Chapter 34
"HE'S STILL HERE!?"
El-Melloi's panic stricken voice rang into their ears, the entire base able to hear his cry as it echoed through the hallways of the manor purchased by the Edelfelts.
"Yes, Golden Great Emperor Cosmo Gilgamesh engaged Caster and her Master at the foot of Mount Enzou. He also seems to be a stuck-up prick just like the one from the Servant Universe."
El-Melloi had almost had a panic attack as he crouched under the table while the other people in the base looked at him, concerned for his mental wellbeing. Flatt went to tap his shoulder.
"Um, Professor? Are you ok?"
"He'sherehe'sherehe'sherehe'sherehe'sherehe'shere…"
He repeatedly said the same thing like a broken record, the PTSD from his last encounter with Gilgamesh kicking in. Despite his personal promise to face the War like Iskandar would have wanted him to, facing the almighty killer of his Servant was still terrifying.
Assassin's voice cut through his muttering.
"Oy, pull yourself together comrade. It's unbecoming for a fellow anti-Saber to act like that!"
Assassin's sharp retort cut through his terror, and he stopped muttering, crawling out from under the table while regaining control of his mental faculties. Coughing, he tugged his collar.
"Ah...I apologize for my behaviour. Ahem, have you confirmed his death?"
"Yes, Atrum Galiasta's body was incinerated by Gilgamesh. However, his Servant disappeared, and may have possibly found a new master."
"I see, in that case we'll have to monitor the surroundings for mana fluctuations to spot where she set up base. Flatt, you're in charge of monitoring the leylines of the land."
"Yes sir!"
"With one target down, that leaves the Enforcer. Let's lay low for now and wait for her to arrive. She should be coming any day now." Looking up, he checked the clock.
"Alright, return to the base, we've done enough for one night. Let's get some rest now."
"Saber, please return."
"Got it Master. Mind if I grab a few treats on the way back?"
Gray looked to El-Melloi for instructions, and he simply sighed and shrugged.
"Um, ok then. Ah, could you grab some of those sweet fish-shaped buns for me as well?"
"Sure."
"Hey, also I want some okonomiyaki as well!"
"Okonomiyaki too? Well, I was planning on getting some anyways, so I guess I just have to get more. You guys are paying for all this anyways."
"Don't spend all our cash on food!" El-Melloi stuck his head through the door and yelled.
The comms devolved into a delivery service run by Assassin as the rest of the team placed their orders with her. Thankfully, she had worked with the Galactic Highway before back in her native universe, so she was well-versed in the ways of the deliverywoman.
"I want a carton of takoyaki!"
"One can of MAX coffee."
"Crepes for me!"
"I'll have two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 6 with extra dip, a number 7, two number 45s, one with cheese, and a large soda."
Assassin mentally noted them all down, though the last one was quite long and specific.
"Is that all? Kay, I'll be back soon."
With that, the Cosmoreactor in her body revved, her body dashing across the streets and jumping on rooftops in a show of agility while she sought to fulfill her orders.
-the next day, Mount Enzou
Caster linked to the leyline like her teacher had taught her, using the staff as a catalyst while standing in the magic circle drawn on the tatami mats in the room. Although her knowledge of magecraft was somewhat rough, connecting to leylines was still something that Merlin had deemed necessary to teach her. She had enlisted the help of her Master to draw the circles around the temple in hidden areas before he went to work, cast illusion magic to further obscure their position, then went to work in the main magic circle at the center, right on top of the leyline. She had also been introduced to the temple early in the morning as a niece of Kuzuki's that had just lost her parents and had to come to live with him, to conveniently provide her an excuse for staying at the temple.
"In the time of twilight, may the unimaginable King of Fairies grant me sight. O great Albion, the final dragon of the greatest line, draw from the fracture that beats with the Earth's blood. Mine is the star that shines in the sky, held aloft by these hands to bring glimmers of hope to every eye. Yet, the luster of stars will not last forever. So let the knights gather, let the walls stand robust and the cries of victory reach the end. For the sake of this fate, arousing hope within she of the lake. Catalyst Reversion, Around Caliburn."
Golden motes of light drifted in the air around her, a gently blowing breeze carrying the scent of flowers entering the room as her golden hair lifted slightly, her eyes closed and hands clasped around the staff as if in prayer.
Her Noble Phantasm was an expression of her personal world, a citadel of impenetrable walls, filled with the cries of victory that even triumphed over the end. Herself, a star of portent that shone with hope, seeking the end of her fate that was yet unknown to her. Nevertheless, she would persist along the path, gathering companions to form the True Round. Albion, the white dragon of Britain, had died trying to reach the Reverse Side of the World in this timeline, it's tomb the base of the current Clock Tower. Yet, because of that, it was linked to the major ley lines of the land after digging deeply into the soil in a desperate attempt to reach the Reverse Side on its own strength. A symbol of the fallen dragon that was left behind, deeply connected to the veins that flowed through the land. All these served as lines to link Caster to the leylines, her world being funneled into the ley line to intrinsically link the two, giving it permission to become part of her world, allowing Caster to deploy her Noble Phantasm on Mount Enzou easily since "part of her world already existed". The mana flowing through it was hers, and in return her world was imprinted on the land. In other words, even after she left, a shade of her Noble Phantasm would remain on Mount Enzou, raising the spirits of the monks and slightly increasing their vitality as long as they resided in the temple. Further side effects were also possible, depending on the amount of mystery possessed by the subject.
For an instant, a citadel with white walls sprung up into existence around the hill, the twilight sky lit up with the radiance of chalk white walls that reached the horizon. Then it was gone, the scenery the same as it always was. There would be several reports of people who hallucinated seeing a paradise that day.
Inside the church study, Kirei sighed as he managed the paperwork regarding the Mount Enzou road work repairs. Couldn't Gilgamesh just throw a few swords less?
Inside the Edelfelt manor, Flatt suddenly saw the liquid crystal model of the city distort at the same time Caster completed her linking to the ley lines.
"Game select."
Waving his hand at the model, it shifted to zoom in on the distortion, Mount Enzou glowing red as ripples spread outward from it.
"Professor I-"
Hang on, Great Big Ben London Star isn't here, so I can sneak out to see a Servant with my own eyes!
Flat took action immediately, rushing off to grab Gray and Assassin as well, because the more the merrier, right?
"Sneaking off without telling Sir? How daring, IHIHI!" Add commented on her actions, even though she was powerless to resist Flat's enthusiasm.
Flat took a motorcycle out of the car park as Gray sat on the back as the passenger, Assassin dematerialized while following them. Just as he burst onto the street and made a hard right, El-Melloi turned the street corner on the left and spotted them.
"Huh? Who was tha...wait it's you Flat! Stop, do you think you're going!"
He ran a few steps, but they were already quite some distance away. Furious, he ran back into the manor to keep track of their movements.
Meanwhile, Flat, Gray and Assassin went from the southern end of Miyama Town straight to Mount Enzou. It wasn't very far, so they managed to make it in under half an hour.
"So this is where Caster disappeared to. To think that she only teleported to somewhere only a few hundred meters away."
Assassin looked at the melted piece of tarmac on the ground.
"Wow, you can really tell a fight happened here! Look at all the craters in the ground!"
Indeed, tape cordoned off the damaged sections of the road around the bottom of the stairs leading up to Ryuudou Temple, which spanned quite a large area. A sign saying "Road works in progress" and a small notice about gas pipe malfunctions were also there as well.
Gray looked around, surprised by the damage that had been dealt.
"Um, Flat, I don't think it's a good idea to just go up to their base like that. It might be dangerous."
"Don't worry, we'll just say we come in peace for a temporary truce!"
Internally, Assassin wondered whether he had a few screws loose in the head, though she wasn't one to talk as well.
"Let's go see Caster!"
He took the stairs three at a time and ran up, the flustered Gray and Assassin following in his wake.
"FLAT! What the hell are you doing there?"
El-Melloi's voice rang in his ears as the Mystic Code transmitted his voice from the base.
"Just meeting a Caster, don't worry."
"Meeting Caster? Get out of there righ-bzrrrt."
Flat stopped and tapped the Mystic Code in his ear. It failed to respond, the Mystic Code only humming static for a bit before going silent.
"Well, I guess the Bounded Fields Caster made blocked the connection. Can't be helped" He pocketed the Mystic Code and continued to go up.
"Flat! We should really stop!"
Gray raised her voice in a rare moment of admonition.
"We don't know what to expect, and we could get captured or killed any moment!"
"You're starting to sound like Professor El-Melloi." Flat only grinned at her words, not taking her seriously at all.
"Besides, we have a Servant to protect us. And you have "that" as well, don't you?"
"Please stop right there."
A calm voice interrupted them, coming from the top of the stairs. Turning around, both Gray and Flat saw a stoic man in a business suit standing at the second last landing of the stairs ahead of them. Sensing hostility, Assassin materialized in front of Gray, watching the man warily.
"Oooh, are you the new Master of Caster? Nice to meet you, I'm Flat Escardos, and this is Gray!"
The man wasn't taken aback by his apparent friendliness, and introduced himself in return.
"Souichirou Kuzuki. I am the Master of Caster, and I ask that you turn back before I am forced to take action."
"Ah, I just wanted to come meet Caster, it's pretty cool to meet such a legendary hero, particularly a fellow spellcaster as well! Can we just see her, please? I promise we won't fight or anything."
Flat smiled and offered a temporary truce to them.
Kuzuki tilted his head, considering his offer. Abruptly, Caster sent him a mental message.
"That Servant is the one that killed my former Master. Be careful, she's probably an Assassin class Servant. Also, tell them that their truce for entry is denied, but if they want to speak to me they can do it from there."
Kuzuki nodded, and then turned back to them.
"You cannot enter, but you can speak to Caster through me."
Flat scratched the back of his head, his face slightly disappointed as his smile grew smaller.
"Well that's a shame. I was looking forward to seeing your face. But I can still talk to you, so I'll take the opportunity to ask you, what's your Noble Phantasm?"
There was a moment of silence as Caster tried to digest what she had just heard. Had he just straight up asked to know about her ace in the hole?
Suddenly, the cage under Gray's cloak started glowing intensely, Add rattling around in the cage, shaking it free from the hook on her belt.
"Grr, bZorrSCCCHk, RhonGomy-SCRRR-ad react-SCrrtttTT-ing! GRRZZZ"
"Add! What's going on?"
The tower that shone at the ends of the world was reacting to the Noble Phantasm of Caster, both of them constructs at "the end of the world" designed to protect humanity against complete extinction. Their concepts resonated with each other, the mana in the air causing the energy sealed by the Pseudo Personality Add to run wild, Rhongomyniad resurfacing in the world.
"Master! Get away from the device! I'll try to shield you as much as I can!"
Caster yelled at him to retreat, but he was blocked by Assassin.
"Is this your doing, Caster? Cease it at once, or I'll kill him!" Brandishing her Secret-Calibur, she raised her sword against Kuzuki.
"I smell the scent of a Saberface around here as well, so show yourself! It is the destiny of all Sabers to die at my hand, besides those two."
Kuzuki was unintimidated by Assassin, simply staring at her and evaluating her possible ability as he communicated with Caster.
"Caster, can you provide the enchantments to me now? I might be able to take her on, if the Assassin class is as weak as you say."
"Are you sure?"
"Leave the frontlines to me, like we discussed."
"Alright, activating enchantments. Around Caliburn."
A wall of glowing mana formed around Kuzuki, half transparent as it seemed to spin around him. Golden motes rose from the ground into the air around him, then gliding to his body and sinking through the fabric into his flesh. Blue energy seemed to crawl up from the ground into his legs, and his irises slowly turned a shade of blue as he settled in the style of the snake.
"I'll take that as a no then. Very well, I, Mysterious Heroine X, will face you in combat! May the Star of Saber be with me!"
*BOOM*
Her speed was incredible at Agility rank A, the blade breaking the sound barrier to unleash a shock wave of air at Kuzuki even before she arrived.
*KRAK*
But with the enchantments enhancing the five senses and his body, he was able to dodge out of the way, and his hands seemed to twist around her blade to deliver a five finger strike at the base of her neck from behind.
"Kuh!"
She continued forward instead, her momentum barely allowing her to get just ahead of the strike as she dug one leg into the ground to pivot, her shining blade swinging around to lop off his arm.
*TONG*
A clear sound rang through the stairs as a shockwave erupted from the blade as it halted in place.
Assassin's eyes widened in disbelief.
Trapped between his upper thigh and elbow, was her blade.
Further away, Berserker suddenly lifted her head up from the mochi she was eating.
"Master, let's go."
"Eh, right now?" Illya was also eating, but she was lifted off her seat with one hand and taken into a princess carry as Berserker took off the moment they went to somewhere deserted.
"Wait, my black bean ice cream!" Illya's cry of despair echoed in the night as they headed towards Mount Enzou.