Garden of Order: X
She heralded her arrival with the caw of ravens, the flutter of her allies swirled about before vanishing into naught but air.
A short bow came next as she faced the direction she sensed her contractor and held herself back up once again, allowing her dark lips to curl into a warm smile. It was one that only grew when she saw the company that was being kept.
Despite the current condition of her face and the lack of her eyes.
That was a touch concerning.
Closing her hands together, she angled her head and hummed as the breath of the land came to her. There was something quite foul afoot in this place. A musty scent which was not too far removed from old rust. It tickled upon her as she made sense of what it was within but a few moments. There was anger and there was vengeance, the call of crimes which the victim felt had not been properly compensated for.
Retribution, rather than justice.
Her eyes wandered towards her grandson.
His head sharply turned down, unwilling to meet her gaze and she was sure from the slight jerking of his body that he very nearly spun around to show his back to her instead. But he held firm in some amused attempt at bravery, or stubbornness. The two went hand in hand with their family.
It was a nostalgic sight to be sure.
Though she would never say it to his face, he looked just like his mother when frightened.
"Ritsuka."
But it would not do without speaking with her ward as well.
Her smile widened just a touch as she directed her focus to Priscilla, taking a step towards her and reaching out, the girl shuddered a moment as her hands rested upon the furred arm but soon inched forwards to get more of the sensation from her.
"Priscilla…look at you…" Softly cooing, she moved her hand further up the length of the arm and towards the shoulder, dancing past it and finally coming to a halt at the cheek of her granddaughter.
The poor dear.
Cupping her head, she dragged a thumb back and forth right under the hideous gashes where Priscilla had obviously used her fingernails to tear free her eyes. To think that she could inflict such brutality upon herself was surprising, but there was something lighter about her person now.
Priscilla felt quite a bit different.
"Grandmother…" Priscilla whispered as she leaned into the touch, her left hand moved up to hold the hand Velka held against her. There was still that warmth in her tone, however. It was something that had clearly not changed in the least.
Her eyes flicked down to the right side.
More so on the hands which were joined together, between Ritsuka and Priscilla but she did not even believe it was born of some romantic infatuation.
Her eyes softened, she turned and sent the boy a rather pitying look.
Guilt and shame radiated off him as heat did from the sun, even as he met her eyes for but a few moments before turning them away and to the ground. It was something that they both knew, but it was not for her to call out.
Should he ever again feel the need, he would speak with her again.
"I am pleased to see you in whatever state you are in, Priscilla." Pulling away from her grandchild, she stepped back and cupped her hands together once more. "And further joyed to find that you have such attentive company with you."
With a faint smile, Priscilla looked rather warmly down upon her for the praise and angled her neck ever so slightly to turn her focus to the young man.
But there was no hiding the faint note of sorrow in the girl.
She likely realised it as well, even deprived of eyes.
Pity.
But it was not what she was here for.
A slow turn of the head brought her focus to the main reason of her being here, lowering her hands down to her front and upturning her head just enough so that her eyes were visible from beneath her veil. He met her stare and offered a faint nod of greeting before he started to speak.
"Velka. I need your assistance."
Her eyes turned to the one who was all but screaming to her in every way that mattered. Even as nothing more than a flicker in the very corner of her vision, they left such an impression that it was hard to ignore.
"Am I to understand that this is the one who warrants your calling upon me for the first true time?"
Taking a slow step towards the man mounted to the wall, her eyes roamed over his entire form. Her gaze lingered most of all to the damage which had been done unto him, quite a state he had been left in with all those bruises and gashes over his face. The clearly broken nose and the missing eye.
Raising her hand, she pressed her fingers under the chin of the pale skinned fellow and pushed upwards, until he was looking towards her with a smile that was as false as hollow as his gaze. A rather curious little figure they had found for her today, more so with a nature about him that screamed of a soul younger than his appearance would suggest.
A false body, mayhaps?
"They have visited pain upon you, have they not?" Velka whispered, but it was words which she knew carried across the room. "And not just those here, there have been others…such as yourself as well."
She could see it knotted across his very being, her eyes lowered until they fixated upon his chest.
Where his soul was bound with sin, but it was sin stamped firmly upon him for something that did not weigh upon his mind.
There was always a difference in guilt, between those who felt no remorse for actions they had committed and those accused of actions they had not committed but all were convinced of.
Or perhaps he was but the carrier of another's sins, a convenient stand-in?
"You're a rather different one, aren't you?" The one-eyed man chuckled rather openly at her, tone conversational as if there was nothing for them to even worry about. A faint intake of breath betrayed his pain, however, and there was something about the way he was visibly sizing her up. Long since coming to the conclusion that she was indeed a very different one to those who had hurt him.
"A carrot and stick approach, is it?" He mused further, tilting his head. "Shall you offer me a sweet song in the hopes I will confess all my terrible actions? Will you promise my safety so that I do not need to worry about being harmed further? Will you swear it upon your word as a Goddess?"
She gave a sweet smile.
"No."
He blinked, then laughed in some true amusement. "That is curious! Then is this to be the stick instead?"
When his eye opened, he leered forwards and gazed at her with a greater sharpness within it. Gone was the sense of concern and replaced only with some clear curiosity. She could see it clear as day, that he was truly invigorated by the chance that she was perhaps the worst option out of all of them. Perhaps she could very well have been if there was more time for all of them to become better acquainted.
But, well.
She supposed there might not have been.
"What sins would you have this one confess, Ritsuka?" Calling over her shoulder, she leaned back. "I assume that is why you have brought me here, hmmm?"
Ritsuka was not long in replying. "He was the one who managed to get Servants from Chaldea to come here, but he himself didn't break into the facility. Someone else showed him how and I need to know who. Or if he doesn't know that, then what else they might be able to do."
Velka hummed and watched the man for a moment, measuring his reaction to the words.
There was only that glint of mirth.
She smiled as it clicked into place.
"I am afraid you have come to a slight misunderstanding, Ritsuka. He only made offers, the Servants who came here would do so under their own powers…is that not true?"
The man looked back to her and raised his brows, but the smile grew wider still.
"Oh? We have a clever, clever one! I am nothing more than a man and a messenger! I gave them a choice and they chose. For such valiant heroes, it was a surprise to find them so blind to the battles within! For the moment they made the choice the battle was lost and they came here ever so quickly…well…that was the intention, fufufu~"
He grinned wide and showed bright white teeth.
Well, she assumed they might have been bright white once, the splattering of blood over them spoiled that image.
"Such small whispers 'do you not see the troubles with yourself?' and 'is there not a plague which nests in your heart?' and they were swept away as soon as they admitted to it."
Velka could imagine so.
A few little whispers here and there, some could be ignored as no more than a trick of the mind, others not so much.
The Servants who followed those small urgings without even realising blundered right into his trap before they even knew what was upon them. A rather chancy movement that could have ended badly if not placed right. Which meant this one was either lucky or smart.
But they accepted his deals and were brought here.
"Wait."
Ritsuka spoke up, a frown audible in his words.
"Surely you tried to get more than Boudica and Verndari down here, for an infiltration into Chaldea, you only walked out with two Servants."
The jester pouted and looked almost indignant. "I made such sweet offers as well! You can see that very few took the bait. As though they had some prior experience that meant they ignored my sweet whispers. Had I been just a touch slower, they might have found me…and I so very much wanted more than those two, but they were entertaining enough."
With a raised brow, the clown looked past her to the boy.
"Oh? Oh-ho-ho! Did someone play my prank before me? That must have been it! Dear, dear me! I feel so very cheated now, to think that I was retelling an old joke. I should have noticed after the first walked by without so much as a twitch."
Then it had been blind luck that aided him and nothing more.
He captured what few he could and fled before he could be discovered.
She assumed as much, from the magical spells which surrounded this one. Curses one and all within him and about him. Something that she could certainly see rather clearly on the man who coated himself as a demon but was still but a man. She could see it all within him most clearly.
But more than that, she could see his name and his legend.
"Mephistopheles."
"Ah." The man blinked, then snorted. "A Ruler, are you? How fitting that you should come here to this terrible place. A mediator in the land where none cares for it? How curious, how exciting!"
"Wait-! Mephistopheles? That's his name!?" A rather loud shout from behind, the one who had struck her across the face.
They held their fire true, even now.
Little Olga Marie.
"But that is the Demon who supposedly contracted with Georg Faust."
"Oh, he is nothing of the sort." Velka saw fit to interject with a shake of the head. "Or rather, he is indeed contracted with Faust…as a child would be to their parents. The great work of a mage who created you. A homunculus with an ego so very human and clad you in the name of Mephistopheles…and history did the rest, did it not? Adorning you with the might of a fictitious being."
It was a prophecy that was self-fulfilling.
The words of a play forged the Demon, rather than the works of a demon forging a play.
In spreading the tale of Mephistopheles, they created the demon themselves after death.
Or perhaps, there was something else behind it?
After all, this was one who made no sin in their own mind, wasn't it.
"A homunculus who garnered the traits of a Demon? That would certainly explain their abilities in curses if they could affect even Ash through his magic resistance…Regardless, you are pressed for time. Make yourself useful and find more about his contractor."
Velka turned over her shoulder and looked to see how Ritsuka would take the news.
He looked pensive for a moment, his eyes meeting hers past the screen of light.
Then he sharply nodded his head for her to continue.
Pressed for time then.
Very well.
She turned back and reached out, dropping a lone finger onto the temple of the supposed demon.
Mephistopheles glanced up and to the finger, then down to her with a faint smile. "Shall you now peer through my mind of madness with mirth? It will be a long journey for you, of that I can promise. Or do you have some other curious idea behind you? Please tell me, I would very much wish to know. It is certainly an exciting meeting. Between Divine and Demon, isn't it?"
Velka shrugged. "I'm more accustomed to the other variety of demons, those adorned in brimstone and fire."
"But they are all terribly boring, aren't they?"
"One is only as boring as they wish to be." She responded, dragging a nail across his skin gently, humming all the while. "But you did as your creator wished, did you not? I can hardly call your desire a sin, merely the actions required for it."
That gave a rather long pause from the man, intrigue in the eye now.
"Oh? I would expect judgement."
"You shall receive judgement, but perhaps he should have been clearer still."
Pulling her hand away, she lowered it down and stepped back, weaving her hand and calling forth the space before her. A blackened tome fell into the air in between them, flipping open and cycling through a dozen pages swiftly before halting upon the correct one. She smiled down and turned it about with a gesture before holding it up to the man.
"Your entry."
Mephistopehles inclined his head forwards and read from the pages, then slowly nodded and leaned back. "That is quite a list of charges, I see no reason to deny them. A man is honest with his contracts, is he not? I did only as Faust wished. I made him into a man forever immortal."
Yes, she supposed he did.
And one without understanding could only act as they desired of their baser instincts.
She lowered the page and smiled.
"Your honesty is appreciated and the sins are counted. Perhaps you might confess to some others? Such as your contractor?"
The man chuckled and then spoke.
"I see nothing of him but shadow and laughter, a merry one he is and with a sense of humour about him too. He raced on ahead of me ever so quickly and led me to Chaldea. I walked and found so many different fellows who were just right. He told me they would make such fine guests and the invitations were extended. Then he raced me all the way back here and told me to do nothing more."
It was a tumble of words, but they came cleanly.
When it was over, he blinked and frowned.
"But he never did tell me his name…oh…wait a moment…that was rather…"
She stepped back and turned to face the others, smiling at Ritsuka. "And there we have it. A pure and open confession. An ability of his contractor who is the secretive sort, but there is nothing else this one would know."
Ritsuka looked between her and then to the book in her hands.
She chuckled. "I merely laid bare his crimes and contracted him. The book of the guilty tells no lies. With his legend and his name, he could not help but confess to all else he has done upon manifesting in this land. I did say his sins would be counted, did I not?"
"You did…" He muttered, then nodded with a touch of a smile. "Thank you, it's not a lot but it's better than we had before at least."
She jerked her head back. "And his fate?"
A silence greeted her that was rather ominous, but she reached beyond the room with her senses and found something drawing closer and closer to them.
It was akin to staring out to the horizon and spotting the rumbling of an encroaching storm, one that everyone was aware of. Her eyes turned towards the door for but a moment and her brow slowly raised, then slid her gaze back towards Ritsuka and felt her lips pull themselves upwards into a touch of a smile.
"Or perhaps that has already been decided before I arrived? Very well. If there is nothing else which calls for me here, then shall I return?"
Ritsuka slowly nodded his head. "Yeah. Thanks."
Forced as his words might have sounded, she could see he was genuine with it.
"I'll leave my granddaughter in your capable hands."
Bowing her head, she brought it back up and switched her eyes to another in the room.
"Ash."
He twitched, almost like stopping himself from flinching at the mere mention of his name. His focus fell on her but not his eyes, those remained fixed towards the ground and his posture went taut. Coiling so very tightly that the slightest jerk would have him snap into position. Or just break.
"Take care."
With that done, she pulled herself away from the summoning and returned to Chaldea.
Certain that things were to get rather intriguing in her absence.
As opposed to her arrival, her departure was silent.
She just sort of vanished into the wind, leaving them all alone in the quiet.
Ritsuka took in a slow breath before he looked to Mephistopheles.
The man still held that oddly puzzled expression on his face before it loosened and relaxed, the smile formed once more and his purple eyes rolled in his direction. A smile wore itself more openly now and the man chuckled in a low tone.
"Am I to suppose this is where we might say farewell? That's a bit of a pity. Though how many can say that a King would come and deliver justice to them personally? That sounds like quite the boast, doesn't it? How do you suppose it will happen? With her bare hands or with-"
His vision swarmed with heat and light, Ritsuka hissed and pulled himself backwards. Raising his hands in the same gesture at the sharp crack, almost like thunder, and then the scarlet which poured into his gaze. It was as though someone had just opened the door of an oven and slammed it closed in the same motion.
Lasting no more than a mere instant, but there was nothing but silence.
And a very foul smell.
Burnt meat.
Ritsuka opened his eyes and beheld the sight, lowering his hands down and looking right towards the wall and where the Caster had been. Rather, there was still some part of him there, mainly the shoulder which had been mounted, but that was it.
There was a circular groove torn right into the brickwork which was as wide as his arm was long. A cut out which had engulfed Caster from his waist right the way up and past his head, but not quite taking his entire body. That remained, what remained crackled with heat and smouldered with embering burns.
His head snapped away from the sight and he tightened his throat to prevent any sort of bile from rising.
But he didn't need to bother.
…He didn't feel sick, and that worried him.
Instead he looked to the doorway and spotted the cause, still mounted atop her horse with the lance levied upwards and tip pointed towards their direction. The crimson teeth running along the spear dimmed until they went cold, the black lance lowered itself down and the rider pulled on the reins of their horse, Arthur turned her attention onto him and peered down, now bereft of the helm.
It let him see her cold expression, one devoid of anything even close to emotion.
To him, it looked more like a mask.
"I trust you gained what information you sought from him."
Even as she said that, he was left with the impression that she didn't much care if he had or hadn't.
"Yeah. We did."
He replied slowly, then frowned.
"Where's Sir Mordred and Lancer?"
Arthur was silent, then hummed. "And why should I answer such things? Surely you would have known if they perished, would you not? Are you not a Master?"
Yellow eyes narrowed.
"Or are you so deeply a novice that you are incapable of being informed of the state of your subordinates?"
"She did not battle them."
Ash cut into the conversation, stepping forwards and moving between the two of them. Though he did not draw his weapon, he kept his posture tight and at the ready. Something which might have looked more intimidating, if his left arm still did not resemble more of a burst sausage cloaked in metal rather than an actual limb.
Not that it would have stopped Ash.
"I figured that," He replied, gaze switching to Ash. "Still would like to know if she actually came across them either."
Arthur did not respond.
Her eyes were instead fixed solely upon Ash as if she had seen him for the very first time, there was a narrowing of those yellow orbs before she gave a faint hum and then leaned back, almost as though she was relaxed by the development.
Weird.
"I had not thought there was another of that shadow's ilk here, and yet…Hmph. Perhaps I let my eyes wander much too high, rather than keeping them close to the ground, but it is no matter now."
Ash turned and faced Arthur directly.
Ritsuka, instead, was the one who spoke up. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I am not here to guide you through this, Chaldea." She answered instead with a cold tone, her posture tightened as she reverted to the previous state she had been in. "You have achieved progress thus far, you will either perish before you reach the climax or you will triumph. I am sure either one will be…somewhat amusing for me. Regardless, I have achieved what I set out to do and will leave you to your work."
She turned, then stopped and quickly rolled her head back.
But she did not look at them.
Ritsuka heard it and whirled around, the wet slithering and the hiss in the wind, but he did not see it until it was much too late. The darkness snapped shut around the body of Mephistopheles and pulled back into the burnt tunnel, the piercing crimson eyes bore into him as they retreated out of sight and then faded from view.
"So. She is still wasting effort."
The comment from Arthur broke the silence, and Ritsuka caught it immediately.
As he did with the implications of recognition.
"You know who owns that thing?"
Arthur rumbled something which might have been a chuckle. "Of course. She was here before even I, but her role has been petty and limited. Though you do not look surprised, I see you have already witnessed her pet collecting bodies. Though if you think to aim your swords at her, then you are a fool."
She grunted, then frowned.
"If nothing else, I shall spare you the effort. She is no more than a collector. Set your sights elsewhere if you truly intend to put down the one responsible for this."
Yellow eyes flickered to Ash before they parted, the horse turned about and then strode away. The heavy clop of hooves fading as the Lancer moved on from them.
"...I'm still stuck on the fact she is riding a horse inside."
Ritsuka blinked slowly, then turned and looked at Shiki, his brows furrowed after a moment.
She caught him staring and then raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"...That's what you think is weird about all of this?"
"Yeah." She grunted back and then folded her arms, leaning forwards and squinting at him. "Don't you think that's a weird thing for a person to do? Why would you go around riding a horse if you're going to be inside? Isn't that just asking for you to walk into a doorframe or bounce lights off your head?"
He…didn't really consider that.
But at the same time, it just didn't click with him.
So he just shrugged and jerked his head to the hole in the wall. "There's a snake made of oil eating bodies. I'm going to spend less time focusing on someone who might just like looking down on people…though at the same time."
Arthur's words bore consideration.
Apparently the person who owned that thing wasn't responsible for this and was just a collector. He twitched as he recalled that they probably should have asked Caster what exactly the deal was with that, but he supposed they couldn't anymore.
Eyeing the hole in the wall with a tight frown, he shook his head and stepped away, moving towards Ash who was still staring at the doorway, but it was as he drew closer that he noticed the odd expression on the face of the Avenger. Features pulled tight but still thoughtful, or perhaps even strained.
"Ash?"
No response.
Ritsuka stepped around him to the front and raised a brow, even standing right there produced no reaction from him.
"Ash?"
He said again, a little louder than before.
The blonde grunted and glanced down, emerald eyes flashed with a sudden awareness before they returned to their usual dim hue.
"Ritsuka. I was…considering the words of Arthur."
Ah, that explained it.
"Yeah. She said 'one of your ilk'." Ritsuka rubbed his chin. "What do you think she means? Another undead or…"
He trailed off, but the words slotted into place.
Ash's lip pulled down for a fraction of a second before he replied. "I cannot provide an answer. Though this building is placing a great deal of importance upon grudges and anger. Those not easily forgotten…it is not impossible to believe that there might be another Servant who is of the same class as my own."
"Another Avenger."
That did not bode well.
Even with Ash having been with them for some time in this current class, there was little they actually knew about it save for the importance it placed upon grudges or anger. It had never even occurred to him that they might have run into another Avenger at some point, but this might well have been the first instance of it.
Looking away towards Mash, she was frowning similarly and then rolling her jaw. "But if it is another Avenger, then what could their aim be for all of this…have you sensed anything Ash-san?"
"...Sensed?" Ash sounded bemused by the words.
Mash winced and then looked about for a moment, visibly searching for her words before her eyes climbed back up. "I mean if there is something about this place that might give you some sort of clue. King Arthur seemed to be a bit more interested in you than the rest of us…perhaps there is something that only you can do?"
Leave it to Mash to pick up the fine details.
"Wow." Even Shiki sounded a little impressed. "Are you trying to be a detective or something?"
Mash flushed a little. "W-well…I like to read mystery novels a lot."
"Oh yeah." Ritsuka nodded his head towards her, smiling as he did so. Shiki angled her focus towards him as he spoke. "She's a real Holmes fan. Probably enough that I'm eventually gonna get into reading all those books as well."
Shiki hummed and shrugged. "Well. It might be worth a shot."
Her eyes moved to Ash and narrowed.
"Well? Can you feel anything?"
Silence from the blonde, he stood with his arms still by his side and face set in a mask.
Ash turned his head away from them all and towards the door once again.
It was hard to tell if he was trying to do something or if he was just thinking, but Ritsuka was content to wait until something happened.
"...The souls are beginning to stir."
That sounded…problematic?
Ritsuka raised a brow. "Which so-"
He stopped.
Then he felt his eyes start to widen as he looked Ash up and down, a rather cold thought swept through him. "...The souls in you?"
Ash slowly nodded his head, turning and casting an unblinking look down as he raised his left arm. Still broken but now trembling and Ritsuka could not be sure that was a result of the injury or something else. The way it twitched and spasmed about, jerking as if something was crawling around underneath it and trying to move it along.
He looked up and saw the expression of Ash warp for a moment, a brief look of effort before it schooled and he dropped the arm back down to his side.
"...Are you…?" Ritsuka shook his head. "No, we'll see if we can send you back to Chaldea and-"
"That is not necessary-"
"Do you want another episode like London?"
Ash was silent at his words, but he sharply turned his head to avoid looking at him.
Ritsuka waited patiently for an answer, then figured he wasn't going to get one. "This is as much for the good of everyone here as it is for you. If you end up going through some twisted screaming match inside your own head because I'm dragging you around this place, then I can handle you sitting this one out-"
"They are always like that."
He stopped.
…What?
"...Like what?"
Ash exhaled. "Squirming. They never…settled. Not like before. I told you. Some surface and then retreat back down. It is a more…conscious effort required but I had not equated it to this place until…now."
Turning, Ash peered down at him with resolution in his eyes. "I can keep them under control, I have achieved it thus far and none of them have enough strength to exude dominance over me…It is little more than the memories of anger being pulled forth and nothing else."
"Either way-"
"Not just their own."
He was silenced before he could finish, the Avenger raised his head and looked up and around, scanning the room.
"Those we have slain. Those who might have lingered as well, they speak of death and pain. It is a…tapestry of suffering. I will not abide it existing and must question the one responsible for this. Should it reach a point where I do not feel I can manage their fury, I will abide by whatever choice you make. Until that time…I am still capable of fighting."
Ritsuka looked him in the eye.
He looked long and hard without blinking.
Eventually, the scuffle of footsteps pulled his eyes away from Ash and towards the door.
Mordred and Lancer rounded the corner, the former paused briefly and looked between them before casting a long stare to the back of the room, where Ritsuka knew the hole in the wall to be and where Caster had died.
Grunting, Mordred stepped in and nodded her head forwards.
"Father stopped by then, did he?"
"Yeah." He nodded back. "You alright?"
Mordred stopped at that, whipping her head to face him and looking slightly insulted for a moment. "Hah?! What do you mean? Course I am! You think I'd let myself run off to my death!?"
"No." Ritsuka shook his head. "Just know how this place affects grudges and I figured an encounter with King Arthur…but if you can control it, then it's fine."
He smiled.
"Good job."
Mordred went silent, her expression evening out before snorting rather loudly and scoffing as well, she turned and marched past him, grumbling under her breath as she did so.
"Course. Wouldn't let some hack mage try and use my anger like a tool."
As long as she was alright, he supposed.
Lancer entered in silence and looked about, taking a short sniff as the snakes turned and aimed their heads towards the end of the room.
"...Another God was here."
He didn't sound all that surprised, or put off.
That was all he said as he lingered just outside and went quiet, looking away from all of them and being content to just stand there and shadow the doorway.
Ritsuka felt a little lost, but at the same time was relieved that everyone was at least here again.
His hand came up, flashing the communicator open.
"Romani."
"Fujimaru-kun."
"Ritsuka."
Two voices greeted him back in quick succession, Romani and Olga both stood on the other end of the screen and looked back to him.
"You heard then, I take it?" They would most certainly have done. "Thoughts?"
Romani went silent and glanced over his shoulder to the Director, Olga wore a troubled frown before taking in a breath.
"The words of King Arthur leave much to consider, as do the implications. The simple fact is that we do not know enough of the Avenger class to even begin to understand the basic characteristics of them beyond wild speculation related to the name itself. That is all. As for the matter of this 'collector' and their pet Daemon…"
Olga folded her arms and raised her other hand, glancing to the side and rubbing her thumb along the side of her knuckle before she stopped and smacked her lips.
"Continue as you were. The information we obtained was valuable in a sense and we can determine there is indeed a mastermind behind this. Though I am now doubtful that the Arthur you encountered was summoned…spoken from experience, she would have never allowed you to live if she believed you an enemy and would have made it clear to you if you were."
Ritsuka spied a shuffle of movement from Mordred in the corner of his eye, the knight turned ever so slightly and looked at the Director briefly with a tiny frown on her lips before she looked away and seemingly pretended to remain uninterested.
It was only a short thing.
Romani perked up and leaned forwards. "We'll keep an eye out on this end, Fujimaru-kun. Though with most of the interference, it seems related to the rooms or is getting worse in some places?"
Olga nodded behind him. "We can assume it relates to the strength of the grudges, or the quantity of them. The rooms and halls already clear provide us with more detailed readings than those above you."
"So just keep walking forwards and-"
He stopped, then frowned.
Ash started moving and strode forwards, without even so much as a peep, the Avenger walked forwards and right out of the door towards the railings which overlooked the grounds below. Ritsuka raised a brow before giving chase after him.
He had stopped and was looking straight down, tilting his head ever so slightly.
"Ash? What's wrong?"
"...I feel…" Ash twitched rather suddenly, it looked involuntary but was just sudden. His neck jerked before it straightened out. "...The forest. The souls squirm as I stare at the forest. They are more aware of it."
That sounded like a clue to him.
He turned and looked right down towards the trees beneath them, it could hardly be called a forest but it was a rather thick patch.
…It certainly felt eerie to look upon as well, a brief chill as if there was something in there looking back towards him.
"...Change of plans. We're going to the woods."
"Huh?"
"What!?"
Twinned exclamations of shock came from the communicator, he side-eyed it and raised a brow at the pair of faces before he explained.
"Ash says there is something weird and I just took a single look and I can tell there is something weird about it and not just in the sense that woods can be spooky at night. I mean…"
He trailed off and rolled his jaw, shaking his head and looking down.
It could be called gut instinct more than anything.
But there was something about those woods which made him feel uneasy, akin to staring at the mouth of a cave and hearing a growl from within the darkness. You didn't know what was living in there, but you just figured there was something you didn't want to see. Except in this case, it was something that he was very much going to head down and see if he could fish it out.
"...Alright then, if you're sure about it." The Director eventually replied. "You will likely pass by Verndari on your way back. It would be a suitable enough time to put the previous hypothesis into practice on a more trusted Servant."
Ritsuka twitched at the words.
He wasn't sure if the Director meant it as a jab against himself or against Priscilla, or if she was just speaking openly.
"Right." Nodding his head, he turned to the way they had come and jerked in that direction. "Guess we're going back the way we came."
"We could just step over the balcony."
He made it not even a single step before he found himself stumbling over his own feet at the words, whipping around to face Ash and noting that he was now leaning forwards over the railings and pointedly looking straight down. Ritsuka was certain that he was measuring the distance of the fall now.
"You could." Ritsuka corrected him. "As could everyone else. I, however, cannot."
"Mash could carry you."
He blinked, then turned towards Mash.
Very slowly she nodded her head up and down and confirmed that she could probably carry him on the way down. It wouldn't really be the first time they did it either.
Ritsuka blinked slowly, then stepped up beside Ash and leaned forwards to stare down the length of the railings.
It didn't actually look all that high, not when compared to the other falls he'd gone through in the past.
"...We'd have to come back up anyway, so we could catch Verndari then." Musing for a moment, he cupped his chin and rubbed it back and forth before shrugging his shoulders, "Alright then. I guess we're heading down."
"As you say."
Without further words, Ash placed his hands against the railings and pulled himself over, Ritsuka did not even get the chance to utter another word before the Avenger launched himself from the floor and then plummeted straight down towards ground level. Ritsuka leaned forwards to catch a better view of the fall, then raised a brow at the brief cloud of dirt kicked up by the impact.
Ash stepped out of his miniscule crater and then turned, looking up towards them in what he assumed would have been expectancy.
There was a shuffling of movement either side of him, a quick glance showed that there had spawned a small audience now of the Servants, most looking over the railings towards the ground.
"Hmph." Mordred scoffed, stepping upwards and balancing herself on the ledge. "I can do that too."
And with that, she just stepped forwards and fell like a brick right to the earth.
Lancer was the next one over, more silent than the others as he moved with a touch more grace about him, vaulting the railings and plunging straight down, landing in a roll rather than an explosion and sliding to a halt after no more than a single metre of movement. It was rather impressive.
Though there was something else he was a bit more curious about.
He turned to Shiki and raised a brow. "What about you?"
"Hmph?" She looked back.
"Can you take the fall?"
"...Why wouldn't I?"
He shrugged. "I'm not sure. Just figured you might be a little similar to Lord El-Melloi and not really being…I mean, can you just jump off and not hurt herself? Like, can you take the fall? Is there some sort of conceptual weakness you have to falling."
Shiki was silent for a moment, then she blinked.
"...Is that a thing?"
"For one guy, yeah."
She blinked once more. "Oh."
Another short glance over the edge. "I can take it. I've fallen from taller heights."
"Technically so have I but…" Trailing off, he shook his head. "Nevermind."
Mash felt her knees buckle as they struck the ground, she held herself there for a moment before she stood up straight and walked out of the indentation in the soil, a pair of marks where her boots had punched themselves into the upper layer of grass.
"Another happy landing."
Senpai spoke with a trace amount of cheer in his voice, it was relieving but she thought he might have been referencing something again. She was sure she was learning the tells for when he did something like that.
Also there was a little accent in his words, as though he was doing a voice.
Eyeing him for a moment, she held him up in her arms and kept herself quiet as she watched him. He did not immediately move to dismount out of the carry, instead he turned his gaze towards the edge of the woods and just went silent. She could not quite see his expression without leaning forwards, but she felt him go tense.
Quickly, she turned to the woods and squinted at them.
…To her shame, she could not sense anything out of place.
Though both Senpai and Ash claimed that there was something wrong with the woods, she felt she was letting them down by not also being aware of it. Even as she stood no more than a few metres from it. Her jaw clenched as Senpai started to move, twisting about and turning to let him down, she straightened up and brought her shield into existence a moment later.
All her attention focused on the woods and for any sign of movement or something amiss.
"Alright, Priscilla!"
She jerked at the shout and flinched ever so slightly.
Senpai had turned about and looked back towards the floor they had lept from, Mash followed his gaze and could see the furred woman hesitantly leaning forwards. Even at the distance, Mash could see the look of apprehension on the face of the blind woman and rolled her jaw.
Ah, right.
Getting Priscilla-san down would be difficult…unless…
"I can catch her, Senpai."
She could and she would.
He turned and flashed her a brief smile of gratitude before he turned back and raised his voice. "You hear that? Just jump off and then Mash is going to catch you. It'll be fine."
"I'm very sturdy, Priscilla-san!" Raising her own voice, she hoped that she could provide some sense of relief to the Assassin if there was any. "Don't worry! I can catch you!"
Priscilla bobbed her head once and then started to rise over, awkwardly pulling herself over the balcony in some manner of strange hold. It looked more as though she would crawl down than jump, but after a second or two of nothing, she let go of the railings and fell straight down towards them.
Dashing until she was right under the shadow of the larger woman, Mash tensed herself and held out her arms.
She was prepared for the weight, and it was fortunate that Priscilla had been able to shuffle herself in the short time she was falling so that she fell with her back to the ground, rather than her feet. Mash sucked in a breath as the mass of white fur and body slammed into her arms, very nearly dropping to one foot more out of the reflex than of anything else, she pulled in more air and hoisted the woman up.
The jerked motion earned a startled noise before Priscilla relaxed a little.
"See? What did I tell you?" She did not need to turn to see the proud smile on Senpai's face, the words contained it.
In truth, she wasn't sure what she had actually done to earn most of that praise.
Any of the other Servants could have done exactly as she did, it just so happened that she was closer to them.
"I didst not doubt thy strength, young Mash." Priscilla assured her as she turned her head.
Mash straightened as she felt the tail coil around her, likely for some support, but that was not what had her startle. It was oddly warm and there was a softness about it that almost made her giggle. She had not yet had the chance to touch any of the fur but now that she held it in her hands, it was as if she was holding a weighted pillow rather than a person.
"It is ironic for one with the blood of dragons to be…ill at ease in the air."
Mash detected the hint of shame and embarrassment in the muttered words.
She frowned and shook her head, then realised and corrected herself. "Don't worry about it, Priscilla-san. It's no trouble for me."
"Thou hast mine thanks for enduring mine troubles."
"It's fine, really." She repeated the words again, but they found no purchase on the face of Priscilla. Instead she wore a smile that was indulgent and Mash felt as though she had seen that same look before, on the likes of Romani and Da Vinci both at times.
A smile that should have made her feel more at ease.
But in this situation, it only brought her more trouble.
…And she wished to know how much of this was on account of the building and the curse, or if it was truly Priscilla herself. The woman who had fought Chaldea tooth and nail within London until she was slain.
It was hard to equate the two.
Priscilla clambered from her hands without another word, briefly resting a large hand upon Mash's shoulder and giving a thankful pat, but she said nothing to the woman as she strode off. Senpai was there to meet her and took her hand, leading her onwards and to the others.
Mash kept silent.
…She was good at that, she supposed.
And yet…
Her eyes slowly found a new target in the form of Ash, who was still standing with sword unsheathed and gazing at the woods with focus, a posture unflinching and stalwart for any danger. Even with the potential that he was affected, and now with the news that there had never been a moment where he was not affected.
Though now she was troubled by whether it was Ash just being resigned to his fate or if he was truly just strong enough to ignore it all.
She strode towards him, sparing a glance for the woods for only a short time and over the top of the shoulders of the others. A small perimeter facing the woods and a watch established, if something were to happen, she thought it would not be long, but she was beside Ash after a moment or two of walking and looking straight out.
"...Can you still feel it?"
"Stronger than before."
His words came back and they were just…words.
He spoke as if he was reading something aloud.
She eyed him.
Ash's face was like carved stone, there was no hint that anything he said previously was even affecting him.
"Then there is something here."
"There is." Ash nodded once, green eyes briefly darted to the side and towards the direction of Senpai. "You should be with him. He needs a protector more than I."
"...Yes, of course."
Mash ducked her head and jogged away, taking only a few steps before she stopped and rolled her jaw. She wanted to ask if Ash was alright, if he was suffering anything and if there was anything she might do to help.
…She stopped herself before she could make a bit of a blunder and carried on.
Even if there was something wrong, what was she to do about it?
They scream.
They claw.
They beg.
It's unending.
It's unyielding.
Anger.
Hatred.
Fury.
Vengeance.
The source is here.
They claw and scramble to find it.
To tear it apart.
He feels it in every thought, they surge to dominate and they rush to claim it. To pull and twist at his consciousness until they can drive him forwards. To throw him into chaos so that they can find the source of their fury.
The one who broke them.
The one who was broken.
The one whose memory lingers.
None of them have forgotten and none of them will forget.
He's here.
He's here!
HE'S HERE!
Ash felt his head twitch for just a moment.
It was loud.
A deafening silence which brought only the annoyance of anger to the surface of his mind. He was curious how long it had been there, it was not something which merely emerged, he could not think of a moment where it had not been present, but now he heard it louder than before.
The writhing in his skin.
Right at the very corners of his mind, in the deepest parts of his soul, the memories were bubbling and boiling. Perhaps drawn forth by the one which had made them as such, which forced them to be remembered as such, but he picked them apart and looked them over.
He was not gentle as he examined the minds of the wraiths.
But they were dead and gone.
All that remained was their anger and he needed to understand why they were angry, why they continued to linger in this wretched place.
Why they had lingered even after dying?
It was not solely for the distortion.
He reached forth within himself and tore open the minds and drank the memories, every single iota of information they held was sucked dry and all that remained were the emotions that were left behind.
Those he kept and stored.
He would never forget those, he could never forget those.
The sole remnant that these people existed in the first place was their anger and their rage.
Aimed for this man.
The man he saw at the forefront of his mind, his mind's eye drummed the image forth and he found it.
Araya Souren.
A sunken face, almost as if he suffered from the curse of undeath himself and as he examined the image, he looked through what he had been granted from Solomon. A gift he had asked for and would make use of, and he found a link between them quicker than before. He saw it and he watched.
Araya Souren.
The man who could see the soul, who could see the origin of humans.
Not of the race, but of the individual.
He could see what comprised them.
He had been motivated by this until…until what, he wondered?
Was he truly a man so driven by intrigue and curiosity? And yet he had passed away over a hundred years ago. His death had been utterly ordinary and without interest, but for the distortion of this land there was something else. He looked through the minds and they all spat and cursed his name, as though the man had somehow done this to them.
…Perhaps he had.
Perhaps Souren had lived through this distortion and was the cause.
A curious-
Something cracked in the forest, Ash turned about and-
"Why would you come to this place and deny the dead their existence?"
Dead silence, but the woods seemed to churn with darkness.
It was an alert which spread across the Servants as one, but Ash stepped forwards and brandished his sword, in the same fluid movement he coated the sword in a mixture of black and white flames, gazing across for the source of the words, but there was nothing to be found. He was sure there was a Servant out there, but they did not reveal themselves.
No.
Ash narrowed his eyes and straightened out his posture.
"A coward who skulks in the shadows?" Mordred spat. "Come out and fight if you're so brazen to speak!"
The darkness met the words with nothing but a ripple, but Ash noticed something.
It was there, in the gaps of the woods.
The shadows had grown all the more stronger, where light did not pierce.
There was something in those shadows, something that lived.
"Fight? Hmph. So that is the sort you are, there would be many who once fell upon your blade. I can see it all the more clearly now, those who would have cursed your name in both life and death. Does this place not speak to you, wayward knight?"
"You mean how you tried to play puppet master?" Mordred was swift with her retort. "Come on, you wanted to see my anger earlier. So why don't you stop hiding and come on out. I'd be glad to show you just how much use I can get from it."
"You bark well." The shadows rippled with mirth. "I can see that you hold your anger, but make no use of it. Though not all can be as I, or the other. A curious state it is, that I find another of my sort brought here…isn't it?"
Ash understood the implication.
"So you are an Avenger."
"As much as you are." The shadow confirmed. "We are both ones born of fury and vengeance. Ours is the rage that shall never be sated, nor shall it be forgotten. It is for that reason this place exists. Surely you have come to understand that much, have you not? It is why I must ask your meaning in slaying the spirits of the dead."
Ash said nothing.
He instead looked towards Ritsuka and awaited his own words.
The boy was quiet for a moment, eyes searching the woods before he raised his voice and spoke up.
"So you are the one who created the singularity then. Or turned the distortion into a Singularity…Why would you ask us the reason behind banishing the ghosts?"
"I wish to hear your own words, your own motives." It was a demand. "You come here and purge those who walk in darkness, bringing light to those who found none of it in life and do so with one who has rather troublesome eyes. What is it that drives you forwards? Compassion for the dead, who found no peace in life? Do you believe they need such things?"
Ritsuka's face turned to a frown. "...I'm not sure if that would be the word for it. In truth…I never considered it in the first place."
Silence.
"Kuh."
It started as nothing more than a ripple at first, but it grew louder and louder.
"Kuhahahahaha! Is that so?! You would never even think to consider the depths of their rage and fury? To even turn your mind to those who were banished from life and accepted by neither Hell nor Heaven!? They rejected the finality and sought only the emptiness of the unending."
There was no gesture behind it, but Ash could tell when the shadows gaze fell to him once more.
"Do you hear your Master, O'brother of mine? Comrade in fury, does it not trouble you to hear how he would so callously discard the grudges of those who were rejected by even the other side?"
Callous?
Ash thinned his lips.
"Even if that is the case, I am there to recall them in his stead. The grudges of those who perished in the tower. I will carry them with me so that he would need not be troubled by their existence. Should he choose to remember them, it is fine. But I am unconcerned with it."
"Oh?"
The shadow's voice twitched for but a moment, they grew closer and closer, the leer of interest focused in their words.
"What is it then, that drives you? A voice so tempest and calm, but filled with anger. I see. Do you consider yourself to be a Hell of your own make? Do you shoulder their fury so that they can claw at your mind with the peace they shall never be forgotten? That their anger shall not be cast to the winds?"
"...It was not by design."
"Whether it was done by accident or by intent, you are Hell itself!" Avenger sounded as though he was praising him. Or perhaps he was cursing him, it was hard to distinguish the two of them. "Surely you have more to say? Surely you have a drive of your own to collect these wrongs and reveal them to the world?"
He never thought of it.
So long as they existed as even memories, he was sure that was the end of it.
Should he have done more?
Was he compelled to do more?
He held onto them, he ensured they were not forgotten because they were alive and that was enough. They worked for something and it was by that merit he remembered them. Even if they achieved nothing, even if their memories were short, they were surely worth remembering.
Human life was valuable.
It had value.
It needed to have value for this to make sense.
"...They existed." Ash found himself speaking after a moment. "What more is there to say? They existed and they…were valuable."
Avenger went silent.
The shadows retreated backwards.
"Even if all that remains of them is their anger? The blessed and the cursed alike? Do they have equal value to you?"
"I do not know." Ash shook his head. "And I do not need to know. They lived. They should be enough."
"...I see." Avenger spoke quietly. "I misjudged you, holder of angers not of your own. Tis a terrible thing you have done to yourself, but you are right. There is value in the grudges and with that, you might see what I have done, can you not?"
Ah, yes.
It made sense now.
Ash could understand why this Servant had done this.
"You collected the grudges." Ritsuka, it seemed, reached the same conclusion. "You filled that apartment with all those dead because they needed to be remembered. Because you did not want their grudges to be forgotten, right?"
"I did." Avenger confirmed. "And I found another who would mourn for them all. Who would shed tears for the loved and the unloved. Who did not care for crime or for punishment. For she saw that all of those who perished were worthy of weeping. I can speak not for her efforts, but her motives are pure. A kind soul, even if proclaimed a demon."
Ritsuka exhaled. "You know we cannot let this continue, don't you?"
Avenger laughed once more. "Indeed! For this was once the design of the King of Mages himself! His enemies would surely tear it down, even if it no longer follows his desires!"
Ash went ramrod straight.
King of Mages?
Solomon was the cause of this.
"Kuahahahaha! Come then, those of you who claim to be light banishing shadows! I shall await you at the summit if you have the strength to challenge the weight of all these cursed souls!"
"Wha-HEY!"
Mordred charged for the woods at the clear indication the Avenger was to flee.
"Coward!"
She roared rather loudly, sweeping out Clarent and dragging a buffet of wind as she did so, the leaves rustled as the shadows faded away and left the woods as they were with no indication there had been anything at all.
But he was not so convinced.
His eyes narrowed.
Something was amiss.
His eyes caught the flurry of movement past Mordred, he twisted the sword up and drew his arm back, the flames were brandished with bleached light as he thrust the sword forwards like a spear not even a moment later. The shard cleared the length of the woods and slammed into the blur before it could emerge, but it did not stop it for long as it was thrown off course, striking the side of a tree and caving it inwards in a shower of splinters.
"The hell-?!"
Mordred's curse was drowned out as the thing shrouded in pale darkness stumbled out of the woods and drew back its head, unleashing a great and bellowing screech which had him twitch ever so slightly.
Ghoulish by appearance and by nature, it was bereft of limbs from the waist down and looked to be some manner of wraith, but there was more to the creature than he could sense. As if it was born from something, or many things, unified as one.
The ghastly presence turned towards them and swung its arms out, a thin slash of light tore through the air and raced towards him, he held the sword flat and let the attack stagger into his guard as he lowered the weapon.
"Defensive positions!"
Ritsuka ordered not even a moment later.
Well called, as Ash spied others of the sort lurking in the woods.