Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 95 of the story! And for start, I am sorry for this chapter arriving a whole day late than the scheduled. Don't worry about me. I'm all fine. I just happened to go on a trip with my family to the rural side of my country, visiting small villages and such. It was pretty beautiful. I got to know a lot more stuff about my own country and locations that I never had idea they existed before visiting them. It shows that the beauty may not be on the big industrial metropolitan citites, but on the smaller and simple ones with their rivers and ancient stone bridges, placed in the middle of forests and valleys. A good experience overall, and I'd recommend for everyone to once in their lives to go and do a trip around the countrysides and rural areas of their countries.
So yeah, nothing happened to me. I'm okay. And with that said, let's already go to the chapter!
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
"These people do not wish any ill."
The silver armoured knight said to Nictoris, having appeared to exempt the Chaldea team of her accusations after obliterating the sphynx with just one strike. Such sudden presence got all of them by surprise.
"Hm? And who you might be?" Nitocris questioned him, having the 'trial' she made for Chaldea being destroyed by him. "You also dress like the knight-"
"But I guarantee you that despite my looks, I am not one of them, as the sorceress queen might think." The silver armoured knight replied, introducing himself. "I am only but a forlorn traveler of a faraway land." He said, putting the hand of his steel arm close to his chest. "My name is Lucius, and I've happened to pass by when I witnessed how valiantly these people you accuse of fought against your actual abductors in order to rescue you, Pharaoh Nitocris."
"At last! Someone who knows what happened instead of jumping to conclusions!" Ritsuka said in relief, glad that the man in knight armour came to their defense after the misunderstanding the group had with Nictoris and the trio of assassins before that.
"Even in a desert, there still will be reasonable people fortunately." Da Vinci added.
"So you'll act as their testimony?" Nitocris was a bit skeptical of the man but deciding to give him a chance to explain what actually happened through his own point of view.
"Yes. And allow me to inform Your Heighness what really ended up transpiring here." The man named Lucius said, about to tell Nitocris his version of what happened as a witness in the distance. And as he carried on on the explanation and details, the egyptian pharaoh's face slowly became more embaressed as she realized the mistake she made by having judged the chaldeans as her kidnappers initially.
"Oh. So that's what really happened..." Nitocris said, blushing a bit from shame.
"We tried to told you." Nala said to her, giving a side glance and pout with her lips. "I think someone owes us an apology."
"...Actually...I knew you weren't my true kidnappers since the beggining! I-I just wanted to test you out!" Nitocris replied, very obviously lying, acting as if she didn't badly interpreted the situation nor had a lapse of judgement with the chaldeans.
"At least try not to stutter while telling a lie!" Nala said, baffled and upset that Nitocris had the effrontery to not admit she was wrong about them.
"S-Sorry! You're right! I should have recognized my mistake already instead of making myself look worse! A thousand pardons for my misunderstanding!" Nitocris finally acknowledge her own error, Nala's rebuke to her attitude making the queen pharaoh feel more shame in herself.
"At least you confessed you precipitated about us and the situation. That on itself is good enough!" Peko said to Nitocris, trying to minimize her remorse.
"Thankfully, everything has been informed now." Mash added, looking to Lucius. "And all thanks to you. You've spared us of another fight and more trouble."
"No need to be grateful. I just could not stand by and watch you being wrongly labeled and accused." Lucius's voice was soft and comprehensive.
"Wanting or not, we owe you one for that." Ritsuka still thanked the silver armour knight despite of what he said about not wanting any gratitude.
"But you could've also help us against those skull masks since you were passing by." Nala said to Lucius, finding wierd how he saw them fight against Hundred Personas and the other two members and not stepping up to help them there.
"Your battle with those assassins was ending the moment I noticed your presence close to me. Apologies for not having been quicker to help you with that too." Lucius said sorry for that altough it was unnecesary.
"There's no reason to apologize for that really! Those guys weren't really too hard so we were able to take care of them ourselves." Da Vinci assured to him that they were okay anyways. "But anyhow, what is a lonely traveler like you doing here in the desert with such knightly armour and arm?" She asked to Lucius, her eyes gazing at his steel magical arm.
"I have a settled destination already." Lucius put his steel arm behind the cape's white mantle, no longer being watched by Da Vinci's eyes. "I was on my way to there when I came across these ruins and your group. And what about you? Where are you heading to?"
"To be honest, we don't exactly know where we should be heading here." Peko replied to that question.
"We're kinda lost so you could say any place with people really. Anything that isn't just sand and dune." Mash admitted that the party wasn't quite sure where to go in the middle of this desert.
Luckily, having been saved and wanting to make up for her mistake of almost iniciating a pointless conflict with the chaldeans, Nitocris had a suggestion for where the party could go. "Since you rescued me, I'll show you my gratitude by paying back the favour and guide you to the home of my nation."
"Really? Thanks for it!" Ritsuka replied, thanking the egyptian's pharaoh favour. "How long will it take for us to reach there?
"About two or three hours. But with your carriage here, the time will surely be shorter." Nitocris replied, recommending the travel to be done with the car by preference. "Now let's go! I will lead you as my guests and escorts to the great city of Ramesseum Tentyris!"
Now, being given the directions by Nitocris, the chaldeans travessed the large desert with her on the vehicle, heading torwards the egyptian queen's lair. Lucius was also accompanying them, not minding to get a ride since he assumed it would economize some time reaching his desination. With the two, the buggey became a bit more crowded altough with enough space for everyone to fit in. And with the sandstorm now gone, it became more easier for Da Vinci to drive and see the path ahead while receiving Nitocris instructions.
"These type of transportation is way more useful than walking! Is this what's called a chariot?" Nitocris asked, clearly impressed with the machine.
"You could consider this to be a 'modern' version of it." Da Vinci replied with a giggle. "Thinking about it, you never saw a chariot in your life as it wasn't a thing in Egypt, right?"
"Spot on! Chariots were unknown to everyone until the time period of my king." Nitocris confirmed what Da Vinci said.
"But then, how would you all even travel?" Ritsuka asked to the egyptian pharaoh, sitting at the front and next to her on the car.
"In Ancient Egypt, we would mostly do our travels on bare-foot or in an animal's back. Therefore, you can imagine how tedious and boring those travels would be." Nitocris revealed how transportation used to be in Egypt during her period.
"With this heat, it would surely feel like hell." Peko commented on that, sitting on the back alongside Nala, Mash and Lucius. "Would some sort of magic be used as a way to facilitate the journey?"
"Yeah. A few spells here and there to turn the travel more berable. But me and my people got used to these travels across the desert to the point it doesn't bother us that much." Nitocris told him, stating the hot temperature to not be a problem to her.
Meanwhile, Mash was gazing at Lucius steel arm. "That attack you made to defeat the sphynx...It came from that arm, didn't it?"
"You are correct. This arm of mine is the carrier of a weapon, meant to be used as one." Lucius explained, moving the articulations of the steel arm, doing some metalic noise.
"How did you gained it? Were you born with it?" Nala asked him, being curious about it just like everyone else.
"It was a gift from someone. To help me in dire times." Lucius replied. "An ace..."
Staring for some seconds to the silver knight traveler, Da Vinci begun talking with him as well. "Does that weapon has a name? I can tell by the mana that comes from it, that arm isn't something ordinary. It must store quite a great amount of magic inside it, worthy of a god. That arm is your Noble Phantasm, isn't it?" She asked, having made her guess about Lucius steel silver arm.
Lucius gave a little smile. "Eh, the lady doesn't let a thing get past her. The reading about my arm is objectively correct. However, if anything, I would wish for its name to be kept a secret. But if the lady is as perspicacious as it seems, then it won't be a problem for her to discover my steel arm's name." He told Da Vinci, refraining from revealing the name of his silver steel arm.
"Why won't you reveal it? It's important to be a secret?" Peko asked to Lucius.
"You can put it that way." The silver armor knight replied.
"What is the motive you are here so? Are you in some sort of mission?" Mash asked to Lucius, wondering why he needed the name of his steel arm to be concealed from their knowledge.
"..." Looking directly into Mash's face, the silver knight did not respond. By the contrary, he stared at the demi-servant's face in an almost hypnotized way, staring deeply to her eyes and other face features. Lucius got the feeling that Mash was no stranger to him. That armour of hers as well as the shield...He had seen all of that before somewhere. A person, that the shielder made him remember of.
"Uhmm, are you okay?" Mash felt a bit wierd in getting no response from Lucius, still giving an analyzing look at her.
"Hey, she asked you something." Ritsuka talked to the silver knight, snapping him out of his 'hypnosis' state.
"...Hm? Oh! Pardon me. I got a bit lost wandering in my own thoughts." Lucius replied. "I didn't got to hear well what was the young lady's question. Do you mind repeating it please?" He asked to Mash, having not catched it her question the first time.
However, something inside Mash's soul told her to spare Lucius of any interrogation, to just overall trust in the knight in front of her as a genuine good person. "I-I'ts okay honestly. It wasn't anything important anyways." Mash told him, smilling.
Lucius was a bit confused at first, before coming to just smile back at her. "If you say so." He replied, looking at Mash's warm smile. "Ah, there's no mistaking it. It really is you..."
"Is it really their first time meeting each other?" Nitocris asked to Ritsuka and Da Vinci on the front of the vehicle, seeing Mash and Lucius interaction.
"We swear it is. Altough I admit it's strange" Ritsuka replied, agreeing that Mash and Lucius now speaked with one another as if they were long time friends.
Nala, who had been silent until now, stared to both Mash and Lucius to the side, thinking about the reason behind that. "Could it be-"
"!" Violently stepping on the breaks, Da Vinci put a full stop on the car, surprising everyone out of nowhere.
"What's the problem?!" Ritsuka asked to the italian genius as Nitocris fell on his back. And staring to the front of the vehicle, Ritsuka was able to see what it was. "Hm!"
A human sized eye ball with purple tentacles, hovering in front of them, getting in the car's way. Its appearence felt surreal.
"An enemy!" Nala exclaimed, proceeding to look around to see more four of the same creature. "We're surrounded!"
"Figures! With the sandstorm down, all type of monsters will appear to attack any traveler!" Nitocris said.
"A possible ambush! We have to get the path clear from them!" Mash speaked, summoning her shield, resulting in more space being occupied inside the vehicle, much to the others discomfort.
"It's getting tight here!" Peko protested, the space he had left on his seat getting smaller.
"S-Sorry! I totally forgot about the notion of space!" Mash apologized clumsily, making sure that her weapon was not pressing against anyone.
"Doesn't matter! Let's go out there and defeat those things!" Ritsuka instructed, with the entire party proceeding to exit the vehicle in order to fight the eyeball monsters.
"Stay behind us! We will protect you while dealing with these creatures!" Peko exclaimed, putting his arm in front of Nitocris,
The egyptian queen was a bit surprised as well as flattered by it. "O-Oh! I appreciate your concerns about my safety, young man! But I also know how to defend myself! Me being kidnapped earlier on was just a rare slip!" Nitocris said to the boy, stepping up while lowering his arm, the staff already in hand. "Now I'll show you what I'm capable of!"
"I shall also lend you my strenght!" Lucius spoke out, taking out his steel arm from behind the cape.
"Great!" Ritsuka said as reaction to the two servants joining the fight. "Let's make sure the vehicle isn't destroyed!" With that said, the entire party went onto fight the bizarre eyeball monsters.
Despite this being the first time they were fighting against this type of enemy and discovering their attacks and patterns, it wasn't particularly a difficult fight. Taking only some good minutes to get used to them, the group was able to discover and attack their weak points, proceeding to diminuish the opponent's number rapidly.
And as only two more enemies were left remaining, Lucius made sure to take care of them himself. Charging torwards the last two eyeball monsters, the knight past right next to Da Vinci, a muttering word escaping his lips, barely having been audible to the italian inventor's ear.
.
"Airgetlám!"
.
"What?" Da Vinci was slightly dumbfounded by what Lucius had said, right in the moment his steel arm liberated a golden light, the arm forming the aspect of a shinning blade, cutting down the two remaining enemies and ending with the fight.
"No more of those eye balls in sight. Those were the last ones!" Nala said, seeing the problem has been dealt with, turning around to face Lucius. "That was a pretty awsome finish by the way! That arm of yours surely does look powerful!"
"Now I see how and why the sphynx was brought down in one attack. It really is no joke the weapon you have there!" Ritsuka added, amazed at the fraction of power Lucius silver steel arm showed.
"I appreciate the eulogies. It was nothing out of the extraordinary however." Lucius said with an honest and gentle smile, keeping it humble. "If anything, you and your group did most part of the job."
"You showed those creatures you aren't just some defenseless travelers here in the desert. I'd say you are well prepared for the savagery and ruthlessness that such monsters bring to this vast ardid land." Nictoris complimented the fighting skills of the chaldeans. "The Sun King will most surely be intrigue to know you!"
"Thanks! You weren't bad yourself, Nitocris-san!" Mash told to the ancient pharaoh in return.
"Yeah! You gave little to no chance to those things!" Peko added, also impressed.
Nitocris jackal ears twitched, getting a bit overwhelmed with the praise. "I told you that my kidnapping was a thing of one in a million!" She said with a prieful expression, closing her eyes for an instant. "You do look a bit fatigued however. Mind if I help you with that?"
"That won't be needed. I can be the one doing that." Peko told her. "Watch this!" Putting his hands on the ground, the boy conjured his most recent spell.
"Leigheas!"
A small green vegetation field of crops and food germinated from the sands, healing the party's small fatigue.
"Feeling with way more energy now! Thanks Peko!" Ritsuka said to his friend.
"An healing spell in the form of crop plants? How fitting!" Nitocris replied, interested in Peko's spell. "It must have took some time for you to master it."
"It took some few tries indeed. But now that I got the hang of it, it will be a lot useful for our journey. A nice new addition if I say so!" Peko was happy with the new recent skill he had learned through his training with Scáthach, feeling that a part of him had evolved with that.
"Hmm, it might be a good supportive spell. But it's not a fully fledge shinny knight's armour that an strenghten your senses, is it?" Nala replied to her brother, giving him a playful smirk, comparing her armour transformation with Peko's healing spell.
"Don't ruin my mood please! Spells can be as cool as armours, if not cooler!" Peko told her, getting teased by his sister.
"Well, in that case, talk to me when you've got an armour of your own." Nala taunted him a bit more.
"Hphm! Just wait and see!" Peko told her, not conformed with letting Nala distance the gap between them. "Altough it seems there's still a lot of catch up I need to do..." He muttered with a saddened smile. When the boy had thought he could finally be at the same level as of his sister, Nala would always take a step higher, getting above and a bit distant from Peko.
Mash went to consolate him. "I'm sure you will eventually shorten that gap in no time, Peko."
"I'll make sure it happens so." Peko replied, valuing Mash's words, knowing that the shielder wouldn't be around for much longer now.
"Your arm also looks to be special." Lucius speaked with Peko, mentioning the boy's arm. "You must use it a lot to fire those light bullets, no?"
"Yeah! My usage of it is on the same rate as my sword!" Peko replied, the veins of his arm shinning with mana as he approached the limb to Lucius steel arm. "I admit I use it almost use it as my primary weapon sometimes!"
" A Brotherhood of the Magic Arms!" Ritsuka exclaimed, picking up on that parallel of both Peko and Lucius arms.
Peko laughed a bit. "You think? I mean, seeing how Lucius uses his arm to fight, it might serve as influence and adaptation for the attacks of my own arm!"
Nala shook her head. "So what you're saying is that you're going to be some type of copycat? What a shameless thing to do, brother." She said, acting heartbroken and dissapointed with Peko, much to his own confusion.
"Eh?!"
"And here I thought you were honestly better than imitating others..." Nala 'lamented', adding a bit of dramatism.
"I-I won't be imitating anybody! It's called inspiration!" Peko defended himself, arguing against Nala's accusation.
"Breaching copyright laws is a heinous and severe thing to do, Peko." Ritsuka said, also joking a bit.
"Not you too Ritsuka..." Peko sighed.
"It is alright if you wish to take some notes about my steel arm." Lucius smiled generously. "I do not care that much about it in my opinion."
"For someone who refers himself to not be a knight from the Holy City, you sure do fight like one." Nitocris speaked to Lucius, attentive to the way he moved in combat.
"The sorceress queen may have see some similarities, but there is no connection with those knighrs beyond that." Lucius replied, able to tell Nitocris was a bit suspicious of him.
Meanwhile, Da Vinci had come back from checking on the car and fixing some small damages, catching the conversation. "Excuse me for a moment! When you speak about these knights of the Holy City, you mean the crusaders and the city of Jerusalem, correct?" She asked to Nitocris.
The queen pharaoh however, stared to Da Vinci like if she was speaking a completely random languge, judging by the reaction of her face. "Huh? What are you talking about? Jerusalem has been completely destroyed and replaced alongside the crusaders."
"WHAT?!"
The entirety of the Chaldea team exclaimed, greatly bewildered. Lucius was the only one who didn'y said a thing, reacting with a serious face only.
"The Holy Land of Jerusalem was destroyed and the crusaders as well?!" Mash said, in utter confusion. How could the famous city that the Singularity's area was geographically located on, no longer exist?
"Could this have been what the doctor meant by the Singularity becoming history of its own? A version where Jerusalem is wipped out of the map?" Nala wondered, thinking on what Romani had told them before rayshifting to this Singularity.
"He did said we wouldn't know what to expect. And so far, it looks like that statement is becoming truer." Da Vinci replied. "Like we feared, this Singularity has already developed to an instability way greater than all of the Singularities before. What we might be experiencing right now, is the beggining of a separate history to that of humanity's!"
"Why are you looking so surprise by that? I thought everyone on this land knew about the fall of Jerusalem already." Nitocris said, puzzled by why the chaldeans looked so surprised with news that for her and the inhabitants of this Singularity, it wasn't really 'new'.
"How long has it been since Jerusalem was destroyed then?" Ritsuka asked to the egyptian pharaoh.
"From what the Sun King informed me of, about six months ago." Nitocris revealed to the master of humanity.
"That long?! Then no wonder why this Singularity's surface had dissapeared from CHALDEAS surface! The consequences of its divergence have been going on long enough to spread and grow its effects in something more alarming!" Peko stated, seeing how the turning point had long happened before the group's arrival.
"Aren't you merchants from the mountain people or the Holy City itself? By your customs I thought so." Nitocris said, scratching her head on why the chaldeans looked so stunned by what she revealed. "Unless...you aren't from here actually."
"Yes. The land we come from is very distant. Maybe the news of Jerusalem's fall did not arrived to our hometown or by the time it did, we where already on our way to the holy land for trade." Da Vinci invented a good excuse to Nitocris on why this was the first time the group was hearing about Jerusalem's destruction.
"Oh! I see. That checks it out!" Nitocris saw the lie Da Vinci gave her as something that made sense. "If so, then I'm sorry to have brought you the late bad news to you. There is still trade and business that can be made on the outskirts of the Holy City from what I heard about, altough it might still be a bummer that you guys were expecting to arrive to Jerusalem and ending up having this bummer of a surprise."
"Well, I'd say that the most important now is to figure out why and how Jerusalem was conquered and destroyed." Peko replied to the pharaoh, the worry about their 'trade' becoming of secondary importance.
"And who's that Sun King you speak of." Mash added. "Who exactly is him?"
"Two questions that, curiously, correlates to one another." Nitocris mentioned before giving them an explanation. "The Sun King is a servant himself and the one who summoned me." She replied showing them the land they were in. "All of this desert, is his territory, the kingdom he manifested by overlaying the originaly territory of this place with the vast sea of sand you see now. A place pulled straight out from our nation of Egypt. The fall of Jerusalem begun when the crusaders summoned him as a way to get a powerful aid against their enemies."
"So this desert isn't originally from this Singularity's land?" Nala thought as that's what she understood by Nitocris words.
"Then that must explain why the communications aren't working." Da Vinci begun to hypothesize, murmuring before speaking to the rest of the party. "If we are in a land that came from the B.C period, the density of magic energy will be higher than what the technology and magecraft the machines at Chaldea can handle. As long as we are in this desert, there are no chanes of contacting Romani and the others."
"But if the whole Singularity is this desert, we literally can't have doctor to guide or inform us of anything!" Peko replied, seeing that was going to be a huge problem if true.
"The desert might be big, but I'm not sure if it's the whole Singularity." Ritsuka tried to be reasonable. "There's this Holy City and mountain people Nitocris speaked of now, so this desert can't be all there is to it."
"You're right master! We're still not getting the full picture here." Mash replied. "Perhaps this Sun King may give us more of it as he is directly linked with the topic!"
"I too think we can get some broader explanation out of him." Da Vinci said before facing Nitocris. "Excuse me. I hope it isn't much insolence from our part to ask for it but can we have the honour of having granted an audience with your king when we arrive to the city?"
Nitocris saw no problem in it. "Of course you can! In fact, a visit of yours to the Sun King was the first thing I was planning for you to do when reaching the city!" She smiled. "I'll guide you to his palace."
"Here we are everyone! The core of our nation, Rameseeum Tentyris!"
Stopping the vehicle, the party witnessed the grand city Nitocris introduced to them.
Standing tall amidst the huge dunes, a giant and perfectly built pyramid was seen, located at the center of a city full of houses, statues, temples and palm trees. An archeological and architetural ancient city come to life, as a river flow through it. Every limestone and mudbrick building organized and planned with the streets. A true egyptian wonder.
"An oasis in the middle of the desert would have already been good. But this? It's a fully fledged city in the middle of nowhere!" Da Vinci commented, amazed by the grandiosity of it.
"It's huge..." Peko whispered, almost speechless.
"A thing that you'd only see in history books or video games most certainly." Ritsuka said, gazing at the city as well.
"Or just its leftovers in the current time." Mash added. "All of this...how was it possible?"
"Work of the Sun King?" Nala asked to Nitocris, who giggled in response.
"It was him indeed! The Sun King is a gifted if not the most gifted of all the pharaohs! Even my achivements might look trivial when in comparison to his!" The queen pharaoh talked about the other egyptian pharaoh. "And now that we are here, you can meet-hey! Where are you going?"
"Huh?" Looking to where Nitocris was looking, Ritsuka and the group all saw Lucius walking away from them, going to the opposite direction to that of the city's entrance.
"The city is to the other way! Where you think you're going?" Nala questioned the silver armoured knight.
"I'm leaving. My duties and destination do not lie on this desert nation. I have no business to attend here." Lucius explained to them.
"Then where exactly are you heading?" Nitocris asked him.
"It wouldn't be the Holy City, would it?" Da Vinci took a guess, giving a serious stare at Lucius, wondering what he was hiding from them beyond his steel arm.
"Wherever I am supposed to go, I do need to make a delivery of an important item." Lucius replied to them, adverting Da Vinci's gaze as he looked forward to the desert. "I am grateful for the trip you offered. It helped me getting closer to that place. Now, I shall make the rest of my voyage on foot."
"Won't you at least tell us where you going?" Ritsuka insisted for Lucius to tell him and the rest what was his destination.
" Do not tax yourselves with that uncertainty." Lucius slightly moved his head upwards. "For there might be a chance we might come across each other again. Farewell, travelers." He wished them goodbye, looking at the chaldeans before leaving, decided to roam through the desert alone, much to their collective puzzlement.
"Guess he is focused on doing his own thing. Better let it that way." Nitocris said to the chaldeans, assuming that Lucius had too much of important matters to simply dismiss. "How about you guys have that audition with the Sun King already?"
"Yeah. We better not let such an important figure like him waiting." Peko replied, agreeing to what Nitocris said about Lucius, looking to the others. "Let's go?"
"Nitocris, leed us the way!" Ritsuka requested to the queen pharaoh.
Nitocris happily showed them. "Right this way! Follow me!"
As everyone walked torwards the city's entrance, Da Vinci stood a bit behind, thinking deeply about Lucius and his identity overall. "An important item to deliver, eh?" Once again, Da Vinci tried to set the communications to work. "Hum, let's try it again." The italian inventor begun to configurate the device on her hands, trying to have a complete reading of the desert. Unfortunately, it wasn't working greatly, making a lot of static noise. "Tsk! Same result. Let's try it again." And upon the second try, she got a slightly better result, having a sparse reading of the entire desert. "Hmm, it might not be much, but at least there seems to be a limit to this desert as well as-!..." Glancing over a detail on the reading, Da Vinci's heart skipped a beat as she was caught off guard by what she discovered. "T-This can't be! This entire desertis already a foreign body! How there can be a second smaller one inside it? What is it? How is it even possi-"
"Why are you stopped over there, Da Vinci-san?" Mash appeared some meters behind Da Vinci, taking her out from her own thoughts. "You are separating yourself from the rest of the team that way."
"Ah! S-sorry about that, Mash! I was admiring the city so much that I barely even noticed you walking away." Da Vinci replied. "Thanks for calling me on that thou. Let's get going!" She begun walking in front of Mash, heading to the city's entrance while a confused Mash accompanied from behind.
"I, Queen Pharaoh of the 6th Dinasty and counciler of the Sun King, Nitocris, orders the gates of the great pyramid to be opened!" Commanding with a high voice, Nitocris made the large gates of the pyramid palace to unlock for the chaldeans, showing the straight hall in front of them. "Do enter please,"
Now inside, Nitocris and the Chaldea team wandered through the great corridors, decorated with egyptian imageography and scriptures, turning left and right on their way to meet the Sun King.
"No wall here seems to have been left blank." Nala stared to the hieroglyphs on the walls as she and the rest of the party climbed some stairs, reaching to the end of it.
"He really didn't go easy on the decoration of this place." Ritsuka added. "If only I could read it so it doesn't look like just random doodles to me."
"To show a nation's grandeur, it doesn't mean to have only nice tall buildings or large armies. Having poetry and written works to discuss and analyze is also a great way to demonstrate the importance of an entire population's culture. And the Sun King makes sure to let that clear with the writtings and images in these walls." Nitocris told them, sounding a bit like a tourist guide now.
"He really must be a very cultured man if that's a belief of his." Mash replied, liking how the Sun King seemed to be a leader that also valued literature.
"Yeah. The way Nitocris speaks so highly of him, is making me want to meet the Sun King even more." Peko added, looking forward to meet up with him. "When are we arriving to his throne room anyways?"
"Great timing! It's right here!" Nitocris exclaimed, spotting the entrance to the throne room of the Sun King at the end of the hallway. "An advise before we enter: be respectful to the king and speak to him only when he allows you to."
Ritsuka nodded. "Got that."
Entering the room situated at the top of the pyramid, the chaldeans observed its dominant white and yellow golden colours, the clean and reflecting floor, the white columns glued to the walls, filled with more imagery and scriptures and the giant hole on the ceilling to which the vibrant light of the sun passed through, shinning down on the big golden and blue egyptian throne, a tall staircase connecting it to the floor, standing in the middle of two giant bennu statues.
Facing the staircase that led to the throne, Nitocris bowed down in respect to the one in the seat. "O my prestigious king, bathed by the daily sunlight and blessed by the long Nile. Your herald and loyal abetter has arrived from her patrol. And I bring kind guests who made sure I could return back home unhurt. As retribution, I promised them to arrange an audience with the king. I humbly wish that the king does not perceive this as an annoying incovenience." Getting no verbal answer from the Sun King sitting on the throne as the chaldeans stood behind her, Nitocris perceived the silence as approval, getting up on her feet and proceeding to stare at the Chaldea group. "Foreigners from the distant land, exalt and venere the greatest pharaoh to have ever governed Egypt during its pinnacle of the New Kingdom period! The one deemed as the chain connecting mere mortals to the gods above! Under the Sun King, this nation thrived above all until his ending!"
Pointing with her staff to the throne, Nitocris presented the Sun King to the chaldeans.
A young looking man with short dark brown hair and tanned skin. A black soft-tissue pants, wearing golden and blue sandals. The Sun King had a white mantle on his back with a large golden and blue collar around his shoulders. His chest and abdomen exposed, the muscles visible. The Sun King was wearing black gloves and golden and blue gauntlents, alongside some pieces of golden armour on the sides of his torso and around his waist, coming out of it, a small golden, blue and white mantle covering the space between his legs. Despite his closed eyes and resting posture on the throne, The Sun King looked really important and majestic, having an incredible quantity of mana inside him.
"The third pharaoh of the 19th Dinasty! The most famous of them all: Rameses II! Popularly nicknamed as Ozymandias!"
"Hmm..." Slowly opening his amber eyes, the great pharaoh, stared down to his new visitors. "I was wondering when you would appear at my doorstep, inhabitants of Chaldea."
"He knew we would be coming?!" Nala said in surprise, Ozymandias having apparently having taken their arrival into account.
"So the Sun King is Rameses II, a.k.a Ozymandias. Truly, for the way Nitocris speaked so great of such person, there could not be any other pharaoh more fitting to the description than him. The most influential and powerful pharaoh that has ever governed Egypt." Da Vinci said, looking up to Ozymandias. "But there seems to be something more about him here that I am not quite catching up..."
"How long did you knew about our existence?" Ritsuka immediatly asked to the great pharaoh.
"What did I told you about only speaking when he allows you to?!" Nitocris shouted comically next to Ritsuka.
Ozymandias however did not seemed bothered, lifting up his hand. "Leave him be, Nitocris. These guests here are way more than just 'special'. For a long while, I have witnessed and observed from my throne your deeeds on the other Singularities, chaldeans. From France to North America, your path has been an agitated one." He said with a smile, resting his face on his hand.
"You've been spectating us this entire time?" Peko questioned. "How so?"
"Then I assume the great pharaoh has also caught our presence the moment we landed here." Mash theorized, the party having been rayshifted to the desert, Ozymandias territory, therefore, the Sun King probably knew they where here since the first minute.
"Chaldea? Is that the name of the distant land you came from? Also, what even is a 'Singularity'?" Nitocris asked, a bit muddled, not having the same foresight and intel that Ozymandias had about the chaldeans.
"I will inform of you about it later, Nitocris. I can already tell you've take a liking to them. Or that might just be your easy and going nature at work." Ozymandias commented, noticing how the other pharaoh and servant seemed relaxed and unbothered next to the chaldeans before going back to Mash's question. "But good deduction, lady of the shield. I have been aware of your presence since the beggining as well as your expected visit to my domain. I hope that Olgoi did not gave you much trouble however."
"Olgoi? Who's that?" Ritsuka asked, not having any idea of who Ozymandias was talking about.
"The giant sandworm that crawls under the desert, Olgoi-Khorkhoi. A venomous one that swallows and devours any living being standing above it when hungry." Nitocris informed him and the rest of the team. "Walking on the desert without knowing Olgoi's schedule where it comes out to eat as well as knowing how to bypass it, is like having a huge death wish."
Nala immediatly remembered alongside everyone else. "Ah! That giant hostile worm we fought literally on our first minutes here? THAT was the Olgoi-Khorkhoi you're referring to?"
Da Vinci thinked that name sounded familiar. "Olgoi-Khorkhoi...Olgoi-Khorkhoi...Aha! The famous Mongolian Death Worm! That's its name!"
"Precisely, erudite of Florence." Ozymandias replied, confirming Da Vinci's guess. "A dangerous but also perfect dog guard, warding off unwanted company to my kingdom."
"Did you somehow summoned it to here to serve you as such?" Peko asked to the great pharaoh, thinking that Ozymandias might could have used a magic spell to call upon the sandworm.
"Altough I wouldn't blame you for thinking as such, you're wrong. Olgoi-Khorkhoi appeared on its own in this desert. I assume that such heat and atmosphere surrounded by magical energy made the creature remember of the Gobi Desert, its actual home, perceiving my egyptian desert as something similar, deciding to stay in it. So while I don't actually brought the sandworm here no have ownership over it, it is a useful addition and method to keep my nation safe."
"Well, it tried to kill us but we managed to deal with it before turning into its lunch." Nala replied.
"The sandworm is also alive, so you don't have to worry about finding a replacement for it." Da Vinci added before moving to other topic. "We were told that this desert of yours was your doing, not belonging to the original terrain of this Singularity. May we know how exactly you managed to add a whole new biome to the land, replacing the old one? So far, I've been unaware of a servant with capabilities to pull such feats." She made one of the big questions the group had to Ozymandias.
"That and how you've been watching us until now over all the other Singularities. Where did that knowledge came from?" Ritsuka added another question to the great pharaoh.
Looking at them with an expression of superiority, Ozymandias gives the chaldeans a smirk as he shows them something in his hand. "Could this artifact be the answer?" A golden ancient cup: the Holy Grail.
"The Holy Grail! Ozymandias has possession of it!" Mash exclaimed.
"So that's the extra mana source I was feeling from him! I reckon you used it to transfer a percentage of Egypt's desert to cover a portion of this land!" Da Vinci speaked, coming to the conclusion that's what happened.
"Correct again." Ozymandias stretched his other arm, indicating the chaldeans to stare at the room they where in. "Initially, this room, pyramid, city and dunes surrounding it, was all that I could've bring to this Singularity. The territory you are stepping right now, is my very own Noble Phantasm."
"The entire city and everything in it, every detail...is actually the work of a Noble Phantasm?" Peko was in awe that such city could be a literal Noble Phantasm magic spell, the power to do so belonging solely to one person.
"Then this is a sort of a Reality Marble?" Ritsuka asked.
"It does have its similarities. The pyramid palace you are in right now, is my Great Temple Complex. While Nitocris might have just guided you through the main path, this pyramid is a juxaposition of several temples and mystics of egyptian mythology. The throne room is only but the main temple of the giant complex. Here, my rules and terms are absolute, where I am at my most powerful. Essentialy, you are at the end of an enormous labyrinth." Ozymandias explained how his Noble Phantasm worked. "In my domain, the blessings and spells enhances the mana inside me, basically making me immortal in my own residence. The city is a minor extension of my power, having the name of my Noble Phantasm."
"And what about the vast desert outside? It is also your Noble Phantasm?" Nala asked, wondering if Ozymandias Noble Phantasm could have that much area and reach.
"That is already the doing of the grail's power. After I seized it from the crusaders, I made the wish of expanding my nation's territory by bringing the desert of my homeland into this Singularity." Ozymandias explained.
"The crusaders where the ones who had the grail first?" Mash asked him.
"Yes. King Edward and his men sought help against their enemies after an hard-fought battle, and so they used the grail's magic to summon me as their servant in order to aid the crusaders. However, I was able to foresee the play and scheme the King of Magecraft had implanted behind that crusade. The grail was gifted to the crusaders by none other than Solomon himself." Ozymandias revealed.
"Then most certainly that Solomon didn't gave the grail to the crusaders out of good intentions." Ritsuka replied.
"It was surely how he intended to start changing the actual events of this period." Peko said, thinking about Solomon's goal by doing such action. "With the grail in posession, the crusaders could have accomplished a better result with their crusade, altering the course of history."
"And so that's why you fought them when summoned and took the grail for yourself. You didn't wanted to side nor be a pawn to Solomon's overall grand plan." Da Vinci concluded.
"So you actually attempted to avoid this time period from turning into a Singularity." Nala said, seeing how Ozymandias was keeping the Holy Grail for possible good intentions.
"Do not get me wrong, young girl. I simply find it insulting how someone thinks a blessed pharaoh like me would ever dare to work as their underling! The thought of it simple repulses me!" Ozymandias raised his voice, stating how ridiculous working for Solomon sounded to him.
As he was saying that, Ritsuka's eyes payed extremely attention to Ozymandias head. "Hmm..."
"Something's wrong, master?" Mash asked him, whispering.
"I don't know Mash. I just feel there's something odd with him." Ritsuka told her, whispering back but still staring at Ozymandias.
"Odd? How odd?" Nala speaked, not looking at them, her eyes on the great pharaoh."Also, why are you whispering like this all of a sudden?"
"I just can't quite tell what it is but..." Ritsuka tried to figure out, staring even more to Ozymandias head as the great pharaoh continued to speak.
"No. I think I also notice it too." Peko told Ritsuka, entering the conversation as well while not moving his sight away from Ozymandias. "As if there's a thing out of place in him."
Hearing the four whispering, Da Vinci joined in. "Hey, I too think there's something up with him. But I don't think this is a proper way of having a discreet conversation-"
"Oi! Are you ignoring me?" Ozymandias called their attention suddenly, catching them whispering between each other.
Being caught red-handed, Ritsuka tried his best to deny it. "...No?"
"Unbelivable you guys! In an audition, the word of th Sun King is golden and always meant to be heard!" Nitocris scolded the group. "How can you dare to have such lack of attention in a scenario like this?"
"We weren't! We were just discussing important topics!" Nala immediatly replied, trying to tell a better lie.
"You sure as hell weren't!" Ozymandias shouted, angry at having spent his tongue on deaf ears. "I am not spending precious hours of my day to speak with walls here! I was generous enough to allow you to speak freely and this is the gratitude I get? You chaldeans have a lot of nerve to ignore the greatest pharaoh Egypt has ever conceived while standing right in front of-" And out of nowhere, an unexpected thing happened. Ozymandias head slightly slides off his neck, beggining to separate itself from the body. "'!?"
"FOU?!"
Ritsuka and the party had been caught off guard by it. "W-What a-!?"
"His head...!" Peko thought he was hallucinating, not being sure if what he just saw was true.
Ozymandias hurriedly put his head back in place. "H-hush! You peasents didn't saw a thing!" He ordered them to not pay mind to it...before his head begun to slide off from his neck again.
"His head is disconnecting from the body!" Nala shouted.
"How can that be?" Da Vinci was trying to understand it.
"It isn't! The great Sun King Ozymandias is just very sleepy and needs some rest now! You're just imagining things!" Nitocris said, urging the chaldeans to leave the room and Ozymandias alone.
However, Ritsuka continued to stare into Ozymandias head, bewildered by it. "..."
"What are you looking at?" Ozymandias replied, wanting Ritsuka to leave immediatly while still holding his head from sliding off.
"..." In return, Ritsuka gave him a more serious glare, not moving his sight away from the great pharaoh.
"..." Ozymandias also begin to give him a more intense stare, the two now being at a tense staredown between one another.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"OKAY THAT'S IT!" Ozymandias shouted, the pressure of being continuously stared at by Ritsuka while securing his head making him annoyed and extremely uncomfortable. "NITOCRIS, CALL SOME FIRE SPIRITS AND PREPARE YOUR STAFF! WE ARE GOING TO TEACH THESE SCOUNDRELS A LESSON!"
"Out of the blue my king?!" Nitocris replied, totally perplexed by Ozymandias command.
"Yes and now!" Ozymandias exclaimed, completely bent on fighting the chaldeans, with his honor in question.
Nitocris gave a sheepish smile, sighing while staring at the Chaldea group. "Sorry. Sun King's orders. It has to be this way." She said before powering her staff and calling some little medjeds near her feet, with fire spirits appearing across the room while Ozymandias himself stood uo from his throne and called his golden and blue sceptre, ready to fight.
"Of course things couldn't have went peacefully!" Da Vinci said, standing near the party as they also summoned all their weapons and entered combat mode.
"By the positive side, if we defeat him we can take the grail and end with this Singularity already!" Nala pointed out.
"Something tells me that won't be so simple." Peko replied.
"Yeah. The dozen of enemies and servant duo in this room." Ritsuka looked at all the opponents surrounding them.
"Eitherway, there is no other alternative but to fight now!" Mash replied, putting her shield in position. "Master, everyone, let's go!"
Having begun fighting, the chaldeans soon saw how powerful not only Ozymandias, but also Nitocris, were inside the Great Complex pyramid. While the fire spirits were more than easy cannon fodder to defeat, the two egyptian servants were proving to be a problem. Ozymandias, standing near his throne, would conjured rays of light from the sun above, sending them down at the chaldeans while Nitocris would sent smaller sphynxs and medjeds to attack the group, making difficult to reach close to the two servants.
The party eventually was able to fend off against the monsters, with Da Vinci, Peko and Mash being able to make a open way torwards Ozymandias.
"There! We can attack him now!" Ritsuka shouted, pointing at the great pharaoh on top of the throne. "Nala!"
Taking a huge dash torwards Ozymandias, Nala was on her way to reach him, even slicing in half a sphyinx that Nitocris had put in front of her to prevent the girl from getting near Ozymandias.
"Oh no! Sun King, watch out!" Nitocris yelled in alarm as she saw Nala quickly get near Ozymandias, preparing to slice him.
"Eh! Useless! Useless! Useless!" Ozymandias swinged his sceptre, sending more sun lights to rain down on Nala.
She however was able to dodge them. clashing her blade with Ozymandias sceptre. As the two tried to break the defense of each other, Ozymandias could tell how strong and persistent Nala was by simply sensing the grand effort and strenght she was putting on the blade of her sword. The two ended up on an impasse, the might of their dispute making Nala being sent all the way down from the throne's staircase while Ozymandias crashed his whole back into the throne, both their strenght nullifying each other.
"You okay?" Peko asked to Nala as he went to her side to help his sibling get up, the rest of the party coming right after.
Meanwhile, Nitocris also went to check on Ozymandias as he was recovering from the impact his back suffered. "My king, how are you feeling, Is everything alright?"
Slowly getting up from the throne, a crackling sound came from the bones of Ozymandias back bones and neck, the great pharaoh doing some stretches as the entire room gone silent, Nitocris and the chaldeans waiting what he would say or do next. "...Heh. Hehehehehahahahahahahahaha!"
"M-My king?" Nitocris looked confused at Ozymandias as he laughed.
"Hm? Why is he laughing?" Ritsuka couldn't comprehend the motive for the laughter of the great pharaoh.
"This was great! Very great indeed! My head is feeling a lot better! Mhm! Much much better!" Ozymandias seemed to have come back to a good mood. "Maybe this fight was what I just needed after all. Thanking you for alliviating me from this minor ache, chaldeans!"
"Then we're good again?" Nala asked, sensing the atmoshpere in the room had gone less hostile.
"Yes, there's no need for more fighting. I can overlook that for now. You may lower your weapons." Ozymandias said as he sat back on his throne. "Let us resume the topic of our conversations, shall we?"
"Thank goodness for that..." Ritsuka let out a breath of relief as the group lowered their defenses. "So, speaking about the grail, I know you much likely won't give us, but do understand that we need it in order to restore humani-"
"It's pointless." Ozymandias interrupted Ritsuka. "Humanity can no longer be saved nor restored. The damage to it has already been done. And if you want this grail, then I can't help but to perceive you as nothing more but my enemies and of my nation."
"But my king, if you deem it so, that means they much probably will have to kill you to get it" Nitocris said in shock, concerned for Ozymandias well being if he really was considering making the chaldeans his enemies. "Why did you never told me about who Chaldea were nor their motives? The grail's real purpose besides being another shinny thing for your treasury?"
"I admit, I failed with you by not telling it sooner, Nitocris. Never had I thought Chaldea to have reached further than their first confront with Solomon at the fourth Singularity. Had I payed attention to the outcome earlier, I would not have made the mistake of keeping the grail's secret away from you." Ozymandias admitted that he was wrong for having kept Chaldea's existence and the grail's true purpose away from his fellow pharaoh for this long. "However, you chaldeans may have reached far, but were too slow in order to undo the damages made on this era in time. Humanity here, is already doomed."
"We were informed that the Holy Land, Jerusalem, has fallen. Is that why you consider humanity here to have no saving?" Da Vinci questioned him, believing that Ozymandias was being pessimistic. "Don't tell us that you were the one who destroyed Jerusalem as well as the crusaders."
"No, I was not." Ozymandias was quick to deny it, sure on what he was saying. "After taking the grail from those foolish crusaders, I built my own kingdom here in one of the corners of this Singularity. Solomon's original intentions with this era was to create an ongoing war over the Holy Land. One side attacking and the other defending. And the crusaders, once they'd conquer the Holy Land with the grail, the place itself would become a nest for a Demon God Pillar, connecting its roots deep within Jerusalem. But for what you've heard from mine and Nitocris mouths, such thing never got to happen as I took the relic for myself and abandoned the pointless war, stopping its eruption process."
"Then who actually destroyed Jerusalem?" Peko asked the great pharaoh, now knowing Ozymandias wasn't the one behind its fall.
"Your true enemy in this Singularity. The source of the main distortion of this era. He whose kingdom now has assembled from the ashes of Jerusalem's ruins, sitting on the throne. The Lion King." Ozymandias revealed to them the true person behind that.
"The Lion King? Who is that?" Mash asked, wanting Ozymandias to explain more.
"A mysterious powerful king who once appeared on this land alongside his knights, bringing down the demise of the crusaders that shortly before the arrvial, managed to capture the Holy Land, eradicating everything that was once known as Jerusalem, replacing it with his new kingdom that is nicknamed as the Holy City. As long as he and his kingdom stands, taking the Holy Grail from my hands won't resolve a thing in the Singularity." Ozymandias explained further.
"Then that must be where the knights Nitocris and those assassins talked about come from!" Nala exclaimed, picking up that detail.
"They are indeed. As well as the Lion King's personal guard and most skillful warriors. Even if all of you faced a single one, it would be an hard time to bring them down." Nitocris replied.
With such information and now knowing the reason behind Jerusalem's fall as well as some fundamental background of this Singularity before arriving, Da Vinci's head already determined where they would be heading next. "To which way is the Holy City?"
"Head northeast from here. Past this desert you shall enter this Singulairty's original landscape. There you will see the horror and dread of the King of Magecraft's incineration." Ozymandias warned them.
"Understood!" Ritsuka jointed his hands. "Could you send Nitocris or some troops with us along the wa-"
"I forbid such request. You are on your own." Ozymandias told coldly to the master of humanity.
"What? But you don't wish to restore this era to what it was before? What if the Lion King and his kingdom threatens yours?" Peko asked Ozymandias, not seeing why the great pharaoh would refrain from helping them.
"The matters of the Holy City does not concern me. As it stands of right now, our kingdoms are neutral with no conflict. The real enemies of the Lion King would be the mountain people. The Holy City does not concern me." Ozymandias explained why he would abstain from helping Chaldea.
"But if this Singularity isn't fixed, humanity overall falls and so does your kingdom!" Mash tried to make Ozymandias rethink his decision.
But to no avail. "Can you be so sure about it? Because I seriously doubt it." Ozymandias gave a snobbish smile, rotating the Holy Grail in his hand while staring at it. "As long as I have the grail at my disposal, my nation and people will prevail, independent if humanity falls or not. With this relic alone, I can sustain this kingdom for ages! Which is why while I do may receive you as nice guests, I'll have to banish you from my land due to the fact you want to take the grail from me. If you desire to take it from me, go to the Holy City and stop the Lion King first! Only then, I'll allow you back to my domain for one last battle for the grail's posession."
"How can we be sure you aren't lying?" Nala questioned Ozymandias, wanting to be sure the great pharaoh wasn't planning on tricking them.
"I am not, child. You do have my word. The word of a pharaoh god. What else is more valuable than that?" Ozymandias guaranteed to her.
"Talk about having a big ego..." Nala said in her own mind.
Peko however, tried to insist some more. "I know you want to avoid conflict with the Lion King and his Holy City, but still, why can't you-"
"We respect your decision as the great pharaoh and ruler of this nation!" Ritsuka quickly interrupted Peko, oblying to Ozymandias will. "Truly, I am confident that such prestigious king like you wouldn't dare to be lying in his words. If anything, we will make sure to come back here later to retrieve the grail from your hands. Until there, I appreciate the generosity for having received us into your palace." He politely showed his gratitude to Ozymandias, taking note that he was the type of ruler to hold himself in high regard, not liking for his promises to be greatly questioned.
"R-Ritsuka?" Peko looked up to his friend.
"We will be leaving then. Once again, thank you for the hospitality." Ritsuka bowed down before lifting up his head and giving a defiant smile to Ozymandias. "But next time we enter here, you better be prepared."
Ozymandias chuckled a bit. There was something about the master of humanity he liked about. "I shall be waiting patiently as well, last master of humanity. Me and my city won't be going anywhere. Might the next time we see each other as enemies arrive. Now, blessings for the journey that lays ahead to the Holy City." He told them. "But also, one last thing before you go. When reaching to the Holy City, be careful of a 'Blight' nearby."
"Hum? Blight? What blight?" Da Vinci asked to Ozymandias what he was talking about.
"As of recently, news of a dark liquid substance having been spotted on the mountains nearby the Holy City have been spread." Nitocris replied. "It's told that it has been expanding within every passing day, covering more of the mountains as well as the area ahead, looking like an awful polluted sea. Not only that, but from what we heard of, the effects that can cause on one's body upon contact aren't pleasent at all. So please take caution and make sure you arrive to the Holy City before the blight does, because by then, the Lion King will surely have his kingdom in lockdown."
"That sounds an horrific thing to avoid. Is Solomon behind that?" Mash asked to both Nitocris and Ozymandias.
"We cannot be sure so far of what made that dark substance to appear." Ozymandias replied. "It might as well have been the other one..."
"The other one?" Peko tried to figure who Ozymandias could possibly be talking about before gasping at the realization. "The Man of Sin?! Could he be the one behind it?"
"Good assumption. So far, we've been told about him and his dangers, but unlike Solomon, we have yet to meet up with him." Da Vinci commented. "It would only be natural that he too begun to make his own moves. I wonder if-"
"What do you know about the Man of Sin? Is he and Solomon linked to one another?" Ritsuka immediatly asked to Ozymandias, his tone seemingly rushed and worried, wanting to have an answer for that. Memories of his 'encounter' with the Man of Sin within a dream playing on his head. "I need to know, what he pretended by visiting me." The way he made that question slightly startled everyone else in the room.
"Hmm, you could have asked that more calmly you know?" Nala told him.
"I'm sorry to say, but I barely know a thing about that identity. Only that he may mean no good as well, lurking in the shadows. Unlike Solomon, I cannot tell you exactly what his true goal or intentions lay on. All that I got of him, was glimpses of his presence while watching your journey. Beware if he decides to appear unexpectedly." Ozymandias warned the chaldeans, also having little to no idea about who or what Man of Sin could be up to.
"We will. Thank you both for the heads-up. We shall be on our way now." Da Vinci said.
"Altough I will not be helping you, I shall provide you with food and water for your journey to the Holy City. Accept the supplies as my last act of labeling you as guests." Ozymandias said, at least not daring to let the chaldeans leave empty handed.
"Eh, I knew the great Rameses II would treat people fairly. Thank you once again." Da Vinci looked to the rest of the team. "Alright everyone, that's it! Time to leave and get back to our car!"
The entire group said goodbye to Ozymandias as Nitocris escorted them all the way back from the grand pyramid's exit, leaving the great pharaoh alone in his throne room.
"First that blonde knight and now the chaldeans also showing up at my house. Hm, things are surely getting intresting."
"Tank still has enough for our trip. We can make our way to the Holy City just fine." Peko said as he checked on the fuel next to Da Vinci.
"Still, I'm not sure if we can arrive to the Holy City today. At most, we shall exit the desert by the end of the day." Da Vinci replied, believing that they should make a stop to sleep during the night before arriving to the Holy City tomorrow in their trajectory.
On the back, Ritsuka, Mash and Nala were all storing the food and water given by Ozymandias inside the vehicle.
"Fou! Fou!" Fou also helped, showing Nala a free space where she could store a bag of food in.
"There! Thanks for showing it , Fou!" Nala thanked the fur animal.
"A bit to the right...now to the left and...got it!" Ritsuka said as he and Mash both put a tank of water on the car's trunk, doing some effort to fit it inside. "High five Mash!"
The shielder was a bit surprised by it. "Oh! O-Okay!" She replied, giving an high five to Ritsuka.
"I see you are all up and ready to go." Nitocris speaked, walking torwards them, ready to say goodbye. "Ozymandias really seemed to have take a liking to you. Specially you." She stared to Ritsuka. "You remind him of his old friend."
"Really? How exactly?" Ritsuka asked her.
"Knowing him and his past life, I'd say that the Sun King sees you as a very good and helpful person, same with that old friend of his." Nitocris replied with a smile before quickly trying to put a more serious face. "B-But do not get it wrong! Despite that, next time we see each other here, it will be as enemies who will fight to the death! So you better don't get attached to either of us!"
"Why? You got attached to us?" Peko asked her without malice, flustering the queen pharaoh.
"W-W-What?! Me? O-Of course not! You were good guests that saved and accompanied me, that's all! Nothing else!" Nitocris said, blushing and stuttering.
Mash smiled to her. "That's okay. I understand if you don't want to get fond of someone who you'll have to kill or may die."
"Yeah. It surely pains a lot..." Nala whispered, staring bitterly on the ground, making sure no one heard that.
"Well, altough that's true, I can't help but feel I'm going to miss you a bit for the time being. The way you fight so valiantly, it's kinda inspiring." Nitocris admited, rubbing the back of her head shyly. "I should use some bit of that bravery to also fight my fears."
"Fears? What kind of fears do you have?" Ritsuka asked her, curious.
"Some here and there...But most definetly bats! Never dare show me one in front of me or you might scare me to death! Those teeth and wings and..." Nitocris stopped herself from continuing, already terrified from the description of the animal.
"Well, I'd say that isn't an uncommon fear to have." Peko told her.
"As well as by what you showed of your skills, I'm sure you are more than capable for that, Nitocris-san." Mash told her.
"You are a pharaoh after all, so winning against those fears is more than within your reach Nitocris!" Ritsuka added.
The queen pharaoh went back to smile. "Thanks! I'm gonna guard those words in my mind then! The king was right! You are very kind hearted people! Save travel to you guys!"
"Thanks! Be sure to keep guarding this kingdom well until we come back!" Peko said, waving goodbye back at her alongside the others as they saw Nitocris walking away.
With her gone, Da Vinci hooped onto the vehicle, but not on the driver's seat. "About time to go! The additions and alterations have been made! All checked up and ready! But first, Fujimaru..."
"Hm?" Ritsuka looked to the italian inventor who showed him the car's wheel.
"Have the honours." Da Vinci said, winking at him.
Ritsuka got in pure bemusement. "H-Huh?...Me?" He pointed to himself. "A-Are you really ser-"
"Yep." Da Vinci nodded, making Ritsuka's eyes slowly sparkle and his lips to form a smile.
"Uhhoooooooohooooooooooooooo!"
Ritsuka yelled at the top of his lungs as he accelerated the vehicle, jumping from a dune while driving the car into the sunset throughout the desert. He was having the time of his life with it for some hours by now. Peko also was no different.
"Left! Right! Tight curve on the right! Left again! U-turn on that rock!" Peko gave directions and instructions to Ritsuka as a co-pilot, enjoying the ride just as much as his friend, both sitting on the front.
"M-Master! Peko! Slow down with the speed, will you?" Mash shouted at the back holding herself on the seat in order to not end up flying out from the vehicle.
"Oh my god! What have I done?!" Da Vinci was deeply regretting the decision of letting Ritsuka drive, unable to take him and Peko out of the front seats.
"You idiots drive like maniacs! We're still gonna crush because of you!" Nala protested loudly before starting to feel some nausea building up inside her. "Uuhh, this might not end well..."
"FOoouUuuu!" Fou was holding himself to Nala's hair, making his best to not get blown away.
As she was doing her best to stay on the seat, Da Vinci noticed something on her improvised map. "Slow down! After that dune over there, we will be reaching to the original territory of this Singularity!"
"You heard that Ritsuka?" Peko said, a big smile on his face.
"I sure did! Time to end this race in a big way!" Ritsuka replied, stepping deep into the pedals.
"Oh no..."
"Oh no..."
"Oh no..."
And as Ritsuka speed up the vehicle and climbed the big dune, his and Peko's excitment grew.
"Almost there!" Peko exclaimed, about to see what awaited them beyond the desert.
"And now for the big-!" Coming to a sudden stop, Ritsuka pressed on the vehicle's break, the excitment and joy in his face dissapearing completely.
"O-Ow!" Peko said as he almost hit his head on the windshield. "What was that for Rits-..." Looking to the land in front of them, Peko's happiness also ceased to exist, being replaced by a mortified expression like Ritsuka.
Nala immediatly went to the front of the car, pissed at the two. "Now you guys will...oh my..." Nala soon also had an expression of huge shock and terror, seeing the land that now stood in front of them.
Mash and Da Vinci both went to see what it was, getting the same reaction.
"This...This is all...There's nothing left." Mash said, perturbed.
"Ozymandias really told us the horror and dread we would witness here." Da Vinci commented, looking down at the complete dry and obliterated land in front of them, not a single trace of vegeation or civilization left behind. A total wasteland with nothing but some flames and a dry rugged soil., impossible to any form of life. "The power of Solomon's Incineration of Humanity."
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 95!
Met with the dude from Egypt who fought against the crusaders (is he also a vampire?) and got the overall explanation for why Sixth Singularity: Jerusal- Camelot, is in so much deep shit as it is when the Chladea team arrived. (Man, imagine if we were able to play a version of this Singularity where the Holy Land didn't have been destroyed. How different it would be. Imagine how awsome it would also be that such alternative version of the Sixth Singularity was only exclusive and playable on an arcade! :D)
But anyways, the plot moves and so do we. And about the FGO stream earlier today: I seriously cannot believe that out of all the existent characters in the Nasuverse (non-servant mind you!) Type-Moon and Lasnegle pick up the most obscure characters of all time that 90% of the fandom doesn't know about their existence, and the 10% who do is because of their small cameo on freaking Carnival Phantasm! The dudes literally went to bottom tier Iceberg characters to make servants of! Not a complaint but wow! That is a thing that not even the most hardcore and veteran Nasuverse fans would be expecting of when watching that stream. For a moment my mind even tricked me into thinking it was some sort of collab with Blue Archive or a V-Tuber Agency lmao!
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say and see you next time on chapter 96! Peace!
Peko (signs off a contract, becoming a new worker for Nemo's Fishing Inc.): And done! Here you have it!
Nemo (shake hands with Peko): Welcome aboard! I hope thst our company benefits of your skills at the sea!
Peko: You surely won't regret it! From here on, things can only go up! There's no way to screw this up!
Nemo: Happy to hear that! Now get on your boat and bring the fish in! Get back to the port by the end of the afternoon!
Peko (saluting): Aye aye captain! First day on the job, I won't dissapoint!
Few Hours Later
Peko (Comes back with loads of fish caught in his net): I'm baaaack!
Random Nemo Marine #1: Holy Molly! That is a lot of fish!
Random Nemo Marine #2: It's rare to get this much in one day!
Nemo (Impressed with the work): Wow Peko! You really did deliver it eh?
Peko: Hehe, I say I wouldn't dissapoint.
Nemo: May you tell us the coordinates and area of where you caught this much fish?
Peko: Sure thing! So...(Proceeds to explain where he caught all of the fish, the faces of Nemo and his marines slowly getting distressed and worried)
Nemo: Peko...you fished all that on a Natural Reserve Zone...We are going to get a lawsuit.
Peko:...crap.