Not-yet-summer resort: VII

Ritsuka was having a difficult time understanding what was going on in front of him, he did understand it on some level, but that didn't mean he didn't see how the process came about.

Like being told the answer to the question was four without being told the question.

Either way, he stood off to the side with the other Servants, arms folded over his chest, and watched with a blank expression as the Demon who had led the assault was carted away in handcuffs of all things, rather sturdy looking handcuffs but all the same, it was a large monster looking thing in thick metallic handcuffs.

He wasn't even sure those would have worked, though he was certain there was a reason that they did. Especially as it was all being overseen by Phrarros herself who had looked decidedly more on edge the moment she realised that they were actually lingering around her, she could probably guess what they were after.

It wasn't like there was any other reason.

"What do you suppose they shall do with it?"

"Don't know." He muttered an answer back to the speaker behind them, keeping his arms folded over his chest and his eyes onto the back of the demon. There was something about this that was still not adding up to him. It was going very smoothly, even without the whole fact that this one demon was still alive while the others were slaughtered.

Why was it so important?

Sure, they were a Servant while the others were just summons but there had to be more to it than that, in the first place it seemed strange that they would even try and keep them alive in the first place. Not like he was bloodthirsty or something but when he thought of who was actually guarding this place to begin with, they didn't seem all that…merciful.

"In that case, what are we going to do about it?" Boudica changed up the question, he paused as he waited for her to elaborate further upon it. "You were the one who wanted a chance to find out why they were attacking, and that chance is currently being led away in chains to Gods know where…Literally, in this case."

He suppressed a snort at the little addendum, but nodded his head up and down. She was right on that front, even after all of that they were about as blind as they were when they first came down here. The fact that neither the Director nor her Servants had materialised during the battle didn't put him at ease either.

Or rather, he felt as though that was the sort of thing that really should have worried him but he just wasn't.

She was missing, for all intents and purposes, in this place and he wasn't even worried.

Odd.

"These questions do not take priority." Medusa's voice cut through the others, a sharp edge in her tone all but grabbed him by the neck and made him turn towards her, finding that she wasn't even looking in his general direction and was instead fixed solely upon the back of Pharros. "The question is why does she hold such influence in this place?"

He didn't need to wait long for an elaboration.

"The Saber spoke of the Goddess dispatching aid and instead of one of her own, we are greeted by one of yours." Her head turned, he could feel the piercing gaze behind the visor lock onto his eyes. "Why is that?"

A good question.

A very good question.

And one he was sure to get answered shortly.

"Is it really that weird though?" His eyes turned onto Gareth, the Lancer frowned for a moment and looked around. "I mean, if everyone has been here for days, is it really that strange that they would find something to do? Isn't she a Caster or an inventor? Wouldn't it be weird if she didn't do something?"

Gareth raised a good point.

"Yeah, that could be it." He admitted with a nod of the head, earning a light smile from her. "Pharros is a bit like Da Vinci so if she was here with no way of contacting us, then it would make sense that she would try and make the most of this…though still, I can't help but feel as though there might be a little bit more to this that we currently know."

A brief pause, his hands came up placatingly. "Not that I'm accusing her of anything, mind you, just that I'd like to get some more specific information from her, given that she's the first Servant around here I've seen who isn't in the middle of doing something a little absurd." he let the words settle, though his eyes lingered on Medusa for a little longer than the others.

Ever since Chris showed up, it was hard to describe.

The Rider had more of a presence than usual, she spoke more frequently now.

It was hardly as though she was making it much of a secret how on edge she was either.

Not that she was the only one who caught his attention thus far, his eyes wandered away from her and onto the other source of recent concern.

Ash, or Gawyn as he was demanding to be called.

That entire fight had been one massive red flag, the way they'd charged down was just like Ash, showing no hesitation in throwing himself into the thick of things but in the instant - the very second - that anything even remotely burning when near him, he froze up and panicked. It was easy to spot and easy to piece together, he wasn't even sure if Ash realised it or not.

He was scared of fire, or at the very least exceedingly concerned about it.

The helm of the boy twitched in his direction. "...Is something the matter, Master Ritsuka?"

"I was going to ask you that." He collected himself enough to think of a question, he wasn't going to rush out and ask him anything. His lips pulled into a faint smile as he looked them up and down. "It was a bit of a mess down there and I saw you end up taking a nasty hit, you alright? Nothing else broken?"

He saw their minute flinch at the mention of being struck, "I am uninjured now. Your healing spells were most useful…though I am shamed that I needed them, I…fear that my body still remembers the strength of my older self." bringing up their free hand, they stared down at their palm before clenching it into a fist. "I found myself expecting strength I did not possess…I was careless and it will not happen again-"

"Don't worry about it." Waving his hand, this time the jolt from Ash was far more obvious, they stepped back and whipped their helmet towards him, he imagined they were staring at him with eyes as wide as saucers at the moment. "You did some good work down there after going through something weird, no one is going to fault you for that. Heck, you even managed to save Gareth, right?"

"Absolutely!" Gareth jumped into the conversation instantly, a bubbly smile on her face. "I mean, it was a big shock being kicked in the chest all of a sudden but if anything, I should have apologised to you instead," clicking her tongue, she looked down with a frown. "I should have been paying more attention, it's a little embarrassing."

Ash looked rather taken aback by the words, their head darted between himself and Gareth several times before they brought up their free hand, perhaps to say something, but their gesture faltered after a second and they managed to make only a weak little gasping noise, seemingly unable to think of something to say.

If they would have thought of anything, he wasn't sure he was going to know.

Especially as a shadow swept across the skies above them, blotting out the sun for a brief second and drawing his eyes towards the vaguely humanoid shape which dropped down right in front of the group, amazingly without so much as making a single sound, though it quickly became clear why that was, especially as the sudden arrival straightened themselves out.

Piercing green eyes landed on him for only a moment, then they darted away and onto their new target, a flicker of movement behind the person as a thin furred tail swept side to side, betraying their agitation, pointed ears atop their head twitched as the already present frown on the face of the figure deepened to a level he hadn't thought possible.

With several strides, they were suddenly in front of Ash before the Saber could recover from their initial shock, they dropped down onto one knee right in front of the boy and with a movement which was damn near instant, they pried the helmet off the head of the Servant, revealing the matty blonde hair and the young features to the world, as well as the bewildered face in the wake of the sudden exposure.

Ash opened his mouth to say something, perhaps questioning who they were and what they were doing, but Ritsuka opted to wisely keep his mouth shut during the proceedings, if their previous interactions were any indication. Then the reason for their presence was rather apparent.

Dropping the helmet down with a thud, their hands shot out and clasped both sides of Ash's head with a rather gentle grip, all while keeping their expression neutral, turning his head from side to side while the green eyes roamed over the boy, examining every single inch and pausing each time they discovered a scrape or bruise on his face.

Once satisfied, they released the Saber and then rose back up, taking a single step back and folding their arms over their chest.

Staring down at the baffled boy for a few seconds, then switching targets once more, he found himself the victim of a rather stern and almost hostile glare.

Drawing his lips into a thin line, he was still able to bring his hand up and wave to the arrival, offering as cordial a greeting as he could to them, despite the fact they clearly weren't all that pleased with the current situation. "Hello, Atalanta."

The ears of the Archer twitched at the greeting, her eyes narrowed just a touch with their posture remaining unmoved. The expectant look never once fading from them, he figured they were probably wondering why exactly he had brought Ash here, or rather why she was staring down at a child.

It was one of the few things he'd managed to glean from their records of her.

A protectiveness for children.

Deadly protectiveness.

"...I know how this looks-"

Atalanta let out a faint scoff, almost incredulous as she rolled her eyes at him, cutting him off and uncrossing her arms, moving them towards her hips. "Do you indeed? Tell me, then, how it looks to you? Unless you're going to claim that you had no idea the age of the Servant standing right there and merely assumed they were as the other knight."

Her finger danced between Ash and Gareth.

He kept her gaze, not at all willing to lie to her.

The glare hardened. "So I see…you brought a child into battle?"

"...Yeah, I did." Nodding his head once, there was no reason to deny it. "He wasn't a child when we came down here though, that's a recent development that was the fault of the Goddess running this place." The explanation was met with silence, the expression of the Archer remained totally unmoved.

No, it wasn't that it was unmoved, she just didn't look as though she actually cared about the backstory. She was focusing more on what she could see.

And what she could see was a pre-teen boy clad in knight gear, covered head to toe in dents, bruises and blood and fresh from a battle with literal monsters.

In her shoes, he would probably have been just as ill-at-ease.

"Master Ritsuka." The words of Ash cut through the tension between the two of them, the young Saber looking to the woman with his own sense of unease, Ritsuka saw his hand slowly moving towards the sword he kept holstered on his back, fingers twitching at the ready. "Who is this woman?"

He waited for a moment, then exhaled. "This is Atalanta, Gawyn. She's the Archer who was helping us out during the battle." he let the words hang for a moment, before shifting his gaze back to the woman herself. "Thanks for that, by the way, I'd say you really came through for us."

She didn't so much as blink. "I was not going to allow a child to run headlong into the jaws of death."

That probably meant she saw Ash throw himself from the walls and go sprinting down into the front lines. He fought back a flinch as he recalled the mental image, they were mentally the same person but all the same, it was still watching a literal kid go leaping into an actual battle and start killing things without hesitation.

It was weird when he found out Jack the Ripper was a little girl and it was weird now.

"It was his choice to be there." He almost cringed the moment he spoke the words, he could tell right off the bat that it was probably the wrong thing to say to her, especially from the way her eyes shot wide and her nose flared. She opened her mouth, likely to berate him, but he beat her to the punch. "And I mean his choice. Even if I could have ordered him to remain behind, he would have come rushing right back-"

"Naturally." Ash cut through the sentence, shooting a suspicious gaze at the Archer. "My duty is keeping you alive, Master Ritsuka, and I will not let my current condition keep me from seeing that through."

"And what about yourself?" Atalanta turned on the Saber, pointing towards him.

Ash paused for a moment, an uneasy look passed across him. "I…I know I am weak at the moment, but that is no reason for me to shirk from my duty. No, it is the one thing I can never do. Must never do." they stated, narrowing their gaze further. "And I stand by the judgement of Master Ritsuka. I will not let anything keep me from seeing my duty through."

The woman scowled, opening her mouth, then pausing for a moment and closing it again. Leaning back, she looked the Saber up and down for a short moment, almost as though she was seeing him again for the first time. Bringing a hand up and cupping her chin, letting out a low and thoughtful hum. "...Gawyn, you said?"

She shot him a look.

He mouthed the word 'Ash' to her, pointedly shooting his eyes towards the back of the boys head.

A flash of understanding shot through her for a moment, then she grimaced rather deeply, looking now as though she'd just swallowed something utterly vile and turning her head, "I see…in that case, I see the problem. That being said…" she turned a rather hard gaze onto him once again. "If you dare act so recklessly with his life…"

She let the words hang for a moment, then let out a sharp sigh. "We will speak of this later, when there is time."

He got the feeling that she was going to try and catch him for that talk.

Tensing her legs, she shot off into the air with a single powerful leap, blasting a gust of wind in his face as she did so, he squinted just a little and waved the dust away from his face, turning his eyes towards the direction she was sailing away to.

"...She seemed hostile to you." The words of Ash were laced with their own trace of hostility. "I do not believe that you should speak with her again."

Ritsuka fought back a sigh. "She's just protective of children. Guess you could say she sees it as her duty."

There was a beat, he turned towards the Saber and saw the moment something clicked inside their eyes.

"Oooooh!" With a slow nod of the head, the tension drained from the Saber and was replaced with comprehension. "I see, then she believed that she was acting out of her duty as a protector. That makes sense now…but we will need to explain to her that I am not like other children so she does not need to worry about me." they said it so confidently, they even quirked a tiny innocent smile at the end of it.

His eyes met with Boudica, who had watched what transpired in total silence, she met his gaze with a blank look, then gradually pursed her lips and turned her head away from him, closing her eyes as she did so.

"Yeah…" With a slow response, he turned and looked down at Ash. "I don't think it will be quite that simple?"

Ash blinked once, then twice, then cocked his head to the side. "Why though? I don't need protection. I'm supposed to be the one who protects things instead." they brought a fist up, beating it into their chest with a clunk. "At the moment, I'm protecting you, Master Ritsuka. Even if it costs me my life."

…God that made him feel disgusting.

Why did they look so content with saying something like that?

"You…don't need to go that far."

Ash looked confused, no, they looked positively baffled, as though he'd just said something totally incomprehensible to them. "That doesn't make sense. If I'm not devoting my whole life to my duty, then I'm not living."

He didn't think he'd have to go through this conversation all over again-

"Pathetic."

A single word, delivered with all the force of a sledgehammer.

The focus shifted to the speaker, standing only a few feet from them and remarkably free of blood, despite the fact their sword was totally painted in the substance, droplets falling from the blade and forming a tiny puddle by the feet of the speaker.

Chris looked at Ash with disgust, her lip pulled up ever so slightly. "I don't know why he is so interested in you. You're alive because you're breathing. That's it." with a scoff, she turned and started to walk away. "There's no other reason."

"What did you say!?" Ash growled back at them, almost snapping in the way he whipped around and very much looking like the annoyed boy he was supposed to be. "What do you mean by-"

"If you have to justify your life with such meaningless things, then you're nothing more than a slab of meat." Chris didn't even wait for him to finish before delivering another verbal stab to the gut, Ash visibly recoiled from her as though he'd taken that knife right to the heart, his expression shifting from annoyance to shock in a split second. "What a joke. Devoting your life for duty? Even if you die in the process? That's nothing special. That's just living and dying."

"It makes all the difference. If I'm not doing my duty, then I'm not living-"

"That's stupid." The blunt comment had the boy make a sputtering noise. "And you're an idiot for believing that." with an expression like they'd caught a whiff of something foul, they turned away from them. "If you can't act without it being for something, if you can't live without some excuse, then hurry up and die already. Give your body to someone who doesn't need such flimsy reasons for breathing."

She was away as quickly as she had appeared, launching herself off before he could recover from it.

"What a rude person." Gareth commented rather abruptly, sounding none-too-pleased with their words. The Lancer folded her arms, a disapproving frown on her lips. "She should have stuck around rather than running away. If she was so confident in her declarations, she should have been ready to defend them rather than acting the coward…Nevermind them though."

She turned her eyes onto Ash and softened them. "Don't ponder too much about it. Some people just don't understand that sort of thing and get bitter because of it."

From the looks of things, the words of Gareth only had a marginal effect, the Saber still glaring off into the distance where the Servant had run off to. With a click of the tongue, he leaned down and took his helmet off the ground and back into his hands, batting the dirt and grime off it before sliding it upon his head once more, flipping the visor up as he did so to expose his face.

That being said, despite the curt words of Chris that were rather hurtful, he found his eyes drawn towards Medusa, trying to see what her reaction would have been to them. She kept herself silent, once more keeping quiet throughout the entire interaction.

He looked away before she could catch him sneaking a peak.

Pharros was finishing up giving the commands, then turned around and offered the same awkward smile that she had done before. There was a nervous energy around her that he would have expected from someone about to admit something they knew was going to be not the best news.

He had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn't just a case of making the most of a bad situation.

She approached with stilted steps, arriving before them and taking in a deep breath, swinging her arms back and forth before she just exhaled, slumping her shoulders and giving them all a perfectly innocent smile. "So, how would you rate your time here so far?"

He slowly raised an eyebrow.

"You mean beyond the kidnapping, child making and demon attacks-" He caught himself short after that last one, then cringed rather deeply as he realised how the second of those actually sounded now that he said it out loud.

By the growing smirk on the face of the Caster, she had caught it as well. "Child making, eh? You've been here less than a day and-"

"Don't be crass." Boudica gave a last minute save, the Rider folding her arms and rolling her eyes at the Servant. "You know what he meant, I think we can skip the small talk and get right to the heart of the matter."

The Caster sighed, then waved a hand. "Yes, you would be right." she lowered the arm, then shifted her expression. "About…hmmm. For me it would have been over a week ago but for you all I'd say that it would have been two days? Thereabouts at least, I got an email which was basically just an advertisement for a little thought project."

His brows shot up.

That wasn't even close to what he was expecting.

"At first I thought it was just one of the other Servants in Chaldea messing around with a little hypothetical park." She explained further, smiling as she went. "I thought it was a spot of good fun and between projects, I figured that it would be harmless. We made some pretty decent progress through all of it…" she trailed off, laying a hand on her hip and thinning her lips. "Then it turned out that it wasn't just a thought project and they were actually drawing up those schematics and making efforts to build all of this."

He slowly nodded his head up and down, he could see where this was going. "So Hanleth used the Grail to communicate with you and you, under the belief it was just someone else, basically helped her out with all of the work which made this possible?" he felt himself relax a little, the nod of the head from the Caster was the confirmation he needed.

Another voice chimed in.

"I get the feeling it goes a little bit beyond your assistance being limited to pen and paper, however."

Ritsuka blinked, then brought his communicator up, the image of Da Vinci flashed up with a rather sharp smile, he couldn't help but notice that her brow was twitching just a little as well.

Pharros only offered a wry smile and a faint shrug, which prompted Da Vinci to continue onwards.

"We went through some checks and it turns out that Pharros vanished a full six hours before every other Servant did so as well." It took Ritsuka a moment to account for the time dilation, then his eyes widened a little as he realised it, shooting a look to the rather unapologetic Caster as well. "So how much of your work was physical as well?"

The brunette Caster kept silent for only a second, moving a hand up and scratching the underside of her chin. "I'd say it was mostly my work, I was brought in a site manager sense rather than park director. Making sure that everything was being built according to the specifications that I made." the words hung in the air, then she continued on. "I'm a bit of a perfectionist like that. But I spent a good few days down here finishing up everything so that you'd all be arriving at a completed park…a little offset by the occasional demon raid and consistent calls for breaks as well."

Ritsuka felt his features flatten. "So you did help Hanleth with the park."

Raising her hands placatingly, the woman shrugged. "They were going to have it built anyway, Hanleth just wanted me around to ensure it was all done right and proper." their expression creased as a frown split across their face. "And there was no way I was just going to sit back and let them mess around in case they got things wrong. That would have been the bigger crime here."

Da Vinci remained quiet, then grunted and shrugged. "...Fair enough."

He shot her a small look, she remained unmoved, even as Mash closed her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "Da Vinci-san…"

"She's right though!" The woman pouted through the screen, rather aggressively folding her arms as she did so. "It would be a stab in the heart to every inventor to have someone take your designs and then build them wrong. So I can see where she was coming from here…and I'm jealous. Why did they go to her for a park and not me?! What's up with that!?"

Ritsuka chortled a little. "Is that really the important bit here?"

She turned on him with narrowed eyes, slamming her hands on the desk and leaning right into the monitor to the point where her face took up the whole screen. "You don't get it, protagonista! This was a big chance to make up an actual amusement park! How come I got passed over for her?!"

He'd have said something, were it not for the smug grin which Pharros was currently aiming towards Da Vinci, something the Caster obviously saw, if her clenched jaw was any indication, their impromptu staring contest lasted for what felt like years, he was certain that Da Vinci would have Rayshifted herself down if she didn't have greater restraint.

"Uhm, Pharros-san." Mash opted to step into the line of fire, better her than him given that Da Vinci was certain to spare her. Sure enough, the Casters kept silent for the young girl. "I think I understand that it was a matter of pride, but why did it take you so long to meet with us when we arrived?"

That elicited a flinch from the Caster. "Ah, that…I just forgot."

He waited for an elaboration.

It never came.

He felt the aura of the group plummet with disappointment.

"Really?" Boudica spoke in an utterly flat tone of voice. "You forgot?"

"It's easier than it sounds." Pharros defended with raised hands. "It got away from me. Especially because the actual Park Director keeps sleeping or eating or playing games, I had to pick up a lot of the slack around here…not all that helped by Lancer stealing my inventions to mess around with." she growled the last part under her breath, he could honestly say he could see the Lancer doing that.

It also explained why they seemed to travel by zipline sometimes.

"So you're basically saying you got tricked into becoming the manager of a park." The summary started with him raising his finger. "And by the time you figured that out, you got too invested and forgot about everything else?"

Pharros kept quiet for a moment.

Then she nodded once. "Yep. That is it."

"Well." Clearing his throat, he lowered his arm and turned to the others, all of whom were staring at the Caster with varying degrees of incredulity.

Except Ash.

Who looked at her like she'd grown a second head.

"You…forgot…your duty to Master Ritsuka?" The boy said it slowly, as though trying to make sure his words were actually getting across. His face shifted with confusion. "How?"

Pharros parroted her answer from earlier. "Like I said. It's easier than you'd think. I just had a lot of fun here and figured you'd eventually turn up." she paused for a moment, then turned to face him once more. "The kidnapping Servants thing wasn't me, however, I didn't have a clue that was going to happen until it happened. I just saw loads of them and figured you'd already agreed to make use of the park…I actually spent a day looking for you before I got told by Solaire."

Well, that was that then.

"Okay, so now that's all been explained, can you actually tell us why the demons are attacking in the first place?"

Pharros looked at him oddly. "Because they're demons?"

His brows pinched.

"Look, I'm not sure what answer you were hoping for there but they attacked because that's what they do." She continued onwards, shrugging her shoulders as she did so. "Not everyone has a complicated reason for doing it. Demons are just aggressive and don't like anyone else. They probably showed up by accident and then do what they do best…really, it's mostly just been Hanleth wanting them to relax like everyone else that's kept them around so long, otherwise I'm sure we'd have just killed them by now."

Once again, some strong hatred for Demons as though it was natural. "Uh-huh."

"But you don't think there's any other reason?"

Pharros exhaled, reaching up and rubbing at her eye. "I'll tell you what I told Hanleth, Master. You can't communicate with Chaos Demons and expecting them to understand you is just gonna end badly." lowering the hand, she shrugged. "You just gotta treat them like animals with a bit of intelligence, or like a mimicry of people. They do the same things as humans sometimes, use tools and make stuff, but that's about it…they're just copying what people do without understanding any of it."

He wasn't so sure.

He really wasn't so sure.

Actually, that sounded incredibly racist.

His eyes moved away from her and onto the sight of the Demon being led away from them, all the way towards the tower. "...So if that is the case, then why are they being captured and not killed?"

A sigh. "That's just Hanleth being optimistic. She just thinks they've got a bit of a temper to them is all, that's why they were throwing up a fuss." the Caster rolled a hand. "Its certainly a temper, they would have torn down those walls and killed everything in here if given the chance."

"Where are they being led?"

"Probably to the dungeons." She explained, he shot her a look and was about to ask why a theme park had a dungeon to it. "Before you ask, this place is the Noble Phantasm of an actual castle that existed. Looks a little bit like Heide to me but some parts are similar to Drangleic…might be a mix of the two, but it would be part of the original Noble Phantasm."

He blinked twice, he'd heard of the latter but not the former. "Heide?"

"Yeah, that's all I know about it." The Caster grimaced. "Nothing else. Just the name. Not sure if it was the kingdom, the capital or one of its founders or something. No one knows, it was the oldest ruin anyone had ever heard of…all you really saw of it were the knights who wandered the world, mostly benign unless you struck first."

He saved that little detail away for a later date, that wasn't really what the most important bit right now was, however.

"And I take it to speak with the Demon, we'd need to get permission from Hanleth."

It took a second for his words to register with the Caster, but he could tell in the precise moment that they did. Her expression shifted between bewilderment and shock, right into morbid intrigue, if there was such a thing as that.

"Speak…with…?" She parroted the words slowly, as though not quite believing them, with a shake of her head she flattened her features. "Alright, if you won't take my word for it then you just need to see for yourself I guess…as for the matter of Hanleth, I can lead you down there myself. I'm overseeing most of the operations around here so it saves you a trip."

She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, in the vague direction the Demon had been carted off to.

Glancing over his shoulder, he looked over the faces of the Servants, then back to the Caster and nodded his head once.

"You didn't need to go down there, they had it handled."

She suppressed a frown from the very first words uttered by the Goddess the second she entered the lair of them once more, she could see them leaning around their hanging cave, golden eyes narrowed just a touch.

A ghost of a pout upon the lips of the woman.

"You summoned me for one thing." She explained patiently, as she had done a dozen times before. Ceasing her movements just shy of actually stepping into the light between the two of them - what little existed in the room - and content with staring down her summoner. "I performed that task. I do not see why you are complaining."

The annoyance shot at her was almost palpable.

With an exaggerated sigh, the Goddess slumped back into her seat and wriggled around for a moment, like watching a cat trying to find the spot that was most comfortable. With how little the Goddess moved and how often she rested, the comparison was likely the most apt.

Though they would have made for a poor cat.

The movement brought a twist in the chair, turning it about so that it was now facing her direction, all while the Goddess remained slumped on her side, eyes half-lidded. "The point was that I asked the Chaldeans for help, Chris…it was supposed to be the one time that you could have actually played it easy."

Her fingers twitched for a moment. "They were a threat. I dealt with the threat quickly. Keeping my distance would have exacerbated the damage. None of the others alone were sufficient for the task."

"They handled it."

"I handled it faster." It wasn't a boast, it was a simple observation. She had seen the capability of the Chaldeans during the battle.

She was far from impressed at what they had done, their efforts had been slow with an emphasis on prolonged battles. A complete waste of time and energy.

They didn't even try to cripple the demon until the end.

An exhale from the Goddess, her hand was brought up and rather furiously rubbed at her features, a stifled groan escaped the woman before she pulled her hand away. "That's not the point, Chris…you've been doing too much work and lately I'm starting to get the idea that you're not getting enough rest."

Her brows twitched at the insinuation.

Rest.

This was not the time for rest.

Not now.

Not when she was so close.

"If the purpose of this location is to ensure one is where they are most comfortable, then I fulfilled that function." The explanation was met with silence, she would meet the Goddess upon her own game. From the irritated frown now spreading across their lips, it would seem as though they realised it as well. "I was most comfortable in that moment. That was my rest."

There was a brief pause, then the Goddess slowly raised a brow, the irritation retreated from her and was replaced by veiled interest. "I wonder…did you go there because you had to or because…someone else was also there and you wanted to see?"

She stilled, eyes narrowed just a touch.

"Even if you don't like them, Archer and Saber could handle it fine themselves. They've done so before." The Goddess continued on, oblivious to how dangerous her verbal steps were taking her.

As they spoke, the expression of the Goddess got brighter and brighter as though pleased with their deductions, or content with them. She could not decipher which it was but she was far from pleased with either of them. "I'm just curious…was it because a certain someone was there that you wanted to show off-"

A blur shot right past the right side of the Goddesses head, messy hair fluttered in the sudden gust of wind as a loud bang echoed across the room, silencing them before they could finish their next sentence.

Her hand was pressed against the curve of the chair beside the head of the Goddess, their jaw snapped shut with an audible click before they could finish their sentence. She leaned closer, forcing a retreat of the divine until they were laying down flat upon their bedding, staring up with wide eyes and closed lips.

She cast a shadow upon them, leaning into the chair itself by the time she stopped moving.

The distance was closed between them in less than a heartbeat.

Her eyes fixed themselves upon the golden orbs of her summoner, neither one of them made a sound beyond the breathing, one louder than the other.

"I think…" She dragged the word out for as long as she could, ensuring that she had the full attention of the Goddess. "That you should focus more on the Chaldeans. It will not be long before they make their decision and when that happens, it will be a matter of time - either way - until they destroy this place."

A wince passed through the face of the Goddess, their eyes broke away from her own and looked away.

She pulled her hand away from them, ignoring how inviting the warmth of the pillow she had pressed her palm upon was, drawing it back to her side and letting the cold fall upon her once more, with a single step she increased the distance.

"What do you intend to do?"

"...Where are they at the moment?"

She watched them for a second, something in the tone of the Goddess sounded a little small but she ignored it for the moment. It didn't matter.

"They pursued the demon. For what purpose, I don't know."

Hanleth froze for a moment, a flicker of panic shot through her eyes. "You don't think they-"

"No. There is no reason to suspect that." The possibility was cut down with a shake of the head. "Perhaps they intend dialogue, but that is all I can say. I overheard their conversation and tracked their movements, they spoke with numerous sources about the behaviour of Demons…They wished to understand the motives."

It made discussion with the prisoner the next likely step.

Hanleth let out a visible sigh of relief, then started to perk up just a little. "That's actually good, it saves me a lot of work…I can catch up with my games." they turned their body, pulling the chair along with them. "If they can get the demon talking, then maybe they'll finally get to figure out what their problem is…honestly. It's like nothing I've tried to explain to them has gotten through…I get that it looks bad but it's worse if I try to stop it now."

She kept silent, keeping her thoughts to herself.

Though perhaps Hanleth missed the point.

She knew Lancer would have said it.

Sometimes it was worth destroying just because it didn't agree with you.

There was value in everything.

Even destruction.

It became obvious very quickly that Pharros hadn't been kidding either when she spoke about a dungeon, she meant it in the most literal way possible.

His eyes wandered either side of him as they passed by rows upon rows of empty cells, thick iron bars gutting down from the ceiling and enclosing a small dark space within, impossible to tell if anyone was chained within but he figured they weren't, especially as the rattle of iron came from further down the halls.

Accompanying the retreating flash of light of the demon.

One thing that truly stuck him was the total lack of lighting, not a single torch was lit despite the fact he could see the holdings for them were mounted in the side of the walls. He wasn't sure if that was done by design or by accident, but there was something amiss with the lack of lighting.

Fortunately, he wasn't the only one to think so.

"Why is it so dark?" Gareth asked from behind him, sounding a touch on edge. "It can't just be because you don't really use this place that often, can it?"

Pharros, leading on from the front, just let out a small grunt before bringing her shoulders up and down. "That's actually the reason. No one ever saw a reason to light all this up in the first place because none of us thought we'd be using it, the only one who really prowls around down here is Berserker and that's because he's most comfortable out of sight."

His eyes narrowed at her words. "So you knew about Berserker then?"

"Why wouldn't I? The entire castle is his Noble Phantasm."

He very nearly stopped walking after that casual reveal, it only compounded the mystery. It was something they had suspected but he didn't think she would have actually just come out and say it, even beyond that. He didn't think she would have known that Berserker existed in the first place, especially because Solaire didn't know.

"Wait, but…" Mash voiced out in confusion. "But then Solaire-san didn't know about Berserker and he was summoned by the Goddess, why didn't he know?"

Pharros was silent for a moment. "Not all that sure. Maybe there was supposed to be a meeting on the subject but I only found out when-"

"Your lips are too loose, even if they are your Master and allies."

A single light erupted from before them, spreading across the narrow hallway and bringing with it, the light to see.

Berserker was there, stepping out of the dark and right into their line of sight, their left arm was hung loose by their side while their right was held aloft, a burning torch clenched tightly in their hand. Illuminating the pale iron set of armour they wore and the drab white cloak, the helm of the Servant slowly turned and he could hear the frown in their voice as they continued to speak.

Even despite the dead inflection of their voice.

"What business do you have bringing them here, Caster?"

"I'm still the deputy site manager." Pharros replied back without even a moment of hesitation, not at all put off by the sudden appearance of the Servant. Her arms folded and her head cocked at an angle. "I have enough authority to come down to even these depths."

"You do." The emphasis on the word was not missed, nor was the slight clenching of their free hand.

"They wish to speak with the Demon and that alone. Nothing else interests them at the moment." Pharros explained further, giving a dismissive gesture with her hand as she did so. "Now then, are you going to let us pass or are we going to have problems?"

Her tone was casual, even if the situation was growing to be far from.

His eyes moved from the back of the Caster and onto the Servant before them, their posture betraying nothing as it went loose once more, but he didn't let that fool them. There was something about them that just felt out of place, like he was staring at…something not quite right.

The same feeling he got when staring at a mannequin.

"...You will return to the surface and attend to your assigned duties." Berserker ordered when they decided the silence had gone on for long enough, their gaze snapped onto him before anyone got a word in. "They will accompany me until I deem they have been here long enough, then I will escort them back."

Clearly Pharros wasn't in the mood to push the subject, she turned around to face him and started her retreat, pausing only to place a hand on his shoulder and lean towards him, he felt a little pressure on his mind before the mental link sprung into life. "Be on the lookout for him. He's not as bad as Lancer or Saber, but he's a Berserker for a reason."

With a single pat, she pushed past him and back up the way she had come, her footsteps receding back into the darkness with only a fading echo to accompany them, leaving them alone in the presence of the Servant of madness, the crackle of the torch spat embers onto the armour.

Yet for all the light, not a single gap in the helmet ever shifted from an unchanging matte black.

"Your interest in the demon is peculiar, but so long as it remains passing, there is nothing more to be said." They turned around and started to move without waiting for them to follow, still with the torch in their hand. "The Goddess has already determined their fate, any effort to alter that destiny will be met with hostility. This shall be your only warning on the matter."

Thinning his lips, he glanced at the others and then took off after the Berserker, waiting for a moment before speaking. "And what fate is that?"

"They will become a guest at the resort."

They made it sound ominous, far more so than it really should have been. "A guest…isn't that a bit strange? Everyone I've talked to seems to have a low opinion of Demons." he felt his own features darken just a little at the memories and the rather hurtful words. "Both human and Lordkin, they seemed to regard them as little more than vermin."

Berserker kept silent for a second. "And what of you?"

"...I've met some who weren't that bad."

More silence, then Berserker replied slowly. "It becomes simple to kill something when it is different from yourself. Easier, cleaner, purer. It is not like you, there is no guilt to be felt. The Goddess is different, she sees the similarities rather than the differences. Demons live like all things, they fight like all things, and they must rest like all things."

"It is madness." He heard Gawyn grunt from somewhere behind him, it was quiet but their words echoed out enough to be heard.

Berserker's head twitched just an inch because of that choice remark. "It is for the Goddess to decide. If you have objections, raise them in private."

"It sounds ideal." Ritsuka opted to interject with a shake of the head. "Perhaps too ideal, everyone has their own means of relaxing and some might consider it to be worse than others…I know a couple of people who consider fighting to be relaxing."

"And?" Berserker didn't even miss a beat. "Lancer says you're all the same. You all want the same thing…maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong. I just see you all killing one another without regret."

Ritsuka frowned at the words "That seems a little-"

"You can't argue against it." Berserker sharply cut him off. "Not after you claimed all you spoke with viewed Demons as vermin and pests. Not sure which is worse. Gods have long memories, they still think of the Embering War. No humans there, though…wonder why you hate demons so much. Maybe just because they're different. Wouldn't surprise me."

Ritsuka really wanted to argue, he well and truly did.

But in the same token, it would not have surprised him in the least if it truly was the case, he remembered the way in which Verndari spoke about giants, it was beyond hatred, they didn't even view them as an ally at the time. Not even when Gough had proven himself, their words were cold and disgusted.

To say nothing of the way they spoke of Quelaag.

Everyone seemed to have a grudge against the demons - all demons - regardless of whether they were the architects of their misery or not.

They stopped moving, then stepped to the side. "We are here, it lies through there."

He blinked twice, then glanced to the door that was right in front of them, the great gate of solid metal.

"Another warning before you enter." Berserker's toneless words drew him to the Servant. "Do not touch the chains. You will not want to release them if you do."

With that ominous warning, the gates were thrown open.

A rattling sound greeted his ears, then he took a half step backwards as he gazed within the interior, the chamber was mostly barren, shaped like a dome with a curved ceiling and a single figure in the middle, yet behind them - just about - he could see a smaller door which might have led somewhere else, but he ignored that for the moment.

Chains, dozens of them, spread across the room like cobwebs, each of them rattled and groaned as their captured prey shifted and moved. In the very centre of the room, bound in the rusted links, was the demon themselves, still sporting their injuries from the battle and hunched over, head pointed towards the ground.

The glow of its skin had started to fade, but still bright enough to give low lighting to the room a semblance of light, the sound came next. A deep groaning sound, like that of a furnace being opened and shut, an apt analogy when combined with the heat.

Stepping into the room, his steps carried him forwards until he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, he turned and glanced down to see it was Gawyn who had caught him, with a shake of the head, the blonde made it clear that they weren't going to let him advance any further, he'd have to speak to them from this distance.

His eyes turned back to the Demon, who was still staring at the ground and hadn't even brought their head up to acknowledge his arrival.

"Hello." A simple opening, just in case it hadn't heard him arrive. "My name is Ritsuka Fujimaru, I'm from a place called Chaldea."

Still nothing.

He took a deep breath. "Look, I know that we didn't get off to a good start but we're not affiliated with this place at the moment. We just got caught in the crossfire between yourself and the Goddess…we didn't come here to seek out a fight if that is…" trailing off, he glanced away, bringing a hand up to rub at his temples. "That probably doesn't mean a lot now, given that we did just fight and now you're a prisoner."

The demon didn't even so much as twitch, either ignoring him or just not dignifying him with a response.

"We were investigating this place as well when you attacked but…" Pulling his hand away from his head, he fixed the demon with a stare. "I just want to know why exactly you attacked this place in the beginning. Everyone else seems to think that you're just some savage beast that smashes up the first thing that lays its eyes on but…"

He thinned his lips. "I'm not so sure. I want to believe that you had a reason for doing this, that you attacked time and time again for a specific purpose. I just want to know what that reason is."

Silence, nothing but breathing.

Maybe another tactic?

"...I know you can understand me, I've met with other demons before and spoken with them." He waited for a moment, seeing if that managed to draw a reaction from them, and it didn't seem to do anything. The demon just hung there, arms outstretched and unmoving. "...Do you know Quelaag and Quelan?"

Nothing again.

Thinning his lips, he turned his head to look around at the others, their downcast expressions only seemed to match his own.

Mash brought her hand up and opened her mouth, perhaps to say something, but she never got the chance to do so. Her eyes snapped open and the shield manifested in her grasp, he heard the cacophony of moving chains in the next moment and whipped back around, taking a half step backwards at what he saw.

The demon stood up straight, eyes that glowed like the morning sun bore into his own with an unblinking gaze.

"Names of the oldest." The words rippled through him like a speaker, the bass shuddered the air around the mouth. He heard the sound next, a deep sniff of the air and then an exhale. "Awash with their scent. A truth, rather than a lie. But no exception, are you."

Ritsuka kept silent for a moment, then brought a hand up to wave down the others behind him. He got the gist of what the demon was saying, frowning at them. "You're saying that I'm just like everyone else?"

"You say you are not?" The swift response sounded almost mocking to his ears. "You heeded words of others. They speak of my savagery. Never what caused it."

Ritsuka thinned his lips. "I know you have history with the Gods-"

"Lordkin? Oh. You speak of the first war."

A disinterested grunt followed, they looked almost insulted.

"Assumed you talked with your own race. Humans mingle poorly with others. Enjoy own supremacy."

"...I did speak with humans who said the same thing. You said there was a reason for this?"

The demon stared at him, long and hard.

"Ponder the reason. Answer me."

What sort of response was that?

Why would people think if Demons as savage and violent. No, they claimed it was in response to something. Which meant they would counter.

His brows furrowed. "You were attacked. Why?"

A loud snort.

"Why do you think?"

He could guess.

But he really didn't want to think it was something as petty as that. Though he couldn't put it past people either. Especially when he looked at them.

First impressions and all that.

"...It was because of how you looked, wasn't it?"

The Demon kept silent, then answered with a single nod.

"Lords were confused. Frightened. We were new to them. They to us. Words fell and fangs were bared."

Ritsuka exhaled. "...Different with people then?"

The growl that followed churned the air, chains rattled. "Humans were hateful. Still are. We were not them. Wanted us gone. Exterminated us."

He turned his head away from the demon and closed his eyes. Bringing his hands up to nurse at his face. It sounded so trivial but he really couldn't put it past people to do that.

No matter how much he wanted to.

Especially after hearing how they all spoke of the Demons earlier, regardless of Quelaag and Quelan.

"...You're saying I'm like those who attacked you on sight?"

His eyes returned to the demon.

"You are. Hidden deep within, buried in the soul, but just like them." The demon continued on, tilting their head to the side and keeping their tone almost even, despite the nature of their booming words, he couldn't get a single emotion out of them. "Value your own above others. Will kill for them. None will escape. Is the nature of you. Of all."

"I don't make a habit of unprovoked-"

"Living is provoking." He was cut off, a tension in the words now. "My life is a blemish to your sight. Differences are wrong, unknown is evil. No difference between you and them."

"...Is that why you attacked? Because they'd have attacked you if given the chance?" He kept his incredulity out of his voice as best he could. Perhaps not enough if the mocking snort of the demon was any indication.

"Already attacked first. I came next. Responded in kind."

Ritsuka furrowed his brows "What do you-"

"For speaking of the oldest, a single boon. My offer, as final King."

"You're-"

"Ear to the ground. Listen to heartbeat."

That was cryptic. "Why tell me, if I'm not so different from those who persecute you?"

"To prove it."

"To you?"

The demon chuckled, a low sound like an avalanche, then they abruptly stopped and straightened their head. "To yourself. Why else do you walk with my killer?"

Their attention shifted away from him and onto the one standing at his side, Gawyn blinked twice and then stepped backwards, hand drifting towards their sword before stopping for a moment, the blonde swallowed and then spoke in a quiet whisper. "You…we have met before?"

"Will meet again." The demon simply replied. "I will wait until then."

Their fists clenched, the Demon rose up even taller, then it's head started to glow, Ritsuka widened his eyes as the shattered horn and fractured beard started to crackle and pop, embers flew from the head as bone and skin regrew from the wounded parts of the body, reforming as though they had never been broken at all.

"Stay alive until then. Will not be denied the pleasure of killing you."

Gawyn stayed silent for a moment, then spoke back. "H-how do you know history will not repeat?" They tried to blow it off, scoffing and folding their arms, but he saw it and he knew everyone else would have done as well.

The slight crack in his voice when he spoke and how, not once, had he looked at the demon.

"You didn't stink of fear last time."

Ritsuka stepped around, moving between the line of sight of the demon and Gawyn, narrowing his eyes at them as he did so. "For the time being, you're chained up in here so threats aren't all that useful…but thanks for talking with us, at least, and we'll look into what you had to say…" his eyes shifted over the chains, narrowing his gaze just a little. "...And we'll see what comes of it."

With a final grunt, the demon lowered it's head, the tension in its body left it and they dropped down into the weight of the chains once more, supported only by the metal bondage.

"Listen to heartbeat. It is the centre of the city. As it always was."