Hello guys and welcome to the start of chapter 90 of the story.
A special occasion as you might know, since this chapter will release on the day or day after of this fic's 2nd Anniversary. And well, once again, I can't believe I've reached so far with this story in just the span of two years. In that gap time, it was 90 chapters, 850k+ words, and basically 5 Singularities completed by now. And now, with all this progress made, we're just 10 chapters away from the big 100th chapter that will occur in Camelot already.
Trying to come up with words to describe these moments is a bit difficult because of how special they are. As of this moment, to see I have 61 people who favourited my story and 58 who follow it, it fills me with joy seeing how there was a visible growth in the fic throughout this year. Once again, I am both happy and comforted in seeing that there are people who enjoy reading this story that continues to increase by each week and month. You readers are an extra fuel for me. To know this story is being appreciated by this many of you is the thing that brings me joy. That and the fact that when I look at my OC's like Peko and Nala and see that there is somebody out there in the world that may like them, it means that person liked of what I created, and I think there is no bigger accomplishment then having people liking your creation.
It also makes me wonder where the characters would rank if I made a popularity poll of my own fic as celebration lol.
So, to all the readers who have been here for a longtime, quite a while, or even those who've recently embarked on this reading experience, I thank you all for continuing to feed my ideas and visions. Thank you everyone!
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
A Week Ago
Inazuma Eleven GO OST- Passive Conclusion
"T-Tesla! Before you go, can I ask you something?" Ritsuka told to the inventor before he could leave after the conversation they had.
"Hm? Yes. Do tell me what is it master." Tesla turned around, allowing his master to make him the question.
"Am I...Am I doing a good job as a master to you?" Ritsuka said, making this question from the bottom of his heart.
"Hmmm, I won't tell you." Tesla replied, choosing to abstain.
"Eh? Why not?" Ritsuka replied, incredulous. He had to know if he was doing a good or not in order to get rid of this uncertainty that disturbed inside him.
"You'll have to figure it out yourself, master." Tesla explained in earnest.
"Is that an excuse to avoid the question?" Ritsuka said, insisting on his servant to answer him.
"I'm not avoiding it. I just think that is a question with no objective answer." The inventor justified his action.
"So you mean there is a possibility that you think I'm doing bad as a master?" Ritsuka said, judging by Tesla's words.
"What I'm saying is that for me, there's already a definitive answer for that question. The thing is, what about you, master? Do you believe you're doing a good job or not?" Tesla told him.
"..." Ritsuka was taken by surprise by that type of approach of Tesla to his question. In a sense, the inventor revealed the truth on who really should answer it.
"You're the leader and master, therefore, you are the one who should be certain of whether your own performance is good or bad. What difference does it make if a person tells you are good at something when you yourself don't think that? What truly counts in these types of questions, is the answer of the questioner themselves!" Tesla exclaimed, sharing the point of view with his master. "For they are a way to reflect about oneself. And there is no person that knows you better than yourself. Which means, the answer you decide to give to your own question, is the correct one for you."
"You might be right." Ritsuka responded, glaring to the ground, a bit saddened. "It's just...when compared to others, I feel so average overall. Not just to you guys who are servants, but to my own team as well." He explained to Tesla. "Mash is a demi-servant. Peko and Nala clearly have something special in them. But me? I'm just a totally normal human. The leader. It's not that I envy them nor I underestimate how important the task of being a leader and master is. But that's all I have to contribute to my group. So, if I feel that I'm even failling those aspects, what there is left to me? What am I good for?" The last master of humanity debated, going back to stare at Tesla. "I want to know if I'm special at something!"
Reacting with some astonishment, Tesla could tell his master was really a peculiar young man. "Eh. So that was the true goal of your question."
"Yeah. I would like to be half as talented as you." Ritsuka replied, admitting it.
"Aah, but you see master, there's one fun thing about it." Tesla looked up to the stars in the night sky. "If everyone was like me, special and with the same talents, then no one would really be special. And that's the truth." But the inventor wasn't done. "Yet, that doesn't mean there is talentless people in the world."
Ritsuka tried to understand it. "But...if there's people who can't be special like you, how there can be no one with zero talents?"
And that made Tesla's smile increase a bit on his face. "Because, master..." Putting a hand on Ritsuka's shoulder, the inventor told him the following: "Everyone has their own talent. You just need to discover where yours is."
Present
Locking his gaze, Ritsuka and his group all stared to their last remaining enemy in front of them, standing in line. Defeating Cú Alter would basically be the most vital point of this war, bringing down the strongest warrior of the enemy side and other ruler of the empire, as Medb was currently missing, altough she probably was still within the city. They all felt that if they could put an end to Cú Alter, victory would be impossible to escape them. And with or without Medb, they all perceived the corrupted Ireland's Child pf Light as the true final enemy of the Singularity in this instance.
A deadly breeze passed by, filling the silent tension that was emerging between the chaldeans and Cú Alter.
"You've come quite far, I must admit." Cú Alter smirked to them. "So even Medb couldn't take care of you. And I mean, do I really blame her?" He got up from the ground, no longer sitting on it, moving away from the giant Gáe Bolg replica. "Who would've tought that a small bunch of kids and teenagers could pull it off?" He begun analyzing and evaluating each one of them with just his sight, starting by Mash. "Decent." Then to Nala. "Quite the potential."
"Hm!" The girl gave him a mean glare.
Cú Alter laughed a bit as he shifted his gaze at Peko. "This one I know well already." He would be lying if he said he wasn't curious to see what Peko would try to do to defeat him this time. "And then...sheer weakness." The spearman said with a look of disgust as he ended at Ritsuka, with the master of humanity feeling that insult hitting him at the core. "It honestly amazes me how you let such pathetic and mundane human be your leader. Or there is something that I don't know about or this little group gets very carried by luck."
"Guess what? It's the first option!" Peko replied to the spearman. "If Ritsuka was truly the mundane and weak human you think he is, then he wouldn't be our leader to start!"
"He is a master for a reason! Underestimating your enemies can be a fatal mistake!" Mash added. "If you knew how much trials he has been through alongside us, you'd never call master weak!"
"As a leader, I fully support him because I'm aware what Ritsuka is capable of!" Nala said to Cú Alter. "And being the guy who will lead this group into beating your ass is one of them!"
"And that's not just it." Ritsuka speaked, feeling the support his companions gave him. "There was other people that helped us get here! We are fighting for them! For this country and world's sake! While you only fight because you were told to!" He pointed to himself. "I may be weak, but my conviction is stronger than yours will ever be!"
Cú Alter stared down at Ritsuka with a glare of mild annoyance, wondering how such a meek human in his eyes could have the courage to speak up to him. He found it a bit amusing however, letting out a little smile. "Eh, funny guy. Quite some balls you have." He praised Ritsuka's attitude before staring at the chaldeans in general. "You all had some nice little speeches there. Believing that you can defeat me because of 'people' and 'conviction'." Cú Alter prowled from left to right, slighlt nodding his head, aware that the enemies could attack him at any moment, moving his Gáe Bolg in his arm a bit. "Hm hm. Really beautiful..." He then struck his spear on the ground violently, giving a scary look to the chaldeans. "But are those people here to help you defeat me now?"
"Us four can do it! All the others believe so." Ritsuka replied, his posture remaining steadfast while in front of Cú Alter. The same for his team.
"Hehehe. That shall be their regrets for later then." Cú Alter laughed, speaking with a deadly tone. "You're right to perceive me as nothing more but a killing machine with no ambition. However, that was the role it was attributed to me when I came to this Singularity. And a person's worth is determined by how efficiently they carry out their roles, is it not?" The spearman lifted up his Gáe Bolg, imposing its magnificent power over his enemies. "If being a ruthless killing machine and impetuous ruler is all that I am, I shall perform those characteristics at almost perfection!"
"So you are okay with being that? Because the person who summoned you gave them as orders and selfish wishes?" Peko argued, knowing why Cú Alter was like that. How Medb twisted the legendary hero of Ireland into her ideal man with terrible flaws. "There's more than being what people label you to be for them! You never had thoughts and desires of your own apart from others?"
"I ain't complaining about it kiddo. If I was summoned to be and act in a certain way, then I shall act that way." Cú Alter replied, showing that he didn't found a problem in being nothing more but what Medb originally wanted him to be when summoning him.
"Nightingale was right. You really are a mindless monster!" Nala accused him.
"It isn't like we're trying to make you realize the things you did were bad. But still, to accept being someone who's whole existing revolves around obeying orders..." Mash lamented a bit, thinking how sad it must be to have no will of its own as a person.
"Hey now. You are a servant to some level too, aren't you?" Cú Alter said, sensing the Saint Graph within Mash's body. "What do you think the word 'servant' means exactly?" He made a rhetoric question.
"Then you're fine being the way you are?" Ritsuka speaked, the sensation of this being the last question of the little conversation they were having.
Cú Alter just smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "I couldn't care less about it. As long as I do my job greatly, I see no problem in anything."
As a silence dropped in some seconds after the answer, the chaldeans all prepared themselves. Weapons ready, bodies adjusted for the combat and minds focused in the same goal.
"Okay..." Letting out a small breath as he closed his eyes for an instant, Ritsuka looked Cú Alter in the eyes with pure audacity. "We'll end with those tasks of yours! Here and now!" He shouted, stretching his arm out to the front, commanding the trio of Mash, Peko and Nala to charge and attack Cú Alter.
The spearman grinned as he watch his enemies approaching. "Then I welcome you to try!" He yelled, already throwing Gáe Bolg into them. Advancing in a flash, the spear aimed torwards the three, all of them avoiding it.
"Master!" Mash shouted to Ritsuka, seeing Gáe Bolg now coming torwards him.
"!" As a close call, Ritsuka barely managed to avoid the piercing beam that was Gáe Bolg, leaving behind a burned straight line on the ground as it obliterated everything in front of it.
"Get this!" Nala shouted, approaching Cú Alter from his left side and ready to slash her sword on him.
"Pff! Can you be any more predictable?" Cú Alter called back his spear and thrusted it into Nala's direction, believing that it would hit the girl's body right as she'd try to hit him. Yet, as it seemed his spear and Nala's sword would clash against each other, the girl instantly changed directions, moving away from the spear as she ignored it completely as well as Cú Alter, shocking the spearman.
"What?! Why she didn't tried to parry or dodge my atta-"
"Up to you now, Peko!" Nala exclaimed out her brother's name, with the boy appearing on Cú Alter's exposed right side, taking him by surprise.
"Gnhg?!"
"Here!" Peko exclaimed, striking a cut on the opening of the opponent's body.
"You little-" As Cú Alter tried to attack back, he saw Mash running torwards him, proceeding to attack with her shield on his left. Annoyed, the spearman hit her shield with Gáe Bolg and swiped his lizard tail in order to get Peko away from him. But with this, he had left space for one of them to attack.
"Yah!" Coming quickly from behind, Nala slashed Cú Alter in the back, having finally attacked him.
Now Cú Alter understood why she didn't clashed with him in the first place. They were just distracting him so that Nala could have the opportunity to attack freely and without opposition. The spearman immediatly pushed Mash away and turned around, swinging his spear in Nala's direction, the girl now indeed clashing her sword with it. But it didn't took long for Cú Alter to suffer another blow again. "What?!"
This time it came from Peko, who fired a light bullet at the enemy, hitting him in the waist, making Cú Alter's body jerk a bit. "Mash!"
Already coming from the other side, Mash bashed her shield on Cú Alter's body, breaking his defense and allowing Nala to slash him in the chest, forcing the spearman to take some steps back as he touched his own wounds. The three of them were ganging up on him pretty hard. "The movements...They're deciding to fight strategically between each other!"
"Well done! Nala, now go around to his left!" Ritsuka shouted, gaining the attention of Cú Alter.
"Huh?" The spearman saw the master of humanity running, not torwards the battle but to somewhere else, keeping a relative distance from the fight while giving instructions to his companions.
"Understood captain!" Nala did as Ritsuka had ordered.
"Mash, keep him busy! And Peko, try to hit him on the knee!" Ritsuka told to the other two as he rushed to one of the pillars that where at the entrance of the White House, much to Cú Alter's confusion.
"What does he plan by going there?"
"Affirmative, master!"
"Got it, Ritsuka!"
Both Mash and Peko obeyed, with the shielder trying to land some blows on Cú Alter and defending his counter attacks, giving space to Peko to point and fire at Cú Alter's knee.
"That won't work again!" Cú Alter shouted, deflecting the light bullet with Gáe Bolg.
"Attack now, Nala!" Ritsuka yelled, with the girl coming in, targetting her blade to the spearman's arm.
"I was counting on that already!" Cú Alter smirked, positioning Gáe Bolg to block Nala's attack, having the insight to anticipate that.
But so did Ritsuka. "Down, Nala!"
With the instruction, Nala lowered her body, moving her sword in the direction of the spearman's knee.
"What?!" Cú Alter exclaimed in surprise as his leg was sliced by Nala, kneeling down.
"Mash! Hit the abdomen!" Ritsuka said his next order, with Mash bashing her weapon in the area she was told to.
"Your turn now Peko!" The master of humanity said lastly, with the boy slashing Cú Alter near the neck.
"Grr! Dammit you!" Cú Alter shouted enraged, punching the ground, the shockwaves sending the trio away from him. The way they moved and attacked coordinately and in sync with each other was starting to frustrate Cú Alter. They would always anticipate his next moves and plan out and combine their next attacks all accordingly to Ritsuka's commands. In a fight, he was usually the one that hardly allowed his opponents to breath and give chances to them. Now, it was him in this position. And it was pissing Cú Alter off.
"You're doing well guys! Keep it going and beware of his movements with the spear and tail!" Ritsuka alerted to his companions as he went behind to one of the giant pillars, still observing the fight. "So far so good! We have to keep it like that!" He said, remembering what he had told to his friends on their way here before the fight.
Some Minutes Ago
"Hmmm..."
As they walked in the middle of the path torwards the main base of the Celtic Empire where they expected to fight Cú Alter and possibly Medb again, Ritsuka slowed down a bit on his footsteps, standing behind from the rest of his companions.
"No. That won't do it..." Ritsuka murmured to himself, pensative, the hand on his chin and his eyes closed.
"Hm? What are you thinking about, Ritsuka?" Peko asked to his friend, he, Mash and Nala all noticing Ritsuka in his reflection.
"I'm trying to come up with a plan." Ritsuka replied, telling to his companions. "A strategy to defeat Cú Alter."
"A strategy?" Nala asked.
"That does make sense. Of course that if we want to beat Cú Alter, we need to have a plan in mind already." Mash said, agreeing with her master's opinion.
"Oh! I have a suggestion!" Nala raised her hand in the hand before her eyes shinning brightly. "We shall use our Perfect War Machine Of Combat: R.P.N!"
"You actually believe that could work?" Peko asked to his sister, a drop of sweat falling from his head.
"Well, we do have to come up with something at least." Ritsuka said, still thinking. "Cú Alter appears to be someone who physically is very strong and hard to beat." He then looked to Peko. "Since you fought him for the most times out of all of us, can you share us something about him, Peko?"
"Sure!" The boy nodded his head, reminding of the previous battles he had with the spearman. "Hmm, like you've said, Cú Alter is an absolute powerhouse when the topic is about brute strenght. A clash from his Gáe Bolg is enough to feel the bones trembling inside. It would take a lot of stamina and energy to fight him up close and trading blows."
"Ah! And also, we need to be careful for that tail of his!" Nala added, also remembering of that one time she fought Cú Alter alongside Peko in the woods. "That scoundrel will always try to use it when he begins to feel some pressure." She informed.
"Noted! So we too need to be careful with that." Ritsuka made sure to get that fact memorized.
"By the way I'm seeing it, a direct confront with him would be hard to win." Mash commented upon hearing the details. "It would be the best for us to find a way to engage against Cú Alter without being on a duel of pure strenght."
"So we need to find a way to fight him that will cause us to find openings and attack him without having to spent too many energy in trying to break through his defense. Playing smart in this case." Ritsuka thinked for a little longer, taking in consideration the abilities and stats of Cú Alter as well as the skill of his friends, visualizing the scenario on his head.
"A good leader..."
Ritsuka looked to the three of them, analyzing.
"Always brings out the best of his companions!"
"Yes! That's it!" He exclaimed all of a sudden.
"Have you come up with a plan, master?" Mash asked him, concluding that must have been the reason for his reaction.
"It better be a good one." Nala said, waiting to hear it.
"I'm sure that whatever the plan is, we can trust it on Ritsuka to be successful." Peko was optimistic that Ritsuka's strategy would be good, no matter how crazy and risky it sounded.
"Yep! Wild but efficient ideas are with him!" Nala joked a bit.
And Ritsuka was also feeling this confidence in himself. A foreboding that told him that as a leader, he wouldn't allow himself and his team to lose on such crucial moment like this one and for the first time, Ritsuka had a planned established strategy, about to tell his friends what to do in their upcoming battle against Cú Alter. "Okay. This is what we're going to do..."
Present
Ritsuka was glad to see that the strategy he had thought out was working so far. With the objective of fighting Cú Alter in a way that would allow them to find opening without clashing with the spearman directly, Ritsuka tought of the proceeding: Mash, due to being the shielder, would be the one to mostly oartake in close combat with Cú Alter, using her shield to block the attack and keep him busy. Whereas Peko could attack the enemy from long distance with his light bullets or even try and slash Cú Alter with his sword when he'd find an opening. And lastly, Nala, for being the quickest, could sprint torwards the spearman and deliver a strong cut while he got occupied and assaulted by both Mash and Peko.
And all Ritsuka had to do, was give the orders and observe carefully for any indications of Cú Alter's next movements. This was his plan on how they could defeat the monster that was Cú Alter.
"Enough with this game!" Shouting, Cú Alter powered up Gáe Bolg.
The three tried to quickly stop the spearman from doing whatever he was about to do.
"Madness of Spirits!"
A sudden menacing aura was liberated from Cú Alter, sending shivvers down his opponents spines and a slight freeze in their hearts.
"M-My body! It feels weak somehow!" Mash sensed some of her energy leaving her as Cú Alter targeted her.
"Mash! Watch out!" Peko exclaimed to her, warning Mash of the incoming attack.
"Gngh!" Mash attempted to block the powerful slash of Cú Alter's spear with her shield, however, the strenght and intensity the spearman had put on this attack was so great that it broke the shielder's defense and hugely tore apart the ground, making Mash fall some meters away into the floor.
With it done, Cú Alter then quickly approached Peko who was staring in disbilief at Mash before noticing the spearman next to him. "You're next!"
"!" Peko could barely react in time as he suffered a strong fist on his face while trying to parry it with his sword, also being sent some meters away.
And finally, Cú Alter swinged his lizard tail at Nala, having heard her running as she approached to attack him. The girl still managed to jump over his tail, avoiding it, but unfortunately, Nala suffered a cut in the stomach as Cú Alter's Gáe Bolg overpowered her sword.
"Blergh!" Nala coughed a bit of blood out as she fell on the ground, feeling the painful wound.
"GUYS!" Ritsuka shouted, in shock at seeing his companions getting quickly ovethrown by Cú Alter. "He got a lot stronger in just mere seconds! How did he do that?" Ritsuka's apprhension grew and sweat runned down his face as he tought of something. "It couldn't be...that Cú Alter wasn't fighting us with all his potential until now!"
"Hehehe. Congratulations! You guys really forced me to raise the bar!" Cú Alter laughed, a cruel smile of sharp teeth on his face. "In return, I showed you what real power is like!" Cú Alter exclaimed highly, feeling the adrenaline of killing instinct flowing in his veins. "It could be a hundred or even a thousand ants with hopes and conviction, they're just still ants in the end! Do you understand?" He grinned wildly. "There's no future where you can defeat me!"
"Ehg...nngh..!" Mash slowly got up, having to bear the aching in her body. "With that much power...he might be saying the truth..." She gave a look at Cú Alter's red blood eyes. It gave her a feeling almost identical to that of when they were fighting Solomon. "He feels frightening to fight."
"T-that...must be how he intimidates his opponents." Peko speaked, also getting up from the ground, blood running down from his face. The menacing posture of Cú Alter made the boy remember of how much scared he was of the servant initially. "He makes them feel afraid and helpless by putting on a terryfying looming figure, shattering the adversary's will! He's trying to do the same with us!"
"He's dead wrong if he thinks I'll let him break my will!" Nala shouted, getting up despite of the wound in her stomach. "Wether he is menacing or not, I'll keep fighting until he's gone!"
"Nala's right!" Ritsuka exclaimed, making Nala's words his. "It doesn't matter if he keeps getting stronger or is trying to intimidate us! We can't afford to lose here! For ours and everybody else's sake!"
"How many times will you be repeating that speech? It's getting kinda tiresome!" Cú Alter exclaimed, jumping torwards Ritsuka in order to kill him.
Thankfully, Nala got on his way, stopping him in his tracks. "I won't let you!"
"Grr! For a little girl you really have lots of fight in you!" Cú Alter replied, attempting to get past her. But this time, Nala was making an extra effort against the weight of the spearman's Gáe Bolg.
"Mash! Peko! Go and help Nala! Remain concentrated and keep doing the same strategy!" Ritsuka said, heading torwards another pillar. "We mustn't get into panic!"
"Hmm, what's his deal with these pillars anyways?" Cú Alter glanced at the master of humanity, wondering why exactly he was doing that. And wanting to discover it now, Cú Alter winned his clash against Nala. "Out of my sight!" He descended Gáe Bolg torwards her.
"Air Step!"
Activating her skill, Nala avoided the spear, jumping mid-air torwards Cú Alter, slashing him on the shoulder. As reaction, Cú Alter grabbed one of her legs but ended up being kicked in the face by Nala's free leg. The girl attempted to step away but Cú Alter insisted and stretched his arm, grabbing Nala's leg again and throwing her away, mainly to Mash's direction.
"Nala!" Mash exclaimed as she grabbed the girl's body. The speed that she had been thrown however made Mash's body involuntarily retreat the moment the shielder had catched her friend.
Seemingly with no opposition, Cú Alter sprinted torwards the pillar where Ritsuka was located.
"Crap!" Noticing him, Ritsuka tried to move away before with a single stroke, Cú Alter obliterated the pillar Ritsuka was behind of. "Ghgrhg!" The master of humanity himself fell down to his knees, luckily having only suffered some minor cuts and wounds from the explosion. "That was close!"
Standing on top of the rubble as the dust went away, Cú Alter notices a piece of stone with what appeared to be a simple drawing of a magicle circle scratched onto it. "Huh? What the hell is this?" Picking it up, the spearman couldn't feel any mana coming from it. Changing his glaze to Ritsuka, Cú Alter noticed a pointy shaped rock on his hand. And then he figured it out. "You..."
The deep and threatening voice made Ritsuka gulp, looking up to the big standing and bloodthirsty figure that was Cú Alter.
With an enraged smile, Cú Alter crushed the stone on his hands to bits. "You were trying to distract me by making a fool out of me, weren't you?"
"..." Ritsuka cursed silently to himself, his side strategy having been quickly discovered, no more keeping Cú Alter's mind occupied with this while fighting hios friends at the same time.
"That might be one of the worst insults someone has made to me! How audacious and stupid you have to be to think I'd be dumb enough to fall for this?!" Cú Alter shouted in fury, raising up Gáe Bolg, prepared to impale Ritsuka's body. "A puny weakling like you, has no right to judge me as such! Die!"
"Ghg!" Ritsuka closed his eyes, preparing for the inevitable.
"Luminary Route!"
From behind, a powerful light beam appeared, catching the entirety of Cú Alter's arm that was holding Gáe Bolg.
"Huh?!"
"What?!"
Both Ritsuka and Cú Alter were shocked as they witnessed the beam of light completely evaporate Cú Alter's arm, letting a steam hot Gáe Bolg fall on the ground, with the spearman having lost the limb. Behind them, there stood Peko, having been the one to fire the light beam from his arm, who now was losing slowly its shine shortly after the beam had dissipated into the skies.
"Peko!" Ritsuka was glad and also impressed by the attack display his friend just did.
"Hands off him!" Peko told to Cú Alter, still holding onto his arm that fired the beam. "My arm is feeling a bit numble, but compared to all the other times I've used this attack before, it's no longer hurting! I-I finally got to control the flow of the mana in it!"
"Nice one Peko!" Mash told him with happiness.
"You showed him with that one!" Nala added, also praising Peko.
With Cú Alter being partially stunned from the attack that eradicated his arm, Ritsuka took the chance to get away from him and rejoin his group. "Thanks for the close call!" He told to Peko, who in return smiled to him.
"You're welcome." He replied.
Meanwhile, Cú Alter contemplated the empty space his lost arm had left behind, shortly before staring to Gáe Bolg in the ground, still boiling hot. To think a kid like Peko had this power inside of him. "...Eh. Ehehehehehahahahahahahahaha!" The spearman laughed loudly, gaining his enemies attention. "Hey hey, since when you had this destructive death beam inside of you kiddo? Should have showed me sooner!"
"I was saving it for a special occasion. And guess this one was adequate for it." Peko replied to the spearman.
"Hm, you played that card nicely. Well, almost, to be truthful." Cú Alter told him. "You could've targeted that beam to my head or chest and caught me by surprise, killing me. Instead, you let your worries about your weak friend take over your body and aim the attack to the arm holding Gáe Bolg." The spearman pointed out how Peko potientaly wasted a great chance of victory by perferring to save Ritsuka instead. "You might have saved your friend but only for a couple more times if I'm being honest. That empathy of yours might have just spelled doom for you all! And was it worth it just for one guy? You sealed the fate of this meaningless fight as an even more meaningless one to you and your buddies!"
"That's not true!" Peko argued back, countering Cú Alter's statement. "Every fight has a reason to be fought for! Be it to save a country, a species, a friend, or even to just kill people for entertainment like you do! Either egotistical or selfless motives, every fight has a meaning behind it! Perhaps for a mindless monster like you it is hard to grasp it, but not to us! It isn't because your strong and terrifying that we will just lower our arms and give up!" Peko pointed his sword at Cú Alter, determinant. Long was gone the fear he had of him. "Fighting is never meaningless!"
"Having words to spare won't make up for the lacks you have." Cú Alter smirked. "The moment you realize a fight is impossible to win, it loses its purpose. No one would fight a battle that they'd know the outcome would be of defeat."
"And what makes you so sure that you will end up as the winner here?" Mash questioned him.
"Why, it's only natural for the stronger combatant to win." Cú Alter gave a prideful smile. "The best you can do is give an hard challenge, but in the end, the result will be the expectable one!"
"Eh! Have you never heard about the term 'underdog'?" Ritsuka replied, thinking that Cú Alter shouldn't be counting on victory already.
"Exactly! You have one arm missing and everything!" Nala said to Cú Alter. "How do you expect to turn that around?"
Increasing his smirk, Cú Alter picked up his Gáe Bolg and pointed to the zone of his missing arm. "Here's a magic trick for you!" Spelling a rune on it, the chaldeans all watched in bafflement as they saw the spearman regrow his missing arm like nothing happened with it.
"He-He restored his arm?" Mash said with shock.
"Me and my mouth!" Nala immediatly sealed her lips.
"Liked it? You can cut off any limb from my body, I'll always regenerate it." Cú Alter said, loving the sudden shock on their faces. "Feeling a little bit more hopeless now?"
"Until none of us are standing anymore, we will always believe its possible!" Peko exclaimed, still thinking they could defeat Cú Alter.
Ritsuka agreed, staring at the corrupted Ireland's Child of Light. "We shall never surrender to you!"
"The battle is over. I won."
Li Shuwen claimed victory as his knuckles cooled down, staring at the defeated body of Beowulf, his entire rib cage having been shattered to pieces from the martial artist secret technique.
"Did he...did he just won the fight with a single punch?" Robin said in awe, having witnessed the conclusion to Li Shuwen's and Beowulf's fight.
"Seems like it. So that's the famous secre technique that allowed Li Shuwen to win many duels without having to land a second blow..." Helena replied, still with the martial artist's strike in mind. "It feels surreal watching it from up close."
"Remind me to never piss off that guy!" Elizabeth commented.
"Kngh...T-That was...something else...!" Beowulf laughed weakly as Li Shuwen stood next to him, with Edison approaching. "You really...weren't joking..."
"When I say that the battle will be decided by my punch, I mean it. Play with fire and get burned." Li Shuwen told to the defeated norse king.
"That will teach you a lesson, villain!" Edison exclaimed in high spirits. "You should already know that like in the movies, the good guys always win!"
"As long as I got what I wanted...I really didn't mind playing a bad guy..." Beowulf responded, still smilling. "And damn...! This fight did gave me that! You were...a hell of an opponent..!"
Li Shuwen smiled back to his defeated adversary, seeing his body about to dissapear. "I could say the same thing to you. You were a worthy opponent. Altough it might upset you a bit if I tell you that this was the first time I actually pulled out this movement with success." He admitted.
"Then...you're telling me...you've used me...as a sort of stepping stone..?" Beowulf replied, a bit perplexed. But really, he didn't cared that much about the detail. "Actually...I'm fine with that..." Beowulf smirked. "Now I'll rest and...prepare myself for the next fight..." He said, his servant body decomposing and fading away, with both Li Shuwen and Edison watching.
"And this my friend, I believe it's a victory to our side." The inventor said, declaring the victory of the North Army over Beowulf's celtic troops.
"...huff...huff..."
Panting with fatigue, Ritsuka had been commanding his team on the fight against Cú Alter that was still continuing. Not only he, but his companions were also showing visable signs of exhaustion from the constant fighting. Now their bodies had sustained more injuries, energy and mana diminuishing as the time fighting Cú Alter would go on and on. This battle was surely being draining, forcing the chaldeans to do their best efforts.
"Nhgn...!"
But it wasn't like the fight was completely one-sided. On the other end, Cú Alter's body was also accusing of fatigue, an unthinkable thing considering his resilience and strenght. But his enemies were really proving to be hard insects to crush so far. Logically, the adrenaline and bloodlust inside of him started to wear out and Cú Alter was no longer attacking with the same brutality and intensity he was before. The chaldeans were managing to push him to the limit, landing a couple more blows in his body. He needed more. More mana to be able to finish with the opponent and feel the power rushing inside him.
Both sides could land a fatal blow, but were too exhausted to try it properly.
"Gnghn..!" Making an effort to stand up, Peko saw Cú Alter with his knee down, recovering a bit from the fatigue, like they were. Inhaling a bit, Peko put a firm grasp on his sword's hilt. "Can't let this one pass! Time to end it!" Taking a step, Peko was about to charge torwards the spearman and hit him in a vital point, probably being the fatal blow to end this fight. However, as soon as he charged torwards Cú Alter, a whip appeared in front of him, stopping Peko from killing his enemy.
"Enough hurting my man you dimwits!"
A woman's voice exclaimed as Peko was forced to step back.
Ritsuka seemed to recognize it. "Wait! Isn't that voice..."
Nala was thinking the same. "Don't tell me that's-"
"How dare you...hurt me and him on the same day?!..." Entering the area of the battle from the wreckage at the left, a weakened and gravely injured Medb appeared, her own blood stainning her clothes as she covered a wound in her stomach with an arm. "I sware that a crime like this...would result in a public execution!"
"M-Medb?!" Ritsuka exclaimed, he and his team surprised in seeing the Queen of Connacht appearing at such a time when they thought she was hidding somewhere inside the White House.
"So you're still alive!" Mash added, noticing the holy grail in Medb's hand.
"Ehehe...surprised? I'm a tough cookie despite my appearences y'know?" Medb coughed a bit as she smirked to the shielder.
"Did you got dumber with the heabutt I gave you?" Nala said, bringing their previous duel.
"Ha Ha...You're so funny!" Medb said sarcastically. "I'll make you pay for making me wake up with a damn headache...!"
"You look worse then I tought, Medb." Cú Alter said, seeing the wounded state her body was in.
The Queen of Connacht's expression was mellowed out once she heard and looked to the spearman's face. "Oh Cú...you don't know how much..." Walking torwards him, Medb felt her legs giving up, falling torwards Cú Alter who catched her before she could hit the ground.
"H-Hey! Don't tell me you are..." Cú Alter speaked with some concern in his voice, trying to desguise it as him being upset. Looking again and now closer to the wounds Medb had suffered, he could tell that there was no escape for her. This was the end for Medb.
The chaldeans looked to also have figured that out.
"It seems she can't do much else." Peko commented.
"You know...I had a beautiful dream...when I was unconscious..." Medb said weakly, staring to her partner, the light in her eyes beggining to fade. "I was...the queen of everything...and a special man, my king..." Fragily, Medb moved her bloody hand until it touched Cú Alter's cheek, who observed her silently, still holding the dying queen in his arms. "You...were that king for me, Cú...Ever so dashing and elegant...An ideal man for a girl like me..."
"Tsk! Even on death's door you still come up with that conversation. Save your breath instead!" Cú Alter scolded Medb, not wanting to hear her speaking of her love for him. Perhaps because it pained him seeing the person who he had interacted the most in this Singularity leave him. Perhaps he was trying to diguise his sadness with annoyance to not experience the pain of losing his trusted partner.
Yu-Gi-Oh OST- Dark God Revival
"I can't...You took it all away silly..." Medb replied, deeply enchanted by Cú Alter. She couldn't stop loving him even if he told her he hated her. "Don't care to what these stupids say about you...You are not an illness...nor a brainless monster to me...You're...the special man I always wanted...And your existence is what made me happy...Like I was...experiencing love for the first time again..."
"I already told you to not waste your breath dammit!" Cú Alter said angrily, not wanting to outright tell Medb that her words were making him feel a form of sorrow.
"Hehehe...c'mon big guy..." Medb giggled, approaching her face to his, very close to his lips. "Even men like you can cry..." And then, with no warning, she kissed him.
"!" Cú Alter and the entirety of the Chaldea team stood speechless, having been taken by surprise with the unpredicable action from Medb.
"You..." Cú Alter stared to the face of his queen and partner, his mind processing on what he should say as a response to that.
Medb winked at him, showing the holy grail. "And now...to watch the world burn together..."
Suddenly, a dark taint begun to cover the grail's texture, filling it with some type of cursed and forbidden magic. It was time, to unleash the Celtic Empire's trump card. Quickly, twenty-eight dark beams were fired from the grail and launched into the cloudy sky, turning its clouds into a dark purple tone, resulting into the earth starting to rumble.
"W-What's happening?!" Nala exclaimed, trying to understand what Medb just did.
"It certainly isn't good news!" Ritsuka told her.
On the entrance area of Washington D.C. , Nightingale and Rama were still fighting and helping their own soldier combat some celtic troops and shadow servants when they noticed the sky above them go dark and purple.
"Eh? The sky changed all of a sudden!" Nightingale looked up, noticing it.
Rama did the same, bewildered. "H-How?! That can't be!"
On the area of the North Army, has the battle with Beowulf and his army had ended and the troops thought they could take some rest, they also felt the ground beneath them to shake violently.
"An earthquake?!" Elixabeth exclaimed afraid, jumping to Robin's face. "Puppy protect me!"
"O-Oi! Knock it off!" Robin replied.
"A natural earthquake in a Singularity? That just wouldn't make sense!" Helena thought. "It has to be the work of someone or something!"
"Another enemy?" Li Shuwen pondered, maintaining his balance. "But where?"
Edison noticed something gleaming on the dark purple sky. "Look! Up there!" As he pointed out, everyone on the battlefield saw twenty-eight dark rays falling from it and landing with huge impact on the ground, almost like it were missiles. Once it hit the earth, they all protected themselves from the strong gust of wind and dust that lifted up from it.
"Gnghgh! Bah! Some of it went to my eyes!" Elizabeth exclaimed, rubbing her eyes while bumping into Robin. "Hey Puppy, tell me what's happening!"
"..."
"Puppy?"
"This...has to be a joke." Robin said in absolute terror, his eyes having glanced at something that made despair hit him in the core.
"Huh? What are you even sayi-..." Looking to what Robin was looking, the idol girl soonly realized the why for the dread in Robin's face, getting the same expression.
"It can't be. This is...impossible!" Helena said, also in horror and shock as giant shadows loomed over all of them, casting a tensing trepidation over all the soldiers present.
"Those things are big." A drop of sweat runned down from Li Shuwen's face as he gazed to the demonic identities that were taller than any tree he had ever seen before. "Way too big!"
Edison looked around, agape to what he was seeing. The entire battlefield had been surrounded. Him, the servants and the troops. Trapped inside an abomination of giant and huge demonic tentacles with eyes that filled the area like a forest. Twenty-eight horryfying creatured. "What on god's earth...is this thing?"
Having been casted and summoned as Medb's wild card, here they were. Twenty-eight Demon God Pillars that through the Queen of Connacht's machinations and the grail's power, were combined into the framework of an irish legend that had also been created by Medb when she sought to defeat and capture Cú Chulainn during the war between the kingdoms of Ulster and Connacht, adopting the name of those grotesque warriors at the time: Clan Calatin.
Back to the White House, the rumbling had come to a stop after the usage of Medb's wild card. The dark sky remained however.
"What have you done?!" Nala demanded to her, wanting to know what exactly where those dark rays they saw being fired into the sky.
"A little present...to the friends of your other army up north..." Medb said with a mischiveous grin.
"What?" Ritsuka replied, still confused.
"Crap! This is bad! So bad guys!" Romani appeared in his hologram, a very stressed and nervous expression on his face.
"What is it doctor?" Mash asked him, preparing herself for the bad information Romani would reveal to them.
"My monitors have detected huge signals of high mana density in the region the North Army currently is! And according to SHEBA's results and calculations, the nature of the spiritrons has concluded that what came out from the grail were twenty-eight Demon God Pillars!" The doctor brought up the drastic news to the chaldeans.
"Twenty-eight Demon God Pillars?! It can't be!" Peko exclaimed in shock.
"If defeating one is already hard, then twenty-eight of those things..." Mash couldn't even fathom a scenario like that. "Everyone on the North Army is in huge trouble!"
"If we at least could have a way to teleport there and help them!" Nala said with some frustration, knowing that the allies on that army would have to fend for themselves.
"Unfortunately, even if we had, we still need to take care of this problem here." Ritsuka replied, staring to both Cú Alter and Medb. "To think she had such trick under her sleeve during all this time..."
"You didn't told me that this was our wild card." Cú Alter told to Medb as he was staring to the sky. "Any reason in particular for being twenty-eight demon creatures?" He asked, lowering his head to stare at her, feeling he had seen a simillar concept before.
"Hmm, references..." Medb playfully said, her hand moving the corrupted grail into Cú Alter's chest, plunging the relic into his body. "Now...I leave the rest up to you..." She said, her body beggining to vanish. "I already did...what I wanted to do...I'm satisfied..." Medb gave a sweet and pure smile to Cú Alter. Even if she couldn't stay any longer with him, the Queen of Connacht felt her time with him was well spent, getting to have days to live with the man she always wanted but never got to in her previous life. Medb, was like that. If she wanted something, she would find a way to get it. "And what about you big guy?...Did you enjoyed my company too?.."
Cú Alter gave a side glance, feeling like a small void had formed on his chest. "It was...riveting." He replied, giving one last look to his partner.
Medb chuckled, amused with the answer. "That's good enough...Now I shall have my beauty sleep..." She slowly closed her eyes, about to go out with a smile. "But...be it a ruler of a total wasteland or a magnificent territory, you still need to become my wish of a celtic empire true..." She reminded Cú Alter of her ambitious desire one last time, the hand that touched his face dissapearing with the rest of her body. "Do it for your queen...my king...my love..."
And so the Queen of Connacht was no more.
"Ahahahaha! Look! Pathetic humans over there!"
"They're so small! So small! We could obliterate them to dust!"
"They are surrounded! No where to escape!"
"This will be not only the doom for these humans but to all humanity!"
"Let's wipe them out alongside all of their flawed species! Hahahaha!"
The herd of Demon God Pillars all laughed and taunted the North Army inside their own forest, aware of the hopelessness that they brought to the situation. As many as they were, the humans would barely stand a chance against them.
Being overwhelmed by their sheer presence, Edison fell to his knees. "N-No...This isn't happening! Not now!" He stared to the floor, having been completely demoralized. "We fought so hard to defeat a mere servant and his troops! But this...This is impossible! My men won't be able to surpass it!" He said, knowing that mere human soldiers wouldn't be a match for the Demon Gods, his pessimism now reflecting onto his own soldiers, not knowing what to do.
"H-Hey! Don't say that!" Li Shuwen told him, trying to take Edison out from his own despair. "You can't give that image to your own troops! Get up!"
"Will this really be how it ends?" Robin said, contemplating the terror that were the giant Demon Gods. "After everything we've been through? It will be all in vain?!"
"I'm trying to come up with a solution but..." As much as it costed Helena to say it, she had to admit it. "I don't know how we can defeat this."
The occultist's words made Robin's hopes to go down. "I see..." He closed his fist, not wanting to accept this fate however. "We did everything we could! And yet-"
"No! I refuse to end it like this!" Elizabeth shouted, expressing her denial with this possible outcome, gaining both Robin and Helena's attention.
"Elizabeth?"
"All the others didn't died for this! Nero didn't died so that we could just give up in the end!" Elizabeth speaked fervently, the memory of her fallen rival in her mind. "I refuse to die without making these monsters pay for her death! We have to honor her by achieving our mission! Geronimo and Billy too!"
"Hm!" Robin stood a bit silent, the idol girl having remembered him of his two long gone companions of the Resistance.
"And you! Listen here!" Elizabeth went and grabbed Edison's attention, calling him out. "Do you want to protect this country or not? Aren't you supposed to be its president?"
"Y-Yes! But what can we do-"
"We fight! Like we've always done before!" Elizabeth exclaimed, shutting up Edison. "The type of enemy may have changed, but our goal is still the same! If you want America to survive and prosper than fight for those things! You won't dare to abandon your people, will you?"
"She's right! A situation is only hopeless if we ourselves believe it so!" Li Shuwen told to the lion-headed inventor. "Otherwise, we can never give up! Stand up and fight for your country!"
Edison was still a bit reluctant, trying his best to see the optimism in this situation. "I-I know! I want to save my land but-"
Both Robin and Helena joined in.
"And we shall save it! These soldiers deserve to see an happy ending at the end of this, reunited with their families again!" Robin told him. "They decided to fight because they think this country can be saved, and so did you!"
"Listen to them, Presiking!" Helena begged. "This army needs its leader! Their soldiers need you! You are America's protector! So please, fight until your last breath, Presiking!"
"..." With all of the encouragement given to him from his companions, Edison reflected a bit. "...You're right. You're all right! It's in dark hours of need, that America desperatly needs its heroes the most!" Edison roared, his resolve being restored. "And who can be a better hero for America, than its own president and his helpers? This country has always pushed through every hard economical, militarian, financial situation! This crisis, is just another meal for this land!" His hopes renowed, Edison looked to all his troops, seeking to encourage them against the abominable enemies. "Listen men! I know you are scared! I know you are tired, wondering when will this nightmare will end! And I have an answer for that! It will be put to an end right here and now!"
Edison roared, a giant thunder lightening the sky as he raised his fist.
"Well done Medb. You deserve your rest." Cú Alter gazed at the particles of Medb's body fading in the air, lamenting her departure. "As a queen of a brutal empire, you did your role rather well. Honestly, women like you are hard to understand."
"Guys! The signals I got from Cú Alter's Saint Graph have weakened once Medb dissapeared!" Romani revealed to them. "He has become more vulnerable!"
"How so?" Nala asked to the doctor.
"Medb was the one who wished him into existence in the first place, right? So she was basically a fundamental pillar of his foundation!" Romani explained.
"Then with Medb gone..." Ritsuka thought.
"Cú Alter's existence has become more fragile! His mana mustn't be as powerful as it was before!" Mash concluded.
"Precisely! With that, Cú Alter's Saint Graph is starting to get some traces of the original Cú Chulainn back!" Romani told them.
"Then you're saying that our chances of defeating Cú Alter...have increased by a lot?" Peko asked, seeing that with Medb's death, victory against Cú Alter had become more real.
However, it wouldn't be all that easy.
Closing his eyes, Cú Alter felt the grail inside him powering him up, giving an extra boost of mana. "However, I shall fulfill the role you gave to me now!"
Being coverted into a dark mist, Cú Alter had ascended once he stepped out of it. A more menacing look, with extra spikes appearing on his clothing and spear as well as a short dark mantle on his back. This was the appearence of the ruthless king in all his splendor. "Hmm, hehehehe. You know what, kiddo?" The spearman speaked to Peko, looking at his own body.
"What?" Peko replied, wondering what Cú Alter would tell him.
"That bit where you said I had no ambitions as a king nor could I understand the meaning of a fight?" Cú Alter grinned. "I guess I finally understand it now. I can sense a wish inside of me. A desire to accomplish!" The spearman looked to his own hand, thinking of Medb. "Now I know what I truly fight for! It isn't only for simple carnage or destruction! But for Medb's wish! My wish!" He exclaimed, the first ever ambition inside him appearing. After so long, Cú Alter finally had a goal for himself. "As a king, I shall make this empire the one she envisioned! That's what I'm fighting for!"
"So now you got a dream of your own." Peko commented, slightly surprised by that. "Altough I can't say I'm happy for you."
The spearman chuckled at that. "No need for it. After I'm done with you, nothing will be able to extinguish my endless happiness!"
"Cú Alter's Saint Graph has ascended!" Romani told to the group, seeing the readings he was getting from the spearman. "This complicates the things! The mana energy he had lost from Medb's death has been replaced now with the grail backing him up!"
"So he's back at the same level he was before?" Nala asked him.
"That or maybe worse!" Romani said, much to the chaldeans unfortune.
"Enough with the talking?" Cú Alter interrupted, standing before them, smirking. "We have a matter to resolve." He cracked his fists. "My and Medb's goals against yours!"
Staring at him, the group was beggining to feel a bit downhearted. Cú Alter had regained his strenght back, had ascended, a new found resolve within him and was very much ready for the next round, whereas the chaldeans were still with exhaustion, their bodies and energy at the limit. The situation was slowly starting to look bleak.
Mash gave a stare to Ritsuka. "Do you think we can still take upon him, master?" She asked, doubting if the victory could still fall on their side.
"I think..." Looking back to the shielder, Ritsuka also glanced at Peko and Nala. They were all tired, possibly having a few more minutes before their bodies runned out of energy. In such conditions, they would never be able to defeat Cú Alter like this. But Ritsuka couldn't allow that pressure and fatigue to break them. Not with the destiny of humanity in game. He had to incintivate his companions to continue. Keeping them to believe that vivtory was still achievable.
As a leader, what could he possibly do in this difficult scenario?
"And master, one more piece of advice to you before I forget to tell you."
"What is it Tesla?"
"I see that when a situation gets difficult, you tend to get anxious and paralyzed with its sheer pressure."
"Well, I do try my best to not to..."
"Then you know what you should do when a situation gets bad?"
"What?"
"...Eh."
"Hm? Master?" Mash looked to Ritsuka, having heard a small chortle coming out of him.
"Ehehehe, hahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Without explanation, Ritsuka begun to laugh, much to everybody else's consternation and confusion.
"You laugh at despair's face!"
"R-Ritsuka?" Peko looked at his friend, a stare of worriedness in his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Nala asked, having some concerns for Ritsuka's mental health.
"..." Mash stood speechless as she saw Ritsuka continuing to laugh. She wasn't expecting this from him.
"Hm? Has that flimsy human gone insane?" Cú Alter also glared to the master of humanity with some perplexity.
"Fujimaru! Snap out of it! This is no laughing matter dammit!" Romani scolded him, not liking how Ritsuka was reacting to all of this. "What's so funny about the possible destruction of humanity!?"
Finally calming down, Ritsuka took some time to breath. "Ehehe. Sorry for this behaviour, doc, guys." He said, the smile still on his face. "But I think we should really stop getting pessimistic when things start going south!"
All of his teammates and Romani looked at him with some slight puzzlement.
"I really needed to take that bad feeling out of my chest. That's all." Ritsuka explained, looking at them. "We're between a rock and a hard place, so what? How many simillar scenarios we've been into so far and ended up turning the tables? I don't understand all this negativity when we've been through four Singularities already!" He told them before staring at Cú Alter. "And that guy over there, he may be more recovered and with more energy to spend than us! But as that ever stopped us before? Clearly not!" He put a hand to his chest. "So as long our hearts beat and we keep breathing, I don't see a reason to think we cannot win this! Even if we had to push through our limits!"
Cú Alter, initially surprised, became amused with that speech. "Wasn't expecting you to be a bit of a madman."
"If fighting people like you is crazy, then we've become crazy a long time ago!" Ritsuka replied. "You can bring it! We're ready for it!"
Emboldened by the words of their leader and master, Mash, Peko and Nala all stood next to Ritsuka.
"You're right master! We've been through a lot already!" Mash said. "We cannot save humanity if we stop here!"
"And if we can't overcome Cú Alter, then how can we expect to overcome what comes next in the remaining Singularities?" Peko added.
"Thank you for making us see that, Ritsuka! To think that for a second I was doubting of our chances..." Nala speaked, repositioning her sword. "I won't let that happen again!"
Ritsuka nodded at her before speaking with Romani. "Doctor, keep us atualized of the North Army's situation please!"
"Sure thing!" Romani replied, seeing the group united and ready to fight again, a renovated determination in them. "Good luck guys! We all trust in you!"
Seeing his enemies stand, Cú Alter laughed gleefuly. "You really do not know when to quit, do you? But fine! That only makes the climax more intense!" He shouted, powering up his Gáe Bolg, a wild smile on his face. "If you're ready to die for your objectives then come!"
"Concept Improvement!"
Powering up his allies, Edison fired a beam at the giant Demon God Pillars above them. All of the servants, helter skelters and even human soldiers were giving their everything on this fight.
"The Bow of Prayer: Yew Bow!"
"Fresh Blood Demoness: Báthory Erzsébet!"
"Venusian God-Heavenly Lord of the Flame: Sanat Kumara!"
Robin, Elizabeth and Helena all used their Noble Phantasms to deal a massive amount of damage against the Demon Gods. Be it on a form of a giant tree, loud noise or even a beam fired from an UFO. But as much Noble Phantasm they would unleash togethers, the group of enemies wouldn't vanish, the twenty-eight Demon God Pillars still with zero casualties, keeping to torment the North Army.
"No good! It still isn't enough to bring them down!" Robin exclaimed, seeing that their Noble Phantasms didn't had any effect.
"Then we have to try again!" Elizabeth replied, attacking one of the several Demon God Pillars tentacles, unaware of another one that was sneaking behind her.
Helena tried to warn her. "Elizabeth! Look out!"
Not having enough time to react properly, the lizard idol was about to be attacked by the tentacle when Edison rushed in, protecting her.
"World Faith Domination: W.F.D!"
Unleashing his very own Noble Phantasm, Edison was capable to monumentarily fend off the Demon God Pillars with it, a bright light that projected from his body, temporarily stunning them.
"Look! Presiking's Noble Phantasm seems to be having some effect on them!" Helena exclaimed.
But it didn't lasted very long. As soon as the projecting light of Edison's Noble Phantasm's dissapeared, the Demon God Pillars tried to attack him and Elizabeth.
Luckily, Li Shuwen hit the tentacles away. "Are you fine?"
"Yes! Thank you for the help!" Edison replied. "Say, do you think you can defeat these things by doing your one punch technique?"
"This enemies are completely different from that servant! I doubt it would work!" Li Shuwen responded. "And even if it did, I'd had to do it twenty-eight times for every single one of them!"
"That Noble Phantasm of yours seemed to have worked on them for a bit!" Elizabeth brought up the inventor's Noble Phantasm. "Could that be the key to defeat them?"
"Perhaps. But we'd need something more to defeat these creatures!" Helena said. "Presiking's Noble Phantasm alone isn't enough!"
"I sware if I had my workshop right here, I would built a weapon that could end these demons in an instant!" Edison exclaimed, starting to have ideas. "As a genius, it could be my greatest invention! I would turn it into an american symbol if possible! I'm the king of inventors after all!" He roared at the same time a thunder flashed on the sky.
"King of inventors? You? Please, tell me another , and better, joke!"
"Hm?"
"Wha-"
"Who speaked?"
"This voice..."
Having gained the entire attention of not only the party but also of the Demon God Pillars, the demonic entities begun to fire their lasers to the sky, in the direction of someone. A spark begun to zigzag in the air, dodging all of the laser attacks, hitting the enemies back with some bolts of electricity before smashing into the ground, liberating bright thunders that made the Demon God Pillars retreat a bit and the group to cover their eyes.
In front of them, a man had descended from the skies with his thunder, showing himself.
Edison's eyes widened from surprise. "B-But I tought you..."
Helena's eyes meanwhile also widened but from absolute happiness, a smile in her face. "It's you! It really is you!"
The man was with a livid cyan blue hair, shinning of electricity. And on his body, half of it was covered in a golden steampunk armor with blue orbs.
"If you're the king Edison, I better be the god!" Tesla speaked, having appeared to aid them.
They were all astonished with his presence, but specially Robin.
"T-Tesla!? You're actually alive?!" The thief exclaimed, dumbfounded. "But it can't be! Me and Peko tought you had died alongside the others in that failed assassination attempt!" He said, having been sure that Tesla had perished during that fight.
"You really do not know me then!" Tesla replied, touching his own temple with his mechanical finger. "I'm a genius! I can always find my way out of a problem!"
"Yay! Tesla's alive!" Elizabeth jumped and exclaimed in joy. "If this doesn't feel surreal!"
Robin also smiled, laughing a bit. "Well, glad to see you back then, Tesla! Kinda unexpected, but all the support here is welcome now!"
"Or I'm imagining things or you somehow managed to make an invention that is able to make people see ghosts!" Edison told to the other inventor. "How the hell did you survived?!"
"I think that we should question that later!" Li Shuwen told them, staring at the Demon God Pillars returning. "We have more serious problems to deal with!"
"I agree!" Tesla replied, staring to Edison. "So listen here, you half-assed thief and second-rate inventor! I need to-"
"Hey now! If you're going to call me names be at least more original!" Edison cut Tesla short. "Or did your creativity for insults has runned out like your creativity for everything?" Edison smirked arrogantly.
"Not really! I was sparing you of the most agressive ones, but it seems you like being insulted after all!" Tesla replied back. "I knew you were a weirdo!"
"Oh oh oh! Says the pot to the kettle! Admit it Tesla! You have run out of insults for me!"
"The way I despise, I would always find new ones just and exclusively for you!"
"Aha! And that's why you are a failure! You spent too much time hating me instead of creating actual inventions!"
"Well, I actual make inventions! You on the other just know how to steal them!"
"Care to repeat that again?"
"Oh, of course I can, or is the big Thomas Alva Edison too scared of hearing the truth?"
"The truth is, my dear 'complex of inferiority' friend, that I'm-"
"ENOUGH YOU TWO!" Helena punched both the inventors in the head. "Tesla, have you escaped death just to keep squabbling with Edison? And Presiking, are you really behaving like a child when the entire America needs you? Get your brains together!"
Having been scolded and punched hard by Helena, both Tesla and Edison looked at each other and calmed down.
"Okay! Do tell it what you have in your great mind, Tesla!" Edison told to the other inventor. "But quick, we don't have all day!"
"But you had with my paychecks..." Tesla said lowly before going to the principal topic. "Anyways, you might have figured out already that the Noble Phantasms haven't been working on the Demon Gods Pillars with yours being the exception!"
"Yeah yeah. I've figured it much! What's your point?" Edison asked him.
"My point is, they look to be weak to light sources and even lightening itself!" Tesla explained, reaching to the important part. "So my plan is...has much it pains to say this, we have to work together by combining both our Noble Phantasms power in order to trap all of the twenty-eight Demon God Pillars!" He revealed, gaining a shocking expression from Edison.
"Working with you?! Do you think I'm-"
However, a stern look from Helena made Edison quickly change ideas.
"Okay! I'm all ears!"
"Nghnn...gnghgr...gnghgrraaaaaaaaah!"
Piercing Gáe Bolg into the ground, Cú Alter ripped off his severly injured arm that he used to abuse of the spear's great power, having exceeded the weapon's limit. Now panting as he replaced it with a new arm, the spearman looked to his enemies, cackling. "See? I told you."
The battle area was a complete devestation. The entire ground was full os slashes, the statue on the White House's entrance broken to pieces alongside the rest of the pillars. It was all signs of the brutal combat that happened in there. And on it, there laid the exhausted and basically defeated bodies of Mash, Peko and Nala, having reached their limits.
"Ggh..!" Ritsuka, due to being the only one to not engage in the physical combat with Cú Alter, was the remaining one still standing. But barely. Having supplied his teammates with lots of energy and mana as he could with the Command Seals, his body was also getting the pain of the fatigue. They had tried their best.
"The result was obvious ever since the beggining..." Cú Alter said, trying to recover some energy. "You fought well. If anything, lasting this long against me already makes you worthy of being remembered in my mind." The spearman complimented the chaldeans efforts. "No matter the speeches you have, how robust your wills are, or even how potent your wishes shine...The strongest of the fighters is always the one to prevail at the end."
Ritsuka tried to still do something before his knees fell, not having any more strenght to keep up. It couldn't end like this
Picking back his Gáe Bolg, Cú Alter prepared to give an end to the battle. "Defeat is always a sour taste. And you shall experience it now-"
"Gng...S...Shut...up..!"
"Hm?" Moving his eyes, the spearman spotted a slight movement coming from Peko. The boy was still alive.
"We...haven't been...defeated yet..!" Peko raised his voice, doing his best to try and lift up his body from the ground.
"Peko..." Ritsuka stared to his friend, seeing him still have some energy left in him.
"...And...we won't be...defeated neither!..!" Peko said, his hands trembling a bit as he pressed them on the ground, beggining to shine a bright green light.
"Hmm, a cure rune?"
"Y-Yes! I've decided! Please, teach me how to use it, teacher Scáthach!"
"Could I know why?"
"It's that, I want to prevent my friends to get badly injured ever again! I want to make sure that when in battle, I can give them a huge support!"
"I see...You think you are ready to learn it then?"
"Yes!"
"I warn you. It will take some time to learn how to use it."
"No problem! If it means..."
"If it means that will give us another chance to ultrapass our difficulties, I don't mind with how much time it will take to master it!"
Channeling the mana he had left, Peko burned all of it into this spell of his. The rune he had been teached to use by Scáthach. He had been wanting to use it fully for the first time during this war. And there was no better fitting opportunity than this one!
With a giant green rune appearing on the ground, the entire area of their battle was now shinning with its light.
Cú Alter recognized that spell, gasping. "That's-"
"Have it guys! My labor!" Peko shouted, casting the spell.
"Leigheas!" (Gives 40% Healing, HP Regeneration and Debuff Resistance Up to allies)
From the ground, innumerous crops and other vegetables germinated from it. The curative spell spread its auras through the chaldeans, slowly healing some good amount of their wounds and fatigue, having distributed a new wave of magical energy inside their bodies, reinvigorating them.
"Nghmm..." Soon enough, Nala begun to get up from the ground, being graced by the beautiful field that restored her strenght. "My body..."
"Gnhg..." Same with Mash, the shielder able to fight again after feeling great part of her exhaustion leaving her body. "It's like I was rejuvenated..."
Even Ritsuka was healed by the spell, the tiredness being removed from him. He was impressed by Peko's new magic. "The mana inside of me..."
"Ritsuka." Peko called his friend out, staring at him with a smile. "Let's do this."
Nodding with a smile, Ritsuka took Peko's hand and lifted up his body from the ground.
"This...can't be!" Cú Alter said, incomprehensive. Even when they had been crushed, stomped, slashed, attacked, suffered all the blows he threw at them, their bodies at their limits, seeming they could break at any given moment. Despite all of the exhaustion, pain, pressure and wounds they felt, the chaldeans were still defiantly up, all standing for a last round against the cruel, slaughtering king.
And they wouldn't rest until they'd brough him down.
"We are not gonna lose to you." Peko said with certainty, a composed and committed expression on his face as he stared to Cú Alter.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl OST- Final Destination
"!" In awe of their devotion and ambition, Cú Alter felt utterly excited, beggining to laugh madly. "Hahahahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Never he had seen such opponents before. His bloodlust was hungering for it. "COME THEN!" He yelled, powering Gáe Bolg.
"Attack!" Ritsuka shouted, giving another boost to his companions with the Command Seals.
"Air Step!"
"Transient Wall of Snowflakes!"
Nala sprinted torwards Cú Alter as Mash casted the defensive spell, accompanying her shortly behind.
With his arm being corrupted by overload of mana put onto Gáe Bolg, Cú Alter launched it like a projectile torwards the two.
Mash immediatly put herself ahead of Nala, blocking the ruthless attack.
"Charge, Nala! Ritsuka shouted.
The girl quickly stepped away from Mash's back and dashed at Cú Alter, slashing him in the arm.
"To think, out of all the adversaries that I fought before..." Cú Alter said as he tanked the slash with his bare damaged arm, using the other one to hit Nala, the girl blocking it before being sent flying up high in the sky. "...my greatest battle would be with the likes of you..." He called back Gáe Bolg, about to target Nala in the air.
"Peko!" Ritsuka gave another order.
With precision, Peko fired a light bullet at the spearman's shoulder, preventing him from throwing Gáe Bolg a second time.
"I'd probably be in delusion to think so!" Cú Alter shouted as he clashed with Nala's sword, liberating violent shockwaves and lifting up the ground. The spearman was fast and dispatched Nala away from him.
"And yet..."
As she runned at Cú Alter, Mash was quick enough to catch Nala with her arm, launching the girl back to the spearman, forcing him to defend a thrust kick from Nala with his spear.
"The thing you lot provide me..."
Cú Alter threw Gáe Bolg around, the spear going back and forth like an high-speed spring, destroying everything around as his enemies dodged.
"Mash! The shield!" Ritsuka commanded.
With her weapon in hands, Mash threw her shield at Cú Alter, who narrowly evaded it. Peko jumped in front of him, firing a light bullet to his head. Cú Alter tilted his head out of the way, escaping the attack. However, Peko aim wasn't precisely him but Mash's shield instead, rebounding on the weapon that at the moment was passing behind him, sending the light bullet into Cú Alter's back.
"It's a thing nobody else could. It's a..."
"Precise Stroke!"
Passing through, Nala made a great cut on Cú Alter's chest. Coming from the other side, Mash grabbed her shield back and made another slash on the spearman's chest. And finally, Peko appeared in front of him, sword in hands to slash his head.
"Yah!" The boy swinged the silver blade torwards Cú Alter's neck, being centimeters close as the spearman blocked it with his spear, the impact of the clash having cut the giant Gáe Bolg replica behind them.
"IT'S A ENDLESS EUPHORIA!"
"Okay! Has everybody evacuated?" Tesla asked as he and Edison had forced a tunnel through the forest of Demon God Pillars, having escaped from its interior with all of the North Army and distancing themselves from Clan Calatin so that the inventor could start his plan.
"Everyone's here!" Robin did a thumbs up, having checked.
"Great!" Tesla looked to Edison. "Now, with me!"
Charging their bodies with high mana and electricity, both inventors unleashed their Noble Phantasms.
"World Faith Domination: W.F.D!"
"Legend of Mankind Advent of Lightning: System Keraunos!"
The Demon God Pillars ended up being bombarded by the projecting light of Edison, paralyzing them in staying in place as Tesla conjured an enormous electricity tower-cage, sealing all the twenty-eight inside.
"Nice! They're trapped!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Alright Tesla! Now tell me what's the next step of your genius plan!" Edison speaked to the other inventor.
Tesla smirked. "That is up to him now."
"Eh? To who exactly?" Edison questioned.
"Expanding sacred domain
"Hm? Someone's up there?" Li Shuwen spotted a person flying in the distance, going torwards Clan Calatin.
Domain Secured!"
"Divine punishment enforcement limits...
Robin saw it too, recognizing the servant. "Wait! That's-"
"I'm sorry for having always been a rancorous fool with you during my entire life, Karna."
Incoming at great speed, Arjuna was charging up his Noble Phantasm, a blue ball of pure divine magic bestowed to him by one of the three greater hindu gods, in his hand. A blow from it could decimate entire countries and even more.
All approved!"
"By the wrath of Shiva,
"Arjuna?!" Helena exclaimed in shock, looking to Tesla. "He's part of your plan?!"
"Only he has the power destructive enough to annihalate all of Clan Calatin." Tesla replied. "Watch it."
"I wish...I wished we could have resolved things differently during our previous lifetime. And it took me this long to realize it..."
Having been approached by Tesla, Arjuna had accepted his plan. After all, he felt that he had long let his hate for Karna, among others obsessions, got control of his life. He had to change. Arjuna had to redeem himself for all the spite he nursed to Karna during all these years. The Pandava has had enough of persuing his revengeful rematch against his half-brother.
Getting close to Clan Calatin, Arjuna let himself go into the creatures, the divine blue ball on his hand about to explode.
here ends thy life!"
"Raised Hand of the Destruction God: Pashupata!"
Upon contact with the electric cage, an explosion of giant porpotions went off, obliterating completely the twenty-eight Demon God Pillars and some of the near territory. Arjuna went alongside with it, going quietly as a part of his mind made peace with himself.
"May you approve of this atonement, Karna."
"I Will Abstain From Whatever Is Deleterious And Mischiveous: Nightingale Pledge!"
"The Rakshasa-Piercing Immortal: Brahmastra!"
Near the entry gates of the city, Nightingale and Rama were also giving their all, having unleashed their Noble Phantasm as they kept knocking down more enemies that would appear while aiding their own soldiers at the same time.
"Keep pushing everyone! This is our last effort! Don't stop even if your bodies can't handle it anymore!" Rama shouted, having slashed a huge part of the enemies down with his spinning sword.
"All of the wounds, pain and suffering your feeling! It will all be cured when we end with the disease that are our enemies! Until there, continue on fighting that I will make sure to cure you!" Nightingale exclaimed, curing every soldier possible with her Noble Phantasm.
They were all fighting their fights but with one common goal in mind: the survival of America and the entire humanity. For they had persisted too long during this war. And now, they fought to see the end of it.
"Grgh!"
Cú Alter was hit in the face by Mash's shield, responding back with the swing of his lizard tail, sending the shielder some meters away.
"Nala! On his arm!" Ritsuka yelled.
The girl went and chopped off one of the spearman's arms, with Peko appearing to explode the other one with his light bullet.
"Now!"
"You're done!"
Both siblings jumped at Cú Alter, about to cut him.
"Graah! Not yet!" Cú Alter yelled, regrowing his two arms back in time. holding both kids by the neck and throwing them away. Making the mana inside him circulate faster, the monstrous spearman hardened his muscles "I want to feel this dopamine for longer!" Cú Alter exclaimed with a wide smile on his face, picking Gáe Bolg and clashing with Mash that approached from behind.
"Grrghrraaaah!" Tanking the blow with great effort, Mash put all of her strenght into the shield and broke Cú Alter's defense, proceeding to use the sharp part of her weapon to slash him in his leg.
Jumping on him, Nala pierced her sword near his Spirit Core, almost getting it. She then stepped back to allowed her brother fire a bigger light bullet at Cú Alter, resulting into a small explosion.
"All of you three, now!" Ritsuka exclaimed, seeing the spearman a bit dizzy.
Mash, Peko and Nala followed it and the trio begun to combo Cú Alter, delivering punches, kick, slashes and bullets from all sides.
And Cú Alter...was loving this fight.
"Grgh!" As he was sent crashing to the ground some meters away, he got up as fastly, a huge grin in his face alongside his red blood eyes. Whether the grail inside him was making him mad or not, it couldn't be said. "C...C...CHALDEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He powered up his Gáe Bolg, about to send it again.
"Tsk! He too doesn't know when to stop, does he?" Nala said as she suddenly saw Ritsuka running past her, heading torwards Cú Alter. "R-Ritsuka?!"
"I have something for you, Cú Alter!" Ritsuka yelled, running torwards him. He had to do it. As payback for what he did to Peko and Nala when they first arrived to this Singularity.
"Gáe...Bolg!" Cú Alter released the spear, launching it torwards Ritsuka.
Mash however put herself in front of him, blocking the attack with the shield. She managed to hold back despite the great pressure put against her. "The path is free! Go master!"
"Thanks Mash!" Ritsuka exclaimed, getting closer to Cú Alter, his hands closing into fist.
The spearman found it endearing and laughable at the same time. "Really? Just because your friends are doing a great job, don't think you can also land a punch on me!" He also runned torwards Ritsuka, scrapping off his injured arm and replacing it with a new one before closing it into a fist. "Don't get cocky, human!" He yelled, directing his fist at Ritsuka.
But in that moment, Cú Alter was surprised by Peko who aimed a bullet at his fist, hindering it. And then, Ritsuka lowered his body into the ground, slided between the spearman's legs and enhancing his fist, punched Cú Alter right in that area.
"Gurgh?!" Cú Alter let out a painful groan as result.
"Do you still think..."
"...that we are a bunch of weaklings?"
Both Ritsuka and Peko said, backing away from Cú Alter.
"Gnhggrrrrr! You!" Cú Alter lifted up his head, showing them an angry glare.
"Hey!"
Hearing a voice behind him, Cú Alter turned around to see Nala standing in front of him, extending the arm that was holding her sword horizontaly.
"Time to end this!" Nala exclaimed, taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes.
To the deep cold empty space, she plunged herself into.
"Can you tell me about that stuff you were speaking about the other day?"
"What stuff?"
Wandering without destination, the lonely soul was attracted by the warmth of a crystal flower in the middle of the nothingness.
"The one about ascending. How can someone achieve that?"
"When your mana circuits are all aligned with each other. A moment a servant surpasses the threshold by being at equilibrium with themselves, craving to reach a new hight. It isn't only a growth in a magical aspect of a Heroic Spirit but also mentally."
Getting closer, the girl felt its burnished beauty, spotting the white flame within.
"Hypothetically speaking, do you think I can also ascend?"
"You're not a servant, so I have my doubts. Altough...this world has always some anomalies that flee the rules. So, who knows?"
Touching the transparent crystal, the flower opened up itself for the girl, welcoming her into its blazing embrace.
"Then, can we give it a try?"
"Do you seek that power? Can you handle it?"
Like the flower, the girl would soon bloom once her skin felt the light bathing her body. Mind, soul, body. Everything was in harmony inside of her.
"Absolutely! To become stronger! To protect my brother, Ritsuka and Mash! To get closer to the answers I've been searching! I will..."
"Time to ascend!"
In a second, her blade covered itself up in a bright pure light, a blue aura emanating on the ground below her feet. And as Nala advanced torwards Cú Alter, she could see it.
The crystal flower, the lights of the white flame residing in it. The state of elevation once she touched it.
"I'll do it! I'll trespass the threshold!"
The magic crest on her back begun to shine, taking the format of a circle. Her clothes started to burn, her body being sheeted into a dazzling light.
"Ngh! W-What's happening to Nala?" Mash questioned, having to protect her eyes from the powerful shine.
"I've never seen her doing this before!" Peko exclaimed.
Ritsuka was theorizing what was exactly going on with her. "Is she-"
And the light from Nala grew stronger until it could shine across the entire city and nearby regions. Once it died out, the chaldeans could finally see what happened to their companion.
"The echoes of a regal spring have flourished We shall now witness its opulence."
"Eh? N-Nala?" Looking at the girl, Ritsuka couldn't believe at what he was seeing now.
The girl was now wearing an entire new set of clothes. The old set had been replaced by an elegant and shimmering silver knight's armor. A polished chest plate with minimal designs of small flower branches in it, gauntlents with dark blue gloves sewned to it and glossy greaves with long black socks. From the waist down of the chest plate, a medieval blue and white skirt of silver patterns, still leaving her legs exposed. Her blue ribbon had significally increased its lenght, with some designs of white stars in it. And once Nala opened her eyes, they were no longer brown, but light blue instead.
Nala had done it. The knightly and royal appearence she was exhibiting now was prove it. She had ascended.
"Guardian Armor of The Rosen Garden: Kristallblume!"
"Nala?!" Peko was amazed at his sister's transformation, his eyes not believing in what he was seeing. "I-Is that you?"
"I-It can't be that she, like Cú Alter, has ascended!" Mash exclaimed, also in total awe by her friend's new power revealed.
"It's almost like I was looking to another person!" Ritsuka commented, seeing her majestic and knightly attire that really made her overflow a radiance of a true royal princess.
"You've caused suffering to the ones I hold dear for long enough!" Nala told to Cú Alter as she bathed her sword into glimmering light. "Now, you shall answer for those crimes!" She then faced him with a defiant stare as she dashed torwards him. "A purge awaits you!"
"Keh! Interesting! Do try!" Cú Alter replied, a dark mist envolving his body. "A duel of armors then!"
"The Beast of Crunching Deathtusk: Curruid Coinchenn!"
Having summoned his own grotesque and monstrous armor, Cú Alter himself launched torwards Nala, his giant and menacing red claws ready to tear her small body to shreds.
"For the wish of mine and Medb's empire, die already!" Cú Alter screamed at the top of his lungs.
"End him Nala!" Peko exclaimed, supporting his sister as he felt this exact slash could be the decisive one.
Ritsuka and Mash did the same.
"You got this, Nala!" Mash also exclaimed.
"To all the suffering this country has had!" Ritsuka shouted. "Return it to him ten fold! Nala!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" And within a single swing of her blade, the sword released a devastating enormous slash that traveled in the speed of light, breaking through Cú Alter's claws and slashing deeply his body, cutting everything that was behind him.
This was it! A light that illuminated the path to all their hopes and wills!
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 90!
And what better way to celebrate the 2nd anniversary by releasing the story's largest chapter to date?
Could I have split this one into two smaller ones? Most surely. But I felt that it wouldn't sit right for me to not end this chapter where it ended. Like, I don't know how to explain it quite well. I had the goal of Cú Alter being defeated in this chapter and so I did. I know I could have maybe rushed some things or skipped it entirely but guess I was really devoted into writting this much.
If there will be any future occasion where a chapter with bigger word count than this one exists? Humm, no. I think this one was really a special and very rare occasion. (Hope I don't have to eat those words some months later)
But going into actually what happened in the chapter: Oh yeah baby! Nala got to have her ascension! And that's why I wanted this chapter to be special. The build up of two existing years and 90th chapters culminating into that moment. And about Nala's ascension design, it has a bit inspiration on Saber Lily's design with a mixture of the original Saber while also having elements of its own.
And Peko also got his own moment to shine with the new skill he accquired, which was also about time he got another one. We also got to see Ritsuka being the most leader he has ever been in a fight since ever, giving instructions to his group (And yes, he did hit Cú Alter in that place you were thinking about. You didn't read it wrong)
Overall, it was a symbolic chapter. To show the evolution of the chaldea team overall, not just the story. Seeing how much they've grown so far in comparison to the beggining.
So yeah, this was it for chapter 90! Hope you all enjoyed it! And may come another year of great times experiencing this story with all of you! That's all I wanted to say, and see you next time, on chapter 91 and Pluribus Unum ending! Peace!
P.S:
Murasaki Shikibu: And that's the end! (Closes book) So? Did you enjoyed the story?
Peko and Nala: (Both sleeping)
Murasaki: Looks like this story was too long for them to be read in one sitting.
(Ritsuka and Mash both enter the library)
Ritsuka: Oi, Murasaki! How are Peko and Nala?
Murasaki (Lifts up a finger): Keep it down please.
Mash: They're sleeping?
Murasaki: Yes
Ritsuka: Do you mind if we at least leave this here for when they wake up?
Murasaki (giggles): Not at all.
(Time passes and the siblings are still sleeping. To the table next to them, there is two pieces of cake left by Ritsuka and Mash)
HAPPY 2ND ANNIVERSARY TO FATE VAL GRAND ORDER!
