Hello everyone, and welcome back to the start of chapter 96 of the story! Also, you know what time of the year it is? Time of anticipation for FGO's 9thAnniversary! This time I don't have many predictions to make. Maybe that now Type-Moon and Lasengle won't pull a surprise on us and this time have U Olga-Marie as the anniversary servant (And my stock of copium for a Fate Route remake by Ufotable has been filled again) And if there is a Cinematic Movie to this anniversary as well, to be as good as the one from last year.

Anyways, with all that said, let's start it! (Unless you're too busy playing ZZZ now...)

DISCLAIMER: 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


Octopath Traveler II OST- Empty Memories

"You can't keep up like this."

In the middle of a cold steel and empty dimly lightened room, a fragile and emotionless pink haired girl sat, having become the lonely survivor.

"Your friends will know sooner or later."

There was no other child around in that room. She was the only one remaining from the test experiments. What once begun as a divinsion full of other impassive children like her, had ended with just one.

"And now that we've reached here, there won't be anyway they won't know."

As the girl stared blandly at the ground with her bleak eyes, the door to her big cell opened in front of her, the light from it casting the shadows of the people who controlled the poor young test subject's life.

"Or perhaps they know it already."

"Greetings, Designer Baby #022. I hope you are feeling excellent today. We have another round of experiments we need to try onto you."

A man said, accompanied by others that together approached the empty-minded girl. The daily routine she knew as 'normal' was about to start once again. What plans they had for her, the girl had no idea, as all of this an estatic far-off past to her void mind.

"I can only keep you alive that far."

And she couldn't speak nor oppose to it, unable to think or express for herself, letting the figures handle her as the guinea pig she was conceived to be. The straps holding down her body, the tubes hovering above and around her vision and the syringes piercing through the skin. Whatever was the purpose they were giving it to her or of these experiments, she couldn't think of it. The only thing the girl's mind could tell, its how much it hurted her. How painful and burning undergoing these procedures were. How the man and leader of the group of figures that conducted the operations acted so stoicly and yet eerily gratified with the results.

If the girl would have gained the ability to have a conscious and perception by that time, she would hate every single second of it. She would try to resist to the inhuman experiments made against her whole being. She would hate the people that did this to her. Yet, at that period, the girl was nothing but a partially lifeless artificial human without will or thoughts of her own, unable to defy the person that created her as means to an end.

"At this point, it's better if you just give up."

.

.

.

"..." Mash blinked her eyes twice as her body stood in the middle of a white blank space with no frontiers or horizon in sight. Just a faint figure of a young man in front of her.

"You realize, that you're never going to see the true outside world."

Being drawn by his voice, Mash walked torwards him, his back turned against her. Altough not since the very beggining, this person had been residing dormant within Mash's soul for some good time. She couldn't quite point it when. All that she knew, is that one day, this young man had been within her and has been forever since. Mash was oblivious to his name, his identity and face, as they were not given to her. All that she could gaze of him, was his back, dressed in black armour and purple cape, a short gray hair.

"So why keep going with this?"

Despite never getting the chance of having a proper conversation with him, Mash saw him as not a stranger but a familiar already. This wasn't the first time she was seeing him.

"I think...that maybe I don't want to die yet. Not without making sure everyone else lives first. Is that okay to you?" Mash asked to her resident. She knew that the coma episode she had after their return from the last Singularity left Ritsuka and the others worried-sick with her, much likely rising some questions in their head involving her background. Yet, Mash's heart told it would be the best if she still kept it as a secret, avoiding it while it was still possible to avoid. For now, Mash wanted the young man in front of her to accept her plea.

"Those people, they mean a lot to you?"

"I want to make sure their lives are all happy after I am gone. That they will be able to experience the future that I'll never have the chance to taste. So please, even if my time is near to run out, allow my body to keep going. Just for a while longer." Mash solicited to the young man. Deep down, she had been grateful for the young man's presence inside of her so far, granting Mash to maintain existing. Without him, her life would have departed a long time ago. Now, she was asking to this person whose name she still didn't know about, to give her a couple more months at best, wanting to do everything in her grasp for a joyous outcome to her friends and humanity overall.

"The moment the demi-servant contract was formed at your dying moments, my presence as an Heroic Spirit diminuished drastically, passing all of my abilities, servant traits and Noble Phantasm to you in order to keep you alive. Now all that remains of me is this single fragment fusioned inside you, the essential link between us. Therefore, I do not have the influence to lenghten your life span beyond the one that was already given. It's terminal."

"Then there's really no way..." Despite of the harsh truth that she couldn't avoid for a while longer, Mash still smiled. "But that's okay! You have already gave me a longer life than I anticipated for! That is a huge enough of a blessing for someone like me. If anything, I'll do my best to survive and live the remaining time I have with the people I cherish the most in the best way I can!"

"Knowing your about to die due to the body's conditions shouldn't be a reason to smile. Does the cruelty of the situation forces you to do so?"

"No. I'm not smiling because of the cruelty my existence has been doomed to. I'm smilling because even in this tragic short life I am having, I was able to meet people I hold dear to me." Mash said with honesty, a warm and innocent smile in her lips. "And before I die, I'll figure out your name. I'll figure it out and say:thank you."


"..mmm..."

Mash took of the blanket from the top of her body as she woke up inside a tent, no longer sleeping. Looking around, she saw that the rest of her group still was enjoying their rest. Ritsuka slumbered with his stomach down, hands beneath the pillow and the blanket over his waist. Nala who slept next to him, was in a more sloppy position, an arm and feet lying on Ritsuka's back as her blanket was in a total mess. Peko, on the other hand, was sleeping quietly and comfortably, with his body remaining quiet and still, having Fou also sleeping on top of his body. That was before Nala unconsciously would pull his blanket over to her body and Peko, also unconsciously, would pull back the blanket to his body.

Mash giggled a bit at the sight. "If I had a camera right now with me..." The shielder ended up leaving the tent that had been set by the chaldeans themselves in order to stay over the night as their stop on the way to the Holy City, located in the middle of the dry wastelands they ended up arriving by the end of the day. Everything was truly decimated, with no sign of fauna or flora to be seen. A real dead territory that was unhabitable to anybody. A demonstration of the grim and desolated consequences of Solomon's power.

It was still a fitting enough area for Mash to reflect alone her own thoughts in silence. She sat down and gazed at the environment in front of her, thinking about the conversation she had just now. Deep down she knew what he told her was right. Mash couldn't keep avoiding the topic about her own health. "..."

"Decided to do patrol work all of a sudden?" Da Vinci speaked, appearing behind Mash, walking torwards her.

"D-Da Vinci-san? What are you doing here outside?" Mash asked the italian inventor, surprised by her presence.

"Was checking the things on the vehicle as well as trying to enter in contact with Romani. Now that we are no longer in the desert, the magical density should be lower, increasing the chances of finally establishing communications with Chaldea." Da Vinci told Mash what she was doing, sighing. "All the same so far unfortunately. And what about you? What made you hop off the bed this late at night? A nightmare?"

"...Taking some fresh air." Mash replied, the reason being somewhat true.

"With all those hot winds that were hitting us in the desert, I don't blame you. The temperature feels slightly more tolerable." Da Vinci sat next to Mash. "Altough that's probably the only good thing in this awful place. Funny how those kilometers of sand look like a more lively territory when compared to this."

"Yeah. To think Solomon's Incineration of Humanity would even reach here. But I thought only the current-time world was burned to ashes. Singularities are supposed to be isolated time pockets from the rest of the human history timeline, so how was it possible for the Incineration to be here?" Mash questioned, believing that the Incineration of Humanity had only striked their present world, with any period of the past remaining the same.

"Hmm, if I had to bet my money on it, I'd say its because of the unstability of this Singularity's Foundation of Humanity." Da Vinci theorized. "If we take into account what Ozymandias told us about the crusaders and their destruction alongside the Holy Land and its new replacement as well as occupiers, then the irregularities this time have become serious and big enough to start altering the historic events of this era to the point outer forces can also influence it. I suppose that is why Ozymandias does not uses the grail nor wish to help us, as this Singularity's ruin is not dependent of the Holy Grail's usage."

"So simply getting the grail now won't matter as this whole region will still crumble nontheless." Mash replied, expressing the conclusion she got out of Da Vinci's theory.

"Indeed. That is why we were sent to deal with this Lion King first. Whoever they are, its clear that they must be connected to the main problem here." Da Vinci said, staring to the scenario of dry land and mountains, full of nothing but small flames. "This is what a world with no future looks like. The extermination Solomon seeks."

"How cruel of him. Solomon hates humans but his destruction also does not spare the other species." Mash lamented, seeing how this wasteland probably used to be the habitat of innocent animals and plants. "I can understand why he may dislike humanity...but to a point where he seeks its eradication, annihilating other creatures as collateral damage. Can he not see the beautiful and good that there is within this world?"

"Some people are like that, Mash. The negative aspects of a thing will always outstand for them rather than the positive ones." Da Vinci told her, trying to explain and understand the reason behind Solomon's hatred for mankind. "Solomon was a wise king, so he must have left his wisdom to the people when he died, hoping that civilization could benefit from his legacy. However, the results probably weren't the ones he was looking for, having disgusted him and altered his entire perception of the human race. Perhaps his dissapointment with humanity was so big that he simply couldn't accept he was part of the same species during his life. This Incineration of Humanity of his, might be Solomon's way to get the perfect humanity he wanted to envision instead of the ugly one."

"Does Da Vinci-san find humanity ugly?" Mash asked to the italian inventor.

"Hmm, well, see it as a double-edged sword. Humanity did a lot of splendid things and great achivements, both with and without magic. The fact humans managed to become the most intelligent and populous of the common species throughout eons of evolution, knowledge and experience is a feat no short of praise to how far we've reached, having started from the bottom. However, as much good we humans can do, we are imperfect and possess the capability of doing cruel, ugly things. Wicked actions that can go beyond reasoning and morals. In the end, its impossible to objectively define humanity collectively as a single thing due to the different characteristics of many individuals. A person surrounded by good people and good moments will say that the world is beautiful, while a person surrounded by bad people and tragedies will say the world is ugly."

"And what do you think of it personally?" Mash asked again the same question to Da Vinci.

"For my part, personally, I see the world as being both beautiful and ugly." Da Vinci answered, looking to the stars in the sky. "As an artist there are beautiful things I find in the ugly, and ugly things I find in the beautiful. And is up to each one of us to perceive that as a bad or good thing, the responses varying greatly. The way I see it Mash, humanity and this world is all but different shades of grey. And what about you Mash? How would you describe this world and humanity?"

Mash spent some seconds thinking about it. That was a good question that required some time. And after giving some thought, she answered. "For my part, I think that I still don't have the ideal answer to give. And maybe my short life barricades me from possibly finding one. But from all the experiences I've been through so far, and how much humans can be cruel and compassionate, their emotions ranging, I too believe in Da Vinci-san's view that humanity can be a beautiful grey ugliness. Altough, the company of my companions may tilt me to see this world with more benign eyes."

Da Vinci liked hearing Mash's opinion on that. "You have grown very much, Mash. Romani did a good job."

"I only wished that my life could be a full experience so that I could better explore the world. The one from our time." Mash replied, putting a hand in her chest, feeling her own heart beating, knowing that very soon in the near future, it would come to a stop.

Sensing Mash's bitter sadness, Da Vinci advised the shielder to do the following. "You're going to have to tell them. Keeping secret at this point won't do you no good."

"I've already considered it." Mash admitted, putting both hands on her own shoulders, lowering her hand, afraid. "But...the consequences of how they might receive it and start think of me from that point forward...It scares me. That having this secret hidden from them for so long from them will deteriorate the way they perceive me as a team member. As a friend."

Da Vinci however thought otherwise. "That's how you will know if they are your true friends or not. Because if they still accept and forgive you even with the truth, then that means you will forever be their friend."

Mash inspected Da Vinci's words for a bit. Maybe she was right. Maybe Mash was concerning over nothing, paranoid with it. "I guess that-"

"Mash? Da Vinci? What are both of you doing here?" Ritsuka appeared suddenly, walking torwards the two as he had exited the tent.

"S-Senp-I mean, master? You're awake?" Mash asked him, not expecting to see Ritsuka up so early.

"I am now. I think the alarm clock in my brain decided to go off sooner this time." Ritsuka replied with a smile, staring at both Da Vinci and Mash. "What were you two talking about?"

"About our trajectory to the Holy City. From here, we must be some good hundred kilometers of distance from there. With that in mind, I predict our arrival tomorrow." Da Vinci informed, having made calculations about the time it would take them to reach their destination.

Ritsuka started to rub his hands. "Really? Then I suppose until there someone is going to have to be the dri-"

"It won't be you. Leave the role of the driver to me, Fujimaru." Da Vinci cut him short.

Ritsuka was in shock and dissapointed. "E-Eh?! But why?"

"Do I need to explain? You and Peko are too reckless!" Da Vinci said the motive.

"But that was just the first time! I was only testing the car out!" Ritsuka argued back, begging. "I swear I can actually drive decently! Please give me a chance Da Vinci!"

Da Vinci gave a look to the side, giving it some consideration. "Hmmm..."

"So?" Ritsuka smile, his eyes and smile hopeful.

"No." Da Vinci replied, crushing Ritsuka's ambitions to drive the vehicle again.

"Why do you have to tear apart the dreams of a young man like that?" Ritsuka cried abudantly.

Mash laughed a bit. "Better luck next time, master. I'm sure you'll become a competent driver one day."

"The very best!" Ritsuka joked a bit, standing next to his servant. "But ufff, if that dinner Peko made for us wasn't delicious!" He said, rubbing his satisfied belly for a bit.

Mash opinion on that was the same. "Who knew he could be a good cook, right? It was enough to kill my hunger for the whole night."

"And I would've gotten more if Nala hadn't decided to anticipate and eat the whole thing first!" Ritsuka laughed, remembering that.

Mash was the same. "The face Peko made when she demanded more food was quite hilarious as well! It was quite an animated dinner despite being in the middle of a wasteland."

"Guess things becomes more bearable when you are alongside someone else. Even in the worst places." Ritsuka said, sitting next to her.

"Yeah. This desolated view doesn't seem so dreadful when you have people to make you laugh." Mash added, she and Ritsuka standing next to each other silently as they both happily remembered of tonight's dinner, a minute passing by. Mash then decided to break the silence. "Hey, master..."

"Hm? Wanna say something Mash?" Ritsuka asked her.

"I noticed lately that there may be something wrong with Nala, master." Mash said. "I don't know how to explain but...there's something off with her. Mostly when I talk to her or she looks at me." She explained, some guilt in her voice. "Do you think I did something she didn't liked?"

Having very much the true answer for why Nala had been acting a bit cold with Mash as of late, Ritsuka choosed to not reveal to the shielder what he, Nala and Peko already knew about her. "I'd say it's nothing really. Maybe she's just upset with all the desert we had to travel through."

"Hm? You think?" Mash replied, not being so sure about it.

"Completely! I mean, no one likes getting a hot sun burning down on their necks and sand entering the clothes and specially the boots. Not even I like it, Mash. It makes me hate the sand!" Ritsuka said with full conviction in attempt to make Mash believe in what he was saying.

"D-Do you have to hate it that strongly?" Mash was taken aback a bit, smilling a bit nervously.

"I'm sure Nala shares the same feeling. Hence why she's seemingly upset and moody sometimes now. So I guarantee it has nothing to do with you, Mash." Ritsuka concluded, hoping that it was convincing enough for Mash while Da Vinci stood behind her and did some signals torwards Ritsuka, indicating that wasn't a very good lie.

"Oh. So that's why." Mash said, moving her head as she smiled. "In that case, I think there's nothing to worry about. Also, can I make you another question, master?"

"Sure. Anything that makes time move." Ritsuka replied, giving permission to Mash for a second answer.

"Am I a good and reliable kouhai?" Mash asked a bit embaressedly, her cheeks blushing a bit while staring to the side.

The question was so out of the left field that Ritsuka ended up blushing way more than her. "A-A-A g-good kouhai?! Did you randomly thin-" Recomposing himself, Ritsuka coughed a bit as he gave a more natural response. "The most reliable kouhai I ever had!"

"Then..." Mash mustered the courage to stare at Ritsuka. "Would you wish this kouhai to still accompany you after the end of our mission and everything is resolved?"

"..." This felt like an important one for Ritsuka. Not only for him but to Mash as well. He could tell the shielder's intentions behind that question. What her mind was probably thinking. And so, Ritsuka gave her some comforting answer. "It would be an ideal future. To have you and the others by my side for a long time." He smiled gently to Mash, altough the tone is voice had some dejection to it.

"I too would love for that future to happen. To be in it." Mash smiled back to Ritsuka. "With you being the greatest Senpai I've ever had!"

Ritsuka's smile faltered for a moment before coming back. "Then..." A tight pain grew on his chest as Ritsuka did his best to hold off the sorrow from taking his body while getting up from the ground, not wanting Mash to notice it. The stars slowly begun to fade away as the first rays of morning sun's light was starting to turn the sky into softer tones of blue. "Let's make sure that's the future both of us see!"

Impressed with the declaration, Mash show a little smile to her master and nodded her head, desiring deep in her heart such scenario could happen despite being impossible. "Understood, master."

Da Vinci couldn't help but smile as well before noticing someone else exiting the tent. "Come to join us as well?"

It was Fou. "Fou? Fou fou!"

"Looks like you too woke up from your sleep Fou. Good morning to you." Mash got up, walking torwards the animal.

As Ritsuka saw the shielder walk torwards Fou and watch her smile and face, he couldn't help but have his head ring the words about Mash's fate inside his mind. He didn't want that to be her end. He couldn't let such friendly and pure person like Mash have a short life where she never got to experience the real world. The impulses of his thougts got the best of him and the master of humanity ended up whispering these words:

"Please, don't go away Mash."

"Hm? Did you said something, master?" Mash turned around, thinking she hear Ritsuka say something.

"N-Nothing." Ritsuka told her, disguising his concern with another smile. "I think you're just imagine things, Mash." He said, chuckling a bit as he saw Mash let him be and walk torwards Fou.

"I don't blame that lie. It's hard dealing with a situation we can't do nothing about it." Da Vinci approached Ritsuka, understanding his best effort to act okay with Mash.

"But I wish there was..." Ritsuka mumbled, not wanting to think more of that topic for now. "How are the communications with doctor by the way?"

"Still no contact but trying my best." Da Vinci replied. "Romani must also be in a lot of stress and overwork in trying to establish contact with us for this past day." She smiled and giggled a bit, crossing her arms. "You know, ever since the accident before the beggining of Chaldea's mission to Singularity F that costed sixty casualties of our staff, Romani has been working tiredlessly with almost no brakes in order to keep Chaldea operational, feeling in a lot of jobs and tasks of staff members that died in the explosion. He checks Chaldea's systems, battery and even your own well being as well as of the entire group, Fujimaru. All of this with little to no sleep." Da Vinci told him, stating how incredibly Romani handled the overwork. "I wonder how he even manages to do it."

"He still had a hand on Mash's experiments." Ritsuka replied, with the truth being told about Mash, the master of humanity unable to not question how the doctor had the audacity to partake in such cruel tests alongside the previous director in Mash's earlier life stages. "He could have stood up against the director, couldn't he? Yet he choosed to be a complicit in torturing Mash...!" He tightened his fist, some anger sparking inside of him. "Why he didn't do nothing to stop it?

"I understand how you feel about that, Fujimaru. I really do as I also condemned his and the previous director's illegal experiments the moment I got summoned to Chaldea as their third Heroic Spirit." Da Vinci sympathized with Ritsuka's feeling of indignation torwards Romani. "However, I remind you that he is far from being a bad person because of that. If there is a thing Romani regrets to this day, is not having mustered courage enough to confront the previous director about the experiments. I'm sure there isn't a single day where he wished he could have done things differently and protected Mash from all that pain. So please, don't hate on him like that."

"I...don't hate doc." Ritsuka replied, having calmed down. "But it was a thing I never expected from him."

"Even good people tend to do awful things, Fujimaru." Da Vinci told him. "His hands at that time were much likely tied to do anything against the director." She justified it as the way of Romani being incapable to change things about Mash's experiment before picking up on another topic that she remembered during the conversation just now. "And speaking about tests and experiments, there is something I need to tell you about Na-"

"Looks like everyone is already up! And before the sunrise as well!"

"Then we weren't the only ones who's brains decided to wake up early today."

From the tent, both Peko and Nala walked out of it, being the last ones to awaken from the party.

"Good morning guys! Is morning coffee made already?" Peko greeted the group.

" Good mooooooooooorning!" Nala yawned, rubbing one of her eyes. "It ain't even morning properly yet and I already woke up. Life really isn't fair."

"Peko! Nala! Good morning! Hope you've slept well!" Mash greeted the two siblings, holding Fou in her arms.

"We sure did! And you?" Peko replied, asking back.

"Splendidly rested!" Ritsuka told to the boy, with a big shinny smile on his face. "And now that you're awake, can you do something for us?"

"What is it?" Peko asked.

"Can you do breakfast for us?" Ritsuka maintained his smile while saying that, much to Peko's distress.

"I-I just woke up now and you want me to do breakfast for all of you!? Wasn't the dinner yesterday enough?!" He protested, justifyingly upset.

"I wouldn't mind if you did..." Nala whispered behind her brother.

"That's out of question!" Peko replied back, not having yet the energy or will for that.

"C'mon now. You know that we have food given to us by Ozymandias and Nitocris." Da Vinci pointed, walking torwards them. "We can eat those instead. There's no need to cook a breakfast."

"I fully agree!" Peko said, nodding his head while crossing his arms.

"Then let's set a table for it instead." Mash proposed.

And so the chaldeans spent some minutes setting up the table and chairs before taking out some food from the vehicle's storage and bring it to their plates, beggining to eat their breakfasts as the sun had barely shown up from behind the mountains.

"Now that we are all here, I want to discuss something with you." Da Vinci told them while they were eating.

"Want is it this time?" Nala asked the italian inventor.

"About that servant, Lucius. Was it just me or he didn't seemed strange to any of you as well?" Da Vinci expressed her suspicions about the knight with the silver steel arm they encountered yesterday.

"Now that you speak of it..." Ritsuka put a finger on his chin, remembering of Lucius behaviour around them. "He did sound a bit mysterious."

"I noticed that too. The way he didn't want to tell us his Noble Phantasm was strange." Peko commented on that aspect. "And the way he looked at you Mash. It's as if he already knew you from somewhere."

"Indeed. And I'm not sure why so." Mash replied, thinking back on the way Lucius viewed her while rubbing her forhead. "I too feel that his face isn't of a stranger to me altough I swear I never have seen him before."

"And that's not the only thing wierd about him. His name also strikes me as being off." Da Vinci went to the next factor of her suspicions.

"How so?" Ritsuka asked her.

"He says his name is Lucius. And linking that name to historical figures, then his True Name could be that of a roman emperor, Lucius Aurelius Verus. But why exactly would a roman emperor who was mostly known for being Marcus Aurelius adopted brother and co-governor, having achieved nothing of worth on his own, be here?" Da Vinci deduced Lucius 'true' identity, finding wierd what a roman emperor with little history impact be summoned to this Singularity.

"Plus that he doesn't have quite the proper appearence of a proper roman emperor." Nala pointed out Lucius looks and how it contrasted to what was supposedly the servant's identity.

"Right. The armour he wears looks nothing alike to that of a roman emperor from the 2nd century." Da Vinci replied, further sharing more her deductions. "Plus, there's one more thing that doesn't add up."

"Which is?" Mash asked.

"During our fight in the desert against those creatures, I was able to hear the name of his Noble Phantasm: Airgetlám." Da Vinci revealed. "The Divine Construct of the a mythical celtic god of war, Nuadha, known for having a silver arm forged for him after having lost his original one in battle, dubbing it Airgetlám."

"Then Lucius is actually that celtic god?" Peko thought, having come to that conclusion with Da Vinci's revelation.

"He isn't." Da Vinci shut down that hypothesis. "Altough 'Lucius' might have a silver steel arm called Airgetlám, his Noble Phantasm must be a replica from the actual one that belongs to Nuadha. It might not be as powerful as the real deal, but its up close if it managed to defeat that almost divine sphynx of Nitocris." She thought even more on the steel arm. "Which makes me question how exactly did he managed to get a replica of Airgetlám?"

"And question even more who actually is he." Mash added, the mystery to Lucius identity having no achievable answer for now.

And as they stood around the table, thinking about it, Peko's ears detected something in the distance.

"f...food..."

"Hm?!" Peko got up from his seat out of nowhere, surprising the others.

"Peko?!" Mash reacted.

"What's wrong?" Ritsuka asked him.

"I hear someone!" Peko replied instantly.

Nala looked at him confused. "Huh? Someo-"

"need...food..."

Nala also got up immediatly from the table. "I hear it too!"

"Fou?"

"Where is it coming from then?" Da Vinci asked the twins, also getting up from her seat alongside Ritsuka and Mash.

"Over there!" Peko spotted some figures walking in the distance, pointing torwards the small group.

The party wasted no time in approaching to see what it was. Once they were close enough, they saw it clearly what this group was. Corrupted and putrid humans, looking sick and dirty. Their skin dry and rottened, stenched with a bit of a black substance on their bodies. Awfully skinny and famint, looking more like half-zombies rather than proper humans, their clothes covered in dust and all tattered.

"What happened to them?" Mash asked, appalled by these people decaying appearence.

"I don't know, but they seem to have been through a lot." Ritsuka said, approaching the closest one of the bunch. "Hey, are you okay. Need any help?"

"...f...ood...wa...ter..."

Peko and Nala took a step back, instinctively feeling something wasn't right about these people apart from their awful looks.

"Sorry. I didn't quite hear it. Have you been attacked?" Ritsuka took a step closer, his good heart seeing people in dire need for aid. "If so, then do tell us what's-"

"Ritsuka! Watch out!" Peko yelled as he summoned his sword in a second and jumped forward, preventing his friend getting attacked from a hidden dagger that the rotting human pulled on him. Nala also acted at the same time, slashing the 'human' down with her sword.

"These things aren't human!" Nala exclaimed as she stood next to Peko and Ritsuka, with Mash and Da Vinci joining them and summoning their weapons as well.

"Then what are they?" Mash questioned.

"Something else..." Peko said with some dread as he felt a tenebrous force inside the rottened humans. A darkened soul, fully tainted of rage, hate, despair. A cesspool of negativity and evil. Ugly and imperfect creatures, full of sin.

"F...Food..! G...ive...us...FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

The dark substance that eated away their bodies eventually took over them, mutating the raging humans into ghoul like creatures, if not outright demonic.

"Something else that is no longer human!" Peko exclaimed as he and the group saw the humans transform into fully pitch-black demons with vibrant red blood teeths and unnatural claws, shadow horns frowing from their heads and spikes from their bodies as their veins became visible and purple.

"These things! I think we have seen some kind of variant of them somewhere!" Da Vinci said, the appearence of the newly transformed demons feeling familiar to her.

"We can think about that later! For now, let's finish them off!" Mash replied, pulling up her shield. "Master! Orders!"

"Put them out of their misery!" Ritsuka replied as the group begun to attack the demons that were once humans.

Having been put some effort into defeating them, the battle was over, having lasted some good seven or eight minutes, with Peko and Nala's light attacks having been the natural weakness for those demons, as well as having wear out the twins a bit in the process.

"That...must have been the last one." Peko said, panting a bit exhausted. Looks like somethings still couldn't change.

"Tsk! These type of demon shadow creatures have to go to wherever we go?" Nala speaked, cleaning some sweat from her face.

"Here! Have some!" Ritsuka immediatly casted a healing spell on the group, but mainly on Peko and Nala, recovering their lost energy.

"Appreciate it Ritsuka." Peko thanked his friend.

"Fou fou!"

"Hum?" Nala looked to the side, spotting Fou pointing and making sounds at something. A fallen and moribund human demon.

"Gh...gghg...f...food..."

"Looks like one is still breathing." Da Vinci said, noticing the remaining enemy as well, its legs having been sliced.

"Food...please...bring me...food..."

Unlike the rest, this one still had a last remnant of sanity inside them, struggling and begging to eat and drink amidst the distorted demonic voice. It was a sad view to see. And the group couldn't help but feel pity at the doomed human whose soul had been lost to the dark corruption.

"What should we do with it?" Peko asked, not sure if he was okay killing the enemy in that state.

"We have to finish off. Can't take the risk of recovering and getting back up to attack us again." Da Vinci told, stating what was the most reasonable according to her altough it might sound cruel.

Ritsuka however was against it. "No. We should give it some of our food." He said, not supporting to see much pain and misery in the dying demonic human.

"We shouldn't do that." Da Vinci argued. "It is already suffering enough and dying so there is no pointing in giving food. Best we could do is finish things for it quick. Sorry, but I oppose it."

"Then I'm in favor we give it some food!" Peko said, taking Ritsuka's side in this. "Dying or not, this thing was also a human. We should at least allow it to die with some happiness even if small!"

"I too am of the opinion we should let it eat a bit!" Nala also speaked out, being in favour of the enemy having something to eat.

And Mash didn't took long to also take her side. "Same. If there is something we can do to diminuish the suffering of this person, then we should do it."

Seeing that she was massively outvoted, Da Vinci just sighed, smilling however. "Looks like I'm the unpopular opinion here. Very well. Feed it if you want." She said, letting the rest of the team give some food to the dying enemy.

"Here." Ritsuka lay down a dish in front of the demonic human who first sniff the scent of the food before starting to devour it ravishly.

"Good..! Good..! Good! Good! Good! Good! This is good!"

The demon who was once human teared up and cried as it eat the dish greedly, putting an end to what it must have been an endless hunger inside the stomach.

"Thank you! Thank you thank you so much!"

"Glad you enjoyed it. Now you can depart with some peace." Ritsuka told them.

"What exaclty happened to you? How did your group turned into those monsters?" Peko asked to the demonic creature.

"The Blight..."

"The Blight?!" Ritsuka exclaimed.

"What Ozymandias and Nitocris warned us about." Da Vinci reminded. "The dark substance supposedly approaching the Holy City."

"So this is what happens when someone is catched by it." Nala gave a look at the demonic human. "The effects really do look more terryfying than I imagined."

"Holy City..."

"Hm? Do you know something about the Holy City?" Mash asked to the demonic human.

"Yes...Forth to east...Lion King...murderer of crusaders...who sought the world's end..."

"Any tip to how we can enter there?" Nala asked as the demonic human was now fading away, the dark body desintegrating.

"Do not enter...Holy City is...a beauty with ugliness inside...Avoid...if you desire to live..."

The demonic human warned them as it dissapeared, no longer being chained to the suffering of this world. The group stared in silent to the place the enemy once was, thinking deeply what that warning could possibly mean.

Da Vinci then looked to the side as he saw Peko doing something. "Hm? Why are you praying Peko?"

Everyone else turned around and stare to Peko, who was with both his hands close to one another, in a similar position of a prayer.

Slowly opening his eyes, the boy saw hiw own hands. "Hm? What? I was..." Looking to have made it involuntarily and being confused, Peko unmade the prayer and put his hands back to normal. "H-How did I..."

"You were praying that they could have a peaceful rest, didn't you?" Ritsuka told, feeling that was the motive behind Peko's prayer.

"I...I don't know. I think I did it more by pure instinct simply." Peko said, feeling puzzled while scratching the back of his head. "Like, I felt it was a nice way to wish someone a safe travel back home...or to wherever they're going." He said, lifting up his head and looking to the sky. "I don't really know why I did that."

"Must have been the feeling of the moment itself." Nala said casually, not giving it much thought.

"Perhaps." Peko replied.

"Either way, I find it loving how you prayed for someone's farewell. That's very kind of you, Peko." Mash complimented Peko's action.

"I-I suppose so." Peko smiled a bit shyly.

"But the warning the enemy left didn't sound too inviting." Da Vinci brought up the main topic. "This Holy City must be a dangerous p-"

"Hello? Hello? Are you lesting? Copy? Copy?"

Some static noise filled the air and catched their attention as finally, after a whole entire day, Romani was able to enter in contact with them. "Is anybody there?"

"Doctor! You're back!" Peko exclaimed.

"About time!" Nala added.

"We were already wondering if we had to do this whole Singularity without having you around." Ritsuka told him.

"Not even in your best dreams Fujimaru." Romani replied back to him. "But now, without joking, I'm glad to see you fine. Trying to calibrate the communication and systems and establish a stable contact with you that managed to surpass the Singularity's barrier was ta long hurdle you can't even imagine."

"Well, we certainly wouldn't be fine as you rayshifted us to a place that almost killed us." Da Vinci scoled him, still remembering of them landing in the middle of the sandstorm and having to escape and fend off a giant sandworm.

"Ehehe, sorry about that. It was hard to set the Rayshift on this Singularity, with the bridge between Chaldea and this era being unsteady. The Rayshift could have collapsed and lost the connection if we spent time on trying to find a more suitable location to land you in. Hence why the moment the Rayshift was prepared, we would send you to wherever location it had been set in." Romani apologized, explaining why the group was rayshifted to the sandstorm.

"That could have gone terribly wrong." Ritsuka told him.

"But it didn't, did it?" Romani replied with a clumsy smile.

"That was still reckless from your part doctor. You should have warned us!" Mash rebuked him.

"Yeah. You're right Mash. Where was my professionalism? I let myself commit this mistake." Romani said, lots of tears running down his eyes before he composed himself. "But going for other things. What you've discovered about this Singularity so far?"

"Where do we even start?" Nala said, the group having experience quite a handful of things in this Singularity already.

And so the entire party explained to Romani all the events that happened to them yesterday when they landed on the desert. The fight with the phantasmal Olgoi-Khorkhoi, their encounter with the a group of assassins, Nitocris, Lucius, Ozymandias and his deser kingdom as the Sun King, the fact about Jerusalem existing no more, with a Holy City taking its place, being ruled by someone called the Lion King, and lastly the group of rottened humans that transformed into demons that they found in this wasteland.

"Holy hell! That is quite a lot of information! So that means the Holy Land truly is no more?" Romani asked, making sure what he heard was right.

"By what everyone we encountered says, pretty much." Peko replied.

"I see..." Romani said, letting leaning on the back of his chair, sighing while putting his hands on the head. "Good god, this entire Singularity really is on a whole new level of its own problems! I knew it could be bad but JESUS! This is way beyond bad!"

"And if we wanna solve this whole mess, Ozymandias told us to first go to the Holy City and defeat this Lion King person, as it seems he's the one being the core problem here alongside his kingdom." Mash said to Romani.

"Lion King...hummm." Romani went to think a bit as he heard that name again.

"Any idea of who it might be?" Ritsuka asked the doctor, thinking Romani had a guess.

"I do have one. During the crusades, there was this king from England called Richard the Lionheart, being one of the main figures of the Third Crusade. I'd bet that the title of 'Lion King' has to be an alias to him." He started to theorize. "Possibly, he was summoned here and helping the crusaders, they have conquered the Holy Land and then decided to repla-"

"The crusaders have also bitted the dust alongside Jerusalem. Forgot to tell you that detail." Ritsuka corrected Romani before he could go further in his assumption.

"What?" Romani was shocked.

"Yeah. The Lion King was the one who obliterated them from what we've heard." Nala revealed to the doctor.

"So that means there will be no Saladin or Baldwin IV summoned here?" Romani said, distraught.

"Nope." Da Vinci replied shortly.

"Dang it!" Romani said like a heartbroken fanboy. "If the crusaders are gone and the Lion King was the one who did, then it couldn't have been Richard Lionheart. Which means, who evenl is this Lion King that now sits at the throne of the place that was once the Holy Land?"

"Beats me." Nala responded.

And before they could continue on that discussion, Romani caught something on his monitor. "Hold up guys! Guess the guessing game will have to wait as I have detected a strong signal some few kilometers away from you! It's a...Heroic Spirit!"

"A servant nearby?" Mash asked, surprised.

"You think it's us bumping into 'Lucius' again?" Peko wondered.

"Hmm, my money is on someone new. Like...Lawrence of Arabia!" Ritsuka took his guess.

"Only way to know is going there!" Da Vinci said as she headed to the vehicle. "Let's see who is it!"


Riding the buggey car through some distance on the wasteland, the chaldeans were progressively getting closer to the signal of the Heroic Spirit.

"How long until we reach to the signal?" Da Vinci asked to Romani who was checking on his computer.

"I'd say you're about to reach-"

But the doctor was cut short as a huge explosion appeared a few hundred meters ahead of them.

"Guess it's just up ahead." Ritsuka said.

"This explosion...what is happening there?" Peko questioned, seeing the cloud of dust go up in the air.

"Better approach it carefully." Da Vinci said, opting to stop the car before advancing. "Get out. Let's see what's going on."

Walking on foot now, the chaldeans approached the location of the explosion, starting to hear some noises.

"Looks like someone's fighting." Nala said in a low voice as they saw the curtain of smoke fade away, allowing to see what was happening some good seventy meters ahead of them.

"...C-Crap...!"

In the middle of the area, a skull mask woman, with a purple hair tied into a side pony tail was gasping on the ground, her body tired and damaged.

"It's one of those from the assassin tribe!" Mash said, keeping her voice down.

"It doesn't look like to be the one we fought yesterday." Peko commented, seeing that this assassin looked different from Hundred Personas, another assassin with the skull mask.

"It's sad."

"Eh?"

"So sad. Such a sad, sad situation." Standing in front of the assassin, a man with long red hair, white cape and white knight armour stood, wielding a bow in his left arm. "So much effort to escape. So much blood and mana wasted vainlessly. It is horrendous how being at the brink of despair makes a person act so foolishly."

"Who is that guy?" Nala asked, staring at the knight.

"The Heroic Spirit whose signal my monitors were showing." Romani replied, revealing the knight to be the source of the signal he had detected.

"S-Shut up..!" The assassin woman said to the knight, her body aching as she got up. Behind her, there was a group of at least forty people, all scared and apprehensive. She was seemingly protecting them.

"That was an advise. People who know they have nowhere to run give up and accept the consequences. And yours for having assisted and led those refugees to flee our Holy City shall arrive in the form of my swift arrow." The knight, Tristan, said in a serious tone while maintaining a calm expression. "Same fate goes for them."

"Tsk! Bastard...!" The assassin woman hissed as the group of refugees behind her let out all sounds of fear and concern for their own safety.

"He plans to kill all those people?!" Mash said in shock.

"Not if we have a say in it!" Ritsuka said, about to exit from their hidden spot and interfere in the fight.

Nala was about to do the same. "Right behind you!"

However, Da Vinci grabbed both of them before they could move from their places. "Wait you two! Don't do it!"

"Eh?! Why not?" Ritsuka looked at her, baffled.

"We aren't going to just let those people die!" Nala exclaimed, trying to break from Da Vinci's grasp.

"I know, I know! But that archer over there..." Da Vinci eyed to Tristan, the bow on his hand. "There's something in him that makes him a more dangerous servant than the ones you fought previously."

"What?! That's nonsense!" Nala replied back. "Even if he's strong, I can summon my own armour to kick his ass!"

"It isn't that simple! Believe me when I say this servant isn't like the other ones! If you decide to fight him, he'll likely kill some of us with ease! Better avoid conflict for now!" Da Vinci warned and insisted Nala to stay back and not help. "I know it hurts having to just watch and do nothing, but we have to do that this time!"

Nala wasn't giving her ears. There was no way she would watch innocent people dying without doing anything. "But they-"

"Nala, listen to Da Vinci!" Ritsuka ordered her, interrupting the girl.

Nala stared at him with some slight shock. "Ritsuka?!"

"Let's stay here and wait until they go away." Ritsuka told her, a bit of pain coming with that order. He also didn't want to stand by and watch innocent lives being possible lost. But he knew it would be better for them if they followed Da Vinci's advise. "I'm sorry..."

"..." Reluctantly, Nala stopped her stuborness and decided to not advance, with now the group watching how this conflict would unfold.

Mash and Peko also didn't felt uncomfortable with it, but they understood Da Vinci's point.

"Holy City? Is he one of the knights from there?" Peko said, having heard Tristan speak of the Holy City.

"Now, for having caused a transgression to our king and his cause, thy lives will all be scraped from your bodies." Tristan announced, about to prepare his bow. "Weep and lament as much as you want, I shall carry out the sentence anywa-"

"Wait! Spare them!" The assassin woman immediatly begged, causing Tristan to stop for a moment.

"Hm?"

"You...You can kill me, alright? These people are harmless innocents! They are leaving in fear with all of this! Such defenseless people won't pose a threat to you and your king! It's me and my kin who you are after! So let them go and have me instead!" The assassin woman implored for Tristan to let the refugees go, offering her own life to the knight in return.

"I deny it. As one of His Majesty knights, I was tasked with persuing and dealing with anyone who would try to escape our kingdom's domain, proving their heresy in the face of our king's wishes." Tristan refused the deal the assassin woman proposed to him, having long promised to carry out any order of the Lion King. "I simply cannot come back and look at my king in the face while saying that I did not fulfill his orders because of a poignant pity, can I?"

"Then...how about this? You can go after the refugees, however, you're going to give them a full day of advance!" The assassin woman told him, looking at the sun about to rise from behind the mountains. "From until the sunrise to the moment the sun goes back to set down, you will stay here and allow them to run away. After that...you are free to chase them again."

"Eh, what a disparity. You think in earnest that I will seriously agree to such ludicrous deal? What are even the chances that if I do what you just say, you will take advantage of my immobilization to cut me down while the refugees escape?" Tristan did not bought the proposal the assassin woman offered him, thinking of it as a very obvious trap to fall in.

"I will take my own life in front of you then! To prove...that I'm not setting you up." The assassin woman exclaimed, stating she was going to suicide in front of Tristan as a way to assure the knight she wasn't trying to trick him.

"She's really going to do that?" Mash commented, watching the situation with the rest of the team.

"If she wants to make sure that the refugees get out of here alive, she has no other choice." Da Vinci replied. "It's all up to the knight's answer."

"I...Hassan of the Intoxicated Smoke give you my word!...I know that the word of an assassin doesn't hold as much value as that of a knight like you...but it's my promise! And as I take my own life...you will not move your arms or legs...letting the refugees escape you for a whole day as part of the deal..." The assassin, Hassan of the Intoxicating Smoke, swore to Tristan, having no second intentions.

"..." The knight just observed her, silently, with nothing to say.

"You're a knight, aren't you? I assume that people like you at least have chivalry as a common thing amongst you!...So you yourself definetly comprehends the importance of a code like that...So please, I beg you, accept this deal..!"

"..." Tristan remained silent and overall inexpressive, not moving any inch of his body, the fingers having freezed near his bow.

Seeing that as the deal being accepted, Intoxicating Smoke didn't waste time and fulfill her part of the bargain, piercing her own neck with her bare hands. "Kgkkhg!...Ghgh...All of you...run!" She looked back to the group of refugees and ordered them to leave. "Go to one of our villages in the east and seek refuge with the Hassan of that village, Cursed Arm..!"

Being told to run, the group of refugees didn't hesitate and started to flee away from the local after hearing Intoxicating Smoke instructions.

"They're escaping." Peko said, the heart beating inside him having diminuished as it looked like the situation had been diffused. "It seems the knight is really letting them go for now."

Nala let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness..."

"Guess we did the good thing by standing by." Mash said, looking to Ritsuka.

"Yeah." Ritsuka looked back at her. "Good thing that knight is-"

"Eurgh!.."

With a sound of an harp string being played, an arrow appeared out of nowhere as it shot down one of the fleeing refugees, shocking Intoxicating Smoke an the chaldeans.

"...Oi..."

"Argh!..."

Another three refugees had been slaughtered by a second arrow as the same melody played.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Intoxicanting Smoke yelled livid at Tristan, seeing him touching the strings of his bow with the fingers. "I thought we had a deal! You should fulfill your part!"

"Hm? I do not understand. I too am doing my part of the bargain, aren't I?" Tristan replied with a clueless voice, touching more strings of his bow, butchering more refugees in the process. "If I recall, you said I couldn't chase them, not that I couldn't kill them."

"He's killing the people anyways!" Peko exclaimed, terrorized.

"But we thought he wouldn't do it!" Mash said, also disturbed by Tristan's slaughtering of the innocent group.

"You bastard!" Intoxicating Smoke shouted. "I told you that you couldn't-"

"That I couldn't move my arms and legs for an entire day, correct." Tristan cut her short, his fingers still playing the strings of his weapon, sending more arrows to the refugees. "However..." As the sun finally begun to appear and shine on the wasteland, its light hit Tristan's face, the knight giving an amused smile as he opened his yellow eyes. "You never said I couldn't move my fingers, did you?"

"?!" Intoxicating Smoke's eyes widened as she heard that. The way Tristan was breaking the deal while technically not breaking it at the same time, was enfuriating. He was just messing with her, taking glee at her lack of anticipation for a possibility like this one. "DAMN YOU!" Enraged, the assassin jumped torwards him, about to attack him. And with that, she ended up being the one breaking the deal, Tristan having no more obligation to hold back with that. And so, he fired a sound arrow from his bow, piercing through Intoxicating Smoke's chest, right in the heart.

"How reckless of you. To not having been cautious with something so simple." Tristan looked down on her, stating her flaws in a pitiless voice. "If only you would not let the pressure get the best of you."

Cleenching her teeth in anger, Intoxicating Mirror look at the knight, her skull mask having some fractures and her side ponytail untied. "Y-You..!" She coughed some blood, being at death's door.

"Now, this is going to be a tragedy." Moving his arms, Tristan positioned his bow to the sky. "A woeful melody, played by Failnaught." Touching graciously several strings of his weapon, the knight materialized a handful of arrows that rained down on the steel fleeing group of refugees, having no place to escape.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP US-"

"TAKE ME OUT OF HE-"

"PLEASE! DON'T KILL ME! I WANT TO-"

"SPARE ME! HAVE MERC-"

As the panic screams played, the chaldeans did nothing but watch in terror as they had to do their best to ignore the agonizing yells of the refugees that would be merciless killed one by one by the indifference of Tristan.

"How...How dares he?!" Ritsuka closed his fist in anger, containing himself from going there and try to do something. And as he looked to the side he saw that Nala was also having an hard time restraining herself to act and stop Tristan from killing the rest. The several frustration and fury on the girl's face was so visible that as a way to ignore it, she bite harshly her own inferior lip.

Mash would close her eyes and try to do her best to ignore by moving her head away while Peko would straight up cover his ears to block the terryfying screams from his head. It was one thing to see people die while fighting, but to see innocent people dying while having to stand aside and just watch was too cruel.

Even Da Vinci was a bit unsettled by the massacre she was witnessing. "This...is pure barbaric."

Some seconds after, the screams and chaos died down, the remaining refugees having been slayed down. The early sun now shinning on the bloody soil and corpses of the poor people that tried to escape. The melody had stopped.

"Ah, how riveting was this sorrowful disaster." Tristan put down his bow, Failnaught, having finished the job. "It was a good thing to have eliminated them. Mayhap some of them could have already be infected with the Blight. One never knows." He lowered his head, staring at the almost dead corpse of Intoxicating Smoke. "Ergo I might have saved your meager village from having been corroded by it." With his horse standing behind Tristan, the knight turned around and started to walk away. "May this teach the rest of your riffraff to never challenge the Lion King." He rided his horse and rode off from the area, leaving the scene.

"It's done. He is finally gone." Romani told to the group, having seen the knight walk away.

"He killed them." Peko said, still startled. "He killed every signle one of them."

"Da Vinci..." Mash called the italian inventor by her side. "This is...the ugly aspect of humanity, isn't it?

"Yes indeed, Mash." Da Vinci replied.

Looking at the tragic view, Ritsuka seemed to have noticed Intoxicating Smoke still moving. "Look guys! That assassin looks to still be alive!"

"Let's go check on her then! Perhaps we can still save her!" Nala said as she immediatly advanced to the local, everyone else following shortly behind. But as they approached to the assassin, they noticed something was wrong with her.

"I...failed...He killed...everyone...How dares he...mock me and do that...?"

Reaching near the assassin, they saw that her body was now covered in shadows, getting up from the ground.

"W-What's happening to her?" Ritsuka asked.

"An unnatural force seems to be keeping her soul and body from perishing out. As if sheer hatred and wish for revenge alone is preventing her death." Romani analyzed the asassin's status. "At this point, she now has become a Shadow Servant.

"I'll kill him...I'll kill him...I'll kill him. I'll kill him. I'll kill him. I'll kill him!I'll kill him!I'll kill him!I'll kill him!"

"This sensation!" Peko's heart skipped a beat as he felt the dark corruption on Intoxicating Smoke's soul. "Is the same as when we fought against those people that turned into demons!"

"So you're saying she's about to become like one of those things?" Mash asked.

"She won't if we stop her from becoming one!" Da Vinci replied, preparing to fight.

"Right! We can't let that happen!" Nala replied, summoning her sword. "Let's put her soul to rest!"

Having engaged in the fight against the now Shadow Servant that was in the process of transforming into a demon like creature, the chaldeans were able to quickly gain ground and subdue her.

Peko slashed her and fired a light bullet at the assassin, following up with Da Vinci punching her right in the chest with her robotic arm. Nala then came in and cut the Shadow Servant in the back while Mash appeared in the next second and pierced the enemy with her shield, dealing the final blow. Having all the energy in her run out and the process of becoming into a demon stopped, the soul of the assassin was liberated as the body fell limp on the ground.

"What...happened..?"

The shadows covering the assassin's body slowly dissapeared as well as the overwhelming feelings of hate and revenge.

"A strong rage deep inside you was pestering your soul, unable to make you die and about to transform you into a mindless creature." Mash explained to her. "So we came in and stop you from turning into it."

"Ah...so you saved me..." Intoxicating Smoke replied.

"Kind of. You're still going to die." Peko sadly told her.

"Oh. Then I guess there's nothing that can be done about that..." The assassin woman conformed herself with that fact. "And what about...the refugees?"

"That knight has killed all of them." Ritsuka said the news to her with some grief. "Sorry for being late to help..."

"Let that be...It was my fault...for having tricked myself into believing...that knight wouldn't swore to draw his weapon against innocent..." Intoxicating Smoke didn't want Ritsuka or the chaldeans to feel guilty about her mistake. "Perhaps I am better off dead this way then...If I returned to the village with such failure...I would surely had to give my head to the Old Man of the Mountain...I, Intoxicating Smoke, have stenched my own name and reputation of the Hassans..."

"We've already seen some of you before. So it is true that the Order of Assassins are also here." Da Vinci remembered of their previous encounter with Hundred Personas. "Are you what the others been calling of 'The mountain people'?"

"Yes...and our goal...is to oppose to the dominance of the Lion King in this region..." Intoxicating Smoke told them.

"Hm? Why?" Da Vinci asked, wanting to know more. Unfortunately, time had run out.

"I can't tell you has I'm about to dissapear." The assassin said, seeing her own body crumbling. "So...before I go...can I entrust you to bury those refugees..?" She requested them in her dying breaths. "They are...my people..."

Ritsuka nodded. "We will take care of that. You can rest easy now." The master of humanity told her.

Intoxicating Smoke smiled. "What a relief...hearing that..." And her body dissapeared, leaving the territory.

"..." Exhaling a bit, Ritsuka got up and turned around to to look at the bodies of the refugees before chsnging his gaze to his team. "You heard it guys. Let's grant her wish."

And without any objection, the chaldeans begun to bury the corpses respectfully as per the departing solicitation of Intoxicating Smoke.


As the hours of the day passed, the chaldeans hit the road and headed torwards their destination. It wasn't until some couple hours into the afternoon, that the vehicle had finally made a stop.

"There it is." Da Vinci put the car to a full stop, standing at the top of a dry and rock hill, looking at something in the distance.

"We're finally seeing it." Nala stepped out of the car and walked torwards the edge of the hill, looking to the same place as well.

"It's quite big and majestic too." Peko said, impressed by it, standing next to his sister.

"No doubt why it has 'holy' in the name. It does look like one." Mash commented, also standing on the hill's edge with Ritsuka shortly joining in to also have the view of the towering and glorious city that stood in the middle of the wasteland after some huge craters in the soil.

"This is his territory. The Lion King must be somewhere up there." Ritsuka stared at the grandious buildings and palace. A worthy lair to an mighty king, standing now a couple of miles away from them. "Holy City awaits us."

To be continued...


And this was the end of chapter 96!

Hmmmm, I wonder who was that person Mash was talking about at the beggining of this chapter ehehehehe. Also it amazes me on how that this game is about to make nine years and I get dumbfounded when I find out that throughout all the story chapters and events, I think there wasn't a single time Mash and 'You-Know-Who' never had a conversation with one another. Like, not even a 'Hello' 'Hi' 'Wassup' 'Bye' NOTHING! So I always had a chat between the two in mind and finally made it happen. So you can consider that this chapter was a bit Mash-centric.

Also, changing to another topic, holy hell if Tristan in Camelot wasn't a complete menace! Like, to see that before all the funny shennanigans of the summer events and other more goofy potrayals of him, dude's first appearence in Camelot was that of a sociopathic asshole. Like if you guys told me at the time when Camelot was first released, that Tristan would end up being a loveable idiot and actual cool knight that does wacky stuff with Gawain and Lancelot...I would not believe you. Camelot Tristan is someone that I would not trust my house keys with. The guy throughout the Singularity clearly enjoyed doing shit and watching people die (At least we understand why Baobhan Sith being his faerie counterpart comes from)

Anyways, that's all I wanted to say and see you next time on chapter 97! Peace!

P.S:

(It's Carnival in Chaldea and Mash is looking for someone)

Mash: Hmmm, where is he?

Peko: Who are you looking for, Mash?

Mash: Master. I still haven't seen him today and it's carnival today. I hope something hasn't happened to him.

Nala: That does sound wierd. Ritsuka always shows up for Carnival.

Kadoc: We should check him out. Perhaps he's still in his room.

(The four walk torwards Ritsuka's bedroom. The door is closed)

Kadoc (Knocks): Fujimaru, are you there? We've been looking for you. Fujimaru?

(No response)

Nala: I know it's not ethical buuut, let's force our way in!

(All agree, kicking down the door to Ritsuka's bedroom)

Peko: Sorry about that Ritsuka but we needed to know if you-...

(All of them freeze when they see Ritsuka putting his crossdressing Shinjuku outfit)

Ritsuka (Utterly blushing and embaressed): W-W-W-What are you guys doing here!? I-I was testing this outfit for the Carnival!

Nala (perplexed):...I...I can't...I just can't...

Peko (perplexed as well):...Me neither...

Ritsuka (a bit ashamed): I-I'm already taking it off, d-don't worry.

Mash (holding a phone in her hand): No Senpai. That dress suits you well. (Nosebleeds a bit) Please continue using it.

Kadoc: Oi! What the hell is that smile?! Also, why are you taking photos?!