Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 67 of the story! Hmmmm, and that livestream on wednesday eh? Never in my life I thought I would see a FGO making a collab with McDonalds. I hope it means I can get a Santa Altera plushie next time I go to eat there Lasengle! And 30 SQ or else I'm uninstalling the game!
And with that said, let's start it!
DISCLAIMER: All 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
"Uhmm uhmm!"
"Fran is pointing to this way." Mordred told to the chaldeans, signaling them to take a turn to a road on the right. Being guided by Frankenstein, the group was on a hunt for one of their enemies, Charles Babbage, responsible for having created the hordes of the machines known as helter skelters that have been terrorizing and plagued London ever since the beggining of the Singularity.
"How's the perimeter Mash?" Ritsuka solicited to his servant to check their surroundings.
"All safe and secure for now. No enemies detected." Mash replied, scanning the area quickly.
"And what about the signal?" Peko asked.
"Uhrr wahrr." Fran made her usual noises as response.
"We're getting closer." Mordred tranlated what Fran said to them. "Better prepare yourselves."
"If we defeat Charles Babbage, then there will be almost no enemy left for us." Nala speaked, counting how many enemies where left in this Singularity now.
"The only ones left are him, Artoria Alter and the other leader of their group. We have defeated almost every enemy member by now." Mash talked.
"Don't also exclude the possibility of that stupid alchemist being one as well. Even if he ain't working with our current enemies." Mordred pointed out, having some distrust on Faust ever since they had the second encounter with Artoria Alter.
The entire group stood in silence, not wanting to think too much on that possibility.
"No. I don't believe he would do something like that." Ritsuka said, having a trust that Faust was a faithful ally to them.
"Whatever you say." Mordred stared at him before going back to look to the path in front of her with some anger in her face. "What I actually can't wait for is to slice down that jerk known as the King of Storms." She gazed at the sharp blade of her sword. "I swear I'll make her pay for acting that way while wearing that face and identity!"
"I know you said to don't talk too much about things of your past but, I always thought that a father should always be a person that his children admire." Peko speaked to the knight. "What has she done to you to make the relationship between you two like that in the first place?"
Mordred silently stopped on her tracks and turned around to stare down at the boy. "Altough it doesn't seems like it, I do have some admiration for my father."
"Hm?" Peko reacted surprised.
"You do? Or there's something here that I haven't catched on yet?" Nala questioned, not understanding Mordred's statement if every time she has met with her father, the knight always displayed anger and rage.
"Not feeling like elaborating." Mordred told Nala before lowering her gaze at the ground, her eyebrows moving down. "It's just, I can't stand seeing that 'King' of Storms."
"Why does she bother you so much Mordred?" Ritsuka asked her, wanting to know despite hearing that Mordred refused to explain it.
"..." The knight stood silent, adverting their gazes.
Mash tried to approach her, a bit concerned. "Does she makes you remember of your-"
"Gwharr!" Frankenstein suddenly exclaimed, bringing everyone's attention to her as she pointed to a place in front of them.
"He must be here then. Great job Fran!" Mordred said, going back to walk, taking this chance to avoid the previous topic.
"Is this...a train station?" Ritsuka observed the outside of the building, seeing a lot of abandoned metal pieces and machinery just on the outside of the giant looking station.
"Seems so. According to the coordinates and the characteristics, this must be the London Bridge Station! The city's first and oldest train station ever built." Mash revealed, having an idea she had seen and read about this place before.
"Then all of these giant pieces of metal are supposed to be trains?" Nala saw all of the steel wagons, locomotives and other train pieces lying around the building.
"Never saw or remember of seeing one. But it seems cool by the looks of it." Peko said, staring at the same giant metal transports.
"I've already went on a train before. Not with the same appearence as these ones but still a train nontheless." Ritsuka told them.
"Really? You've traveled on these things before? How was it like?" Peko asked him with great interest.
"Very good! The travels are pleasent and it's a great way to have nice views of the interior regions of your country with many green landscapes of woods." Ritsuka recalled some of his experiences to Peko. "Except the trains I've used aren't comparable with these ones. They are much more modern and faster. Almost the speed of sound! They're called bullet trains! Japan's finest!"
"Wooooah! That sounds incredible!" Peko said with a huge radiant excitement on his eyes. "I have to go in one of those someday! Don't you think that as well sis?" He asked to Nala who just nodded.
"Yeah, I guess so." She replied, not sounding as intrested or excited as her brother. "I honestly don't understand what is the appeal of some giant metal boxes with wheels."
"As much as I would love to also travel on a bullet train, I doubt they can move as fast as the speed of sound master." Mash told Ritsuka, believing he was exaggerating on some aspects.
"Hey, look how happy Peko is with it Mash. I think there's no harm if he believes in this tiny lie." Ritsuka whispered to Mash, not wanting to ruin the boy's new found enthusiasm of trains.
Peko then suddenly stopped smilling and started to think for a bit, holding down his joy. "Or perhaps I've already traveled in one and can't remember. At least I can experience it for the first time again if that's the case."
"Hey chickens! Are you you going to enter with us or got too scared all of a sudden?" Mordred called the Chaldea's group attention, standing on the entrance of the station with Fran, waiting for them.
"Going already!" Ritsuka exclaimed. "Gotta leave this train discussion for later."
"Agree master." Mash replied. "However, I can't help but think on why all of these trains are here outside in front if the station instead of being inside on the rails. What could have displaced these giant pieces from there?"
Entering by the giant main gates, the group stepped inside the entrance hall. And someone was already waiting for them.
"Nice of you to spare us more minutes of seeking." Mordred rised her sword, pointing it to a bulky and tall silhouette in front of her, standing on the weak curtain of mist.
"Is he..." Peko was about to say in speculation before the figure itself exited from the fog, revealing itself.
It appeared to be an helter skelter. But not any random helter skelter. This one was larger, bigger, grey steel with golden traces and ornaments. A more detailed design than the rest of all the other smaller helter skelters. A single shinning red light on what was supposed to be the machine's face.
"Greetings, enemies known as Chaldea." The unique helter skelter said in a robotic voice, releazing some steam from its body. "You are now in the presence of the one who embraces mechanical and technological revolution. A man with an idustrialized vision of the future and king of steam, Charles Babbage."
"It is him! That's Charles Babbage after all!" Mash said, surprised. "But, why does he look like an helter skelter?"
"So the robots were molded with the looks of their creator as inspiration." Nala added, seeing the huge resemblence of all of the helter skelters with Charles Babbage.
"Don't know if that should count as narcissism." Ritsuka commented.
"The helter skelters are essentialy copies. They are the physical manifestation of my potential." Charles Babbage explained briefly. "The potential I will eventually use to built a new age."
"Spare us of the chit-chat and tell us where are you hiding the machine that releases all of the Demonic Fog with the grail inside it!" Nala demanded, wasting no time to get some vital answers out of the enemy.
"Denied. For that to happen young girl, you would have to defeat me by the use of agressive and violent methods that can physically harm me." Babbage told her, iniciating his weapon for combat.
"We figured it as much." Ritsuka replied, also preparing for the fight alongside the rest of the party.
"Mmm..." Fran, differently from the rest, looked initially reluctant. She didn't seemed as ready as the others.
"You okay Fran?" Peko asked to the artificial human.
"Nhm Nhm!" Fran responded, quickly seeming more alive and energetic.
"Don't know what you said but that's the spirit!" Peko smiled to her, relieved to see Fran also up to fight.
Mash put her shield in position, facing Babbage. "Whether that new age is good or not, you are hurting innocent civillians in trying to achieve it! That plan of yours needs to be stopped!"
"You can always try do delay it, but you can never truly put a stop on industrialization and modernization. My creations will show us a way to a new dawn!" Babbage proclaimed, releasing giant waves of hot stream torwards his enemies.
"Then let's burn it all alongside the scraps of metal that you and your minions are!" Mordred shouted, heading to the front and slicing the incoming cloud of steam in half.
"Now!" Ritsuka exclaimed, being the signal to Peko and Nala to advance while Mash accompanied them on the rear. Mordred came to clash against Babbage saw sword. It definetly had more endurance and resistance than the lesser swords of the smaller helter skelters.
Having been able to push the knight away, Charles Babbage reacted on time to avoid both the attacks from the twins, using the jet engines on his back to move around quickly despite his frame. Then, on the opportunity to counterattack, he saw his chance being denied by Mash's shield who stopped the giant robot's tackle from inflicting any real damage, with the shielder making a good job of using her defense to cancel out Babbage's attack. And just as the mechanical mathematician was swinging his weapon against her shield, he looked up to see Frankenstein above him, about to hit him with her mace, moving away and narrowly escaping Fran's attack that hit the ground.
"Six against one! What you're going to do about that?" Peko told him, feeling confident and well in the fight, seeing that Babbage sooner or later wouldn't be able to hold his ground against various enemies at the same time.
"And does the young boy think I wasn't counting on that in my calculus? For every problematic equation, there is always a solution." Babbage said, closing his metal hands together. "The final touches have been added. Now you will all witness it." He started to overcharge his arms, resulting in his inner body to start trembling and put Chaldea and allies on alert.
"He's overheating his own body with steam and the mist of the area?" Nala asked, seeing the fog of the giant room being vacuumed to the interior of Babbage's body.
"That doesn't look good!" Ritsuka said on the back, thinking on what could be about to come.
"Witness the wonders of steam!" Separating his hands from each other and stretching his arms, Babbage had transformed the fog he accumulated into hot and liberated giant burning quantities of it back to the room, taking the opponent by surprise.
"Gaah!" Ritsuka went to take cover, protecting his eyes and face from the bursts of steam. "The temprature of this steam is ridiculously high that it could cause some burns on the entire skin!"
"Ghgh!" Having the other members of the group on her back, Mash protected them and herself with the shield despite of still feeling the scorching air of the room hurting her nerves.
"It's like if he wants to boil us alive!" Nala exclaimed behind Mash, also fighting against the hot steam. Only then, they thought to have heard the sound of something approaching. A noise that it was similar to that of a locomotive.
"What the hell is this noise?" Mordred said before staring at a light appearing behind Babbage and getting out of the smoke, revealing to be a train itself going torwards them at an high speed.
"MOVE!" Peko yelled in shock as he and the rest jumped out of the train's way that rammed violently into the ground, going full steam ahead. Ritsuka was the next one in the transport's way.
"Wha-!" Ritsuka was absolutely startled by it as the train progressively went closer to him.
"Jump Ritsuka!" Nala shouted to him, with that being enough to make the master of Chaldea barely escaping the train's insane locomotion. It looked totally out of control as it started to go upwards, destroying the walls and ceilling in the process.
"He really is trying to kill us with a fucking train!" Mordred exclaimed, bewildered by the surprise Babbage had in store for them.
"Behold, GNR Class 422. A true marvel of machinery. Modified to become even greater." Babbage commented.
"A GN-what now?" Nala asked confused, wondering what he was even talking about.
"The innovative train built by the Great Northern Railway company itself. See how magnific it looks. How powerful its mechanized din sounds. All possible to the discovery of the gas that is steam." Babbage contemplated it. "For ages, the human always sought out on how to use and adapt such element to their own benefit. And now that mankind was able to know how, this last century has been nothing more than a hundred steps forward to an ideal society where machines makes everything much more accessible!" The mathematician exclaimed, viewing the entire concept as magnificent. "If you chaldeans truly support humanity, then you shouldn't be in the way of progress!"
"Progress? Filling an entire city with deadly creatures that you yourself created in order to destroy it while terrorizing its citizens doesn't sound like progress to me." Ritsuka confronted Babbage viewpoint. "I bet not even a smart guy like you believes in that."
"How can you make progress for the civilization if you destroy it in the first place? That doesn't make sense at all." Peko said, corroborating Ritsuka's argument to which Babbage stood a bit silent about it for a second or two before dismissing it.
"You youngsters don't have the scope to understand it unfortunately. That is the whole reason that makes us enemies in the first place." Babbage responded, making a signal with his arms. In reaction to that, a large number of helter skelters jumped out of the train wagons, falling to the ground.
"Crap! I knew he wouldn't fight us all alone!" Mordred cursed, seeing the number of new robot enemies that came to their creator's aid.
"Single-Mindedness!"
"It makes this battle more balanced, don't you think so?" Babbage speaked, having casted a skill on himself. "I am a man of improvement, always looking to better my inventions." With the command, many of the helter skelters started to attract and mersh into one another through some magnetic force, transforming into lethal guns.
"The helter skelters formed that gun again! There's more than one of it now!" Mash said, recalling the same type of weapon that was used to destroy Jekyll's apartment some hours later.
"Great! More problems was what we needed!" Nala said as she cut down another helter skelter. The situation had turned for the worst.
"Air Step!"
Nala begun to dodge and run at an high speed as one of the giant weapons aimed and fired at her, slicing enemies along the way.
"We have to destroy these guns first if we want to defeat Charles Babbage! It's too many targets on us!" Mash exclaimed.
"Don't forget about this stupid cho cho train as well!" Mordred told the shielder, having avoided being hit by the locomotive.
"It is out of control! Babbage must have done something to it! We have to stop it somehow!" Peko speaked, standing next to the two.
"I'll deal with it!" Ritsuka approached them.
"Huh? And what are you gonna do?" Mordred replied, finding the idea of Ritsuka stopping the train absurd.
"The train is moving quickly and out of order master. Getting on it will be almost impossible for you." Mash told him.
"I will find a way to get on it and stop it!" Ritsuka said a bit stubbornly, confident of his words.
Seeing him so sure of what he was saying, Peko trusted him. "We will leave it to you then Ritsuka! But first, you need some help to reach that train!"
"Errr Errr!" Right behind Ritsuka, Fran had jsut finished from demolishing an helter skelter.
"Are you offering yourself to help Fran?" Ritsuka asked to her, to which Fran nodded in affirmative. "Okay! It's decided! Me and Fran will stop the train and the rest of you make sure to destroy all of the guns!"
"Understood master!" Mash told him. "We need to pass that information to Nala-"
An explosion interrupted the Shielder, with Nala exiting out of the explosion's smoke and landing right in front of the group. "Sorry for only arriving now! What's the plan?" She asked while the wreckage of one of the guns stood burning behind her. One was already down.
"Eh! Just keep doing what you were doing shortie!" Mordred smiled to the girl. "Let's break all of these guns in record time!"
Nala smiled back. "Now you're talking!"
"We'll help too!" Peko told to his sister before looking back to Ritsuka and Fran. "Good luck to you two!"
"Both of you be careful when reaching the train to not fall off. I believe in you, master, Fran!" Mash said to Ritsuka and Fran before going to help the rest taking care of the guns.
"Sure!" Ritsuka replied back to Mash, proceeding to stare at the train moving crazily on the ceilling alongside Fran. "Now, any ideas to reach there?"
"Humm Humm!" Fran replied to Ritsuka, nearing him and grabbing him with her arms without much explanation.
"F-Fran?" Ritsuka replied confused as he saw his body being held by her. Due to being an artificial human, Fran's strength was greater than that of Ritsuka. "What are you doin-!" In a second, Fran jumped up high in the sky with Ritsuka on her arms, the action having caught the master of Chaldea off guard, letting out a surprised yell. "Could you have warn me before Fraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"
Getting higher, Fran's feet landed on a large metal pillar between two columns, having reached almost the height of the ceilling, and same altitude of the runaway train. "Hphm!" Seeing the steam transport about to take a curve and pass close to them, she started running to the edge of the pillar, avoiding any type of wreckage that was collpasing from above.
Ritsuka could see what she was trying to do. "Hope you have a great timing Fran! This could hurt a lot!" He said, seeing the train approaching. Holding tightly and preparing for what was about to happen, Ritsuka observed Fran jump out of the metal pillar with him the moment the train passed nearby. "Watch out!" He shouted, closing his eyes and stiffening his body right before Fran crashed into a window of one of the train's wagons, having successfuly entered the transport.
"Gaoo!" Fran made a noise, being shortly followed by Ritsuka opening his eyes.
Wow! We really got into the train huh?" He put his own feet into the ground. "That was a nice one Fran!" Ritsuka smiled to her, doing a thumbs up.
Fran smiled back in return. "Uhm Uhm!" She grunted.
"Still, we will have to pass through some wagons before we can reach to the locomotive up front to stop it." Ritsuka told her, picturing that there was some wagons between them and the train's front. "But the hardest part was already done. Let's go Fran!"
"Hm hm!"
"To your right Peko!" Mash yelled, launching her shield torwards an enemy on Peko's right, taking it down as the boy himself defeated another helter skelter on his left.
"Thanks Mash!" Peko told the shielder, firing a light bullet from his finger and controlling its trajectory in order to defeat other three helter skelters. "There's another gun just in front of us!" He informed the shielder of the weapon, his legs running in order to reach it.
Watching to it in the distance, Charles Babbage decided to do something about it. "If it only were that easy." With his right arm, Babbage pushed it into the ground, releasing a large quantity of high-pressure steam, resulting in artificial geysers to erupt from the floor, attempting to hit Peko.
"W-Woah!" The boy continue to run, barely avoiding some of the geysers that would appear spontaneously close to him. Peko's eyes briefly glanced at Babbage to notice the robot mathematician charging torwards him. "Khh!" Peko was on his way to put his sword in position to block Babbage tackle when Mash herself spared him of that by clashing with her shield against Babbage's metal weapon.
"So many inconveniences! Giving up would free you from such hassles that you have to resolve!" Babbage told Mash, struggling against her.
"I'm not taking that way!" Mash responded to him, stalling the big machine with much effort, giving some space and time for Peko to attack the lethal gun. "Do it Peko!"
"Consider it done!" Peko replied, energizing the mana circuits of his arm and hand, shoting a more potent light bullet at the giant gun, destroying it completely. And the boy didn't stopped there. He helped Mash in her clash against Babbage, aiming and firing another bullet at the robot's metallic shoulder, the damage being enough to force Babbage to lower his defenses which allowed Mash to hit him right on the face with her shield, being completed with Peko coming up and slashing the mathematician on his other shoulder, resulting on the servant having to take some few steps back.
"Another one down! How much are still left?" Mash asked, having the feeling that they had destroyed majority of the guns by now.
"You can count this one out!" Mordred shouted in the distance, with her and Nala having finished from destroying another gun.
As the young girl was in the process of landing, she spotted a gun on the ceilling. "Up there!" She pointed.
"That must be the last one!" Peko said, seeing there was no other gun around except for that one.
"Let's get it then!" Mordred replied, about to make her way over there.
"Overload!"
Babbage casted another skill, beggining to control some giant pieces of metal that where scattered around the place. "Slow down!" With a gesture of his weapon, he launched a rain of metal debris to fall upon them.
"Careful!" Mash warned them, with everyone fleeing from the attacks above.
Peko and Mordred decided to deflect and parry the wreckage, making way for Mash and Nala upfront, with the shielder rising her weapon in the air and Nala jumping to the top of it before being launched up high from the shield. Being now the one closer to the gun, Babbage aimed the debris at Nala, throwing them at the girl who was in midair. Nala dodged the attacks, even using some of them as platform to run and get closer to the gun.
"Helter skelters here?!" Ritsuka said in shock as he and Fran entered another wagon, seeing that this one was with some enemies that intended to stop the two from reaching the locomotive.
"Looks like we will have to fight!" Ritsuka said, trying to maintain his balance by supporting his body on a nearby seat since this train moved like a rollercoaster.
"Grr!" Fran went into an agressive posture, dashing torwards the helter skelters and wrecking them with her mace while Ritsuka narrowly dodged the hits and made an effort to maintain his balance at the same time.
But it didn't last long before he fell on the ground with all the shaking and movement inside the wagon. Just as he looked up to see an helter skelter about to descend its sword on him, Nala came crashing into one of the wagon's windows, drop kicking the helter skelter out of the train. "Coming through!"
Ritsuka immediatly got up. "Glad to have an extra help." He told the girl before feeling the train changing direction, starting to go upwards and move on the ceiling, putting the whole wagon upside down. "Quick! Grab something!" Ritsuka hold his hand to a seat while he catched Nala from falling. Fran had also stopped from fighting for a short time in order to grab onto something.
"I need to get to that gun!" Nala told Ritsuka, showing him the gun on the ceiling through the window.
"Allow me then!" Ritsuka replied, swinging his arm that was holding Nala. Gaining enough balance and movement, Ritsuka helped Nala by throwing her out of the window, into the gun's direction. "Go get it!"
Flying at an high speed, Nala charged up her blade, preparing the slush as she reached near to the gun. And with a swift movement, she sliced the weapon in half, destroying it. All of the guns that Charles Bebbage had constrcuted were gone.
"Nice! We got rid of all of them!" Mordred said, turning around to look at Babbage. "Are you gonna try make more toys of yours to kill us?"
"Now I see why you have made this far. Your performances are quite commendable." Babbage replied, calling his remaining helter skelters to him. "But I have no intention of slowing down! Not when my purposes are at stake!" With possibly a last card up his sleeve, Babbage merged up with the rest of his creations, making himself bigger and more weaponized.
"He strengthen himself!" Mash exclaimed.
"Babbage is putting his everything with this one!" Peko added.
"And? We defeated creatures bigger than him already!" Mordred told to the two. "This is basically becoming routine for us."
Landing back on the ground, Nala had rejoined them. "The bigger the target, the easier it gets to hit it!"
"That's the way of talking shortie!" Mordred told her as all four of them charged torwards the large Babbage.
"Surrender Royal Twins! It wouldn't be desireful to our plans to hurt you two!" Babbage speaked to Peko and Nala, descending his giant sword into the party who all jumped out of the way.
"I'll have to refuse it! There's no way we are coming with you!" Peko replied to Babbage, not paying mind to his request.
The mathematician aimed his fire weapon at them. "Then you aren't leaving me much choice." He said, firing hundreads of bullets from his weapon.
"Ngh!" Mash rised her shield, protecting Peko, Nala and herself from the bullets as Mordred continued on her way torwards Babbage legs, cutting one of them.
"How about you shut up instead?" Mordred yelled while Babbage stumble, having felt the painful slice. Getting open space to attack, Mash parried a punch from Babbage's giant left arm while both Peko and Nala jumped on the robot's left arm, avoiding his cutter blade and running on his arm in direction torwards Babbage's face.
"Nala!"
"Thinking the same!"
The two siblings jumped from Babbage's arm and greatly injured his face with two slashes, almost making the enemy fall on the ground.
"Gnghng! Stop trying to get in the way of a prosperous civilization! My discoveries of the steam shall revolutionize mankind!" He shouted at them, starting to get frustrated.
"Okay Fran! This is the las wagon before the locomotive! We're almost there!" Ritsuka told to his ally as they had finished facing all of the helter skelters in the train.
"Uhrr Uhrr!" Fran called Ritsuka's attention, showing him the large Babbage the rest of the party was fighting down below.
"He got bigger? That's no good! We will have to help them fast!" Ritsuka said, opening the last wagon's door to see the locomotive in front of him. Timing his jump, Ritsuka was able to reach to the commands of the locomotive alongside Fran. "Now, what is the button or lever to stop this thing?" Ritsuka wondered, having little knowledge on how trains worked.
"Ahm!" Fran lifted her mace, about to obliterate the entire train commands with it.
"W-Wait wait Fran!" Ritsuka interrupted her. "I've got an idea!"
"He is getting annoyed. There's nothing much left that he can do!" Nala said, seeing how they were pushing Babbage to the limit.
"A more couple of strikes like that and we should do it!" Mash added.
But it seemed she had speaked too soon as Babbage started to inhale more air inside his mechanical body, in the process of tranforming it into steam.
"He's going to do that attack again!" Peko shouted.
"And if he's larger, it means the steam from it will be hotter!" Mordred said. "I got no intention of dying like a fried chicken! I ain't going to- huh? What's this sound?"
Hearing it as well, everyone lifted their heads and observed the train coming down incredibly fast.
"Ggghg! Why does my head likes to have this ideas?" Ritsuka was forcefully pulling the lever in the locomotive, having made the train to descend and on its way of crashing onto the floor.
"That train again!" Nala was about to move away when she was stopped by Mash.
"Wait! It isn't coming torwards us!" The shielder said in realization. "It's coming torwards Babbage!"
"Nghggr! Jump Fran!" Ritsuka shouted to Fran as the train was meters away from colliding with Babbage. In reaction Fran picked him up and both jumped out of the locomotive just in time.
"HM!" Rising his head, Babbage only had time enough to see the front part of the train fastly approaching and crashing down on him, creating a huge explosion that was felt on the entire station.
"RITSUKA!" Peko screamed as he and the others went into the smoke of the explosion, hoping that Ritsuka and Fran had escaped from the explosion unharmed.
"Master! Fran! Can you hear us?" Mash talked, trying to find both of them, shoving the smoke away from her vision.
"We're good!" Ritsuka's voice replied, with him and Fran getting out of wreckage. Despite some cuts and scratches, both of them were relatively fine.
"That was both crazy and reckless from you!" Nala scolded Ritsuka for the danger he put himself and Fran with. And despite that, she still smiled. "But at this point, I think that's what makes you our leader."
"Gotta say. Didn't knew you were insane enough to do that. It almost seemed you had a death wish." Mordred also said, smirking at Ritsuka. "But looks are indeed deciving in the end. Glad to see you okay as well Fran."
"Couldn't have made it without you." Ritsuka thanked Fran.
"Uhm!" She nodded happily.
"How irrational yet pratical that move of yours was, master of Chaldea." Babbage appeard as the smoke dissipated, towering over the party. He was still functioning despite the huge damage he took from the train. "To turn the train against me. How bold."
"He's still alive?!" Peko exclaimed in shock.
Not losing any second, Babbage put his weapon in the air, standing right behind Ritsuka and Fran. He was going for the kill. "But you underestimated the will of my ambitions! Master of Chal-huh?!" Gasping, Babbage stopped his own attack, staring down at Fran who faced him in the eyes, willingly serving as a shield to Ritsuka.
"What?" Nala watched in surprise, about to have come into the two's rescue before seeing Babbage immobilize himself. "Wasn't he going to attack him?"
"Is it Fran perhaps?" Peko analysed, noticing how the mathematician was containing his own body from injuring Fran. "Babbage can't bring himself to harm her."
"But why so?" Mash replied, muddled.
"...Why?" Babbage's hand trembled. "Why you had to be here?" Altough having no expressionful face, the mathematician's voice was in dismay. "My colleague's creation. Victor Frankenstein's very best put into one artificial being."
That last part was an absolute astonishment to everyone.
"Charles Babbage and Fran's creator knew each other?" Ritsuka said astounded. "Y-You knew who he was Fran?"
"Hm hm!" Fran grunted, still glaring at Babbage's red light, challenging him to proceed with the attack if he was courageous enough to do it. But she knew he wasn't.
"I saw the entire process, being an helping hand to Victor. Destroying you, would be an outrage to all of his research and dedication." Babbage pulled the weapon away from Fran. "I cannot kill you. You win, Chaldea." Babbage gave up, much to the Chaldea group and allies surprise.
"So you hand us the victory? Just like that?" Mordred told him, lowering down her guard.
"After doing all those things to trynna kill us?" Nala also asked him.
Ritsuka was skeptic as well. "Is this a trick or..."
"No. You have truly bested me. I see no point in continuing to fight." Babbage responded with all honesty. "I never wanted to fight at all to begin with."
"What do you mean? Didn't you wanted to create a modernized civilization with your steam machines?" Peko asked, finding weird Babbage's statements in contrast with his previous ones.
"I did. It was my dream after all. But not like this." Babbage answered solemnly, having no hostility in his voice left. "The complete incineration of humanity was a thing I never wished for. It deserves to continue living in a future where all of its struggles and achivements will be compensated by the existence of new thecnological inventions." Babbage observed the area around him. "When I was firstly summoned here, it fascinated me how much society had advanced in a short period of time after my death. I knew that it was going on the right path."
"Then why have you done this? Why are you trying to help our enemies from totally erasing humanity?" Mash questioned him.
"Like I said, I never desired to destroy humanity since the beggining. But...what could we possibly do against him?" Babbage responded, his mind wandering to the moments when he was firstly summoned to this Singularity. "The truth is, I wanted to oppose. But unfortunately, a smart man knows when certain decisions can led to death. So I could only comply as I used my Noble Phantasm, Dimension of Steam, to create the machines known as helter skelters."
"So you were forced to do it then." Ritsuka concluded.
"I had no alternative. My mind and body were ready to throw away my previous values in order to create the monsters they wanted me to create. My machines, originally meant to be helpful now being used as weapons against innocents." Babbage said, ashamed. "However, it only took one look at you to get them back." The robotic mathematician said, gently touching the tip of Fran's chin.
"Huh?"
"You reminded me of what principles Victor and I always had. That our creations are an art that represents ourselves. That we can both love or despise them. A part of him lives in you, young lady. I am sure he would be proud if he could see you." Babbage told her, remembering of how much Victor had talked and worked on this project, having been his greatest one to date. Fran in return, smiled to him.
"Guess the battle is indeed over." Peko talked, unsummoning his sword. The rest of the party did the same. "Does this means you are on our side?"
"If so, could you answer some questions that we have for you?" Ritsuka asked Babbage.
"Sure. You have won and in the right of getting information from me. That is a gentleman's rule." Babbage replied, willing to answer them.
"To start, what and where is the machine that contains the grail of this Singularity and has been leaking the Demonic Fog ever since?" Mash asked him, going straight for the important questions.
"Angrboda." Babbage replied. "That's the name of the engine machine I myself created together with the inputs of the Holy Grail."
"Angrboda eh?" Nala said. "Where we can find it?"
"As for its locat-gnghr?! Gnghghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Out of nowhere, something started acting up inside Babbage's body, with the robot screaming greatly in pain. His body started to steam uncontrollably. The entire group was startled.
"What's happening?! Babbage?!" Peko exclaimed, worried.
"He looks like he's about to go ham!" Mordred told, seeing the mathematician's body malfunctioning.
"Z-Zolgen...you bastard..!" Babbage cursed. "Using the grail like that...against me!"
"Somebody must be trying to control him!" Ritsuka said, having heard what Babbage speaked.
"T-the last leader of our group, 'M'...seems to have become wary of my nature!" The mathematician told them. "Listen Chaldea! The steam machine Angrboda is located on an underground chamber...just beneath the Clock Tower!" He revealed before it could be too late.
"Beneath the Clock Tower?! But we've already went there before to see the library!" Nala explained to Babbage, telling him of their previous visit.
"The main entrance! If you go by an elevator on a main entrance...you will access the pathway to the chamber where Angrboda is located!" Babbage specified, giving the group the instructions. "But be careful!...I am sure that 'M' and his servant will be wai-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghgaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"We have to stop this! He is suffering too much!" Mash told to the group, seeing Babbage's body getting overheated.
"Q-Quick...Chaldea! I-I can't hold back much longer!...The power of the grail is about to take out my autonomy and turn me into a full uncosncious machine!" Babbage said. "I need you to put an end to me! Kill me-"
"Say no more!" Mordred replied, piercing her sword through Babbage's Spirit Core. "Hope this has eased the things."
"It...It certainly did." Babbage let out a breath of relief, the pain having stopped and his body starting to fade. "Hope that this was of helpful to you, chaldeans."
"It was. Now we know where the grail is and resolve this Singularity once and for all." Ritsuka responded.
"That calms down my heart. Please, I beg of you, to make sure to destroy my ever worst creation." Babbage asked them. "I will never find peace if humanity falls because of me."
"We will make sure that won't happen at all costs." Mash told to Babbage who stared at Fran a last time before vanishing.
"You must live on and smile young girl...You are...both mine and Victor's dream..." Charles Babbage dissapeard, leaving behind a sorrowful Fran to think on his last words.
Mordred put an hand on her shoulder. "Heads up Fran. Being happy is the best you can do for him now."
Cleaning the tears from her eyes, hiddened by her hair, Fran looked at Mordred, nodding in agreeance. "Hm hm!"
"Another leader and enemy down." Nala speaked. "That leaves us with only two."
" 'M' and the King of Storms." Ritsuka replied.
"If what Babbage said is true, they'll be waiting for us, guarding Angrboda and the grail inside it." Peko said.
"Seems like we are heading to another final battle." Mash added.
"Yeah." Peko replied before lowering his head, his hair overshadowing the eyes. "Also..."
"Hm? Also what?" Nala asked her sibling, finding his sudden expression weird. "Are you okay?"
"...It was amazing seeing that train up close!" Peko exclaimed with a huge, bright smile on his face.
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
Both Nala and Mash reacted with confusion.
"I know right? That thing was pretty awsome even if it tried to kill us." Ritsuka told the boy, also smilling happily.
"Sure was! Ah, I'm a bit jealous that you got to see the train's interior Ritsuka!"
"I really was! Specially seeing how well designed the walls and seats of the wagons where from up close!"
"Stop it! You're making me more jealous hahahahaha!"
"I didn't even mentioned the part where I also got to touch the commands on the locomotive hahahaha!"
While both boys laughed with each other, Mash and Nala watched it on the back, absolutely speechless and weirded out.
"All of the excitment because of a train?" Mash asked.
"Did they hit their heads or something?" Nala also questioned.
In that moment, as everything on the station had been done, the holograms of and Jekyll appeard in front of them.
"Doctor! Jekyll-san! We have defeated Charles Babbage and he told us the location of the machine that has been the source of all the Demonic Fog!" Mash wasted no time in filling them in about the information they had received.
"That's definetly nice! It means we are now one step away from clearing this Singularity!" Romani replied. "But you might wanna keep that for later."
"Hm? Why is that?" Ritsuka asked him, to which Jekyll responded.
"It's Faust. He finally woke up."
"Ggh...nghg..."
"Stop being stubborn and rest young man! Moving like that with the body in that condition is only asking to reopen the wounds." The old man advised and rebuked Faust, trying to convince to stay resting on the table, with the alchemist clearly not obeying.
"For once I have to agree with this old crook. An abrupt movement and you'll start bleeding again." Hans told Faust, with him and Shakespeare supervising the alchemist as well.
"Restore thy wounds for now scholar alchemist. This is a nice floor that I wouldn't love seeing drenched in blood." Shakespeare also said.
"Yeah. This house costed me a fortune!" The old man added.
"That shouldn't be the concern here." Jekyll told him, also being present on the room.
"I...do not care." Faust replied, putting an hand over his stomach, supressing the pain. "Thank you for having healed my body however. I will be on my wa-"
"Faust!" Hearing the door of the entrance hall being opened, the alchemist stared to the left to see Ritsuka alongside the others reach to the living room. The master of Chaldea seemed happy in seeing Faust again. "Thank good that you are okay!"
"The same can be said for you." Faust replied. "I presume something happened while I was out cold. We aren't in your house anymore. What became of it?" Fans asked Jekyll, noticing that this living room he was now in wasn't of Jekyll's house.
"Unfortunately it got blown up shortly after we brought you in. We got lucky to have escaped that situation all alive." Jekyll answered.
"My condolences." Faust told the scientist who just laughed it off.
"I'm not very upset about it. It will go back to normal once this Singularity gets resolved. And it it doesn't, then I don't mind spending a year in an hotel." Jekyll said.
Meanwhile, Hans shifted his focus to the arriving party. "But is it true then? Charles Babbage told you where we could find the machine with the Holy Grail inside?"
"Yeah. On an underground chamber of the Clock Tower." Peko replied.
"We have to take an elevator on the main entrance if we want to reach it." Mash added more details.
"And giving that we basically kicked the ass of all of the monsters there, it should be easy getting there." Mordred told.
"But Babbage warned us that our remaining foes will be there waiting for us. Which is most probably true, since there's almost no enemy left on their side now." Nala speaked.
"So we have finally know the way to the source of all of this London's play." Shakespeare replied. "We are in the last act."
"Better make sure to get well prepared and rest easy before going out for what could be the last time." Jekyll recommended to all of them. "We have never been this closer before."
"Hmm. I understand." The old man said calmly, actually not understanding whatever the hell they were talking about but still pretending like he did.
"We-...You should get going quick then. The faster, the better the chances you have from preventing humanity's collapse." Faust told to the group, avoiding wanting to go with them.
"And what about you then?" Ritsuka asked to Faust.
"I'll continue to make sure that the streets are save." Faust replied, starting to walk torwards the exit of the living room. "I'll be rooting for you however." Yet, the alchemist got stopped in his track by Mordred, who blocked his way out of the living room.
"I don't think so." The knight said, making Faust retreat some steps.
"And why? If it is about my wounds, do not worry. They're almost sealed." Faust told her.
"It ain't about that." Ritsuka said, staring at the alchemist with a serious face. In a short time, everyone was silently facing Faust in the same way.
"E-Eh, what's exactly happening here?" The old man looked around the room, confused why everyone suddenly looked so serious and silent torwards the alchemist.
Even Faust's heart itself freezed a bit as he got everyone in the room staring at him. "What do you mean by that?" He asked Ritsuka. Faust knew exactly what the master of Chaldea meant, but preferred to continue playing the act of an oblivious.
"We couldn't help but notice how your behaviour seems to be somewhat of a suspicious nature." Jekyll told him. adjusting his glasses.
"You say you choose to help us but then stay away from us, wandering alone." Mash explained. "We are aware that you enjoy to be alone and aren't accustomed in staying in groups. Still, that alone can't be motive enough for why you never decided to stay with us."
"And then there was those dark flames that wiped out the monsters when we were trying to escape from the Clock Tower's underground library. You were following us, weren't you?" Peko questioned the alchemist, bringing up that situation.
"..." Faust stood silent, a single drop of sweat running down from his face.
"And even if you weren't following us and just happened to hear the commotion like it was for Paracelsus's case in the docks, why you just went away before we could see and greet you at the exit of the passage?" Nala brought another question. "We are allies after all, aren't we? There is no need to run away from your allies."
"..." Faust remained in silence. Despite looking composed and calm, his face was slowly showing some flaws. "Stop it. Please."
"Unless, you arent really our ally." Mordred said coldly. "The King of Storms told us that we should know you better." She said, taking out her sword. "Now, why would she say that eh? You bastard..."
"Stop it already." Faust whispered under his own breath, closing his hands into fists.
"Eeeh? What did you said? I can't hear you jerk!" Mordred rised her voice, trying to intimidate Faust.
"All that we want to know is if we can trust you or not." Jekyll told to the alchemist, seeing him get visibly uncomfortable.
"If you are an ally or not." Peko said.
"Please tell us that you aren't what we suspect you are Faust-san." Mash told the alchemist. "I want to believe you are indeed a good person."
"Stop." Faust rised his voice a bit, bitting his own inferior lips. "Don't make me do it. I dont want to reveal it."
Romani's hologram appeard. "Look, I know that we are putting a lot of pressure into you, but we really need to know it."
"So that our punches afterwards can be justified or not!" Hans added.
"Answer us already while the suspense is still on young man!" Shakespeare exclaimed.
Faust tighten his fists, feeling his hearbeat getting faster. "I told you all to stop."
"But we won't!" Nala replied to him. "Not until you answer us! Are you really our ally or not?"
"Stop."
"Are you conspiring against us?"
"Stop."
"Are you a traitor Faust?"
"Stop!"
"Are you working for someone?"
"Stop it dammit!"
"Answer us shithead!"
"STOP IT ALREADY!"
"Can we trust you for real?"
"I TOLD YOU TO STOP!"
"We need to know!"
"STOP! STOP! ALL OF IT! JUST STOP IT DAMMIT!"
"Faust, I just want to know who you truly are: a friend or enemy." Ritsuka questioned, continue the relentless bombarding of an interrogation on the alchemist.
It was there, that Faust realized he couldn't stay silent and just ignore. That they would possibly beat him up if he didn't start talking. He had been surrounded and pushed to the wall, unable to escape it while faced by everyone. His secret. He had to reveal it.
"Oi, Ritsuka." He called out the last master of humanity, his eyes slightly covered by some strands of hair. "Do you think every single person, is worthy of forgiveness?"
"Eh?" Ritsuka reacted a bit in surprise, not having expected the alchemist to ask him that out of nowhere. "What does that have to do with-
"DOES EVERY PERSON DESERVES FORGIVENESS, RITSUKA FUJIMARU?! ANSWER ME!" Faust yelled violently, moving his head to stare in the eyes of Ritsuka, scaring him and everyone else in the room with that sudden shift in his voice and behaviour.
Seeing that, Ritsuka complied to his demands. "...It's a hard thing to say." Ritsuka was sincere. "I think it would depend of a person's errors."
"Would you forgive me, if you knew about my errors then?" Faust asked.
"Of course! What you did or what you were in the past, doesn't matter in the present as long as you gave regretted those choices and changed for the better." Ritsuka responded, articulating his answer in the best way he could. "And even if you were the creator of Mephistopheles or did other questionable things in your past life, I honestly think that deep down you are a good person Faust. I would forgive you."
"..."
"I just wanna know, what keeps you to be so distant from us?" Ritsuka finished, having answered to Faust's question.
"Eh." Faust cracked a nervous smile. "You really are a person too good for the reality we live in, Ritsuka Fujimaru." The alchemist looked thoughtfully at his own hands, closing them to his chest. "But can your forgiveness be endless? Do you want to see what I truly am?" He stared torwards Ritsuka who stared back at him. A sinister silence maintained between everyone in the room. "Here it is then. My greatest sin." Faust said shortly, right before plunging his own hands into his chest, piercing the skin. "Ghg!"
"F-Faust?!" Ritsuka was taken with huge shock, much like everyone else.
"nNghG...Gnhgaaaah!" Faust continued to damage his own body, starting to spill out blood.
"He's tearing his chest open!" Mash exclaimed, taken aback.
"Stop that you imbecile! We had just put some bandages on you not too long ago!" Hans told to the alchemist who didn't bother to hear him, continuing to rip his own flesh.
Mordred decided to stop Faust herself. "What the fuck you think you are doi-!" Gasping audibly, the knight's eyes widened in fright as she got a look of the alchemist's insides.
Amongst all the muscle and flesh that was normal to a human body, there was also the presence of electric cables, gears and other metallic components that would lie within the alchemist's organs. The sight was something that shocked everyone out of nowhere.
"Oh...dear god..." The old man was the most affected, not having the stomach to bare such a gruesome scene in front of him that he got pale and his consciousness was about to fade out. Luckly, Fran catched the old man before his body could hit the ground, putting him to rest on a chair.
"Faust..." Ritsuka stared at the alchemist, startled. "Y-You...You are-"
"A cyborg? Now that explains why I was getting weird signs when analyzing your body." Romani speaked. "I should have known something sketchy was behind it."
"Ah, this is what I really am. Disgusted?" Faust asked to everyone, but more specifically Ritsuka.
"I dont even know how to rate this kind of plot twist if I'm being truthful." Shakespeare commented.
"Then that time I saw steam coming out of your shoulder..." Peko remembered. "Was because you are in fact half-machine?"
"So? Got nothing to say? It's monstrous to stare at this, right? Right?" Faust speaked with a smile on his face. "And you know who did this? Myself! I'm the one who commited this the moment I sold out my soul! How can you see this abomination and think that I'm a good person, Ritsuka Fujimaru?!" He yelled.
"But...why would you do that?" Nala asked him.
"Because I was a bored person! A magus with no care for anything or anyone! This nature of mine is what led me to do this and many more attrocities! All for my own curiosity and need of study much more!" Tears started to form on his eyes. "This is no sin that you can simply wash it away or forgive it! It stays with you forever!" Faust started to sob. "And...I was too much of a fool to realize it early! I despise this! I hate being a constant reminder of my own flaws!"
"Faust..." Jekyll murmured, feeling pity for the alchemist.
"You understand why I prefer to be solitary now? Why I always hide my face behind a mask?!" Faust cried out, tears running down his face. "I don't want people to know what the face of an irredimable monster looks like!"
"..." Now it was Ritsuka who was silent, unsure of what to tell him. This reveal was still taking its time to process. "I..." Ritsuka speaked, thinking of his next words carefully. "My opinion stays the same. I would still forgive you despite knowing that."
"Huh? Why?" Faust asked him, perplexed and unable to understand it. "Can you not see this?"
"I can. And so do you. That for me tells me everything. You're a person who wants to fix your own mistakes Faust. And that is what I consider to be a good person." Ritsuka responded to the alchemist, leaving him speechless. The last master of humanity. How astonished he was by such individual.
"You..." Faust lowered his head. "You really are..."
"Pack up your things and leave." Mordred told him, seeing that Faust had said and showed them what they wanted to know, having nothing left to tell. "We're heading to what could be our final confrontation and you better not get in our way."
"What? Can't he come with us?" Peko told Mordred, not understanding why Mordred was telling Faust to exit.
"Look at him shortie N.2. Do you think he wants to stay or go away?" Mordred replied to Peko, saying that the boy should only take brief look at the alchemist's face to understand what he wanted. And seeing how shattered and inapt Faust was, the answer became clear to him.
"I see." Peko muttered.
Jekyll wanted to object, but knew what the knight was saying was true. "Still, if you run into trouble again and-"
"No, that won't be necessary." Faust recomposed himself, slightly healing his own wounds and grabbing his staff. "This is the last time I'll ever show my face to you." The alchemist said, not looking at them as he begun walking to the outside of the living room.
"But what if-" Nala was about to protest before being interrupted by Ritsuka.
"Let him go Nala. He has decided." Ritsuka told the young girl, who remorsefully complied.
"Ahm!" Fran still went torwards Faust, grabbing his hand as she made some grunts, possibly begging him to stay.
"However, I'm thankful that I could be of help to you and your cause in all of this." Faust told them, gently putting Fran's hand away. "As you also helped me defeat a demon of mine. The rest of them, I'll face alone." Faust gave one last look at everyone in the room, possibly knowing that there wouldn't be a next time where they would meet each other. "Take care. Specially you three." He speaked torwards Ritsuka, Peko and Nala, before going away, with the party letting him go.
"Us three?" Nala said, muddled.
"Better not waste your time going after him to get an answer for that. We have important matters to discuss." Hans told her.
"Yes. The machine that acts as the core of this entire Singularity." Romani told them. "Take some time to rest before you go out to the Clock Tower again. We need the party at full strenght for this."
"Fou fu!" Fou appeard, agreeing with Romani, trying to shift the group's attention to that.
"Understood doctor. We will prepare ourselves." Mash replied, proceeding to stare at Ritsuka's face. He looked sad and pensative. "Don't think too much about it master. You say the best thing Faust-san could hear."
"I want to think that as well Mash." Ritsuka replied, thinking about the alchemist and his words. "I really want to."
"Have you heard my king? Babbage as been defeated as well."
The figure speaked to Artoria Alter, as both of them stood on the inside of the dimly lighted cavern, staying right in front of a steel dome machine.
"I did indeed master. The enemy will certainly come for us next." Artoria Alter replied, staring to the man.
"Surely. Hence why we will stay here, to guarantee their downfall before they can even grasp their hands on the grail inside of Angrboda." The man told to his servant.
"Does that means what I think it means?" The King of Storms asked, a smile appearing on her face.
"Yes my king. Go and be as relentless as you like with them. No more holding back." The mage told her, causing Artoria Alter's smile to grow a bit.
"Splendid. I craved long enough for this moment."
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 67!
And yes, you've read it right. Faust is indeed (kinda) a cyborg. Because, what better cautionary and tragic tale of doing a pact with the devil than to get your body artificially modified as consequence? Like I mentioned before, never be a mage in the Nasuverse. Worst type of job to have there.
And Babbage also got to have some new powers here by controlling metallic stuff, like the train. Which, let's be real, there is always some point in life where someone gets intrested in trains. You could be young, you could be old, you could be a toddler or a dying elder; there will be a phase where you get intrested by trains and the entire topic about them. Peko is on his now.
So yeah, next chapter we will be heading to the final battles of the London Singularity. Now excuse me while I pray and preach for Kagetora's God of War variant from the new GUDAGUDA event. (She's literally perfection)
Anyway, that's all I wanted to say and see you next time on chapter 68! Peace!
P.S:
Peko (walking on the hallways of Chaldea, and feeling down): Hmmm, there's nothing that I want to do today...
Raikou (Appears): Hi Peko-chan. Is there a problem with you sweetie?
Peko: Feeling bored.
Raikou: Then how about you spent some time eating my dishes? Momma Raikou always knows best for the kids.
Boudica (Appears): Hey now. If Peko is in need of food, then I should be the one taking care of him instead. (pushes Peko to her side)
Raikou (Pushes Peko back to her): It's a bit rude to take a child away from her mom just like that Lady Boudica. He clearly needs me more.
Europa (Also appears): Please ladies. Discussion here is needless (She grabs Peko) What this boy truly needs is of a grandma instead.
Jack (Appears out of nowhere and hugs Peko): No! Oliv- Hum...We mean, Peko will feel better once he plays with us!
Peko (Being sandwiched as all the four fight for him): This situation has just gotten worse...
Odysseus: Stop! Leave the poor boy alone! I know exactly of what he needs. (Walks torwards Peko)...Trojan Horse ride?
Peko:...Yeah, why not?
A few hours later
Odysseus: How are you feeling, Peko?
Peko (smilling and laughing): Amazing! Thanks for the ride Odysseus!
Odysseus: No need for it child. (Stares at the camera) Remember, when feeling down, always go for a ride on the Trojan Horse.
(IMPORTANT NOTE: THERE WON'T BE CHAPTER NEXT WEEK)
