Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 88 of the story! And Traum is about to arrive to NA! Time to roll for Kriemhild so that the little german dragon slayer family can be all reunited and happy! That, ando so that we can finally have Ritsuka and Kadoc bro moments! Hope you all save and spend your SQ wisely!
But anyways, with that said, let's start it!
DISCLIMER: All of the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author
India, 10th Century BC
Stepping out of the amphiteatre, the desolated Karna was going on his way with a broken and stained pride after being shamed by the Pandavas about his humble origins. Collecting his thoughts, he too begun to perceive how foolish it was for a son of a charioteer to appear here in a conference of high-esteemed kings and nobles unnanounced and fight one of them without taking the risks and rules about their society into account.
"Honestly, what I was thinking?" Karna whispered to himself. "I should have never come here."
"And miss out the opportunity to give those guys a reality check?"
Hearing a voice speak behind him, Karna turned around, seeing two men walking torwards him, having exited the amphitheatre and followed Karna shortly after he left the arena.
"If it wasn't for you, this conference would be another boring long session of yawning." Duryodhana told him, accompanied by Ashwatthama "You're the one who made this visit worth it!"
"Humm, thanks." Karna replied back. "And you are?"
Ashwatthama looked at Karna like he was troglodyte. "You're telling me you went to this conference, reserved for only royals and nobles of India, without knowing the damn names or identities of the kings in there?"
Karna felt a bit embaressed. "Well..."
Duryodhana however laughed it off. "Leave the poor dude be, Ashwatthama! He's just like a kid who likes to go to places because of the curiosity and mystic of it!"
"That perspective you use isn't entirely innacurate." Karna replied. "But why did you two even followed me here outside? Didn't you heard? I'm a son of charioteer. I shouldn't be of any intrest to people of higher status like you."
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong." Duryodhana reached out his hand for Karna. "You made quite the impression on that stage. My intuiton tells me you're something else. And unlike my cousins, I can recognize a talent when I see one."
"Cousins? You are cousin of the Pandavas?" Karna's face went a bit surprised. "Then that means you're-"
Duryodhana's smile expanded. "Aha, then you've heard of me! Eldest brother of the one-hundread Kaurava sibling princes, Duryodhana!" He shook Karna's hand. "A pleasure to meet you!" He then pointed to Ashwatthama. "The guy behind me is Ashwatthama. Son of the great warrior and royal perceptor, Drona. No small fry too, eh?"
"Cut with that crap." Ashwatthama told to his friend before looking at Karna. "Don't bother listening to what this guy says. Eighty percent of the time it's just pure gibberish."
Duryodhana stared to Ashwatthama with an offended expression. "But what I said right now was true! Plus, you cannot deny that I have charisma as a leader!"
Ashwatthama sighed. "That's true unfortunately. You could even become a lizard that charismatic blabber still wouldn't be lost."
"Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?!" Duryodhana's face become even more offended.
Karna looked weirdly at the elder of the Kauravas. Really, he couldn't deny that the man had a extroverted personality. "What do you exactly want from me?"
"Going to the center of the question I see." Duryodhana told him before statting his intentions. "I want you to join me. As a friend and companion of my army."
"What?!" Karna replied astounded. "Haven't you heard what I said? I'm a son of a charioteer! A merchant!"
Ashwatthama approached him with a smirk. "And? You think the two of us are idiots who share a single brain cell to not see it?"
"Hm?" Karna didn't understand what he meant by that.
"No one can have that good amount of mastry and skills with weapons as well as a mantra that can be felt on the same level as the Pandavas while being the child of a mere simple man." Ashwatthama clarified. "There's something else about you we do not know, isn't there?"
Karna looked into his eyes for a bit before lowering his gaze from Ashwatthama's face. "Looks like you are more perceptive than the rest." He told to the two. "I'm not really the son of a charioteer. Putting it better, I'm his adoptive son." Karna revealed, gaining some stares of intrigue and curiosity from Duryodhana and Ashwatthama.
"Oh oh! See it Ashwatthama?" Duryodhana stared happily to his friend. "My intuition was right after all! The chakras that compose your body couldn't come from a lowly merchant." He said, going back to look at Karna.
"Please, do not adress my father like that." Karna said to Duryodhana. "Even if he and my mother are just my adoptive parents, I still carry an amount of love for them as if they were my real parents. So do not dare to disrespect him in front of me again." He said, his voice and face calm and polite but with a glimmer of agressiveness in his eyes.
It made the message clear to Duryodhana who quickly apologized, waving his hand while laughing it off. "Hahaha, sorry sorry. My tongue slipped there. If that's your wish I can respect that."
"Wasn't expecting to see someone have that much affection for a person who isn't their real father." Ashwatthama commented. "Guess they mean a lot to you then."
"And they do." Karna replied to Ashwatthama. "But now I learned they never were my real parents. Therefore, I need to know where I really came from." Karna looked to his own hands. "What is my place in this world."
"Charming." Duryodhana replied with a smirk and a lift of his eyebrows to Karna's explanation. "Welp, then be glad that you won't have to look no further than here!" He exclaimed, putting an arm over Karna's shoulder.
It surprised Karna "O-Oi!"
"As of now, I, Duryodhana, hereby declare you as the king of...where exactly are you from?" Duryodhana asked Karna, having forgotten the kingdom he came from.
"Anga." Karna told him.
"I hereby make you right here and now, king of Anga!" Duryodhana exclaimed loudly, much to Karna's huge bafflement. "How about that eh? Now you're a royal who can't be shamed by my cousins or anyone else!"
Karna was trying to process it. "Can you really just do that?! I doubt that's how it works!" He tried to get Duryodhana's arm off. "I appreciate it but you didn't even heard my opinion first!"
Ashwatthama laughed. "Good luck with that! When this stupid gets an idea in his head, it hardly gets out of it!" He told to Karna. "But who's to say that since the charioteer isn't your real father, maybe your true parents are royals instead?"
Karna gave some thought to it. "Well, that's..."
"It will still turn out to be your an actual king or an heir to the throne or some funny thing like that." Duryodhana smiled joyfully while pulling Karna as he and Ashwatthama started to walk. "Now, let's go to my residence! I'll show you what a true dinner is like!"
Karna sighed as Duryodhana laughed, choosing to accept it and go along. "We met literally now. Why are you treating me like a friend already?"
"A friend?" Duryodhana stared at Karna, a face of welcoming happiness and positivism. Same with Ashwatthama altough a bit more reserved. "Even better..."
Present
"I'll treat you like you were one more brother to me."
"..Gh...ghgr..!" Having sensed his entire chest pierced, Karna couldn't do nothing but cough weakly some blood as Cú Alter stood behind him, having interfered in his fight with Arjuna by delivering the fatal blow.
Arjuna stood there in shock. "W-What..." In one moment, he was about to die to his half-brother and rival. But instead, he was now watching Karna's body impaled on Cú Alter's Gáe Bolg on the next one.
The chaldeans, alongside Nightingale and Rama, were also startled by the sudden events.
"How did he..." Ritsuka's mind was trying to comprehend what happened.
"One less problem to worry about!" Cú Alter cackled, taking out his spear from Karna's body, the hero of charity falling flat on the ground, staining it with his blood.
That was the trigger that made the others take action.
"Karna!" Rama yelled, immediatly going to his compatriot's assistance by jumping torwards Cú Alter with anger to make him step away. "You!"
As the two clashed, Nightingale flanked the spearman on the right, going for a kick on his torso. "Back off!" She exclaimed, landing the hit, helping Rama push Cú Alter some steps back.
"Karna-san!" Mash and the rest of the Chaldea team went next to Karna, checking up on him. "Are you alright?"
"I'm...feeling weaker..." Karna replied, the energy draining out of his body. "He just appeared...out of nowehere..."
Peko clenched his teeth while observing Karna's wound. "This isn't good. The spear has hit Karna right in the core!" He touched his right hand while closing it to a fist, moving slightly his arm. "I'm not sure if I could still have time to save him with this spell. But in this situation, I'll need to give it a t-"
"Guys!" Ritsuka called the rest of the team's attention as he bent down to heal Karna. "I'll tend to Karna's wound! The rest of you go and take care of Cú Alter!" He ordered.
Nala nodded without thinking, as if she was just waiting for the word. "Got it!" She replied, directing her sight to Cú Alter. "I've been looking forward to this for some time!" She then dashed at Cú Alter, brightning up her blade. "Nightingale! Rama!"
Having been warned of Nala's approaching by the girl herself, the two servants stepped out of the way as the girl tackled Cú Alter with her sword.
"Precise Stroke!"
With a powerful swing, Nala clashed her weapon against Gáe Bolg, leaving a noticeable cut on the ground behind Cú Alter as the two confronted one another.
"Eh! I was wondering when you'd show up again!" Cú Alter smiled at the sight of Nala's face, her eyes looking at him with hostility.
"And this time, we've came better prepared! So don't go thinking you'll have an easy victory again!" Nala exclaimed, removing her sword from the clash with Cú Alter as she then attempted to slash him in the face. Cú Alter avoided it, retaliating by attacking with his spear, to which Nala dodged greatly and traded some blows against.
Peko and Mash appeared right after, coming to their companion's aid. Mash got herself in front of Nala, perfectly blocking the opponent's red spear with her shield.
Cú Alter analyzed her strenght as she saw the shielder fending off against Gáe Bolg. "Hmmm, not bad at all. You managed to endure an attack of mine. But the question is..." He applied more pressure, attempting to break Mash's defense. "Can you hold it for much longer?"
"Ghg!" Mash's face sweated a bit as she noticed the hardening on the muscle of Cú Alter's arm. His strenght was like a beast of nature, overpowering his opponents by showing sheer brute strenght. Luckily for her, Peko gave her support.
"Take this!" Peko fired a light bullet at Cú Alter, forcing the spearman to retreat a bit as well as block two incoming attacks from Nightingale and Rama, who rejoined with the Chaldea team members.
Lowering the spear after blocking the blows, Cú Alter looked at Peko. "And here we meet again brat!" He smirked to the boy. "What trick will you try to pull out this time?"
"Any one that will brought you defeat!" Peko replied defiantly.
Cú Alter laughed at that. "Keep dreaming boy! Third time's a charm like they say!" He told Peko. "Altough I am not very much willing to give you any other chanes after this one!"
"I'm not fighting alone here!" Peko replied back, referring to his allies. "Everyone of us is looking to defeat you!"
"Great!" Cú Alter bumped his own fists together. "More people for me to kill then! Or you've already forgotten what happened to the other group you were with?"
"..." Peko felt a provocation within that. Cú Alter reminding him of his previous failure as well as of his allies deaths.
"Believe me, this group won't let you do the same." Rama told to the spearman. "We aren't going to let you bring us down that easily!" He pointed his sword to the enemy.
"Famous last words." Cú Alter said, proceeding to stare at the moribund Karna. "One of you already has his life hanging on a thread. You will all follow him shortly after."
"Not if we can do something to avoid that!" Nightingale exclaimed, charging at Cú Alter. "And it will be by getting rid of the disease that you are!"
Punching against the enemy's spear, Nightingale went for a roundhouse kick, with Cú Alter barely being able to block it. Rama quickly joined in, apppearing on Cú Alter's right side.
"Blessing of Martial Arts!"
The king of Kosala swinged his sword torwards Cú Alter, with the celtic warrior now fending off against both him and Nightingale.
Mash, Peko and Nala followed up after Cú Alter had punched Nightingale in the stomach and land a cut on Rama with his Gáe Bolg, standing his ground.
The shielder runned at him, swinging her shield to then clash against Cú Alter's spear with great impact. By the way she handed the hits, the corrupted Ireland's Child of Light could tell Mash was a lot more tougher than her delicate appearence led him to believe.
"Peko! On his back!" Mash speaked while keeping Cú Alter occupied, giving a chance for the boy to went behind the spearman with a quick movement.
With it done, Peko prepared to slash Cú Alter's back. "Take this!"
"Hm!" Fastly catching sight of Peko moving to his back, Cú Alter reacted with speed, using his lizard tail to turn his body around, crashing it on Mash's shield while he blocked Peko's sword with Gáe Bolg, now facing the boy while holding against him and Mash at the same time.
But there was still one missing.
"Now Nala!" Mash shouted, with Nala running torwards her behind.
"Copy that!" Nala replied, jumping above her friend, staring down at Cú Alter who lifted his head to look up to her.
"Kh!" Putting a lot of strenght on his muscles, Cú Alter pushed both Peko and Mash away, attempting to avoid Nala's downward slash in time. And as the girl descended, the celtic warrior tried to step back. Unfortunately for him, his body didn't escaped unscathed, suffering a slight cut on his chest by Nala.
And she wasn't over however. Once Nala had landed on the ground, she proceeded to thrust one of her legs upwards, landing massively the kick on Cú Alter's chin. "Did you liked this move? Courtesy of a chinese teacher!" Nala told him with a confident smile on her face. "Perfect! His teachings were useful after all!"
Taking an involuntery step back, Cú Alter groaned a bit dissatisfied while his head still remained upwards. "You..." Grabbing his chin, Cú Alter lowered his head, grinning to Nala. "Really like having a bold mouth don't you?" His attention then diverted to Rama who charged at him.
"This is for my fallen companions!" Rama shouted, managing to break Cú Alter's defense before slashing the opponent in the arm.
Cú Alter hissed before throwing his fist at the hindu servant, with Rama blocking it just in time. Cú Alter used his tail however to hit Rama on the back, forcing an opening on the king of Kosala. Cú Alter then grabbed Rama by the neck and crashed his body into the ground. "Wanna see them that badly?" Cú Alter asked, strangling Rama as he struggled against the spearman's tight grasp.
Thankfully, Nightingale came to his aid. "I won't allow that!" She elbowed Cú Alter in the face, making the spearman's eyes target her as his grip on Rama's neck loosened, allowing Rama to free himself by kicking Cú Alter in the chest. Nightingale tried to continue the combo by punching the celtic warrior in the face, but Cú Alter didn't let the nurse have her way, blocking the attack with Gáe Bolg and then swing his spear at her and Rama, backing them off and gaining some meters between him and his opponents.
"Are you alright?" Mash asked to both servants as she, Peko and Nala stood by their side.
"He's a resilient one. We will need to use a more intensive therapy on him." Nightingale replied, adjusting her gloves.
"A hard opponent. Just like the first time I fought him." Rama commented. "Even in a numerical disadvantage, he makes the battle feel even. But whatever he does, we can't let him use Gáe Bolg at its true power!" He advised, aware of the dangerous power the weapon of Cú Alter had and was used on him once.
"He can also use his tail on us for any unexpected attacks." Peko added, not forgetting of another aspect of Cú Alter's fighting. "We have to keep an eye on that."
"As long as we keep attacking him all together, he'll eventually get tired!" Nala said.
Peko's mind then remembered something. "Wait! If you're here, then does that mean..."
Cú Alter grinned, seeing that Peko made that connection. "Yes. I've fought with my teacher. The lady you knew as Scáthach. She failed to kill me, being the one to perish by my hands. There won't be anymore help from her."
The news, altough a bit expecting ever since Scáthach abandoned them to fight Cú Alter alone earlier this day, still came as a shock and a demoralizing blow to their side.
"So, Scáthach is really dead..." Mash stared sadly at the ground.
"Like she herself feared, she wasn't able to have the strenght or courage enough to bring her student now." Nightingale thinked back on that conversation she had with the celtic spearwoman the night before. "It will have to come down to us to resolve this illness in the end." Hearing some groans behind, Nightingale stared at the wounded Karna with Ritsuka near him, trying to heal the lancer. She wanted to continue help the others fighting Cú Alter, but being the type of nurse that she was, Nightingale just couldn't ignore a person's suffering while standing right there. "Hey, I'm going to try healing and fixing Karna's injury! The rest of you keep fighting him!"
They all accepted Nightingale's decision.
"Understood! We will keep Cú Alter occupied!" Mash nodded, replying to the nurse who didn't lose any time and directly went torwards Ritsuka. "How is he?" Nightingale asked, proceeding to start taking care of the situation.
"Karna's Spirit Core has been damaged!" Ritsuka reported while keeping his attempt of healing Karna. "I'm trying to cure him but-"
"You've already did what you could!" Nightingale told to the master of humanity, grabbing his pulse, making Ritsuka stop his healing spell. "I'll take it from here! Don't waste all of your energy now and instead go help the others against Cú Alter!" She told him.
Ritsuka agreed. "Got it!" He said, leaving Karna in Nightingale's hands as he went to join in his team and Rama.
All four of them were ganging up on Cú Alter, with Rama being the one doing more attacks.
"And this one is for almost killing me and giving me enormous suffering for a week!" The king of Kosala threw two spinning energy circles at Cú Alter who blocked both before also blocking the attack of Rama's sword, clashing with him.
"If that made you suffer a lot, then why didn't you just simple bitten the dust?" Cú Alter replied, overpowering Rama over the clash and strike him in the abdomen with his spear, sending the hindu servant flying some meters away.
"Rama!" Peko shouted, seeing him get pushed away from the zone of their battle.
Seeing Rama passing past him and fall on the ground some distance away, Ritsuka tried to go pick him up. "Rama! Are you o-"
"Don't worry about me! I'm still fine!" Rama replied, getting up on the ground. Yet, a wyvern appeared from the sky and landed near him, being surrounded by some celtic servants that kept Rama from rejoining the fight quickly. "Crap! I'll be occupied a little bit here! Keep fighting without me for now!" Rama said to Ritsuka who nodded at him, leaving Rama to deal with the new group of enemies around him.
"Mash! Peko! Nala!" Ritsuka made himself present to his team members once he reached them. "Having trouble?"
Nala looked at him. "Some actually! But nothing we can't take care of!"
"Glad you joined us in Ritsuka!" Peko told him.
"Hm? Who's the newcomer?" Cú Alter asked, looking at Ritsuka's face, never having seen him before.
"The leader of our group!" Mash answered him
Cú Alter however reacted like he didn't heard it right. "...Leader?"
"Yeah! A master and my friend!" Peko added, making sure that what Cú Alter heard wasn't wrong.
"Oh." Cú Alter seemed genuinely surprised. "I see." He said with a stoic face...right before he begun laughing almost uncontrollably. "EEEEEEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This guy?! This guy is your leader?!" Cú Alter mocked, continuing his incessant laugh.
"Yeah! So what? Do you have a problem?" Nala talked back, not liking how Cú Alter was making fun of her friend and leader.
"This person is just a simple average human!" Cú Alter exclaimed, a scoffing smile on his face. "Are you some kind of charity to let such weak and fragile human be the one bossing you around? That's both pathetic and hilarious! You all must be sharing the same brain for that to have happened!" The spearman insulted them, continue to laugh.
"He is far from being the average weak human you think he is!" Mash said, protecting Ritsuka's self-esteem from Cú Alter's words.
"And? I can still tell he is barely any mana inside his body." Cú Alter dismissed Mash's statement. "I bet a single punch on his face and his entire head would come out!" He laughed before looking at Peko. "It this is the people you are friends with kiddo, you definetly will never reach the greatness of being stronger!"
"I'm not looking for that!" Peko replied, also defending Ritsuka. "Ritsuka excels in much more other things then you ever could!"
"Like what exactly? Being a pushover while also being a leader? I admit that's quite the feat to realize! Hahahaha!" Cú Alter continued to mock Ritsuka.
Ritsuka didn't replied to those insults. He stared at Cú Alter's face, this being the first time he was seeing him in person and up close. And the face of such monster was indeed identical to that of the Cú Chulainn he had met and cooperated with in Fuyuki. Except, this Cú Chulainn's tenderness and friendliness was completely gone, being replaced by a cold and cruel man that was known as his alter. To think such evil was using the name and face of a true hero as well as being the one who badly hurt Peko and Nala, was something that made Ritsuka's blood boil a bit. "So it's you..."
"Eh?" Stopping his laughter, Cú Alter looked down at Ritsuka, hearing some small anger on his voice, the master of humanity having tightened his fists.
"It's you who hurt my friends and innocents of this country!" Ritsuka exclaimed, giving a vexed look at the spearman.
"Yes, it was me." Cú Alter replied to him before smirking. "What are you gonna do? Beg and implore me to stop it?"
"No!" Ritsuka told him, activating the Command Seals of his hand, powering his team mates. "We're going to kick your ass!"
"That's the way!" Nala exclaimed, happy in seeing Ritsuka not let himself be talked down by Cú Alter. Same feeling with Peko and Mash. "What's the plan?"
"Beat him up!" Ritsuka instructed them.
"Understood, master!"
"Roger that, Ritsuka!"
"Let's do it, captain!"
The trio charged all at Cú Alter, who had repositioned his spear to attack all three of them at once. "Dissapear!" He shouted, making a huge slash with a swing of the Gáe Bolg, directing it at his enemies. All of them dodged and attacked Cú Alter, who parried each one of their attacks with precision. As he continued to fight them, Cú Alter's peripheral vision caught sight of someone. "Hm?"
It was Arjuna. Not having moved a single time ever since he saw Karna being fatally injured by the celtic spearman. A startled and troubled expression on his eyes and face as his body hadn't moved yet, seemingly paralyzed.
"Oi, Arjuna! What the hell are you doing?!" Cú Alter yelled at the hindu archer, unhappy to not getting some aid here. "Are you going to stare at the emptiness forever or help your king instead?" He said, trying to take Arjuna out of his own thoughts.
It made the chaldeans to also notice the silent and paralyzed archer.
"Now to think about it, Arjuna hasn't done anything ever since Karna got attacked by Cú Alter." Mash commented.
"That's really odd." Nala added.
Meanwhile, Arjuna couldn't help but keep looking at Karna and his critical condition. When the Pandava tought he could finally have a honorable battle with his half brother in this distant land called America, the same thing happened again, their duel interfered by someone else. Arjuna's chance to retake back his pride flew away once more. Just like the first time during the other war. The one where he had 'killed' his rival. But that moment didn't felt like victory for Arjuna. He didn't felt he got his dignity and his old brother's love back while staring at the recent corpse of Karna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The feat of the hero of charity's defeat having been due to a scheme and betrayal in that battle, not mainly to Arjuna's own merit. That fact enraged his heart. The reveal of who Karna really was after that only added more tragedy and conflict to his own heart. But it wasn't only angerness that Karna felt in that moment...
"Hey!" Cú Alter went next to Arjuna's side, trying to call his attention. "Are you deaf or somethi-"
"Shut your mouth!" Arjuna snapped at Cú Alter, surprising the spearman and the chaldeans.
"Arjuna looks angry." Peko noted, seeing the archer's face. And right he was.
The archer showed clearly how very displeased he was with the action of his ally in getting in the middle of his fight with Karna. "You had no business tampering with our fight! With MY fight! Do you have any idea how much this battle meant to me? How long I've waited for this?" Arjuna vented all the frustration and rage into Cú Alter, who looked at him with a bothered face. "This stupid war of yours in comparison means nothing to me! I told you well why I was joining you the moment we met! And yet you still come here to ruin it!"
With the rant seemingly over, Cú Alter replied. "And? Do you honestly think I give a single fuck about it? In a war, what matters is to kill your opponents in any way possible! Who cares about honor in this situation?" Cú Alter looked into Arjuna's eyes, giving him a threatening glare. "You either understand that and continue to obey me or I myself will silence your whiny mouth!"
"They're actually arguing with each other!" Ritsuka said, seeing the tension sparking between Arjuna and Cú Alter.
"We should take this opportunity to attack both!" Nala proposed.
However, it looked like Arjuna decided to difuse the small conflict before it could have higher repercussions. Altough angered, he still remained with a cool head. "Tsk! Fine then." He hissed, showing to comply even if still displeased with Cú Alter's occurence. "I'll continue fighting for you. But right now, you'll have to deal with them alone." Arjuna said, staring at the Chaldea team.
"Whatever! As if I'd need much of your help." Cú Alter replied, accepting Arjuna's condition as the archer flyed off into other areas of the battlefield in order to deal with the enemy soldiers and leaving Cú Alter alone to fight against the chaldeans.
"What a great communication that you two have!" Nala said to the spearman. "And you speak of our leader being weak!"
"Like I care." Cú Alter replied back, warming up his arms a bit, moving his spear. "I alone am enough to take all of you down! With my teacher gone, none of you can defeat me!"
"We'll see about that!" Ritsuka exclaimed, with his teammates attacking Cú Alter all together.
"Luminary Route!"
Charging his hand, Peko fired a more powerful light bullet from his finger, aiming it at Cú Alter. The celtic warrior tanked the attack and the explosion within it, landing some meters behind with his feet. Nala jumped torwards him, the weapons of the two clashing three times before Cú Alter swipped his tail at Nala, with the girl evading it before almost cutting the enemy in the throat. Cú Alter swinged his arm at Nala, bumping into her sword, pushing her away from him right before Mash appeared to throw her shield at him. Cú Alter repelled it, with the shielder grabbing her weapon back and striking it on Cú Alter's spear again.
Peko then appeared, flanking on the berserker. He and Mash begun to attack Cú Alter on both sides. Targetting the enemy, Peko fired another light bullet at Cú Alter, with the enemy dodging it but suffering the rebound made by Mash behind him.
"Nice one!" Ritsuka commented, watching his friends fight while on the back.
"And we aren't done yet!" Nala speaked, sprinting torwards Cú Alter, slicing him on his rear knee. Then, with a single step and a quick turn around Nala was about to deliver another slash on Cú Alter's body. "Take thi-"
But Cú Alter blocked it with a swing of his spear. "Enough of this." He stared down with an angry look of a predator, his eyes glowing red.
"!" Nala gulped with the sudden reaction, her defense broken, letting Cú Alter to bash his spear in her body, shoving the girl to the side. "Ergh!"
"Nala!" Peko shouted, seeing his sister get hit.
Seeing his friend falling right next to him, Ritsuka went to her aid. "Are you alright?" He asked while helping Nala get back on her feet.
Cú Alter had made a target. "Now..." He strenghten his muscles, the face of an animal looking for blood. "The weak shall go first!" He eyed at Ritsuka next to Nala, planning on finishing with him. There wouldn't be much trouble killing a normal human after all.
Mash tried to stop him, putting herself in front of Cú Alter. "No you won-argh!" Mash was taken by surprise as Cú Alter just brutally bolted past her, breaking her defense and taking her to the ground while on his way to Ritsuka and Nala. "Master! Nala! Watch out!" She warned the two of the incoming danger.
Both Ritsuka and Nala look forward, seeing the menacing and wild Cú Alter dashing at them, prepared to eliminate Ritsuka swiftly with a single blow.
"He's coming torward us!?" Ritsuka exclaimed in shock.
"Watch out!" Peko shouted, stretching his arm, everything going slowly as he was about to see Cú Alter reach Ritsuka and Nala. "This isn't good!" Peko moved his hand to close into a finger gun. "Even if I take a shot now, will I make it in time?" He sweated in panic, not knowing if doing anything now would be too late.
As Cú Alter approached closer, he jumped, Gáe Bolg in hand and ready to impale Ritsuka, and if possible, Nala as well, releasing a monstrous cry.
Nala's mind took a quick decision, being in front of Ritsuka and staring at Cú Alter with a determinant glare and sword in hand. She would use it for the first time. She had to. "Come t-"
"No!" Without warning, Ritsuka hugged her and brought Nala to the gound.
"Ah?! Rits-" Nala fell down alongside Ritsuka, now on the embrace of her friend who was using his own body as a shield to protect her from Cú Alter's incoming spear. Nothing the two could do to stop it. But at least, Ritsuka would make sure he'd be the only one being taken out.
"Fou! Fou!"
"Hm?!" Feeling fluffly paws on his back, Ritsuka lifted his head as he saw Fou jumping from his body in direction to Cú Alter's Gáe Bolg, much to the master of humanity's shock. "Fou!" He yelled, thinking that the animal was about to sacrifice himself to save them.
Rather, what happen next, no one could have foreseen it.
Within Fou, a light shone brightly, activating a beacon of light that blinded everyone, illuminating the entire battlefield.
"Ergh! What?!" Cú Alter covered his eyes, fazed by the light.
"W-What's this?" Peko asked as he and Mash also protected their eyes.
"I don't know! But it seems it's coming from Fou!" Masha added.
Some meters more away, Nightingale also noticed the light while healing Karna's wounds. "Hm? Where did this light came from?" She murmured before noticing Karna trying to get back up. "Hey! Stay down!"
Rama's attention had also been stolen by the powerful brightness. "Ghg! So much light!"
Within the next seconds, the light finally begun to lose its shine, slowly dying down and the battlefield coming back to normal.
Taking the arm out from the front of their faces, Ritsuka and Nala saw someone appearing in front of them.
"E-Eh?"
"Who are you?"
"Mhm mhm. Phew! Travelling via dreams surely isn't very reliable. Thought I wouldn't make it in time!"
A man, wearing a white robe speaked, his face covered by a equally white hood. In his hand, a large wodden staff of a wizard with pink and light blue and yellow ribbons. Turning around, the cloaked figure stared at Ritsuka and Nala with his eyes covered by his white hair, smilling at them.
"Well, but that doesn't matter. Glad I was able to arrive after all, people of Chaldea!"
The four chaldeans as well as Cú Alter were all astonished by the sudden appearence of this mysterious wizard man.
"But who-..." Looking down on the wizard's feet, Peko noticed pink flowers near him on the ground. "Are those flowers?"
"Hm? Who am I you ask?" The wizard speaked to Peko. "I could make a quizz about it but time's running short. So I'll go direct to the point. I'm none other than the great wizard of the arthurian legends, Merlin!"
The reveal made all of them react in even more awe.
"Merlin?! You are THAT wizard?" Mash said with huge bafflement.
"Sure am! I understand the reaction. It's not every day that I get out of my tower after all." Merlin replied with a cheerful chuckle. "Your journey is entertaining to watch."
"Huh? What do you mean by that? How long have you been observing us?" Nala asked him.
"Long enough to see the value of your efforts during my eternal stay in paradise." Merlin told her.
"So you've came here to help us?" Ritsuka asked to the legendary wizard.
"Lend you a small hand to put it simply. I'd adore for my stay here to be more prominent, but unfortunately all that I can afford for now is a quick visit." Merlin admitted not having much time in this Singularity. "You already look a bit damaged. Here, take this blessings." With a simple movement of his staff, Merlin casted a spell on the Chaldea team members, the breeze of the flowers bestowing their magic upon them.
"My body..." Mash noticed the change the effects of Merlin's spell had. "It feels reinvigorated."
"Yeah. All of the fatigue and injuries are gone!" Peko replied, feeling the same thing. "It's like the mana circuits have been cleaned and repaired. How did you do it?" Peko asked to Merlin, who with a sly smile, put a finger in front of his lips.
"A secret for now. My and Chaldea's paths have yet to be crossed properly." He said.
"Wait, really? Are you saying you're leaving now?" Nala asked, not expecting Merlin time here to be that short.
"Well, I did said I was only here for a quick visit." Merlin said. "But don't worry. We shall meet again later on in your journey. And I'll surely be waiting for you." The body of the wizard begun to dematerialize. "But before we meet again, I presume you'll stumble onto an ally of mine on your next adventure. I hope you find him."
"Hm? Another ally of yours?" Ritsuka said after hearing Merlin's mysterious words as the wizard's body was almost gone.
"I'm beggining to wake up. Can't really say much more. Only...continue to take care of Cath Palug for me, okay?" Merlin requested to the Chaldea team.
"Cath Palug? Who's that?" Nala asked, confused.
"It was nice seeing you up close for the first time, Chaldea." Merlin said to them. "I'm eager for the next time. There, my staff and magic will be aids to your cause." The great wizard said, vanishing into thin air, leaving Fou behind as the small animal appeared again.
"F...Fou.." He looked tired.
Even gone, the short visit of Merlin left an impression inside the chaldeans, amazed by his presence despite being of a small time.
"He surely seemed cool." Ritsuka said.
"Yep! And he's a possible ally for us! I'm already looking forward to meet him again!" Nala added, also being left with a good feeling about the wizard.
"But he was also quite mysterious, in the way he speaked of some things." Peko speaked. "Wonder if he knows things that we don't."
"Well, guess that's Merlin for you." Mash replied, almost without thinking.
Meanwhile, Cú Alter had also stood in awe during the entire visit of the wizard, mesmerized by his incredible magic he seemed to overflow. But now that Merlin was gone, Cú Alter snapped out of it, shaking his head. "Egh! What the hell was this just now? Eitherway, I'll get a better time to think about it later..." He speaked to himself before shifting his attention to the Chaldeans, his Gáe Bolg ready for carnage. "Now, let's get back to-"
"Hey"
"Hm?" Hearing a voice, Cú Alter turned around to see Karna standing behind him, pointing his spear at the celtic warrior despite the awful injury Cú Alter gave him earlier.
"Stooooooooooop! Don't do it!" Nightingale shouted in the distance while running, trying to stop Karna from commiting it.
"O' Sun, Abide to Death: Vasavi Shakti"
Karna's spear bursted in flames as a symbol of a flamming sun appeared on his back, four red metal wings on his right side.
"Ghg!" In desperation, Cú Alter tried to block the Noble Phantasm, instinctively using a type of rune and putting his spear in front, making contact with the sun beam from Karna, exploding into a giant ball of flames, making the chaldeans and Nightingale protect themselves against it.
In the distance, Arjuna noticed the explosion, recognizing from where it was from. "It can't be!"
Once Karna's Noble Phantasm went out and dissapeared, leaving huge clouds of smoke, Karna stepped out of the curtain, his hand let go of Vasavi Shakti. He had used every last remain of his mana to destroy Cú Alter.
"This...should do it..." The hero of charity said weakly, his body beggining to fade.
With the smoke dissipating, everyone else was able to spot him, running torwards Karna.
"Karna!" Ritsuka shouted the servant's name as they approached him.
Nightingale grabbed him before Karna could lose his balance and fall to the ground. "Why did you had to do that? You never disobey to a nurse or doctor's orders!"
"Sorry...I just had to do it." Karna smiled a bit.
"What happened?" Rama arrived to the area, caughting sight of Karna and his condition. "Oh no!" He immediatly went to the side of the other hindu servant. "Karna, you're-"
"Yes. This is the end of the line for me." Karna told him before looking at the battlefield, seeing the soldiers of their side overpowering the remaining troops of the Celtic Empire. "It seems like we're about to win this battle..." He then looked at the party around him. "The rest of you needs to keep going and reach Washington D.C. without me. As long as I'm the only lost in this operation...I do not mind perishing. Continue to move forward..."
Ritsuka nodded. "No worries. We will."
"K-Karna..."
To the side, Arjuna watched closely to his half-brother's final moments. Unable to defeat in the way he wanted once again. Unclear to what tell him. If he felt either anger or sadness for seeing Karna perishing.
Fate Grand Order OST- Lost Memories
"Arjuna..." Karna moved his head, his eyes staring at the figure of his half-brother. It wasn't this time they could finally let this dispute end and make amends. And he knew that also troubled Arjuna. He wanted to comfort his sibling of that. But his body had reached its limit. "Sorry..." He let out a bittersweet smile to his half-brother. "May you get what you've been looking for next time..." Karna said before totally fading away, the hero of charity's no more being present in this Singularity.
"..." Arjuna stood still, his heart aching. "Tsk! Why do you need to smile in your death again?"
India, 10th Century B.C.
"Karna was..."
In the middle of the desolated zone that had become the battlefield of the Kurukshetra war, a devastated Arjuna stared at the smilling corpse of Karna has rain fell from the sky and a woman cried near him.
"I killed...my own brother?"
It was a thing that Arjuna's brain didn't know how to process, being thrown into turmoil. For many years, he had seen Karna as a rival. An enemy. If he had a deep hatred for him? Indeed he had, but with time, Arjuna came to secretly appreciate Karna's skills, impressed that someone from such low social status like Karna reached to where he was. However, that was also the factor that kept the Pandava from trying to socialize and understand him, adding to the fact that in Arjuna's eyes, Karna robbed him from his dignity in front of his siblings that day. Or perhaps that was the lie Arjuna would tell himself in order to find a justification to try and harbor a hate for Karna, when the one he hated was none other but himself for having been defeated.
For so many years, Arjuna was uncapable to fraternize with Karna, always showing bitter and cold animosity to Karna's general stoic and composed attitude when the two would met again across the years until the inevitable war in India imploded, with the two obviously being in different sides of the conflict. It was always the goal of Arjuna to defeat and kill Karna. To restore his honor and get the respect and love of his older brother back. But now that it was done, Arjuna felt nothing. Nothing but remorse.
"You knew? Didn't you?" Arjuna's voice trembled as he kept staring to the smile of the deceased brother. "Is that why you're smiling? Why you never show hate to me the same way I showed for you?" Arjuna's heart ached inside his chest. All this time, during all these fights and duels, Arjuna had been hating someone of his own blood. The nights were he wondered what would be like if they weren't enemies. How that if it wasn't for the bitter rivalry, the dignity, and the different status, maybe Arjuna would have appreciated Karna as a friend. But the hate and the pressure of validation speaked louder, leading Arjuna to this. And only now, after Karna's death, he learned through the crying woman, his mother, Kunti, that the warrior he both admirated and hated, was actually his brother.
"Why...was I never told about it?" Arjuna speaked with pain in his voice, trying to not cry in the middle of the rain. "Why only now?" He was about to reach his hand for Karna. "B-brother, I-"
"No. You did well, Arjuna." Yudhishthira said behind him, putting a hand on Arjuna's shoulder. "Karna was an enemy, and ge got put down like one."
"Big Bro Yudhishthira..." Arjuna murmured looking to his older brother.
The elder of the Pandavas then looked to their crying mother. "Our father never knew of his existence. Therefore, a pariah like him could never been a part of our family." Yudhishthira said, not wanting Arjuna to feel guilty over having killed Karna. "What matters is that all of you are still alive."
"..." Arjuna was silent for a bit. He could tell how he's older brother also looked dead inside, this war having also a good piece of blame on him. The guilt Arjuna was feeling now, Yudhishthira was feeling a hundred times worse, seeing so many companions dying, both from his and the enemy's side. A conflict that had fully divided India. All due to the older Pandava's recklesness.
"Now let's go. We shall end the rest of the Kauravas and reconquer what's ours as our birthright." Yudhishthira told to Arjuna, waiting for him so that he could walk away.
Looking at his mother still wheeping and the corpse of Karna, Arjuna tried to dismiss it as he took some reluctancy in abandoning the two. "Y-Yes. I'm...already going."
Being joined by his young brother, Yudhishthira gave a last look at Karna's face. The smile persisting on his face even after death. It genuinely impressed him. "Smilling after such betrayal and end. How big was your heart, king of Anga?"
Present
"Dammit. Dammit all!" Arjuna cursed, a profound sadness and frustration running through his body.
Seeing the clearly troubled face on Arjuna, Peko tried to speak with him. "Hey, are you o-"
"GRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A loud piercing roar interrupted Peko as it called his and everybody else's attention.
Getting up from the ground, Cú Alter rise up, his body partially scorched. "You bastard! That hurt like hell!" He shouted, withstanding the burning pain. "Had it not been for the defensive rune I casted before and it was certainly over for me!"
The survival of the spearman came as a shock to everyone.
"It can't be!" Ritsuka exclaimed.
"You're still alive?! After that!?" Peko was dumbfounded, finding hard to believe Cú Alter survived to a Noble Phantasm of that magnitude.
"Then Karna's sacrifice was in vain?" Rama said, not accepting that Karna used all of his remaining mana and failed to kill Cú Alter.
"Not if we finish his job!" Nala exclaimed, moving her sword. "We can still kill him!"
Mash agreed. "Even more so now that he is weakened! We can't miss this chance!"
"Crap! I can't fight all of them at the same time like this!" Cú Alter recognized that fighting with the body in this state would only be foolish and much likely result in his death. So Cú Alter instead took another option. "Not so fast!" He exclaimed, lifting up Gáe Bolg. "You want to kill me? Well then..." He charged up his spear with mana, putting the party on alert.
"Careful! He's up to something!" Nightingale warned the rest of the group.
"I'll be waiting for that on my headquarters!" Cú Alter exclaimed, piercing the ground with Gáe Bolg. "There, we shall finally put the question of who are the strong ones to rest!" With a powerful swing, Cú Alter directed the slash at them, lifting an entire curtain of dust.
Once the party had avoided the blow, they all saw Cú Alter flee from the battlefield.
"That coward! He's actually trying to run away!" Nala exclaimed.
"We have to get Cú Alter before we lose him from sight!" Rama instructed, all of them not wanting to give the weakened Cú Alter a chance to escape.
"Got it!" Ritsuka replied. "Let's hu-"
"Halt!" Arjuna teleported himself in front of the group, preventing him from chasing Cú Alter. "Not one more step!"
"We don't have time for that! Get out of the way!" Nala said to Arjuna, annoyed to see the archer on their way.
"I'm also your enemy! Do you think I'll simply do that favour to you?" Arjuna said, not willing to step aside.
"I don't get it. Didn't you said you wouldn't help Cú Alter fight against us specifically?" Mash said, bringing up the discussion Arjuna had earlier with Cú Alter.
"Yes, I did said that. But he isn't fighting you now, is he?" Arjuna replied, lifting Agni Gandiva and pointing the arrow at the party. "You're still my enemies too, so I woun't let you just walk away easily. If Karna fought so hard to make sure all of you advanced. I'll turn all of his efforts into futile garbage!"
"Can't you see you already lost this battle? All of your last soldiers have opted to retreat alongside their leader!" Peko pointed out, the battlefield of this battle being a win for the South Army's side. "Do you seriously want to hold back all of us by yourself?"
"I'll obliterate you if necessary!" Arjuna said agressively. "This opportunity I had to finally defeat Karna and re-"
"Enough!" Nightingale shouted. "Karna this! Karna that! I'm getting sick of your talking!" The nurse complained, walking torwards Arjuna.
"N-Nightingale?" Ritsuka was befuddled in seeing the nurse's action.
"What is she thinking on doing?" Rama was trying to understand.
"I can see what's your illness now! How it has overtook your mind!" Nightingale said, still walking torwards Arjuna.
"What are you even saying?" Arjuna pointed his arrow to the nurse, seeing her approaching him. "Don't dare talking nonsense in front of me!" He shouted, firing th arrow at Nightingale. The nurse however dodged and quickly lowered her body, delivering a hard punch on Arjuna's stomach, much to the archer's shock. "Eugh!"
"The only nonsense I see here is of your obsession with Karna! He is gone but you continue to speak like he was still here, demonizing you! Such severe case it almost makes me question if you suffer from paranoia!" Nightingale admonished Arjuna and his habit.
"Y-You...What do you even know about me and Karna to be talking about it?" Arjuna ignored the pain of the punch, staring angrily at Nightingale. "Nothing! Nothing at all!"
"I actually do know one thing: that Karna moved on and you don't." Nightingale replied.
"Hm?! Excuse me?" Arjuna couldn't have heard it wrong.
"It's simple. But obviously, to someone suffering of such mental fixations like you, it was never clear to see. Karna has long since lost his obsession to fight you. A flaw that still corrodes you." Nightingale said, being precise and surgical in her words.
And Arjuna couldn't argue against that, as for this last fight, Karna had said fighting him was a thing wished for no more. "But you cannot understand. My honor, the respect of my older sibling. I've lost all of it because-"
"And how long ago did that happened? Long enough to let it heal I presume." Nightingale argued back. "Yet, due to your obsession, you never let yourself heal from it. There are other ways to recover the things that you lost aside from desperatly wanting to win a fight against someone, no? A better treatment for that illness of yours."
"She's right." Rama stepped forward. "The fact that even after your original lifes, even after you witnessed Karna's death, you still look to fight him shows how deep you've fallen into this obsession of yours, Arjuna." He said. "Don't you think you've crossed a line when you sided with people that hurt innocents just so you can fight Karna again?"
Arjuna attempted to speak a counter-argument, but he was unable to "I..."
"Karna was looking to make peace with you! He may have also seen you as a rival and even an enemy at a certain point, but he never tought of you as a bad person! He was ready to accept you as his brother!" Peko told him. "Why can't you do the same?"
Nala also had a thing to say. "If it's because of what your older brother thinks or says about stopping loving you because of it, then he never cared about being your brother in the first place! True siblings will always be siblings, no matter what!"
"And Karna accepted that fact, even after all the rivarly and war you two had. He already moved on, not letting such past hostility to keep dragging him down!" Mash added, confronting Arjuna as well. "You can also be the same, Arjuna!"
"Khh!" Arjuna felt his mind and core being attacked, having the harsh but true words of his enemies force him to admit reality.
"You can get better. If you let the obsession die and accept the cure." Nightingale told the archer, taking another step.
Arjuna was sweating a bit, the mind inside of him struggling if he should either continue fight or just give up.
"This isn't the way, Arjuna." Ritsuka told him, looking him in the face.
.
"Please, stop fighting! I don't want either of my sons to get hurt!"
.
"!..." As his eyes widened, Arjuna's arms lowered, Agni Gandiva almost slipping away from his hands. He had finally decided what he wanted for himself. "I accept it. You win." Arjuna speaked, his eyes closing for a second.
"Good to see you're willing to change." Nightingale smiled at him.
"And the next step for it is to help us defeat the remaining forces of the Celtic Empire!" Peko told him happily. "I know you wanna help us!"
"Do I? Or perhaps not?" Arjuna asked, seeming lost and reluctant. "I...do not know yet. I need some time to myself."
Nala was about to oppose it. "But if you-"
"Let him be, Nala." Mash told to the younger girl. "I think that maybe that's what he's needing the most now."
Nightingale continue to speak with Arjuna. "Okay. I'll let you have that time. I won't force you to stay if that muddles your mind. Just promise you'll let your obsession with Karna finally rest."
"I will." Arjuna replied, turning around, about to fly away. "But I'll tell you this: I'll repay you in one way or another in this war." He say, lifting from the ground and flying away in the distance, leaving the party and the South Army in the battlefield as they had won this fight.
"Guess this means we've defeated Arjuna." Rama speaked.
"And without having to actually 'defeat' him too." Peko added.
"You were great exposing his problem like that, Nightingale." Ritsuka complimented the nurse and her analyse skills.
"It's just my duty as a nurse to comprehend my patients ilnesses." Nightingale replied. "And this one was finally treated. Now, let's continue. We still have some kilometers ahead if we want to reach Washington D.C and defeat both Cú Alter and Medb!"
The entire group nodded, ready to regroup the army and proceed on their campaign to the Celtic Empire headquarters.
"GOT IT!"
"Mass Production!"
"Inspired Hero!"
Edison and Beowulf clashed against each other in a violent impact, resulting in the norse king overpowering the inventor.
"Aaargh!" Edison fell some meters away on the ground, having been overpower by Beowulf.
"Presiking!" Helena exclaimed, seeing her leader in trouble. Taking quick action, Helena used her magical tome to create mana circles and use them to fire beams at Beowulf.
"Hahaha! Is this everything all of you got?" Beowulf laughed, dodging the attacks as he kneed Helena in the stomach, throwing her away. "Where are the heroes that defeated me? I want to fight them again! Have the sensation one more time!" He exclaimed, looking for the people that defeated him in the Alcatraz prison.
"I've already said you have one right here!" Elizabeth exclaimed to Beowulf, with Robin standing next to her.
"It really can't be just one of you. And I was expecting the rest of them." Beowulf lamented. "That must mean they're all on the other army then!"
"Right on the money! But you better worry more about us than them!" Robin told to Beowulf, he and the other servants being his enemies here. "But with the way things are going, I'd say it's us who should be worried instead! This guy fights like a beast only short of Cú Alter!" The thief said to himself.
It has been already some hours since the battle between the North army and the celtic troops of Beowulf started. The sun was already on a late afternoon, with the servants and soldiers of the North army still trying their best to defeat the norse king and his soldiers. Yet, that task has proven to be difficult.
"Heh! If you begun to give me a hard challenge I might consider it!" Beowulf replied to Robin, sharpening his iron sword and club. "Because until then, I'll be getting bored of this!" He shouted, charging at Elizabeth and Robin.
"Sabotage!"
Robin attempted to hit Beowulf with a specific type of magical arrow but saw it being deflected by the norse king, who found an opening on the thief's body and slashed him in the chest "Agh!"
"Puppy!" Elizabeth shouted, seeing Robin getting hit. She immediatly tried to attack Beowulf with her spear. Unfortunately, Beowulf blocked it with his sword and hit Elizabeth with the club, knocking her down. "Eugh!"
"This should do as a warm-up!" Beowulf said, lifting up his iron club in order to smash it into Elizabeth's body.
Robin still tried to intervene, not wanting to see another companion of his dying in front of him. "No! I can't let it happen this time!" But as he was about to fire his arrow, someone was faster than him. "Hm?!"
Sprinting like thunder, a figure stepped into the middle between Beowulf and Elizabeth, stopping the norse king from killing the lizard idol.
"Hmm? Hahaha. Oi oi now. Who's the newcomer here?" Beowulf smiled as he looked at his newest opponent, having just arrived to the battlefield.
"If it's a well-fought duel you want, I'll give you one!"
Elizabeth recognized the voice of the person in front of her, looking at them. "Wait! You are-"
Four Hours Later
"Ah...ah...ghngh!...D...Dammit! Those...assholes!"
Having finally reached to his headquarters in the middle of the night, Cú Alter walked to his throne room in pain, still feeling the burning injuries Karna had gave him. Reaching there, Cú Alter sat on his throne, nursing his own wounds. But had he barely sat that seconds later, Medb entered in a hurry.
"Cú! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" She gasped, seeing the damage Cú Alter had on his body. "Who did this to you big guy? Who did it? Please tell me! Tell me and I'll hunt those bastards down for you!"
"Calm yourself! This was nothing but war at its course! By tomorrow I shall be already up and recovered!" Cú Alter said, calming Medb down.
"I know but you're looking awful! Was it that hag that did this to you?" Medb asked, reffering to Scáthach.
"No, it wasn't." Cú Alter replied. "And I've killed her. She won't be a problem for us now."
Medb looked pleased with that reveal. "Oh, so the hag is dead? Hahahaha, perfect, perfect! She was quite the pain in the ass, no? If only I could've made her my slave to make her pay for that..."
"You are always thinking about making people your slaves, aren't you?" Cú Alter replied, kinda weirded by it.
"That's because anyone who hurts you deserves the absolute worst, big guy." Medb said, sitting on Cú Alter's lap while passing her hand on his wounds softly. "Tortured and punished by me for having ever dared to make you feel pain until they learned to obey us or die." Medb smiled sadistically. "No one has the right to hurt this body. My man's body. Hurting you is hurting me and the empire as well." The queen of Connacht approached her head to Cú Alter. "And I'll make sure not a single soul ever dares to defy or ever lay a finger on my treasure."
"Eh. You have a weird way to express your feelings." Cú Alter smirked, breaking the eye contact with Medb. "Now please, heal me a bit, okay?"
Medb was perplexed by it. "Wha-ah-...you idiot! Is that how you react to a girl confessing to you?!"
"You're always confessing to me majority of the damn time!" Cú Alter replied to her.
"Aaah! Why did you had to be so strong and perfect yet dense?" Medb whinned before thinking more about it, eventually smilling and blusing a bit. "Altough, I do amit it makes you kinda cute."
"What the hell are those preferences woman?! Can't you just decide!?" Cú Alter shouted. Not only he had to endure the wounds, he also had now to endure Medb's absurdities.
Before going to heal him, Medb remembering to mention something. "By the way..." She took out the holy grail, showing it to Cú Alter. "Our triumph card, shall we unleash it now as a surprise to our enemy?"
"No. That won't be necessary to this war." Cú Alter replied, staring at the holy grail. "If anything, it shall be used as a last resource in case we're about to lose."
Next Day
"Here we are guys! Washington D.C." Ritsuka told to the party as they and the rest of the North Army stood in front of the gates to the city's entrance, the sun having rised in the horizon
"It was quite the long night full of fighting." Nala stretched her arms. and yawned a bit. "But good lord, if that small nap didn't felt good!"
"Good thing it was. Having a short break during a war is fundamental." The hologram of Romani speaked, being there next to them. "But then again, do tell me how exactly you met the great wizard Merlin? Like, he really did appeared in front of you, said something and then went away? Just like that?"
"Yes, basically." Peko responded, he and his team having told the doctor their brief meeting with Merlin, a thing that at first, Romani could hardly believe in.
"Mphm! No wonder he'd do that! It sounds just the type of thing a troll like him would do." Romani speaked with certain disdain.
"Why do you exactly hate Merlin, doctor?" Mash asked him.
"I-It isn't really hating! I just don't think he is that much of a great wizard, let alone the greatest of all time! But that may be just a me thing." Romani explained.
"That sounds a bit childish to be honest." Rama told to the doctor.
"Yeah. Having a dedicated hater must be a hell of a thing." Ritsuka commented, finding funny how much Romani didn't liked the wizard for no apparent reason at all.
"Well, let's concentrate on more important topics, shall we?" Romani changed the subject. "My monitor is detecting high levels of mana signal behind those gates. Cú Alter and Medb are clearly waiting alongside the grail. Defeat them, and this Singularity is over."
"One last effort then. We make it, and all the suffering and war on this land will come to an end." Nightingale speaked, standing in front of the gates, looking to the party and the entire army behind. "We must not fail this. Ready?"
"Ready." Ritsuka replied. All of them were.
Bursting out the gates, the party invaded Washington D.C., stepping inside its entrance alongside the army. Once there, the enemy had already been waiting for their arrival to greet them.
Facing them, Medb appeared in front of them, an entire celtic army in her company, feeling the entrance square of the city.
"Hello there, my persistent enemies!" Medb exclaimed, the whip in her hand. "I welcome you, to your resting places!"
To be continued...
And that was the end of chapter 88!
Phew! A lot of stuff happening in this chapter! To be honest, I always perceived the end portion of Pluribus Unum to have a lot of things happening in almost the same time. But that I think it's the effects of having a bit of an oversized cast finally catching up to it. Next chapter will have two fights happening at the same time.
Arjuna finally got some therapy in order to think that maybe having an unhealthy obsession for a guy is indeed unhealthy and there is more to life than just that. And motherflipping 'dick' wizard of Oz- uh, I mean, Avalon, Merlin has finally appeared! And as cool as it is to have such character and figure show up, I do think his appearence in the game was kinda random at the time, like 'Hi, I'm Merlin, the awsome wizard guy you've heard some times in your life before. Gonna say something curious and dip out. Bye! See you all later in Babilonia!' It's a bit out of nowhere to be honest, but it at least lays the preparation and sets the future for what to except of the next two remaining Singulairities of the game.
Anyways, I'm tired as hell! See you next time on chapter 89! Peace!
P.S:
Nala (Attempts to drink a cup by holding it on her chest, failling miserably, the straw hanging on her mouth):...
Kama: Hehehe, what's the problem airhead?
Nala (Looks at Kama, seeing her in the 3rd ascension, drinking her own cup while holding it perfectly with her big chest): Hm?!
Kama: Fufufufu, too flat to do this challenge?
Nala: You'll see it one day, you big cow bitc-
