Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 116 of the story! And you know what I've been hating as of lately? Receiving spams in my PM from supposed 'artists' whose accounts on this site have only been created 5-6 months ago max and offer to do comission artwork of my stories. The problem? The messages are written in the most predictable bot'ish' way possible!
It's always 'wOw, I'm aN ArtIst aND i JuST wAnT tO sAy yOUr StoRy iS sUch aN amAZing wORk tHat InsPiRes mY aRt. WouLD You-' Bitch, which fucking story of mine are you talking about?! It's that at the moment I'm writting two and have done other more! Like, what aspect of my work inspires you exactly? The writting, the characters, the dialogue? Just anything more deep to say than 'incredible story that motivates me'? Really, it genuinely made me gain some disgust for these kind of spam messages. If you wanna fool me, at least try to type a more concessive message and organic message about my stories than the shallowest of praises ever imaginable. At this point I just sigh knowing that when I receive a PM, 95% it's a spam/bot message.
To any possible artists/amateur artists that might be seeing this, no jab at you in general. It's your passion drawing and many of you definetly put effort and a lot of hard work in trying to make a career for yourselves out of what you love. But to those artists that, if they even exist, do only know how to sent spam and bot messages to my PM's and have links to profiles that were much clearly done haphazardly and with little art to show, you're A): an obvious scammer, or B): A lazy artist that is trying to promote themselves in the lamest ways possible. If I want comissions done to my stories I myself will look for certified artists to ask to, thank you.
A problem as of late that this site should be resolving it.
But anyways, with that said, let's go!
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
"And so with the ten thousand unit of my men in your army, you shall flank the Holy City by the west side of their wall in a way that catches the enemy off guard." Ozymandias told to the group.
Hours later after having defeated the two pharaohs of the sun kingdom and convince Ozymandias to form an alliance with the party and give them all of his army for the upcoming battle against the Lion King, the Sun King had Nitocris summon a golden table with a circular lapiz lazuli embedded in it, resulting in a hologramic 3D showing of the Holy City made of sand particles so that they could all discuss and put on a strategy to invade the Lion King's territory.
"There will more thank likely be a good number of archer soldier knights at the top of the walls. There always is. At least twenty of them." Lancelot mentioned that detail as he too was at the reunion, having been informed of the successful formed alliance shortly after the group had defeated Ozymandias and Nitocris. "Once they spot us charging torwards the wall, they will fire anything at us. We will have to training and organize the movements of our troops and chavelry in order to not lose a great percentage of our men. I hope the Sun King's troops are able to learn it in time."
"Worry not, knight. I promised you my best trainers and beast tamers, and so I shall give you my best trainers and beast tamers." Ozymandias responded to Lancelot. "In no time and under the right instructions, my men will also be at your command." The pharaoh smirked, proceeding to look at Arthur. "It surprises me that the one leading the army as its general won't be you, King of Knights."
"I opted that it is for the best. Lancelot's knights have rebelled against their own king Arthur, so it wouldn't be fitting for them to be led by another one." Arthur justified his choice of the Knight of the Lake's role in the battle. "As well as considering they are more likely to follow Lancelot's commands than mine. While my legendary status can be a good boost on our side's morale, my main role won't be of a leading man." He said, his mind thinking majorily on another goal. "If anything, I'm sure one of the three Beasts will show up during the conflict to stir more chaos."
"It is an honour that king Arthur is leaving that position to me. Altough I do not find myself more proper to that function than king Arthur, for everyone's sake here, I shall deliver my job with efficiency!" Lancelot replied politely to Arthur. "And put a stop to Agravain and his schemes!"
"We should also take into account that the Lion King will much likely come to know about the final battle." Da Vinci spoke, bringing up that important factor. "With all the recruitment and mobilization that we're doing to from an army, it will certainly cause some of her reconaissance patrol to find it suspicious and report it to her."
"Lancelot's absence and lack of response to the Holy City will also be a big raise on their suspicions that something is happening." Peko added. "So the element of surprise here will be nearly null as they will be expecting us to attack."
"But they do not know when will we attack." Sanzang told to the boy. "Just because we know a tree has fruits, it does not mean we know which ones are rotten and which aren't. We can still surprise them a bit if we pick a good time to attack."
"It may not give us the most unexpected of attacks but as long it makes our army take a huge advance torwards the city without suffering much losses in the process..." Mash commented about it, analyzing the hologramic map on the table.
Nitocris begun doing some counting and calculations. "Humm...time for training and organizing the troops...Setting up the tactics...Checking the units and arsenal...I propose that the preparation gap of three days for your final confrontation with the Lion King! It is the perfect amount to give you time for practice and strategize as well as not allowing the Holy City's suspicions to raise higher and give them as much of a time to preapre as us! What does it sound to you?"
"Hmm, three days. Not too much nor too little." Nala replied, giving her opinion. "With the current conditions of this Singularity, I believe we cannot postpone it further than that. The Lion King and her plans need to be stop as soon as possible!"
Nitocris nodded in agreement. "What the rest of you think? Three days, not counting with today of course."
Ritsuka put a thumb on his chin, giving it some thought. "Like Nala said, when looking to the genral scenario of the Singularity...Yeah. It will have to be three days. No more nor less." The master of humanity then looked to the others of his team, also wanting to know their opinion. "What about you guys?"
"It will have to be so." Da Vinci replied. "We can take a break here for the rest of today and then depart for the hidden village early by tomorrow's morning in order to give the good news to the rest and begin the preparation for the final battle. So yes, three days it is."
"Same opinion here." Peko gave his own answer.
"Can't think of any better option." Mash also said. "I think we're all on the same page here."
"Then it is settled! Three days it is!" Arthur announced.
"Since you're staying here, I'll order my men to organize some guest bedrooms for you all." Ozymandias responded, closing the discussion. "Nitocris, do please pass the order."
"Understood, my king." Nitocris replied as she was ready to leave the room in order to issue Ozymandias command.
Before she could leave however, Ritsuka gave a glance to Peko. "Isn't there something you should ask them, Peko?"
Peko stared at Ritsuka a bit confused. "What do you mean?"
"The document, dummy!" Nala remembered it to her brother, giving him a slap on the shoulder.
"Ah! T-That's right!" Peko exclaimed, having been reminded. "P-Pharaoh Ozymandias! Nitocris! Wait a moment! There's still something I would like to show you!" He told to the two egyptian servants, gaining both attentions before they could leave.
"What is it that you seek to show us, young man?" Ozymandias turned around to stare at Peko and his group approach him as Nitocris also walked back.
"By the sound of your voice, it seems to be extremely important." Nitocris added, both her and Ozymandias seeing Peko removing an item from his pocket.
"Here! This document." Peko told them as he show the piece of paper to the two. "We ended up finding it on Atlas Institute. The letters written in it...We deduce that you might know what they mean." He said, handing the piece of paper to Ozymandias so that he and Nitocris could see its content.
Both pharaohs gave a heedful look, finding the letters written and the stamp symbol to be very curious, heaving up their interest.
"Hmm, how atypical fascinating." Ozymandias commented.
"Were you able to decipher it?" Da Vinci asked him, having gained a little expectation alongside the other chaldeans.
"Not really. Never in my life have I seen this sort of writting. Not even in the sacred texts of the House of Life institutions during my years as a young scholar." Ozymandias responded, much to the chaldeans slight displeasure. "And what about you Nitocris? Any clue to what it could possibly say?"
Nitocris gave the document another look again. "From what I can observe, the letters of this writting seem to have a bit of a resemblance to those languages from Mesopotamia." She said.
"We came to that conclusion to when we first found it." Mash told her. "And since Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were two places that were geographically close and ocurred at about the same time period, we wondered if either you or Ozymandias-san could comprehend what's written on it."
"Honestly, even if I was Thoth myself, I would have an hard time to be able to figure what's the meaning behind this document." Nitocris said with a sad frown. "Sorry, but it seems neither of us know what this text of a document means."
"So you say this document may be original from Mesopotamia hm?" Ozymandias speaked, his eyes looking cynic. "Can that really be true?"
"Why do you say it like that?" Ritsuka asked to Ozymandias, noticing the pharaoh skepticism.
"Because, if the writting is from a language of that area, then there's something wrong with it." Ozymandias pointed out. And altough the group couldn't grasp what was wrong with it exactly at first, Da Vinci was quick to realize it.
"It's the fact that it is written on paper!" The italian inventor responded, figuring it out. "If this document truly came from Mesopotamia, then it would be written in clay tables and not paper!"
"Exactly." Ozymandias confirmed it. "The culture writting of those people was always craved in clay, as paper itself had yet to be invented. And altough this paper does look ancient, its material doesn't look to have been made out of papyrus like majority of our egyptian documents were, thus it also couldn't much likely be a mesopotamian that wrote it while in Egypt. This document's existence is a true mystery that perhaps not even the Eye of Horus would uncover its truth."
"Then we truly have no clue on what this document is saying. How great..." Nala sighed in dissapointment, seeing that neither Ozymandias nor Nitocris could help them on it.
Nitocris however, tried to cheer her up and the chaldeans almost immediatly. "Do not lose hope on it! This doesn't necessarily means that the document isn't from Mesopotamia! Remember that the region had a lot of tribes and civilizations apart from the most famous ones, being one full of mystery during the Age of Gods! Perhaps there existed an unregistered or lesser known civilization from Mesopotamia that already had paper and its usage for writting purposes."That hypothesis from her made the others think about it.
"Given the fact that the culture of Mesopotamia was rediscovered only less than two hundred years ago, there's indeed a chance that some smaller cultures from that region haven't been found yet." Mash rationalized. "So what Nitocris-san is saying might hold some truth!"
"That and how long of a time period Mesopotamia was. Being one that extended through thousands of ages, it isn't unthinkable that this document may have been written at a certain point in time beetween that period." Da Vinci told to the group. "Perhaps the people that this document belonged to a language derivative from the sumerian."
"Even then, that implies that the only possible way to decode this document then is going to Mesopotamia or talking with someone from there." Peko said, a bit contained on his hopes. "I doubt that will ever be the case."
"Hope is the last one to die, Peko." Ritsuka told him. "We can't be sure when there's still a Singularity left!"
"Well, what would be the chances if that last one where to be in Mesopotamia?" Peko replied, thinking it would be highly improbable. But seeing how Ritsuka was sounding optimistic about it and that it was his and Nala's past that was at stake here, the boy couldn't help but smile anyways. "But maybe you're right. Hope really is the last one to die. So let's hope and see!"
"Discovering what this document means seems to be very fundamental to you, is it not?" Ozymandias talked to Peko, seeing how invested the boy was on it.
"It is indeed." Peko replied to the Sun King. "If we end up unraveling its text, me and my sister may finally discover and remember our past!"
"Remember your past?" Nitocris looked puzzled to Peko.
"Me and him can't remember a thing from our past nor our lives before joining Chaldea." Nala explained to both Ozymandias and Nitocris. "Amnesia stuff. It's the worst. Hope you don't ever have it."
"Oh. I get it now." Ozymandias speaked, now having the context for why the chaldeans wanted to know so much what was written on the document besides sheer curiosity. "If that's the case, then I hope you get to unveil your past once more. No child should be unware of their origins." He said with a smile, patting both Peko and Nala's heads.
"That sounded extremly compassionate from him." Ritsuka noted mentaly, not expecting for Ozymandias to have this more warmly side of his.
"Let it be known that from here onwards, you shall have the blessing of the God-King, Ramses II, to accompany you on your journey!" Ozymandias exclaimed, wishing for the twins to succeed on their finding.
"...God-King..?" Nala replied back befuddled, as if her mind didn't quite heard what Ozymandias titled himself as.
"Is something wrong, Nala?" Mash asked her.
"N-Not really. It's just...someone can be a god and a king at the same time?" Nala questioned, genuinely addled. "Isn't that sort of confusing?"
"Yeah. I also think it doesn't make much sense technically." Peko also expressed his confusion. "Are there any gods that proclaim themselves as kings? And kings that are gods? Isn't those two titles supposed to be exclusive and not mutual? Like, I suppose you're either a king or a god. No in-beetween."
"King Ozymandias here is a special case. He's a pharaoh, and a great one!" Nitrocris told to Peko. "And great pharaohs are usually seen as deity by the people of Egypt as well, so king Ozymandias can be deemed to be a god too!...And because he is actually conceited." She gave the justification why Ozymandias had the title of God-King, murmuring lowly the actual reason in order for no one to ear it.
"Oh! Is it true? You're also a god then, Ozymandias?" Peko asked with some enthusiasm on his eyes after hearing Nitocris explanation.
Ozymandias couldn't help but to give a prideful smile. "Altough I was born a mortal, it would only be fitting for the greatest of pharaohs to be seen as a deity. So yes, to the people of Egypt, I am their rightful god that chains the earthly realm with the divine! When the sun shines in Egypt, is because of the very own gods admiration and appreciation to my kingdom!"
"And now he's going on a narcissistic tangent..." Da Vinci gave an abashed look as she stepped forward, gently shoving Peko and Nala away, smilling to Ozymandias. "It is great to know that king Ozymandias's legendary status are truly renowned by the words of the pharaoh himself! But if I may be respectable to Your Highness, can we know when our guest rooms will be ready?"
Nitocris also stepped in, putting focus on the important topic in order to Ozymandias let his pride to simmer down a bit. "Ups! We were almost forgetting about that, ahah! Worry not! We will make sure to give you the best accommodations, truly worthy of pharaoh's guests! Ain't that right, king Ozymandias?"
"Aboslutely! Hospitality is also an essential factor of a king's qualities. A pharaoh cannot be satisfy of his own work if other people aren't." Ozymandias responded, a lot less egocentric now. "You're bedrooms will be prepared in no time! Slack well this night because the upcoming days will be of paramount importance, people of Chaldea!"
Ritsuka nodded to Ozymandias. "We will make sure to keep that in mind!"
The night had dropped and as promised, the guest rooms were arranged for the group to spent the evening inside the sun kingdom's temple. While the chaldeans and servants would now spent the time resting or discussing their plans, Ozymandias sat at a small balcony at the very top of the pyramid, gazing down at the entire buildings of the kingdom he had constructed while enjoying the pale and soft brightness of the moonlight.
"I'm here my liége." Nitocris appeared from behind, walking into the balcony. "May I know the reason why king Ozymandias called me here?"
"Good to see that you came, Nitocris." Ozymandias offered a jar of wine to her. "Want some?"
"That is very generous from the king's part, but I politely refuse." Nitocris rejected it with education and respect to her pharaoh.
"Hm. More for me then." Ozymandias let out a contentful chuckle as he poured the wine of the jar into a small but well orned golden cup on the small table he had sat next to. As he poured it down, Ozymandias continued to stare at his kingdom in its entirety.
Nitocris caught that detail. "It's unfortunate how king Ozymandias did a lot to defend and mantain this place as bastion of our culture, only to see that its ending is coming soon. Does that upset you, my king?"
"Despite of being put a lot of labor and magnificence into it, it is no Memphis or Thebes. I've clearly done better in my past life." Ozymandias responded rather passively, drinking the wine. "No matter how grandious kingdoms and cities may appear to have been, they all come to a natural end. The King of Knights was correct when telling me that. I just didn't want to acknowledge it." The Sun King leaned on his chair, still looking to the view while his hand agitated the cup of wine. "And what about you, Nitocris? Are you upset that this is coming to an end?"
"...I don't know. Maybe a part of my heart is." Nitocris admitted with some regret on her face. "The king summoned me with the intent of aiding him on preserving this piece of nation called Egypt. It were months of always fulfilling tasks and guaranteeing the stability and safety of the kingdom. But now that it's going to be inevitably over, I somehow feel as if I failed the original order king Ozymandias entrusted me with." She lamented, not being easy to accept that what she and her pharaoh worked so hard to maintain would now perish. "Worst of it all, is that even if we saved our people from this Singularity's ending, what would we do next? It frustrates me a bit on how we can't change the destiny of this kingdom."
Ozymandias lightfully smirked upon hearing Nitocris express herself fully. "Ironic, isn't it? Even if we are almighty pharaohs, louded by the gods, we remain unable to defy fate. How it makes us feel exposed and impotent."
"Did king Ozymandias ever felt powerless before?" Nitocris asked, seeing how a ruler with such self-esteem as Ozymandias now appeared to be belittling himself.
"As a pharaoh, you do know what we are supposed to represent, Nitocris." Ozymandias begun to respond her. "The chain linking the earthly realm with the heavenly one above. A direct messenger of the gods. The center of the universe when sat on the throne. The Morning and the Evening Star. Egypt itself." The pharaoh numbered before taking another sip from his wine. "We are born in positions of royal and godly power, never once making ourselves wanting to believe to be human. Feeble and meager. And yet...there were two times in my life that I did felt human."
"..." Nitocris stood silent, her mind knowing well what moments in his life Ozymandias was talking about, having gained access to that information through the Throne of Heroes.
Ozymandias continued to stare to the houses of his kingdom, bathed by the moon's presence. It was a moonlight similar to of that night. The one where the entire nation of Egypt woke up in the middle of the evening to liberate the grifiest of woes and wails into the deep blue sky. Ozymandias remembered very well of that night. How could he not to? To remember the cold touch of the deceased skin of his firstborn while carrying his corpse to the altar as the mournful cries of a nation echoed even inside the palace. The child he had put so much hope and care into. How much Nefertari bawled and weeped next to him while holding her son's dead hand.
A tragedy like Egypt had never seen before. The final plague orchestrated by the man who he had once called brother and his god as punishment and payback to Ozymandias. And altough the pharaoh would never come to hate that person, being close to his heart, Ozymandias anger for such brutal act would hardly cease to extinguish. The anger of seeing his child dead. The anger that Moses made him feel impotent and fragile at that moment, with no gods coming to his aid to perform a miracle. The anger of being human.
"Pride can really be either the greatest ally or enemy to oneself eh?" Ozymandias took another gulp of his wine, going back to speak with Nitocris. "Have you also felt human before?"
"I'd say that I had for my entire life, even as my period as pharaoh." Nitocris responded. "But if it is about the emotions the king had just mentioned, I too have felt them before. When...when my brother, the pharaoh prior to me, was assassinated in a conspiracy." She said, remembering that painful event. "I couldn't done nothing to know it nor prevent it. It came to me as a terryfying surprise. I couldn't be there to protect nor defend him from his killers. It was days and weeks restlessly wishing that I had been there. That I might could have changed something!" Nitocris closed her hands into fists. "Unfortunately, it was done and I couldn't do a thing about it. The only thing that there was left for me to do..." With a cold and surly face, she remembered when justice was served. "Was to bring proper retribution on the murderers of my brother."
"Was it truly retribution? Or vengeance desguised as one?" Ozymandias pondered to her. "It can be seen as a form of evil, so I doubt Maat would approve of that. But sincerely, I cannot exactly blame you for it. I deduce many in your position would do the same." The pharaoh rested his elbow on the table and his head on his own hand.
"Even if that would make my heart weigh on the balance and be devoured by Ammit, I want to believe what I did was right." Nitocris admitted, not seeming to show any remorse for the homicide she committed. "Not for my peace, but for the peace of my brother's soul."
Ozymandias chuckled. "That honesty of yours is laudable." Drinking again, the pharaoh finished with the wine, putting the now empty cup on the table. "And sincere advisors are valuable. I am glad that of all the egyptian servants I summoned to be my right hand, you ended up being that person, Nitocris."
Nitocris blushed a bit, flattered by the compliment. "O-Oh?! K-King Ozymandias really thinks so? But I shouldn't be worthy of that praise! I-I tend to be hasty some times! Clumsy even! Is king Ozymandias really okay with that type of counselor? I'm sure there are alot more of other Heroic Spirits who could do a better job than I did!"
"Whether you may think that or not, it does not matter." Ozymandias smiled to her with ego. "What does, is that as a pharaoh, it is my opinion that stands above any other else. And if my opinion is that you, Nitocris, are a good counselor, then it is because you indeed are. Do you understand me?"
Nitocris didn't know what to say, a bit amazed by the approbation she was receiving. Only that for a proclaimed 'boastful' pharaoh, Ozymandias cared immensily for his subordinates. "I do, my king." She smiled to him, nodding her face.
Ozymandias got up from his seat and stood up in front of Nitocris, the moonlight hitting on his back. "Then we shall help the chaldeans as the last act of my will as king."
In the very early morning, when the sun was yet to fully arise on the horizon, the party was already about to be on their way back to the hidden village in the mountains, wanting to arrive there still by today.
"So, this is the last time we're going to see each other." Nitocris speaked to the group, making her goodbyes to them.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us for the final battle, Nitocris-san?" Mash asked to her. "Unlike king Ozymandias, you can actually leave the temple and go beyond the desert."
"I know that your battle against the Lion king is of uttermost importance and I'd also like to help you in the Holy City. However, as king Ozymandias counsellor and right-hand, I cannot leave the pharaoh alone, as I sworn to always stay by his side." Nitocris explained why she was deciding to stay at the sun kingdom. "Also, I need to stay here in order to protect my people in these last days of the Singularity. Whether it be from a surprise attack of The Blight or a Beast."
"Can't exactly argue with that." Peko responded. "If it's your wish to protect your home, then we must respect it."
"Altough we cannot be present, my men and creatures will." Ozymndias talked to the party. "So I want you to make sure that despite they won't be fighting alongside their lord, that they still feel that they were under your leadership!"
"You can count on us to make your men see this cause one worth fighting for." Arthur replied to Ozymandias, opening his hand for an handshake. "But having been soldiers of someone like you, it certainly won't be an easy task."
"Eh. Hearing that from the King of Knights almost sounds comical." Ozymandias chuckled as he shaked Arthur's hand. "But your visits here were a pleasent surprise. I rest easy knowing I can trust my men with you. May we meet again, Arthur Pendragon."
"Likewise, great pharaoh." Arthur sent goodbye back, undoing the handshake.
"And the same goes for all of you as well, servants and people of Chaldea!" Ozymandias speaked to the rest of them. "If mankind is to be save, then do not waste your only chance at it!"
"We won't!" Ritsuka replied back to Ozymandias.
"We wouldn't have come this far only to lose after all!" Nala added, also with determination.
"Exquisite! That's the answer you give to a king!" Ozymandias exclaimed back with a smirk.
"Everything is set and ready to leave!" Da Vinci told the group. "Hop on the ornitophter or other methods of transport everyone!"
"All of the troops have also been reunited and checked!" Lancelot informed. "There's not a single thing missing!"
"Uuh! Time to go back! I hope Touta didn't felt too lonely without the presence of his favourite sensei there!" Sanzang said happily, looking forward to see her disciple again.
"Whatever happens during the battle, we want you to know that our prayers and wishes of good luck shall be with you!" Nitocris said as final farewell to the party. "You are nice people that deserve to continue living your future! Don't give up on it!"
"Not on our interests to give up!" Ritsuka told to Nitocris. "In three days, the Lion King shall fall!"
"Then, while I am not your king, do allow me to say the following..." Ozymandias coughed as he stared to everyone of the party in front of him before exclaiming. "As the great pharaoh, I order you to not be defeated and only end the battle in victory, people of chaldea and allies! Now go and forward and prepare for the incoming conflict! May the sun of Ra look after you!"
And upon hours of travelling through the desert and the wastelands, the party and the troops, not having found many obstacles along the way, finally reached to the Eastern Village, being received by the other members of the group that had stayed behind and have been waiting for them.
"Fujimaru! Everyone! You're back!" Bedivere exclaimed with joy as he, Touta, Cursed Arm, Serenity and Hundred Personas all stood at the village's entrance, welcoming them back with open arms.
"We've heard from Bedivere and Touta that you went to the sun kingdom to propose an alliance with the Sun King." Cursed Arm looked at the legions of soldiers behind the group all the way down the trail. "And it seems you succeeded by the looks of it."
"In the end, my original plan was always the predestined path: To make the sun kingdom come to our side." Hundred Personas smugged as she crossed her arms. "See? Things could have been resolved a lot sooner if my original plan hadn't been ruined."
"Oh please, you're just bringing that up to mess with us at this point!" Nala told to the assassin.
"So this is where you've been all along after our first visit to the Holy City?" Peko gave a good look to the village around. "If it wasn't for you already knowing the place, I doubt I would have reached here on my own. It's well concealed!" He then stared to the trio of Hassans. "Oh! And you must be the assassins my group talked about! Greetings then! I'm-"
"Peko." Serenity smiled to the boy. "No need for much introduction. Your friends also speaked about you to us. It must have been quite a relief for them to be reunited with you. They were looking forward to that moment so much." The assassin put an hand on her own chest. "My name is Serenity."
Smilling back to her, Peko extended his arm to Serenity. "Nice to meet you Ser-"
"Don't touch her!" Hundred Personas intervened quickly, lowering down Peko's arm, much to the boy's confusion.
"Huh? Why?" Peko asked with an eyebrow lifted.
"Her body is poisonous upon the touch! A direct contact with her skin and you die!" Hundred Personas warned Peko.
The boy was bewildered at such information. "Wait! Really?" Realizing the mistake he was about to commit, Peko apologized. "I-I'm sorry! I hope I didn't provoked you unintentionally, Serenity!"
"It's alright. You literally met me just now so it is only natural that you didn't knew." Serenity smile warmly to Peko before giving a more pleasurable smile when staring to Ritsuka. "After all, the person I adore is already here."
"Eeh, is everything okay, Serenity?" Ritsuka asked her, finding a bit weird why she was giving him that look.
"And I am Cursed Arm. The leader of this village." Cursed Arm introduced himself to Peko by last. "It is great that you also were able to come join us right on time for the decisive battle."
"The pleasure is mine." Peko said, about to also do an handshake with Cursed Arm before hesitating. "I-I can do an handshake with you, right? You ain't poisonour or anything the like?"
"He will take your heart if you touch his arm." Ritsuka whispered mischiveously behind Peko.
"Wha- No way!" Peko exclaimed, thinking that it couldn't be true.
Cursed Arm chuckled at the prank. "No worries. I'm not posionous nor anyhthing whill happen to you if you shake my hand."
"Oh! I-I see!" Peko said, realizing he had been fulled by Ritsuka once again. "Then it is also nice to meet you!" He said, shaking hands with the Hassan.
"Eh. I told you he would fall for it." Nala smugged to Ritsuka as the two stood behind Peko.
"And you must be the inventor they've also mentioned about before. Leonardo Da Vinci." Cursed Arm speaked as he spotted Da Vinci amongst them, being also a newcomer to the village.
"That is my name indeed!" Da Vinci giggled while doing a simple gesture of a bow. "And now I am also here to help as Chaldea's greatest engineer!" Giving a look to the village, she noticed how there was quite a good number of improvised tents instaled across the area. "I see that you've also must have gathered some reinforcements as well."
"Correct, Lady Da Vinci! The Hassans reunited as many other assassins and people willing to combat the Lion King as possible." Touta told her. "By the time me and Bedivere arrived, many were the people across the region that had already were recruited. Us two also tried to help but damn if the assassins aren't quick and efficient in this sort of things!"
"Together with the troops that we brought from the sun kingdom, our army will have presentable numbers for the battle!" Sanzang thought. "Also, hi Touta! Were you hugely waiting for me to come back? I bet it must have been an harsh time, having to spent these last few days without your dependable sensei!"
"It was only just a day and a half..." Touta said in murmur, wondering if Sanzang had any idea what she was talking about.
"Our army now might be huge, but a good portion of the recruits certainly do not know about how to fight properly." Lancelot expressed his opinion, aware that the level of combat experience between the men of Ozymandias and the recruits of the mountains were on different levels. "They will need good amounts of training before heading to the battelfield."
"And what makes you think we trust the troops of the army to you?" Hundred Personas eyed Lancelot with some unfriendliness. "It isn't like we forgot of who you are, Knight of the Round Table."
"Despite of what was told to us about your personal camp and decision of abandoning the Lion King to help us, I'd still be with an eye on you." Cursed Arm also said with some hostility torwards the Knight of the Lake. "After all, it isn't like helping us now will absolve for the crimes you perpretated under your king."
"..." Lancelot didn't respond, knowing that the Hassans distrust and antipathy for him had plenty of reasons for why so.
Yet, the knight ended up being defended. "You might be justified on not liking or being kind with a person who was once your enemy and part of the people that caused you much pain." Bedivere talked to Cursed Arm and Hundred Personas, getting their attention. "But believe me when I say that Lancelot has become guilty of those attrocities he, his colleagues and his king committed, looking to fix that by helping you now!"
Arthur also took a step forward to defend his 'knight'. "Correct! You may judge the Knight of the Lake by all the terrible crimes his faction had committed on you in the past! But what matters now is that Lancelot genuinely wants to help you as a way to make amends! So please, if you cannot trust him, do at least tolerate him!"
Giving a good look at Arthur, Cursed Arm almost seemed disbilieved on the Heroic Spirit he was staring at. "So the rumours were true. There really was a king Arthur roaming around this Singularity."
"You knew about king Arthur-san's existence already?" Mash asked to Cursed Arm, surprised.
"Some groups of refugees would arrive here on their own and tell us stories of how they did. Many of them were that a king-like figure named, Arthur Pendragon, would help the groups cross the wastelands." Cursed Arm explained. "That's why I got so confused when you first told me the Lion King's real identity was of Arthur Pendragon. But now I see that it is a case where there is two king Arthurs in the Singularity." The Hassan moved his head, proceeding to stare to the King of Knights. "It was really you who helped all those people find shelter in the mountains. You have my gratitude for that."
"You're welcome. The more people that could be spared from the violence that is this Singularity the better." Arthur replied to Cursed Arm.
"Heh. Glad that you are a king with virtues." Cursed Arm said. "If you say that the knight by your side has truly turn over to our side, then I suppose that we can believe you. Any help to execute our assault to the Holy City perfectly can be welcome. " The assassin ended up accepting Lancelot. "It would by no means be the first time a knight of the Round Table joins us."
"Thank you for your comprehension." Arthur thanked politely to Cursed Arm as Lancelot exhaled in relief behind him.
"King Arthur can also have my gratefulness for that." The Knight of the Lake told him.
"No worries-hm?!" Arthur had just said to Lancelot as he then turned around only to be met with Serenity close to him, staring right at his face, having surpised the King of Knights.
The assassin was looking at him rather curious. "I'm sorry. But I have a certain feeling that you aren't strange to me. Have we met before?"
"N-No. I think not." Arthur smiled a bit nervously. "Pardon, but you must be mistaking me for another person."
"Leave king pretty boy be, Serenity." Hundred Personas told her. "You're making him feel weird."
As the arrival of the army got the entire village's attention, many of its inhabitants approached the entrance to see the moment. Specially one in particular.
"Peko! It's you! You're alive!"
"Hum?" Hearing a voice in the distance calling for his name, Peko turned around to see the one calling him was none other than- "Rushd! You're here!" Peko exclaimed happily upon seeing the muslim boy again, running torwards him.
"It has been so long since I last saw you! I'm glad you're okay!" Rushd told to Peko, overjoyed. "How did you ended up escaping from the Holy City? You gotta tell me!"
Peko smugged, trying to look cool to Rushd. "Welp, let's just say that the Lion King and his knights were messing with the wrong person."
"Since when did you start getting bold, Peko?" Mash asked to her friend.
"Must have been those prince clothes..." Ritsuka whispered to her.
"Wow! Mustn't have been easy I assume!" Rushd said, fascinated by what Peko told him.
"Pff! You know he's lying, don't you?" Nala tried telling to Rushd who seemed to ignore her, continuing to speak with her brother.
"By the way, your sister was very worried about you." Rushd pointed at Nala while talking with Peko. "There wasn't a single day where she would not think of you."
Blushing, Nala tried to shut Rushd. "S-Shut up! I wasn't!"
Peko for his own part, smirked teasingly. "Oh? You don't say..."
"Ah! My friends! You have safely returned from your journey! What a pleasure that is!" From the middle of the crowd, Saruhan popped out, walking torwards the party with a big smile on his face. "As promised, I, Saruhan the Great Ghiza, as protected the village during your absence!"
"Saruhan!?"
"What is he doing here?!"
Both Peko and Da Vinci exclaimed in shock as they weren't expecting the appearence of Saruhan in the village out of nowhere.
"Oh yeah. We forgot to tell you. He's one of the good guys now." Ritsuka told to the two. "Presumably..."
"I see you are troubled about my presence, dear friends. But worry not!" Saruhan smiled friendly to Peko and Da Vinci. "The cruel and despicable Saruhan you once knew has long been buried in the sands, replaced by a more noble and righteous that fights for the weak, standing right in front of you!"
Both Peko and Da Vinci let a drop of sweat fall from their heads.
"Well, he clearly do seemed to have changed." Da Vinci commented with a dead pan glare.
"Testing. Testing. Do you guys copy?" Romani established the connection with the party, his hologram appearing. "Looks like you've managed to strike an alliance with Ozymandias! And checking the village...Yup! Everyone's here and in place for the preparations of the final battle! Mind you, this fight against the Lion King will probably be more intense than the war you fought at the end of the North America Singularity."
"And of course, we were waiting for you to show up doc!" Ritsuka told to Romani, not having seen him since they had left Lancelot's camp. "What do you wanna tell us?"
"That checking on the army numbers, we've got around seven thousand mountain people from the remaining villages, two thousand soldier knights that deserted the Holy City, one-thousand mercenary merchants and ten thousand of Ozymandias army plus the egyptian monsters that were also borrowed to us." Romani told the group of the calculations. "It means we have around an army of twenty thousand units!"
"It's certainly big, but I wonder if it matches the army size of the Lion King." Bedivere said, turning around to Lancelot. "Do you have an exact number of how many units does the Holy City have?"
"Humm, the exact number I can't say for sure. But if my memory doesn't fail me, I'd say that their army is around twenty-five thousand." Lancelot replied to his fellow knight, giving them an estimate on how big the Lion King's army was.
"Then they will still have the numerical upperhand over us." Mash lamented a bit.
"But I'm sure the sphynxes that Ozymandias lend it to us will take care of taking out many of the Lion King's soldiers." Da Vinci said, optimistic. "The final battle will happen three days from now. We have to make good use of those days to organize and train as best as we can!"
"Three days..." Bedivere murmured, his eyes looking timid and a bit nervous. The time to meet with his king was getting closer.
"..." Being close to him, Arthur looked at Bedivere, noticing the apprehensiveness on the Knight of Loyalty's eyes but remaining silent about that.
"Which is why we're going to need to make some final reunions and review of our strategies before the battle happens as well as training of the troops." Romani said, looking to Peko. "Peko, you're going to partake on the reunion that will happen later today."
"Huh? W-Why me exactly?" Peko asked, seemingly confused.
"Because if we want to invade the Holy City, we must know it well by hearing details of people that were there." Da Vinci explained to the boy. "And since you were there for two weeks as a prisoner, you might have details about the place that can be valuable to us."
Peko saw that the explanation did indeed made some sense despite not really wanting to participate in a reunion. "Well, if you say so..." He groaned.
Ritsuka gave him some pats on the back to cheer him up. "It's alright! Those type of conversations happen in an instant!"
And so, almost an entire day had passed, with everyone of the army checking on their weapons, sparring and practicing the tactics in order to execute them greatly on the day of the fight. And as the night fell into the sky, the army went into respite at the end of the first day, some relaxing on the tents they had setted up while many would gather at one of the many large bonfires built around the village and its outskirts.
"And as I was there, with my sword in hand, I brought down punishment to the enemy and defeated him with one fell swoop of my weapon! That day, the rest of his ilk noted that they would never again mess with Saruhan, the defender of the poor and merchants!" Standing on the center and near the fire, Saruhan would entertain the troops with his, mostly likely made-up, stories about himself, getting claps and cheers out of the moved and drunk soldiers.
"Are you sure he really was a bad guy when you first met him? He sounds more uplifting than anything." Hundred Personas asked to Ritsuka who was sitting next to her, with a sleepy Serenity leaning her face on his shoulder.
"Hm, he sure does boost up the morale." Ritsuka replied, never having expected that Saruhan would one day become an ally.
"Yeah! And makes huge lines to keep me busy here!" Touta said with some frustration as he was cooking unlimited amounts of rice all by himself on his rice stant with a large number of customers in waiting. "Tsk! Where is that silly monk when I need her? Could someone please find Sanzang and tell her her precious disciple needs an hand here?"
"Count on me!" Ritsuka volunteered to go and find Sanzang. However, he was reminded of the slumbering Serenity on his shoulder.
"Hummm...you're so soft..." The assassin whispered as she seemed to be having a nice dream.
Taking care to not wake her up, Ritsuka slowly and carefully grabbed her shoulders and pulled her head away before nicely lying her body down on the ground, Serenity sleeping like a cat and still with a sweet smile on her face.
"She's really touch starved. Having met someone that is immune to her poison like you must have been a blessing for her." Hundred Personas smiled, gazing at the other assassin sleeping. "You can go. I will watch over her now."
Ritsuka appreciated it. "Thanks!" And went to search for Sanzang. Something that it didn't took too long.
"And then...humm... no,no,no. There's gotta be a better adjective for that."
Ritsuka found the lady monk sitting on a small rock, writting and whispering about something.
"Hi, Sanzang! What are you doing?" Ritsuka approached her from behind, greeting her.
"Ah, it's you, Fujimaru!" Sanzang greeted him back. "I'm just finishing off the most recent passages of our journey in my chronicles!" She told him before sighing. "But now it's so many people and servants that are in one place that it is almost hard to keep track and mention of everyone."
"How long have you been writting on that book?" Ritsuka asked her.
"Long enough to already having only a few pages left." Sanzang showed him. "And right a few days before the decisive battle. It's almost poetic, ain't it? Another journey coming close to the end."
"Did you enjoyed your time here?" Ritsuka asked upon seeing the melancholic smile on her face. "Have you seen all you wanted to see?"
"Yep I did!" Sanzang responded cheerfuly. "I travelled to the east, north, south and west that this Singularity could offer me! A shame that there is nothing lying more beyond it but I think I'm satisfied with how much I explored here!"
"Another one to add to the collection, right?" Ritsuka chuckled, sitting next to her. "Any annotations you have to make from this adventure?"
"If there is some that I would like to point out?" Sanzang replied before thinking about it, pulling a warm smile on her face as she stared to the many bonfires scattered across the village. "That just like the journeys before, it is a shame that it will end and I have to say goodbye to people like Touta, you and your friends."
"Yeah. It sure hurts..." Ritsuka said with a comprehensive smile, going back to remember of a lesson it was told to him by the end of the first Singularity. "But, farewells don't necessarily have to be sad. We can always say goodbye with a smile."
Sanzang giggled. "That's quite the great advise! I should adopt those words as a lesson during my work as mentor! But yes, I too have become used to the goodbyes. No journey that is good lasts forever. There always must be an ending. That and how I am certain now that the Lion King needs to be brought down."
Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. "You weren't before?"
"Not really. I'd say that some weeks before I couldn't be quite certain if I truly wanted to put a stop to her plans." Sanzang confessed. "Having spent time on her domain and hear all those speeches about an utopia and perfect world she aimed to achieve for mankind, it made me doubt and even ignore the nature of her antics under that pretext. However, now that I know what she truly means by 'utopia' and how awful her impact across this land has been, I no longer have doubts nor blind eyes!" The monk rised her voice. "Now I am sure of what is my role here in this adventure! To fight alongside you and defeat the Lion King!"
Ritsuka smiled, happy to see Sanzang had got her resolve figured out. "Then we're glad we can really count with you, Sanzang!"
"Sure thing!" The monk said with glee. "But when this journey ends...Can I..." Sanzang hesitated for a moment, not having the courage to tell Ritsuka she wished to be summoned to Chaldea to continue giving her teachings.
"Can you what?" Ritsuka wanted her to finish what she was saying.
"Nah, nevermind. It's nothing important really." Sanzang told him, deciding to leave it be.
"Okay." Ritsuka replied, scratching his ear. "Actually, I also do have something to tell you."
Sanzang's attention was immediatly on. "What is it?" She asked. Could it be that Ritsuka was thinking the same as hers?
"Touta is needing your assistance with the rice bowls on his stant. Urgently." Ritsuka told her with a generic smile.
Sanzang's eyes widened and her sensei alarms fired. "Whaaaaaat?! My disciple is in need of help!? Why didn't you told me sooner?!" She exclaimed, getting immediatly up from the rock. "He will think I'm a bad mentor now! Gotta hurry! Thanks for this conversation, Fujimaru!" She said, rushing torwards her destination, leaving an addled Ritsuka behind.
The master of humanity ended up smiling anyways. "Eh. Sanzang can be quite the looney sometimes."
"Finally! Thank goodness it's over!" Peko yawned as he stretched out his arms, the reunion about their tactics to invade the Holy City finally over after two long hours that felt like an eternity to him. "Responsability and military talkings is so...tiresome." Peko talked to himself as he huffed, his brain still hurting on how much detail he had to remember during his time as captive and bring it up during the conversation as well as to answer some of the questions about the topic that would be made to him on a conversation involving Da Vinci, Romani, Arthur and Lancelot.
Peko was by no means stupid, but in a conversation with people that were clearly more experienced and veteran on the field, he sure felt like one a bit. However, he knew that this sort of discussions were important, never once having took his mind out of it. "But if it's with my our future, everyone's future at stake, then I have to endure it." Peko reached to the edge of a cliff, looking down on the entire camp of the army that would go to the battlefield in the upcoming time. "Humanity, the planet, Chaldea, it's all counting on-"
"Has your brain started to malfunction?" Nala appeared from behind, catching Peko off guard.
"A-Ah?! S-Since when you were listening to me?" Peko replied in shock as he turned around.
"Since I heard you talking to your imaginary friends." Nala smirked. "You were just talking alone weren't you?"
"N-No I wasn't!" Peko replied, red from embaressment. "I-I was talking to-"
"He was talking to me!" Out of nowehere, Rushd's voice speaked as the muslim boy himself appeared behind the twins, approaching them.
"Didn't expected to also see you here, Rushd." Nala smiled to the other boy
"Rushd is also here? How many more people heard me talking alone?!" Peko put his hands in front of his face, being more embaressed now.
"I was wondering when you'd end that reunion of yours." Rushd told him. "It was really taking forever for it to finish."
"Oh, you have no idea." Peko told him. "Thankfully, everything was discussed and planned as professionaly as possible!"
"I bet you were sleeping." Nala said, trying to not laugh with what Peko said.
"No I wasn't!" Peko immediatly responded.
"Yes you were!" Nala insisted.
"What makes you so sure if you weren't even there?" Peko asked her.
"Because I don't need to be there to know you probably dozed off!" Nala told him back teasingly.
"Hey! At least I was there talking about important topics! What you were doing in the meantime? Staring at the sun?" Peko verbally attacked back.
"Wow! Having a sister surely sounds complicated." Rushd speaked as he saw the two siblings arguing. "I don't know if I could handle having one..."
"Trust me. With this idiot here, you wouldn't want one." Peko told to Rushd before receiving a slap on the head by Nala. "Ow!"
"Sorry." Nala said, not actualy feeling sorry. "I can't help this behaviour of mine since I have you for a brother-"
"I think I wouldn't be able to handle missing her the same way Nala missed you." Rushd finished what he was saying, getting both Peko and Nala to stop arguing as they looked at him, dazed by what he said.
"You...You were that worried?" Peko asked honestly to Nala.
Nala adverted his gaze, crossing her arms. "Hm. What makes you think I wasn't?" She looked to him with a warm smile. "You are my brother, silly. Of course I was!"
Peko's eyes briefly stared down. "True. It is a sentiment that ain't new. Neither for me or you." He then looked to his sister. "Sorry for having made you that concerned."
Nala giggled. "It's alright. What matters is that we're all still alive, no? As long as it keeps like that, I won't ever feel down nor cry." She said to Peko, reinforcing to him the image Peko had of his sister.
Peko smiled back to her. "Eh. You're right."
"Okay, now seeing this, maybe I would want a sister after all." Rushd said upon seeing Peko and Nala interact in a more heatlhy way now. "It would be great as a company. At least...I would still have some family left..." The boy said in sorrow, still with the memory of his mother's death. "T-Then...I wouldn't be alone and-"
"And you aren't alone." Peko told to Rushd before he could start crying, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Nor you'll ever will."
"You have us, Rushd." Nala told to the muslim boy, helping Peko to cheer him up. "Your friends."
"But...I heard that you are going to fight the Lion King pretty soon. And no matter the outcome...you won't be coming back!" Rushd said, doing his hardest to not cry in front of the twins. "You'll leave me to be alone aga-"
"That's not true! You still have the village and will make other friends!" Peko interrupted him, gaining a puzzled look from Rushd.
"Huh?"
Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance OST- Distant From You
"We know it hurts when we can always be with the people we like and hold dear forever, but that's how life is!" Nala told him. "But we do sometimes have to accept the outcome of some things! Just because a friendship will end, doesn't mean the time spent with it was useless or that more friends can't be made in the future!"
"Life moves on, Rushd. What really matters in a friendship, isn't how long it lasted but the great moments that provided you with." Peko said tenderly. "Just because me and Nala won't and can't stay in here any more, it does not mean that you won't ever have friends again. Many people come and go and that's...that's okay. It's one aspect that we learn to live with." Peko told him deeply from his heart, reminding himself that one day, he and Nala would too have to say goodbye to Ritsuka, Mash and everyone else in Chaldea. "Even I have to."
"We will fight the Lion King so that you can keep on living, Rushd. That's what your mother would've wanted." Nala said. "Even with us gone, your life will continue on, making new friendships that can last longer than ours. Having more moments of playing ball but with others instead. You will continue to be happy."
"And that's why, you will always keep on going, Rushd. Your life will go way beyond than just these weeks of our friendship and suffering." Peko smiled to him. "No matter how many times you cry or feel down, always remember this: better days will come."
Nala's smile grew a bit, in accordance with her brother.
Rushd eventually wiped his tears before they could start falling. "It's just...It's just not fair that you'll go fighting and I have to stay here. I too wanted to help." He lamented, looking at his own hands. "However..." His mind went back to his mom, to Arash. To the promises he made to them. "I know my time for it isn't there yet. That unlike you, I can't do much. That's why...I shall keep on living. One day, I too will become as capable as you in order to fend for myself and others! Be it my friends or innocents!"
"That's more like it, Rushd!" Peko told him, happy to see his friend get his own spirits up.
"Feeling better now?" Nala smiled to the muslim boy.
"Yeah. Sorry for almost crying in front of you." Rushd smiled, scratching the back of his head.
"Nothing like we are used to." Peko chuckled, remembering how much he used to cry back when this long journey had begun.
"By the way, sorry if I'm bringing this up, but you two never told me about your parents." Rushd said, never having seen Peko and Nala mention them. "Do you lost them too?"
"Not exactly." Nala responded a bit hesitant. "We...are searching for them."
"Then you don't know who your parents are?" Rushd said, a bit surprised.
"Yes. But we hope we do someday." Peko replied. "More so with the document now in our hands."
"Ah, I see." Rushd looked up to the stars in the sky. "I never got the chance of seeing my dad, you know? Mom always used to tell me he was a very kind and great man, always looking for others and a true leader. That he would have loved spending time with me. I wonder if I'll ever get the opportunity of seeing him out there someday." He then looked to the twins. "Do you also wonder how your dad looks like?"
"Hm. A lot." Peko formed a little smile. Thankfully, he knew how their dad looked like. But that wasn't enough. Not until they truly find him as well as their mother and everything else that their past had occulted.
"Then let's make our minds forget about it for a bit, shall we?" Rushd said, taking out something.
"What are y-" Peko looked to Rushd and ended up getting surprised as he saw him holding the small ball on his hand.
"How about one last game before goodbye?" Rushd asked the two with a smile on his face.
"Count me in!" Nala immediatly responded, being up for it.
Seeing the ball on Rushd's hand, Peko couldn't help but draw a big smile, having missed playing ball with Rushd again. "Sure!"
And so the three played together and kicked the ball under the stars, having fun again after the days of hardship. For them, in that small moment, the world went back to being perfect.
And more on the distance, behind some boulders, Mash and Cursed Arm were watching the kids play, an happy smile on their faces.
"Things like these do warms the heart, doesn't it, Cursed Arm-san?" Mash asked to the assassin by her side.
"Rushd..." Cursed Arm continued with his fixed stare on the muslim boy. "If Salia could've seen how even in the direst moments, he can still express a smile, she'd be proud. I cannot let his future and of other children be filled with more days inside this hell hole. They deserve to have more moments like these."
"We will make sure to give them better lives." Mash responded him, so much thing being at stake on their confrontation with the Lion King.
"Being the Hassan of this era, once this is over and the Singularity is restored, I will still remain here while all of my other companions will go back to their slumber. Their missions and yours here might be over, but mine will only just start." Cursed Arm passed the fingers on his covered, demonic arm. "After this is over, I will continue to fulfill my duty to look over Rush and everyone else of our people. I'll make sure no more harm comes to them while I live."
"I hope Cursed Arm-san can fulfill that personal mission." Mash told him.
Meanwhile, as the trio was still playing with the ball, Arthur and Lancelot appeared.
"I see you three are enjoying this very well." Arthur told them with a smile.
"Oh? H-Hey king Arth-" Peko took his attention off the ball for a small moment, his head being then hit by the falling ball that ended up now going torward Arthur.
"!" Seeing that it was about to fall, the King of Knights jumped forward, being able to catch it before it landed. "Oh! Got it!" He said, getting up from the ground with a smile on the face, thinking he had saved the game.
"It was supposed for you to kick it, not catch it." Rushd told to Arthur with a weirded smile alongside Peko and Nala.
"Oh! Sorry..." Arthur suddenly realized his mess up, a bit embaressed as Lancelot behind him gave a slight cough. He then gave the ball back to Nala. "Anyways, we just wanted to know if you had seen Bedivere."
"Hum, no? Why?" Peko asked the duo.
"Ever since our meeting at the village's entrance that we haven't seen him around yet." Lancelot explained to them. "We've already asked to others if they've seen him but alas, nothing. I hope that nothing bad as happened to him."
"Bedivere's missing?" Nala said with slight shock.
"We fear so. But maybe we aren't looking in the right places." Arthur sighed, crossing his arms. "But don't let that distract you from the game you were having, okay?" He smiled friendly to the three children. "I'm sure that we will find him by evening's end." And so, he and Lancelot were about to walk away.
"Wait a moment there!" Nala shouted, getting the king and the knight's attentions back. "I want to tell you something!"
"What is it?" Arthur turned around as well as Lancelot.
"It's more of a request to be honest." Nala admitted before looking to Lancelot and without wasting time saying what she wanted. "I want Lancelot here to train me on these remaining days!"
"Wha-Me?" Lancelot pointed to himself with some amazement. Looking to Arthur to see what he thought of it, the King of Knights just shrugged and chuckled, as if he was telling to the Knight of the Lake that was his decision to make. "W-Well, I'd sure would be happy to train the young lady but I'm already full with the army, so I can't really find time for you. Apologies."
"I'm sure you can spare and hour or two to do some sparring match with me." Nala told him.
"I'm not sure if I could." Lancelot said, a bit reluctant.
"You can! I know you can!" Nala insisted. "I want you to train me! Those quick and precise swings and slahsed you do with your sword! I want you to teach me how you pull it off!"
Lancelot scratched his head. "L-Look, young lady, I'm sure that I could help her a lot but-"
"DO WHAT SHE SAYS YOU IDIOT!" Unexpected, Mash immediatly left her hidden place and sprinted torwards Lancelot, delivering him a kick in the face, much to the absolute surprise of everyone.
"Mash!?" Nala exclaimed.
"Since when you were also here?" Peko asked while Cursed Arm put his own hand on his face in slight embaressment.
"You..." Towering over the fell Lancelot, the shielder gave him a cold and ruthless glare...before giving him a very warm and cute smile. "Can you please help my friend with her training, dad?"
Feeling a squeeze in his heart, Lancelot gave in. "S-Sure...I'll find some time to train her."
Nala jumped from happiness. "Yay! Thank you Mash!" Nala high fived the shielder.
"You're welcome!" Mash replied as the two giggled happily.
"That was incredibly scummy of you, Mash." Peko said, a bit shamed at Mash's method.
"Does this Galahad hates Lancelot that much?" Arthur also wondered the same way.
"King Arthur is looking for Bedivere-san, right?" Mash stared to Arthur. "Then let me help the king look for him!"
Arthur accepted it immediatly. "That's good to hear. Lady Mash can look in one area that me and Lancelot will look in another one."
Some hours passed, Mash was still looking for Bedivere, but so far to no avail. The shielder was starting to dread that something horrible must have happened to the Knight of Loyalty as she had just searched on a more isolated area of the village. The camp was quite now has majority if not everyone had long since gone to sleep. It would be dawn any time soon.
"Perhaps we have to do a larger search with everyone." Mash pondered. "But that would hinder our preparation for the-"
"Fou! Fou!"
"Hm? What is it Fou?" Mash asked to the animal that popped out of her shoulder, going to the ground and walking torwards a wall. Only that it wasn't a wall but a narrow passage. Spotting it with Fou's help, Mash walked through it. As she advanced more and more until reaching to the other side, she begun hearing soft sobs.
"I can't...I simply can't..."
"This voice..." Having reached to the other side of the passage, Mash exited, finding herslef on the top of a small butte. And right in front of her, there he was, Bedivere. Crying to himself, his other arm cleenching to Airgétlam. "Bedivere-san?"
Fate Unlimited Blade Works OST- Ocean of Memories
"I'm not ready for it! I'm not ready!" The Knight of Loyalty said sorrowfuly to himself as tears would weep from his eyes. Never Mash expected to find Bedivere in such state like this.
"I-Is everything alright, Bedivere-san?" She asked him while approaching the knight.
"Lady Mash!? You're here?" Bedivere turned around, caught off guard. Immediatly, he begun to clean his tears. "How shameful...to see a knight like this."
"King Arthur and Lancelot were looking for you everywhere. We were starting to get worried that something terrible had happened to you." Mash told him. "And now I find you here crying. What is the problem, Bedivere-san?"
Aware that Mash had now seen him sob and wouldn't give up on questioning him, Bedivere responded. "I think that I'm still not ready to face the Lion King. My king."
"Why so?" Mash asked again, sitting next to him. "Are you afraid or nervous about it?"
"Yes." Bedivere was sincere. "For many years, I wandered through countless regions, striving to fulfill my ultimate final mission as Knight of Loyalty." He lifted up his metal arm, Airgétlam. "To correct my mistakes by finally returning the holy sword back where it belongs!" Bedivere closed his Noble Phantasm into a fist. "Yet...I realize now that I never anticipated for this moment to arrive. To look at my king in the eyes after so long. How exactly am I going to confront His Majesty in the face, knowing that this was all my fault?" His opened Airgétlam's hand letting it weakly fall onto his lap.
"What do you mean by that?" Mash asked, seeing how unwell Bedivere looked.
"The fact the Lion King exists, that everyone in this Singularity suffers in such chaos is because of me, Mash!" Bedivere responded, a huge guilt on his chest. "I'm the Knight of Loyalty, yet I disobeyed to my king's last command! I wasn't able to! I couldn't bring myself to plunge Excaliburn back to the lake!" The knight brought his hands to his head, his eyes full of remorse and once again in the verge of tears. "I denied death to my king! I prolonged her suffering because I am a coward! If I wasn't, the king would have peacefuly passed away instead of becoming the abomination that feeds off Rhongomyniad!"
"..." Mash stared at Bedivere almost speechless as the knight begun to cry once again.
"You get it now, Lady Mash? That all of this blood shed and deaths provoked...All of this is because of me!" Bedivere cried as he cleenched his fists, Airgétlam glowing. "How can I confront the king that I failed and whose trust I betrayed?!" He exclaimed, sobbing even more. "Honestly...was I ever fit to be a knight?"
"Bedivere-san..." Mash was fazed by Bedivere's declarations, wanting to cheer him up but not knowing what exactly to say.
"Even the greatest of knights has their weakness, Sir Bedivere."
"Fou?!"
Surprising the two, Arthur appeared from behind, having also found the narrow passage. "So this is where you were all along."
"King Arthur?" Mash turned her head to look at Arthur, seeing him standing right behind them.
"King Arthur has heard what I said just now, didn't he?" Bedivere said calmly, his tears having stopped. "Then the king knows...that I disobeyed the last order of my own king."
"Yes. I listened it indeed." Arthur confirmed.
"I suppose king Arthur is now thinking that after all, his and this Bedivere are actually different." The Knight of Loyalty said. "That I fled at the most decisive moment of the legend due to my fear and fragile tenacity. And now, the people of this land agonize in pain due to it." Bedivere put his head low, the hair covering his eyes while Mash and Arthur listened. "I am not worthy of being a knight, much less so of 'Loyalty'. I abandoned my king, so what right does it gives me to confront her now? King Arthur is lucky. Your Bedivere isn't the coward that I am..."
"Wrong." Arthur responded simply. "You and my Bedivere couldn't be any more similar."
Bedivere lifted up his head in bafflement. "What does king Arthur mean?"
"Both of you are the Knights of Loyalty because of the thing that is your strenght as well as your weakness." Arthur speaked with composure and certainty. "Your affection for the king. A bond so strong and tight that you can't even bare the thought of letting your king die, wanting to continue serving the liége forever as an oath you made by the sword." Looking to the vast horizon from the place they were in, Arthur let out a small smile. "If I recall it well, my Bedivere also had great difficulties to fulfill his task when my time had come."
"..." Bedivere's eyes slightly widened.
"Is that true?" Mash asked to the King of Knight who nodded at her.
"Yes. How many times did it took exactly? Five? And everytime, he would return to me, timidly lying about sending Excaliburn back to the lake, I would discover he was actually lying. Not out of malice, but fear of not having his dear king besides him anymore. His words would wither, his lips quaver and his posture erode. By the fifth time I had seen through his lie, Bedivere bursted into tears on the ground, begging for someone else to do it as he could not bring himself to 'kill' his king." Arthur told him of the end of his own tale, showing a wistful smile. "But I insisted. Insisted that my glory, Camelot and all of those victories we had gone through together, had to depart now to a deep slumber. Even if it was bleak and ached, it was my natural end and of my kingdom. And as I had accepted to let go of those things, Bedivere would too have to let go of me."
"And what exactly made you king Arthur give up on it?" Bedivere asked him.
"A dream." The King of Knights responded. "A long fantastical dream. So unnatural and engaging, that by the time I awakened from it, I understood that it was time for Camelot to rest as well as I. That my legend had come to the end. And eventually, despite the grief, the tears, the pleas and the negotiation, Bedivere accepted fate and returned Excaliburn to the place of origin, ending my myth as the great king of Britain. He came to understand, that people and nations, no matter how tight you hold onto them, they all tend to end one day. And accepting that nothing is forever, is also a quality of a king."
"B-But still...King Arthur's Bedivere returned the sword! I did not!" Bedivere argued, still thinking he was different from Arthur's Bedivere. "I haven't fulfilled my king's dying wish!"
"Yet." Arthur replied. "You still can fix it even after all these years wandering, don't you, Sir Bedivere?"
"..." Bedivere stood with no words to response at how much Arthur was making him see things diferently.
"If you and my Bedivere were truly different, then you wouldn't have felt remorse. You wouldn't bother to be in this Singularity to amend your sin. You wouldn't have the courage to confront your king." Arthur pointed to Bedivere. "However, here you are. Trying to make up for all of that. There is nothing more loyal than a knight who does not give up on his mission."
"The king...King Arthur thinks so?" Bedivere stared to the King of Knights with amazement. "That I'm still loyal?" Bedivere gave an introspective look to himself before speaking torwards Mash. "Does Lady Mash, also thinks so?"
Smiling, Mash nodded. "I do, Bedivere-san. I too know what it is like to fear. I confess thar sometimes I have fear of fighting to survive, wondering if I'll get out alive of a terrible situation. The fear of failing Chaldea and my friends the same way Bedivere-san fears having failed his king. That I die having let down my companions." The shielder expressed her fears, not hiding them. "However, there was one moment, where I was about to die after an explosion. I thought to myself 'So this is what death feels like. It doesn't seem so bad'. Yet, someone saved me. Not an Heroic Spirit, a god or powerful mage. But a human. A completely average human jumped into the wreckage to save me. I could see in his eyes that while doing that, he was scared of dying himself. He knew that being there could kill him at any moment. Still, he came to rescue me from dying. How he confronted that fear just to save someone." Mash's mind went back to that memory. The one right before Chaldea's original mission to Singularity F. "It made me see how humanity as an individual is so intriguing and fascinating, that I treasure it to this day." Mash then put an hand to her chest. "Maybe that's why you also came to rescue, Galahad. Ritsuka Fujimaru gave you hope on humanity, didn't he?"
"Then what Lady Mash is saying is that she will keep fighting, even if afraid?" Bedivere asked her.
"I will because despite of the fear, my desire to fight and live speaks louder!" Mash responded, the skies beggining to brighten as as the first lights of a new dawn started to arise beyond the horizon, shinning on the mountains and the people. "For that precious moment, for the master that saved me, for the friends I have, for the people that took care of me, for every good person that I've met and anyone that wants to continue living! I'll keep fighting until my fears are defeated!"
"..." Bedivere stared to Mash, agape, only letting out a brief exhaling breath as the sun hit on their backs, with Arthur Pendragon smiling to the shielder's words. "To keep fighting...until we surpass our fears..." Bedivere gave a look to Airgétlam and how much it signified his long journet until this moment. How he couldn't succumb to his fear while close to the end. "Lady Mash...You have this knight's deep respect." Bedivere smiled to her. "You speaked like a true Heroic Spirit and knight of the Round Table. Thank you and king Arthur for making me see that I became way too pitiful, needing to stand up and own to the crime I committed by not fearing it, but to face it directly!" Bedivere put Airgétlam close to his heart. "And that's what I shall do! I shall confront my king, face to face when the moment comes!"
"And we will be there to help you achieve that." Arthur told him. "Despite not being my Knight of Loyalty, in my eyes, you will always be a worthy Sir Bedivere. Your king will see no different."
"I want to believe so, king Arthur." Bedivere replied to him, seeing how many qualities Arthur Pendragon shared with his own king. "I guess that deep down, I am just afraid that my journey will reach at the end with no meaning. That I won't feel redeem after all this years."
Mash however reassured him. "Do not fear it, Bedivere-san. I am sure there will be a meaning and salvation waiting for you at the end. A journey full of hardships, sorrows, smiles and tears, always means something."
"Fou fou!"
Bedivere gave a gentle smile to Mash. "If the maiden of the shield proclaims to be as such." Moving his body, the Knight of Loyalty eyed to the rising sun, now his goal more resilient, clear and stalwart than ever, the final hours of his journey being nigh. "I will save my king."
At the early hours of the new day, the Holy City woke up in a more quiet silence as it was greeted by the morning light. A certain tense and anticipating atmosphere pairing in the air.
The Knight of the Sun, standing tall and robust on top of the walls while looking to the dead landscape.
The Knight of Lamentation, harmoniously playing his notes with indifference to all the cruelty, in front of the giant glass mosaic of roses.
The Knight of Treachery, impatiently gnawing her thumb as the facial scars reminded consistently of her failure, fueling the anger.
And at the top of the pristine kingdom, in the chambers of the soaring palace, the Lion King sat on her divine throne in all her splendor, receiving the visit of her stern and rigorous right-hand man.
"My liége, some of our men spotted sudden movements of mobilization of great magnitude near the mountains." Agravain informed his king. "I infer that our enemies have decided to organize a full on assault on His Majesty's garden. How does the king desire us to respond?"
Her green eyes glinting for a brief second as she moved her head, staring to her knight. Like everyone, she knew that the time was now. "Mobilize our own troops and call the other knights for an important meet-up. Let us commence the war's eve."
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 116!
Another 'calm before the storm' chapter, as now we will be getting in Camelot's final chapters. So yes, important announcement to make: Camelot will be ending in late December/early January. You heard that right. Camelot could still last all the way to the first days of 2025! It's kinda crazy when I remember that this Singularity begun back in JUNE! Which means that this is an arc that took 6-7 months to complete, the longest one up until today. (Ignoring my obvious slow beggining with Orleans that took around the exact same time to finish it).
Like, it really shows the magnitude that Camelot was back in the day when it first released, its lenght compared with the other Singularities. The word count of this Singularity alone, is definetly bigger than almost any other Singularity that came before. Makes me alreay think how many chapters long Babylonia will be lol.
So yeah, this chapter was basically dwelving a bit into almost everyone of the heroes cast before the decisive battle. Because next one, it will start: the beggining of the end to Camelot.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say and see you next time, on chapter 117! Peace!
P.S:
Peko: Okay okay okay! You've got the lawyer job, Peko. They pay you well here. Just don't let any screw up happen and you are set for life! So, who will be my first client that I'll have to defend in my career?
'Caster' Gilles de Rais (Waving from his place on the court): Hiii
Peko:...
Gilles de Rais:...
Peko:...
Gilles de Rais:...
Peko: Just hand me the resignation papers.