that the others have made it so far! We've gotta believe in them!"
"That is certainly without question! However, should we tell Edison about Karna's death?" Robin asked, wondering if it would be okay for the inventor to know of his friend's demise.
"Better not." Helena responded, staring to Edison battling alongside Li Shuwen and against Beowulf. "If we do, it might break his concentration. Let's keep it secret."
"Uff!" Li Shuwen grunted a bit in pain as he got hit by Beowulf's sword, having to retreat a bit while Edison took his turn to attack the enemy.
"Try escaping this!" Edison shouted, releasing a brightening beam from the cannon in his chest, aiming it at Beowulf.
The norse king hardened his muscles and using both the iron club and sword as shield, Beowulf was able to tank Edison's beam, going torwards the inventor and dodging his punch, attacking him with the iron club. "Try better next time!"
"Gragh!" Edison fell next to Li Shuwen's side. "This criminal..." Edison muttered as he got up. "We need to find a way to end him once and for all!"
"Eh! I agree with you on that." The martial artist told him. "As much as I would love for this duel to continue, there are many things at stake right now. I suppose we will have to put a end to this fight soon." Li Shuwen said, accepting that the fight had a good time duration for him and Beowulf was a worthy challenger.
"Then how do you propose for us to win this?" Edison asked him.
Li Shuwen easily knew the answer, rising up his hand. "The thing that will dictate the end of the battle, will be this fist."
"Here! Have something to keep you entertained!" Medb said as she used the holy grail to summon more soldiers and shadow servants torwards Mash, Nala, Nightingale and Rama.
With the small group fighting off the enemies, Nala was eventually the one to reach close to Medb, swinging her sword to the Queen of Connacht. "Do you only know to use that to fight?" The blade passed centimeters to Medb's face, cutting some bit of her hair.
"Of course not brat!" Medb's replied a bit angry, using her whip to wrap around Nala's sword. "Here's your answer!" She said, forcefully pulling Nala torwards her with a hard tug of her whip before kicking the girl away.
"And? That's all? No wonder why you hide behind soldiers and people stronger than you!" Nala provoked Medb even if she suffered the kick on the stomach.
"Oh, quite the haughty tongue you have! Didn't mommy and daddy shushed you up and teached your place? Or perhaps you never had them in order to learn how to have some manners in the first place!" Medb taunted Nala back, touching on a bit of a sensitive topic to Nala, entering in the trash-talking, a thing she was quite professional at. "I mean, I don't blame them if I also had such a disruptive and troublesome daughter!"
"Hmphm!" Feeling the blood inside of her boiling a bit, Nala was about to attack Medb.
"Ignore what she's saying!" Mash said to Nala, putting an arm in front of her, preventing the girl to attack in anger. "She's just trying to get under your skin!"
"That woman's words are filled with poison! Do not listen to her!" Nightingale added. "She's a virus that infects others by spreading disease! A sick person!"
"Oh? How am I sick? Last time I checked, I woke up this morning without fever!" Medb replied, deliberatly missing the point Nightingale was trying to make.
"Cú Alter's creation is proof enough! You created a monster with no feelings or will of its own! A madman that has nothing in his mind other than fight and terrorize people!" Nightingale told to the celtic servant.
"Hm? And? Aren't you a Berserker as well? Obsessed with treating, curing, hygiene and stuff?" Medb counter-argued, pointing out Nightingale's addiction for her nurse's duty. "By your own words, you are as mindless as he is!"
"You might be right that as a Berserker, I too have my mind subjugated to one obsession in particular! However, unlike the abomination you made, I know exactly why I have mine! To save and heal people! Different from you and your lover!" Nightingale declared, rushing torwards Medb, her fists ready. "My job as a nurse...is to treat of sick people! You being one of them!" She shouted, her punch almost hitting Medb in the face who had to use her whip as shield.
"Ergh! So what if I'm sick?" Medb pushed the nurse away. "What are you gonna do? Strap me to a chair and fucking lobotomize me?"
"That is a valid option to have in consideration." Nightingale responded in a errie and cold tone.
That answer made Medb shiver a bit. "Sheesh, what a creep! I'm not letting you get near me!"
"We can do it the other way." Nala swayed her sword, lighting up the blade. "Which is killing you!" She sprinted at the enemy.
"Precise Stroke!"
Dodging it, Medb saw the cut from Nala's cut go all the way up to the sky, coulding have been of great damage if it had hit her. "Not before you!" Medb replied, swinging her whip at Nala, hitting the girl on the pulse. Mash went to her companion's aid while Nightingale stayed behind to fight the shadow servants alongside Rama.
"Gngh!" Nala flinched a bit from the sharp pain.
"Did it hurt? Not like this next one!" Medb said, swinging her weapon again at Nala, passing close to the girl's head as she dodged it.
"Transient Wall of Snowflakes!"
Coming from the right, Mash casted her defensive spell on Nala and then attacked Medb with her shield. The celtic woman tried to stop Mash by hitting her with that ended up being blocked whip by the opponent's shield, not slowing Mash as she reached torwards Medb and bashed her weapon against the Queen of Connacht.
"Kkgh! This is already becoming problematic!" Medb lifted the grail in her other hand. "How about you have some more-"
"As if!" Nala appeared on Medb's peripheral vision, surprising her. And with a movement of her sword, the girl cut Medb on the shoulder, stopping her from summoning more enemies.
"Grr! You little-" Medb was about to counter attack before noticing Mash swinging her shield at her, about to slice Medb on the torso, causing the celtic queen to skillfuly dodge away from there.
"We're not going to let you summon more of those soldiers or shadow servants! If you wanna fight us, you'll have to do it all by yourself!" Mash said to Medb, repositioning her shield while standing next to Nala, both prepared to attack Medb again.
Medb in return gave them a hostile glare. "These two brainless bitches are already getting on my nerves! I was supposed to get back to Cú already!" Medb's mind went back to the brief moment she had with Cú Alter earlier today before going to the battlefield. "Oh Cú..."
Two Hours Ago
Medb stood on the balcony of the White House, building that she transformed into her palace. The preparations were being made to receive the enemy troops at the city's entrance once it was known that Arjuna and his army failed to stop them. Her chariot and bulls and been prepared and so it was her impeccable dress.
"Already going?" Cú Alter asked her as he entered the balcony, approaching Medb.
"Yep! Wish me luck big guy!" Medb told him with a big smile.
"Not feeling like it." Cú Alter responded.
"That was unnecessary cruel!" Medb shouted, annoyed, before moving to another topic. "Anyways, about our triumph card. This looks like a good opportunity to use it if things go bleak for us."
"Yes. However, we won't use it against them." Cú Alter said, gaining an eyebrow lift from Medb.
"Hm?"
"We won't use it against this army in specific." Cú Alter clarified. "You and our troops shall take care of majority of it. And then I come in and finish with whoever is left from their forces. Our triumph card will be used on the other army of theirs up north instead. That way we can avoid having another invasion to our city and end with this war once and for all."
Hearing the explanation, Medb came to agree with him. "Hmmm, sure I guess! That strategy doesn't sound half bad."
"Great. I'll be resting for a few more time before joining you." The spearman said.
"Yeah. yeah, no worries. Leave it to me." Medb said, arranging her hair.
"And one more thing..."
"What?"
"Squish them like you always do, got it?" Cú Alter said with a normal smile on his face.
"Cú..." But on the eyes of the Queen of Connacht, she saw his smile as a gentle and passionate one, the face of a romantic lover that truly loved her.
"Uuuh, just thinking how he smiled and praised me...Ah! I'm so lost! So so lost for him!" Medb blushed, bringing her hands to her own face as her mind kept fantasizing about Cú Alter, utterly excited and in love with those thoughts.
Mash and Nala stared at their enemy like she had a screw loose.
"Humm, is she under a curse or something?" Nala asked to Mash, finding Medb's behaviour weird.
"I don't think so." Mash replied before speaking to Medb. "Is everything alright with you?"
"Mmhmm...Cú...Cú, Cú, Cú-eh?" Medb stopped her fantasies as she heard Mash talking to her, snapping out of it. "I-I didn't say this out loud now, did I?"
"Recorded and everything!" Nala mocked her, causing Medb to blush from embarassment.
"You didn't see nor saw shit here!" Medb yelled, furious. "And if you did, I'll knock your heads until your forget it!"
Back to the battle of the North Army, Li Shuwen and Edison were still attempting to defeat Beowulf.
"Yah!" Jumping, the martial artist thrusted his knee on the norse king's chin, proceeding to deliver a dozen punches on the enemy's chest, each one hitting like a bullet.
"Grargh!" Refusing to back down, Beowulf punched back Li Shuwen on his torso before shifting his attention to Edison, blocking his uppercut and hitting the inventor in the head with his iron club. The resistence of Beowulf was commandable, having been fighting two servants for several hours and still standing. Never he had a challenge like that before. "C'mon! Bring more! I'm ready for it!"
"What a bastard!" Edison didn't liked the way Beowulf was still inciting them to attack him, seeing it as a provocation. But as he was getting up...
"Go and rest." Li Shuwen told to the inventor. "I'll solely take it from here now."
"Are you sure of it?" Edison asked him, a bit reluctant.
"I say the same as the lion head over there!" Beowulf speaked. "Do you still have enough energy left to fight against me alone? Is that what you want? Well, you better have something up your sleeve then!"
"Careful what you wish for." Li Shuwen said, closing his left hand in a fist. "I'll show you, the secret technique of the Bajiquan!"
Many of the buildings were beggining to collapse inside the city as the battle waged on, with neither army taking a step back.
"Blessing of Martial Arts!"
"Human Comprehension!"
Rama and Nightingale continued to fought back against the shadow servants and celtic soldiers that would appear surround them, defeating the enemies one by one.
"How are you feeling?" Nightingale asked to Rama while close to him, wanting to check if everything was alright.
"Better than ever. Way more than being carried around in a sack." Rama joked a bit.
"It wasn't that awful, was it?" Nightingale asked, thinking back to that period.
More up ahead, Mash and Nala were still fighting against Medb, who was managing to fight back against the two.
Swirling her whip around, Medb descended it on Nala, who blocked it two times before dodging it on the third one and sprinted torwards Medb, almost slashing her on the stomach if Medb hadn't blocked it by using her own heel to clash with Nala's sword. As the two tried to break the defense of one another, Mash quickly came in, launching her shield at Medb, forcing the celtic queen to dodge, getting a scrap on her leg.
"Queen's Substance!"
Medb healed herself a bit before swinging her whip at Nala who tried to approach her. Having a bit of a plan, Medb slightly changed the trajectory of her weapon, catching Nala off guard and hitting her in one of her knees.
"Gyaah!" Nala let out a small cry of pain as she forcefully kneeled down, with a wound on her damaged knee.
"And now for the big one!" Medb exclaimed, swinging her whip again, this time going torwards Nala's head, giving her almost no time to react properly.
"!" However, Mash put herself in front of her friend, taking the direct hit of the whip in her face, splattering some blood in the ground.
"Mash!" Nala yelled, seeing the brutal attack Mash took for her.
"G...ghg..! I'm alright Nala...I'm alright!" Mash said, initially a bit dizzy as some blood run down her face before regaining back her balance. "This won't stop me!"
"Pff! You're such a loser, aren't you?" Medb said to Mash with a smirk on her face.
"Huh?"
" 'This won't stop me!' Can you be any more generic than that?" Medb begun to mock the shielder. "Hell! Even your looks scream out loser! I bet you are one of those girls that are socially isolated from everyone for how boring it must be to hang out with! I bet you don't even have the courage to ask a boy out or kiss him, instead prefering to be alone doing what loser girls use to do!" She shamed Mash, provoking her.
"..." The shielder didn't respond, looking to the ground instead. A big part of her knew Medb was just spewing non sense in order to mess with her. But, she also feared that what Medb was saying could have some little truth to it. She never wanted to be perceived by her friends and everyone else at Chaldea as someone boring despite her nice and polite behaviour. But what if that was the case?
"You shut up! You don't know a thing about Mash!" Nala immediatly defended her friend, with Mash taking out her sight from the ground. "You are absolutely wrong about her! Mash is one of the most cool and awsome persons I was ever friends with!"
"Nala..." Mash murmured behind the younger girl.
"Says who? The annoying gremlin brat that is much likely her only friend?" Medb replied.
"She has more than just me! And even if I was Mash's only friend, I bet that would still be higher than the number of friends you ever had in your life!" Nala responded back, making a visible vein appear on Medb's head.
"And? What gives? I have lots of men to keep me entertained!" Medb replied, her trying to maintain her smirk.
"Wow! Big accomplishment that must be! If you never got a stable relationship with a single one of them, that makes you the loser here!" Nala exclaimed, completely removing the smirk of Medb's face, replacing it with a irritated look, shattering her superiority.
"Grrr!"
"You probably say how much men love you and yada-yada! But if there is one pink haired girl here that deserves all the love you get and then some more, that girl is Mash!" Nala declared loud and clear, making Mash blush a bit.
"I- I think you are exageratting a bit now..." She whispered, deep down happy to see her friend defending her.
Medb on the other hand was absolutely furious, with Nala having managed to rage her. "YOU LITTLE BIG- I'LL SHUT YOU UP!" She yelled, creating a magecraft circle and putting it on the ground. "Now you're plain dead!" Medb, said having summoned a bull that begun a loud and shireking grunt, the soundwaves having a large reach.
"Gngh! It's too loud!" Nala said, covering her ears.
"This could make someone deaf!" Mash added, doing the same.
More behind, Nightingale and Rama were also perturbed by the loud noises of Medb's bull.
"Ghg! What unbearable sound is this?!" Rama said, trying to concentrate.
"It has to be the one of the worst cases of sound pollution I've ever-!" Gasping, the nurse noticed a shadow servant right on her side, catching her off guard as it swing its sword torwards her head and-
"Nightingale!" Rama yelled out loud for his ally, his scream having caught the attention of both Mash and Nala.
"That was Rama!"
"What is he screami-" Widening her eyes in terror, Mash spotted an arm on the ground, as the nurse's body stood up, with the weapon of the shadow servant having pierced one of her eyes, her arm having been cut off. "N-Nightingale-san!"
"No!"
Both Mash and Nala shouted in horror, having seen one of their companion's suffering a brutal injury, even fatal.
Medb laughed at seeing that. "Hahahaha! Take that you morons! This is what happens when you mess with me! You all follow up ne-"
"...This...is nothing..!"
"Huh?" Medb stopped laughing as she heard a voice.
Supporting the pain and with her remaining arm, Nightingale grabbed the shadow servant's sword, struggling to pull it out from her eye. "This is nothing..." Taking a deep furious breath, Nightingale cleenched her teeth as she finally removed the sword from her face, having overpowered the shadow servant. "Compared to all the suffering from those soldiers!" She yelled, the face of someone with a strong and unhinged will, showing that the nurse was more alive than ever. "I don't mind losing an arm or an eye if it means all my patients live!"
"Nightingale-san!"
"Nightingale!"
Mash and Nala were both hugely relieved in seeing that the nurse had survived.
Rama looked at Nightingale in pure awe. "Berserkers really are hard to kill..."
Medb stared in despair at the still breathing nurse. "H-How the hell did she survived that?! She's gotta be a savage! There's no other way!"
Grabbing her pistol, Nightingale shot the shadow servant in the face, killing it. She then, with adrenaline pumping in, ripped off the braid of her hair and used it as an improved collar to stop the bleeding of her missing arm and then used some bandage and applied it on herself in the face, covering her missing eye. Nightingale gained a more war-like appearence with that and her now short hair. "And for that, we have to treat of the illness!" She gave a scaring stare at Medb with her only available now, sending the most chilling shivers down the celtic queen's spine.
"Angel's Cry!"
Nightingale casted a spell to both Mash and Nala. "You two! Go get that job done!"
"Aye aye head nurse!" Nala replied, also feeling the adrenaline and hope Nightingale transfered to both her and Mash.
"Understood it!" Mash said before looking back at Medb. "You're going down here!"
Having started to lose her cool, Medb begun to wildly swing her whip, trying to hit the two. She had lost the control of the situation. "You get the hell away from me, you losers!"
Perfectly dodging all of the attacks, Mash used her shield to block one of them as Nala stood behind her before the two girl grabbed hands. "Go get her, Nala!"
Medb immediatly lifted the grail in her hand in panic. "Screw it! I'm using it ri-" But whatever she had in mind was stopped as Mash launched Nala torwards her, the girl powerfully cutting Medb on the arm holding the grail and in the abdomen. "Blegrhg!" Coughing blood from her mouth, Medb however didn't fall to the ground, still having energy inside of her. "You!" In ire, Medb stared at Nala, descending her whip onto her.
"Air Step!"
Nala fastly evaded all of the attacks of Medb's whip. However, the celtic queen was throwing her weapon so violently and randomly, that it managed to hit Nala's back by luck, sending her to the ground. "Agh!"
With the opponent down, Medb quickly begun to kick her body, having lost all her princess posture as she wanted to kill Nala as quickly as possible. "Die you fucking little bitch! Die! Die! Di-"
"Enough!" Mash shouted with anger, punching Medb in the face. "Get away from my friend!" She shouted, punching Medb again, this time on the stomach, sending the celtic queen crushing into a building nearby.
"Ghghg!" Getting up from the debris with all of her body hurting, Medb saw Mash running torwards her, preparing her shield to deliver the final blow. However, Medb anticipated to her, hitting Mash on the torso with her whip.
"Ah!" The shielder let out a small yelp as she fell to the down from the burning pain after the impact. As she tried to get up, Medb swinged her whip again, this time curling it around Mash's neck, beggining to choke her. "Ggrgh-arghhgrhrr!" Mash dropped her shield by instict as she attempted to remove Medb's whip with her hands.
"Quiet!" Medb shouted, doing a hard tug on her whip, tightening more around Mash's neck, the shielder beggining to plead for air. "You know, hehehehe, I might have some uses for you and your body." Medb giggled, her sadistic mind already going places. "A chair, a table, so many things that I could use you for-"
"Back off!" Nala exclaimed, being her turn to come to her friend's rescue as with a swift swing of her sword, she cut off Medb's whip, freeing Mash from it and allowing her to breath again.
"T-Thanks Nala!" Mash said to her, coughing a bit.
"I owed you one!" Nala smiled to Mash before looking back at Medb. "Time to end this!"
Staring furiously, Medb called her bull, the animal putting itself in front of her, targetting Nala. "Agreed! I've grown so sick of you! So go and die already, you brat!" Medb shouted sending her bull to tackle Nala.
And in that moment, the girl closed her eyes and took a breath.
"Focus. A fundamental in battle."
"Oh oh? The secret technique of Bajiquan? That new. Do show me then!"
Beowulf told to Li Shuwen, anticipating for what was coming.
"Hm. With pleasure." Li Shuwen smiled a bit before before closing his eyes.
"Temperament. The path to balance."
The bull was still charging torwards Nala. However, she remained calm.
"A single point. Unmoving to the wind."
"O-Oi! You there! Wait! You still haven't teached me enough!"
Beowulf put both his weapons in a defensive position. "Eh. Let's see what you-hm?" The norse king was surprised by what he saw next. Li Shuwen had discarded his spear.
Edison looked at martial artist with some confusion. "He isn't going to use his spear to attack?"
Robin, Elizabeth and Helena were also watching, trying to figure out what would happen next.
"What's his plan here?" Robin asked.
"It's the reference. Concentrate everything in that reference."
"I'll teach you more tomorrow! Be patient, will you?"
The bull got closer to Nala.
"Nala! You have to move away!" Mash told the girl, seeing her standing still.
Medb smirked at seeing that. "Eh. Too scared to run away! Well, be trample then!"
"A stalwart posture."
"But I want to learn something more now! Please, teahc me more!"
"A weight of a mountain"
"Eeh, you really won't let me be. Do you? You're resilient, I give you that."
"Dividing the skies."
"I know! Just tell me a technique that allows me to become stronger!"
"Splitting the oceans."
"A technique. Well, I do know one. But there is a bit of a problem with it."
"One blow..."
"What is it?"
"...for one enemy."
"I'm trying to get the geist of it."
"HM!"
Opening her eyes in a flash, Nala's blade turned into pure light within a second.
"What a-"
Sprinting, Nala not only slashed Medb's bull horizontally in half but also all of the buildings in the surrounding area.
"HM!"
With a single step, Li Shuwen dashed at Beowulf, with his two fists closed.
"Juezhao!"
With his left hang glowing a red aura, the martial artist broke Beowulf's defense like it was paper, surprisng the norse king.
"What?!"
"Aaaaaaaah, Medb!"
Shouting at the top of her lungs, Nala charged at an incredible velocity torwards Medb, the celtic queen putting her arms in front of her face in instict.
"W-WAI-"
And Li Shuwen's right hand glowed a golden aura, aiming it at Beowulf's chest.
"No Second Strike: Wu Er Da!"
And upon contact, Li Shuwen's deadly fist obliterated the entire rib cage inside Beowulf.
"Berghg!"
CRACK!
That was the sound Medb's skull made once Nala headbutted her with all the raw strenght and intensity she could, completely knocking the conscious out of Medb.
"A...h...ah...B-But Cú...I...t..ought..." It was all Medb said as her eyes went blank and she collapsed on the ground uncoscious. The grail also fell, rolling away from her hand.
Edison, Robin, Elizabeth and Helena all stared with great amazement, speechless of the way Li Shuwen abruptly resolved the fight that had been happening for hours.
Even Beowulf was surprised, not understanding what he had just taken.
"It's done. The battle is over." Li Shuwen proclaimed, steam coming out from his right hand.
"Ergh!" On the ground, Nala rubbed her head in pain. "Ow ow ow! I should have thought better when doing this..." She said to herself. "That cut however...It felt more powerful than any of my attacks before. Like that time with the Leviathan. Could it be..."
"Nala!" Mash runned torwards her friend. "Are you okay? Nothing was hurt?"
"Nope. Just some possible headache I gue-humph!?" The girl got cut short as Mash hugged her out of nowhere.
"Thank you for saying those things. And defeating Medb." The shielder said, a happy smile on her face.
"Oh please Mash. You really think I would let that stupid slander you like that?" Nala smiled back at her. "Plus, you also defeated Medb, didn't you?"
"Heh. Yeah." Mash nodded to her friend.
Shortly after, Nightingale and Rama appeared.
"Mash! Nala! How are you?" Rama asked the two girls. "The shadow servants stopped attacking us and dissapeared! Does that mean-"
"Yes, we defeated her. And we are alright, thank you Rama-san." Mash responded him.
"Then how about Medb herself?" Nightingale made another question.
Nala pointed to her uncoscious body. "Right there and completely out of comission." She then stared at the nurse's body and her missing arm. "Hey, do you-"
"No worries. I'll get used to it." Nightingale smiled to her, not wanting Nala to be worried with the state of her body.
"We should focus on finding the other two." Rama speaked, reminding Nala and Mash of the other two members that were missing.
"Master! Peko!"
"Hmm..nghn...nmgmh..."
"Fou...Fou..."
"Nhgh...F-Fou..?"
Slowly recovering his conscious, Ritsuka woke up to find himself near the debris of the falling building that ended up crashing Medb's chariot. Looking around, the master of humanity spotted Fou to his left, trying to wake up Peko who had his body stuck under some wreckage. "Peko-ergh?!" Looking down, Ritsuka saw one of his legs stuck under some debries. "Great." Ritsuka grumbled a bit before starting to pull out the leg from there, kicking the wreckage away with his other leg.
"Fou fou!" Fou looked to be more lively than he was some moments ago.
Finally freeing himself, Ritsuka rushed torwards Peko, beggining to take the boy out of the debris. "Peko! Wake up! Wake up Peko!"
"Nghng..." Only waking up now and feeling a bit dizzy, Peko's vision and mind couldn't quite see it right Ritsuka's figure, mistaking him for someone else. "D-Dad..?"
With some 'help' of Fou, Ritsuka managed to take his friend out of the wreckage. "Peko! It's Ritsuka! Wake up!"
"R-Ritsuka..?" Fully getting back to his senses, Peko saw his friend, Fou and the destoyed building in front of them. "W-What happened?!"
"A falling building. Remember?" Ritsuka told him.
"Oh...we really did that." Peko replied, remembering it. "Ah! What about Nala and Mash? You think they are alright?"
"I hope so." Ritsuka said. "They must be fighting Medb now. We have to hurry and-grgh!"
"Ritsuka! Your leg!" Peko exclaimed, noticing a wound on his friend's leg.
"I-It's nothing. I'll patch it up real quick." Ritsuka said, healing his own leg while Peko and Fou watched.
"See? Good as ne-ugh!" Ritsuka felt a short but annoying pain on his leg as he tried to get up, showing that even if the wound was healed, the bone was still hurting.
"Want some help?" Peko asked to Ritsuka, offering his hand while Fou went to the top of the boy's head.
"Sure thing." Ritsuka replied, letting Peko put his arm over the boy's shoulder, the two starting to walk as they were looking to regroup with the rest of their army.
The area was silent and absent of any people around. Even enemies weren't found as both the two boys and Fou wandered in the streets. Thins were quiet. But in a good sense, allowing Ritsuka and Peko to have some tranquility.
"Hey Peko."
"Hm?"
"Why did you called me dad when I was taking you out of that wreckage?" Ritsuka asked to the boy, having noticed that detail.
"I...really don't know. Guess I was kinda dreaming." Peko told him. "But remembering it correctly, it felt more like a nightmare. Everything was dark. I couldn't breath nor I could move. I felt like my body was being squished by a mountain. It was terrible." He shared the experience. "But then I heard someone calling my name out in the distance. The sound of it, I don't know why but it reminded me of my dad. And then a light appeared in the middle of the void and...I guess that it was you who was taking me out of the wreckage. And I mistook you for him."
"It must have been some type of hallucination your brain was having while not fully awake then." Ritsuka replied. "It would have been nice if it was actually your dad, wouldn't it?"
"Surely. That'd be great." Peko said before smilling to Ritsuka. "But I think the real outcome wasn't bad. I felt I was saved by my big brother instead."
Ritsuka smiled at hearing that. "And what a great big brother you have!" He laughed a bit, patting Peko's hair.
"H-Hey! Stop with that!" Peko also laughed, with Fou jumping from his head to his shoulder.
As the two walked a bit more, another conversation popped up.
"Ritsuka, can I be the one making you a question now?" Peko asked him.
"Sure. Go ahead." Ritsuka replied.
"How do you feel about all this? Can we win against Cú Alter?" Peko made the question.
"At every day of the week!" Ritsuka responded, sure of himself. "What about you?"
"Felling that we can do it more than ever!" Peko replied. "I'm fully sure of it now!"
"That's great." Ritsuka responded, before seeing a small group of people up ahead. "Hey! That's..."
"Nala! Mash!" Peko exclaimed, seeing the two alongside Nightingale and Rama, who also caught sight of them.
"Peko! Ritsuka!" Nala said back as she and the rest went torwards them. "You guys are fine!"
"Glad to see you well too, Fou." Mash speaked to the animal on Peko's shoulder.
"Fou fou!"
"Nightingale! Your arm!" Ritsuka saw the missing arm on the nurse's body as well as the bandage covering one of her eyes.
"W-What happened?" Peko asked, shocked at Nightingale's injuries.
"Unlucky things when in battle. I'm fine however. Don't need to worry about it." Nightingale said to the two.
"Medb's been defeated and so is her army in this city." Rama revealed them. "With that, the only one remaining is Cú Alter."
"That's great! It means we can finally have the grail back!" Peko commented, happily to hear that.
"So Medb is no more?" Ritsuka asked.
"Kinda. She has been left uncoscious but is still there." Nala answered. "Let's go back to the place." She said, the small group, now reunited, about to go back to the location.
"General Rama! General Nightingale! Bad News!"
A soldier appeared on the street, running torwards them, seeming distressed.
"Hum? What is it?" Rama asked him.
"It's about the queen of the Celtic Empire, Medb. She dissapeared alongside the grail!"
That revelation was unpleasent to the group, leaving them perplexed.
"What?!" Nightingale exclaimed.
"Medb is no longer there? But how?" Mash was in disbilief.
"We ordered you to guard and keep Medb under watch until we came back! How could she have dissapeared?" Rama demanded an answer.
"I-I know! It's just, we where there surrounding her, then we looked away from a brief second and when we went to look back she was gone!"
"That's awful!" Ritsuka commented.
"You can bet it is! We let her and the grail escape from us!" Nala protested, a bit upset.
"Let's calm ourselves! There isn't any place here in the city Medb could have fleed to except one. And I think we all know where." Peko said, reaching to a clear option alongside the rest.
"The White House!" Ritsuka speaked, thinking that of the only place Medb could have went. "Cú Alter must definetly be there as well!"
"Then we must hurry and go there!" Mash said.
"Wait a moment now." Nightingale told the chaldeans to have calm. "With those wounds you won't."
"Nurse of Steel!"
Casting her spell, Nightingale healed all four of them from any big injury they might could have. "Now we are indeed ready for it."
Ritsuka appreciated the act alongside the rest of team Chaldea. "Thanks Nightingale."
But before they could proceed, a group of celtic soldiers and shadow servants appeared from the corners and alleys, quickly trying to surround them.
"More of them?!" Nala exclaimed.
"Medb must be summoning her minions again to stop us from reaching to the White House!" Rama said, slashing down some enemies in front of him. "You four go! Me and Nightingale will stay behind to help the army fight the enemies back!" He ordered to the chaldeans.
Peko tried to oppose it. "But-"
"No time for that! Do as he said!" Nightingale speaked, punching and kicking down more enemies. "This country and humanity's fate is at the brink of collapse! We shouldn't be wasting this opportunity arguing if someone stays or not!"
Understanding that time was running short, Ritsuka nodded to the nurse. "Right! Good luck then!" He said, leaving the scene alongside the rest of his team, leaving Rama and Nightingale behind as they fought against the troops of opponents.
"Same goes for you." Rama smiled as he gave a glance to the group in the distance before slashing down another enemy.
On the entrance of the White House, a giant red replica statue of Gáe Bolg stood, giving it a new look to the building alongside other new decorations that were added of celtic aesthetic.
And in front of that giant spear, Cú Alter waited patiently, having already known what happened at the city's entrance. As he was sitting next to the giant replica of his spear, the fearsome spearman heard some footsteps in the distance. Lifting up his head, he saw the group that came here, wanting to end with him and his empire.
Walking all in line, the four members of Chaldea entered the building's entrance, all staring at their enemy with a silent but remarkable determination in the eyes of each one of them. They were ready to kill him just like Cú Alter was ready to do the same to them. It was here that the last battle of the war would take place. The one where it would dictate wether America would prevail or be lost forever, replaced by its celtic invaders, and with it, the entire human civilization.
Cú Alter smirked to his opponents. "You've come quite far, I must admit."
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 89!
Medb is down and so is Beowulf! Which means the one and only bad left, is the big bad of this Singularity, Cú Alter! Next chapter...ohohoh the thing I have in mind for the next chapter...and it will also be kinda of a celebration because next one I think it will release a day or two after this fic makes its 2nd anniversary. Like, wow guys, two years of this. But I won't dwelve deep into this topic, I'll leave it for next chapter when the 2nd anniversary happens.
And I hope I made the two battles of this chapter somewhat appealing and intresting, specially that part of Nala and Li Shuwen taking out their respective opponents kinda at the same time. Like, in my mind I had this vision of seeing both their wins happen in a simultaneous way, so I hope I was able to bring that sensation in a literary way.
But anyways! That's all I wanted to say and see you next time on chapter 90! Peace!
P.S:
Peko: Another whole fiasco, another new job (sighs) Well, at least I'm working at Queen Burger this time. Like, what's the probability of being fired from a fast-food job?
Cú Chulainn: Hey, rookie! Stop monologuing to yourself and start making the orders! Clients are hungry!
Peko: S-Sure! (Starts cooking the burgers) Anyways...(Looks at Astolfo on his left)...what exactly are you doing here Astolfo?
Astolfo: I'm a great mascot that boosts popularity!
Faust: Lucky you I guess...
Peko: Faust?! You're also working here?
Faust: I am. And lemme guess why you're also here. Need to pay rent?
Peko (nods sadly): I sure am. (Ends up accidentaly colliding with other two workers)
Castor: Ah dammit! Look at where you going fool!
Pollux: Are you okay Big Bro?
Peko: THE DIOSCURI?! YOU'RE HERE?!
Castor: What?! You're also here brat?! (Summons his weapon alongside Pollux) This time, we shall show you who's-
Peko (yells): Aaah, enough of that dumb crap already! Look, I will not come up with the 'we are all family here' speech or other type of lame thing! What I'll say, is that every single one of us here, is having a rough moment in their lives right now. And each one of us, wants to get out of that, don't we? Then, instead of spending the day moaning and lamenting about how shitty the situations are for us to be working here, let's do our very best and put effort into this so that we can no longer have to spent any other day in this miserable job! Who's with me?
Everyone else (Feels moved): Yeah! That's the spirit! Well said! Well said! Let's do our best then!
Peko: That's right! We will make through this! Aren't we, Castoria?
Castoria (Smoking her 30th cigarette with huge bags under her eyes): ...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMOOOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! (Takes out pipe bomb) GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD!
Everyone else (panics): W-Wait! Don't do tha-