Chapter 23: Farming.
Felix rushed Goetia, the tanned mage's red eyes flicked over to him, gripping the training sword with two hands, Felix swung towards his collarbone. The move was quick, wasting no movement as he closed the distance of two metres in barely a second.
The Blue Lion did not spend his time practising his sword training over the years for nothing, he was leagues ahead of most of his classmates when it came to the blade to the extent he could outmatch the average knight in a duel.
Goetia saw him coming, despite Felix approaching from his left side, he was confident he could strike the mage before he could-
Felix felt the air violently pushed from his lungs, it was impossibly fast. The other Blue Lions had only caught a blur of movement before the image seemed to halt. In a single movement, Goetia had swung the back of his arm towards Felix strike, not only parrying the sword, but blasting it out of his hands entirely and sending it shooting off into the distance.
In the same motion, he had stepped forwards, closing the distance and slamming his fist into Felix gut, the force of the punch took Felix off his feet, blasting him away from the mage and onto the ground.
Sylvain widened his eyes as Goetia turned to him, a subtle red glow surrounded the mage as he span his body to face him. The tanned man seemed to blur, moving from where he had been moments prior to directly in front of him.
Sylvain would later argue that he had, in fact, not screamed like a girl at the mage virtually appearing in front of him.
He thrust his lance forwards, the single arm pushed the strike away from his body, entirely ignoring all the strength the boy had before it shifted and made to clasp his head. Sylvain kicked off the ground to avoid being grabbed, the tips of Goetia's fingers barely scraped by his forehead.
For a brief moment, Sylvain was confident he could reposition himself better. Then Goetia whispered a single word.
"Shuku."
And Sylvain felt like he had run full pelt face first into a wall, the air around his body condensed inwards with the force of a low powered air cannon, there was a noise akin to a crack of thunder before Sylvain shot off into a bush.
Goetia pan around, his eyes falling on Dimitri and Dedue as the two had barely managed to turn themselves to face him, the larger white haired boy, swung the wooden axe in his hands towards the side of his head.
"Croître." Goetia called out, the ground beneath Dedue's feat seemingly erupted upwards causing the boy to widen his eyes in alarm as Dimitri was thrown back, tree roots encircled around the Duscur boys legs and stopped him dead on the spot, the axe sailing straight past Goetia's face, not even clipping his hairline "Pourrir." the roots rotted away, flaking into dust as the power behind the strike carried Dedue forwards, completely off balance as he swung his whole body to the side trailing after the axe swing.
Goetia flicked his fingers to left, a condensed shot of air slammed into Dedue's gut, carrying him several metres before he hit the ground, coughing violently from the force.
Goetia's hand lashed out, grabbing hold of the training spear in Dmitri's hand as the boy swung it towards his right side, stopping the blow dead. Dimitri strained against the enhanced strength of the mage, red eyes slowly trailed over to look down at him. "Do not assume that my preference for Magecraft makes me hopeless in physical combat." Dimitri had barely enough time to formulate a reply before Goetia swung his leg out, the shin colliding just underneath his ribs, oxygen violently departing his body as he was lifted off the ground by the kick.
Spinning on his feet, Goetia turned his eyes skyward, muttering an incantation at high speed before glowing blue lines of energy erupted from his body, shooting straight towards the Pegasus in the air.
Ingrid widened her eyes, grabbing the reins of the Pegasus and attempting to veer off to the side to avoid them, only to see the ropes of energy follow after them, effortlessly closing the distance and ensnaring themselves around the flying animal. The white beast whine and thrashed as best it could as Goetia made a subtle pulling motion with his hand, gradually lowering the animal back down to earth.
Turning back to the Blue Lions behind him, ignoring Ingrid and Annette entirely, he laid his eyes on Ashe, the boy having stumbled back to his feet and attempting to close the distance between the two of them. Felix's discarded practice sword in his hands.
Almost lazily, Goetia raised his forearm to block the strike, not even flinching at the sound of wood smacking into his arm. Ashe panted heavily, still reeling from the earlier impacts as he attempted to launch another attack.
"Fool." Goetia scoffed, grabbing the wooden sword with his hand, snatching it out of Ashe's grip and tossing it away go his right. He then thrust the arm forwards, grabbing Ashe by the collar and hoisting him into the air "Even if you had, by some minor miracle on your part, caught me off-guard. You lack any skill or power in your attack to accomplish anything." Goetia's eyes crinkled, his lips curled into a minute sneer "You should have never abandoned your bow." Ashe struggled to pry the iron clad grip from his shirt, visibly straining himself.
Goetia cast a glance to the right, Felix having recovered enough to rush forwards. The boy made a thrust towards his side, Goetia held Ashe out in front of him as a shield, Felix widened his eyes, attempting to slow down far too late, the thrust catching Ashe in the side causing a meaty thud to echo out, the boy letting out a gasp of pain.
"Did you assume I would not use the boy to shield myself?" Goetia flung Ashe away, grabbing the blade of the wooden sword and squeezing down, the practice sword shattered into splinters as Goetia continued his rush forwards, drawing his arm across his opposite side in a backhanded strike before swinging it forwards.
Felix head snapped to the side as the back of Goetia's hand cracked against his jaw, thrusting his palm forwards, he clenched it around Felix face "Hvílað" the body dropped to the ground instantly, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he fell to the ground.
Goetia turned his eyes towards the remaining group. The Pegasus having been forcibly landed, ensuring that Ingrid and Annette would have to engage him on the ground.
Not that it mattered in the least whether they were on the ground or the air.
The pair stared as he slowly advanced towards them, his steps were confident, despite his blank expression his entire posture seemed to exude a sense of arrogance. Not that they thought it unfounded, considering how he had demolished their classmates with only one hand, even in physical combat against the likes of Dimitri.
Still, Ingrid was not one for so quickly giving up. She could hardly aspire to be a knight if she merely gave up if the situation looked a little dire.
Grabbing her practice spear, she gripped it with two hands, assuming a stance as she stared at the man, Annette coming up behind her and holding out the flat of her hand towards the mage, ready to fire off a spell.
The man came to a stop a few metres from them "Even now, you will persist?"
"Its not over until we're beaten." Ingrid replied back.
"You were beaten the moment I fired off the first spell." Goetia calmly retorted, the self-assurance in his voice made Ingrid grit her teeth "Everything that came next was merely an act of prolonging the inevitable."
"Its risky to get so cocky before the battles over." She had the courage to shoot back a retort at him.
"You misunderstand. It is not bravado-" He vanished, instantly appearing in front of her in a flash of gold light "-it is a fact." he punched her in the chest, her eyes bulged out. He hit far harder than she thought he had any right to. Almost like whenever she saw Dimitri use his Crest. Collapsing to her knees in front of him, she dropped her spear and began to cough violently, desperately trying to get air back into her lungs.
Goetia stared down at her with squinted eyes, then turned to Annette. The girl span around to him, shooting a blade of wind towards him. The incantation flew off his lips before she had even thrust her hand forwards, the spell slapping into a translucent square hovering in front of his body and dissipating.
Annette let out a squeak.
"Tch." He didn't even give her the benefit of speaking, merely clicking his tongue, then a ball of red energy slammed into her chest, glowing red lines instantly spread across her body as she fell backwards, a crippling fatigue spread across her nerves, losing the strength even to move as she collapsed to the ground.
He turned around to move back to where he assumed Mercedes was, not seeing the glint in Flayn's eyes as she could see what was about to happen.
Goetia had been so thoroughly certain that it was only his student that remained a credible threat.
Which is why he found himself rather bewildered as he turned around only to get punched in the face. He stepped backwards, only for another strike to collide with his ribs, his eyes focused on Dimitri, the boy gearing back his fist, rather to launch another blow towards him.
An indescribable rage took hold of him, his eyes glowed bright red.
'How? How did he get back up so quickly? How did he recover?', were the thoughts flashing through his mind, he had completely dismissed anything else as a threat. Goetia struck first, slamming his fist into the underside of Dimitri's ribs, the blonde boy winced at the strike, recoiling backwards as Goetia cocked his fist back again, launching it towards the boy. Dimitri raised both his arms up to block the jab, he felt the bones in his arms rattle from the force of the blow as he was pushed backwards, yet he didn't topple over.
He couldn't, not when he had just managed to land a couple of hits on Goetia. Admittedly, the hits hadn't left any impact at all, likely from some manner of magic that the man was using, but he had reacted to them all the same. It meant that if he could keep Goetia occupied long enough, then someone else could grab Flayn.
All Mercedes had to do was heal the others.
Sothis and Byleth were able to watch the slug fest between the two from their vantage point. The Goddess frowned, raising an eyebrow as she watched Goetia land another punch on the Prince. She hadn't expected him to get so...physical in this training.
From what she had known of him thus far, to personally start trading blows with someone didn't seem like the sort of thing he would do, and yet he was. More surprising was that he was clearly winning the engagement.
"This is certainly eye opening." She muttered out loud, looking towards her host "Are you going to step in?"
"They haven't captured Flayn or been defeated yet." Byleth responded, arms crossed as she stared at the fist fight "Didn't think he would get caught off guard."
"Probably got over-confident." Sothis dismissed with a wave of her hands "Although considering how he opened the fight by immobilizing them instantly, it is to be expected. Although I would have thought he would have merely used a spell by now."
"Maybe." Byleth replied, furrowing her brows "He did say he could do fist fights."
"I know that, but I was truly not expecting him to leap at the first opportunity that presented itself." She replied, shaking her head and letting out a huff of disbelief "Frankly, he was all spells until they got close to him."
Byleth shrugged "I did tell him to hold back. Also important learning opportunity for Blue Lions when fighting new opponents, not to underestimate them."
"Oh?" Sothis squinted her eyes as she looked away from the fist fight "Would you look at that, I think I can see what's he's doing…"
'Push forwards Dimitri!' He cried out through his head as he swung his arms wide, batting away Goetia's strike 'I don't know why he's fighting me hand to hand, but I won't waste this chance!'
'Why am I bothering fighting hand to hand?' Was the thought running through Goetia' mind as he watched Dimitri close in, his right fist flying towards his face 'A simple spell and it would all be over-' he tanked the fist, batting it aside with his forehead, swinging his left arm downwards and catching Dimitri's hastily made guard. 'So why? Why am I fighting him fairly? Is it my pride? Have I really fallen so far?'
Dimitri felt his bones protest from the punch, for such a nimble build, Goetia could more than match him in strength, he pulled his arm back, rushing his fist upwards towards his opponents chin. The man's head snapped back, his red eyes remaining fixed on him the whole time. 'Come on Mercedes! Just a bit more time!'
'Why am I even bothering with this?' His thoughts screamed at him, the calculating side of him merely commanded him to cast a spell and be done with this. 'So why...Why am I bothering!?' his fist snapped forwards in a lightning fast jab, connecting with Dimitri's gut and causing the boy to stagger backwards 'Is it...Ah…' a fleeting thought briefly passed through his mind in realisation, a justification 'That was it...I just need to prove, no, establish my superiority over them.'
Such a simple thing. Had that barb from the fanatical Church knight really affected him that much? If it were true, then whatever was occurring here was Catherine's fault. He widened his eyes, feeling something move behind, him, snapping his vision around just in time to catch sight of Dedue, Sylvain and Mercedes rushing towards Flayn.
He clenched his fist.
A wall of dirt instantly shot forth from the ground in front of them, blocking their route from the girl. They all slid to a halt, widening their eyes in alarm before turning their heads towards Goetia, seeing him with his hand clenched in their direction.
Dimitri tackled him, Goetia snarled, slamming his knee upwards into the Princes chest, the boy staggered backwards as Goetia grabbed hold of a the blonde hair, tightening his fist, bringing Dimitri up to eye level before delivering a headbutt which had the Prince recoil backwards, falling down to the ground.
"Ouch." Goetia heard Sylvain hiss out, Goetia span around to face them, he waved an arm towards them, several black orbs formed behind his body and shot towards the children. Sylvain took the shot to the chest, instantly barrelling over as the curse of fatigue spread across his body. Dedue, however, took the blow in stride, rushing Goetia with a fire in his eyes.
Mercedes…
Mercedes fell to the ground instantly, groaning. Goetia had softened that one, only because it would be poor form for him to injure his student too badly.
Dedue closed in on him, moving at impressive speeds considering he was still being afflicted by the spell. Goetia shot forwards, rearing back his hand to meet the charge.
The taller boy threw his own fist forwards, Goetia clamped an open palm around, gripping tightly before he uttered another incantation. Dedue felt his entire right arm go numb in Goetia's grip, the feeling soon spread throughout his body, legs shaking before they fell away, toppling over to the ground.
Goetia stared at the unconscious or injured forms of the Blue Lions before he turned away from them, waving his hand and allowing the wall of dirt to fall away. Flayn stood with her arms crossed, a raised eyebrow and disapproving frown on her face. The tanned man cocked his head to the side "What?"
"You didn't do it right."
"I...What?"
"When the young Blue Lion boy made his declaration, you were supposed to proclaim your evil plans." Flayn whined "That's how it always goes in the story books then you would have engaged in a brilliant high stakes battle where my freedom was on the line."
Goetia stared at her, raising an eyebrow very slowly "I had no plans to boast of."
Flayn blinked at him "Wait, was that the only thing stopping you?"
"No, it...I do not see the need to incorporate theatre into a mock scenario." He explained "Even if I did, what good what it possibly have done to them?"
"Admit it, you got taken by surprise when the Blue Lion boy decided to make that rather exciting introduction."
"I was taken by surprise by the sheer stupidity of the act." Goetia deadpanned "It was so unexpected that I could not properly account for it."
"And the fist fight?"
"...He struck first." Flayn almost laughed out loud at the, rather childish, justification. Shaking her head, a glimmer of mirth in her eyes before looking around at the class.
"Are you going to help them?"
"I am going to remove the curses I inflicted on them-"
"Curses!?"
"-and then they will recover." He turned away from her, making his way over to Sylvain while Flayn gaped at him.
"Goetia! What do you mean curses!? You cannot simply just make such a statement and then leave!"
"So...What have we learned?" Byleth posed the question to the class, getting several pained filled groans in response.
"Don't make the Librarian-"
"Assistant."
"...Don't make the assistant librarian angry." Sylvain allowed the correction from Goetia, the man stood behind the teacher with a perfectly blank expression, as if he hadn't single handedly beaten up their class in the span of around two minutes.
"That is a valid point, but not what I was looking for." Byleth nodded her head, turning to the others "Anyone else?"
"Don't underestimate your opponent?" Dimitri responded, lowering his hand as Mercedes tended to the black eye forming on his face, while his other hand was pressed against his ribs.
"Yes." Byleth nodded "You assumed that because Goetia was a mage, he would not be able to last long in hand to hand combat and so all you would need to do would be close the distance."
"We almost got him-" Annette attempted to point out, then Byleth shook her head.
"I asked him to restrict himself to ten or less spells of the weaker variety."
"...Weaker?"
"Yes."
"...Oh…" She slowly turned her head to the silent mage "How easy on us did you go?"
Goetia pursed his lips, staring at her for a few moments, then turned to Byleth, leaning towards her and whispering into her ear "Would it be better for your students mental well-being if I lied to them?"
"No. Best they know." She whispered back, Goetia nodded once, looking back to the class.
"I could have killed all of you within the span of a second."
"…" Dead silence permeated throughout the field, Sothis slapped a hand onto her face, dragging it downwards.
"Not that honest...you nincompoop." The Goddess exhaled, turning back to Byleth "And what about their mental wellbeing? They have a hard enough time trying to match you in a spar, but at least they could reach your physical level with the right training, I'm not sure what they can do with this one."
"..Sooooo…" Sylvain clapped his hands together, giving a shaky smile "Professor...I would like to thank you very much for making sure your hyper aggressive boyfriend is whipped-"
"Sylvain!" Ingrid growled at him, striking him over the back of the head with her fist "Have some respect!"
"I am!" The boy shot back "I'm actually being honest here! Really! I'm very grateful that she convinced him to go easy on us."
Byleth simply stared at the red haired boy with a blank expression "What does Goetia's gender have to do with being a friend?"
"…"
A completely different silence soon followed, for an entirely different reason. Flayn hid her face behind her hands as she tried, and failed to fully, stifle the laugh that was building. Dimitri's head fell into his hands "Claude must never learn of that…" he muttered under his breath, fearing what the boy could do if he found out about that particular comment.
Felix was still frowning, then raised his hand "I realise that the point of this fiasco was to teach us not to underestimate our opponents, but how often are we truly going to encounter a person of his calibre?" he asked, pointing at Goetia "Realistically?"
"My attacks were focused on immobilising you, not killing you." Goetia replied "I could have used the Fodlan system of Magecraft and used the same number of spells against you with a similar result, which would have been far more hazardous to your health."
"Was…" Ashe gulped nervously "Was there anything we could have done to win?"
"No." Goetia instantly answered "However, that was not the point of the exercise, I assume."
Byleth nodded her head in affirmative "You did well to distract him for a few moments, and came closer than I thought to rescuing Princess Flayn-"
"Professor." The green haired girl interrupted her with a slightly strained expression "You don't need to call me that anymore."
"...Oh." Byleth replied "Alright." coughing into her hand, she turned back to her glass "You came closer than I thought you would to completing the objective, however I hope it also made it clear to you the necessity to fight in such a way that is unexpected and hard to predict." she turned to the marshmallow haired girl "Mercedes, that was an interesting trick with the exploding rock."
The girl gave a tiny smile, looking over to Goetia "Sorry about destroying another one."
"I am more impressed you came up with the idea." Goetia admitted, tilting his head "How did you know that the gems could be used in an offensive manner?"
"Well...Lysithea said that she hadn't gotten a good understanding of her magic when she fought the Demonic Beasts, so she just used all her power on it." Giving a tiny shrug "I figured that considering putting too much magic in the gems makes them explode…"
"You decided to use it as an offensive tactic." Goetia surmised "It was...unexpected. However there is a reason that gem magecraft takes years to learn and is not dabbled in as a mere hobby. Refrain from doing such an action again, unless you wish to no longer be in possession of fingers."
"Oh no!" The girl gasped, hands going to her mouth "I wouldn't be able to sew or bake!"
"...Mercie...you wouldn't have fingers either." Annette pointed out, slightly paler than usual "Maybe you should leave the exploding magic to the professionals."
"Pardon? Oh, right. Of course."
"Dimitri, Felix, Ashe." Byleth turned to the three boys she had called out "You need to work on hand to hand combat, Ashe you need to work on melee combat such as swords or spears."
"R-right." The pale blue haired boy nodded back, scratching the back of his head.
"Dimitri, Goetia looked faster and stronger than you, but he wasn't a master at hand to hand. He also has one arm."
"Yes professor." Dimitri nodded "I will attempt to better myself in case such a situation arises."
"Tch." Felix clicked his tongue, looking away "The Boar prince resorts to ripping people apart with his bare hands now? How fittin-"
"Felix." Byleth interrupted him, the boy paused as her eyes held an edge to them "You were too overconfident and Goetia took full advantage of that. Work on being cautious next time." her eyes narrowed "And keep your comments class relevant."
Felix said nothing, giving a curt nod in response.
"Goetia." The tanned man blinked when Byleth turned to him.
"What?"
"This was supposed to be a role play exercise."
"…"
"You didn't role play." She frowned "It sets a bad example, Ashe tried his hardest." a majority of the class began to snicker in amusement, none more so than Flayn, who was giving Goetia the smuggest 'I told you so' expression she could possibly muster.
"Is this some attempt at humour?"
She continued to stare at him in silence, only Sothis being aware of her true thoughts at the time. She was attempting to make a joke, mainly because she thought it would make the students feel better, and because Sothis still looked a little mad at her.
"I concur with the Professor." Flayn added on, crossing her arms "Where was the sense of tension or excitement?" shaking her head "You need to, what is the word Claude would use? 'Ham up your performance.'"
"I am not taking advisement on how to participate in social activities from Von Riegan." Goetia instantly replied with a small frown "Besides, there is no need to debase myself to 'act' such as that. It would serve no purpose."
"Really?" Flayn slumped "It could be fun."
Goetia frowned, he had masqueraded as Solomon during the Incineration of Humanity and he did derive some enjoyment from that. Either from actively tarnishing Solomon's name and, he would admit, fighting Chaldea did make him feel something akin to amusement. At least until the Temple...where it had become something far more vexing.
Flayn, Sothis and Byleth watched as several emotion seemed to flicker through Goetia's eyes before he looked at them with an almost strained expression "Should such an event like this occur again...I will consider becoming more invested." he narrowed his eyes "And consider it only. Do not make any assumptions on-"
"The Evil King Goetia!" Flayn squeaked "Claude will be thrilled to hear of this!"
"...You...speak with Von Riegan?"
"Whenever we see eachother during lunch." She admitted, then crossed her arms, pouting "I have also come to learn that you, in fact, did laugh at one point during your mission with the Golden Deers, I find myself upset I missed it."
"You can laugh?" Sothis tilted her head to the side, mocking smile on her face "I am impressed, I had thought that frown was a permanent fixture on your face."
His eye twitched.
AN: Yo. Like I said, Goetia responds to people how he is greeted. Also in game, and in the film, he is shown to be very much not adverse to getting involved in physical brawls with his opponents. So it is within character for him to fight Dimitri with his bare hand.
Also Catherine's minor barb against him was still floating in the back of his mind, so it was also a case of proving to himself he could still kick ass.
And he did.
Using Minor curses and small restraints and thats it. Basic spells in Nasuverse.
Anyway…
Omake: Back Home Again IX
Beams of light shot across the sky, the crashing of steel against hardened skin echoed out.
"Servants Supplemented: Beginning Incineration!" Naberius cried out, the demon pillar's cross shaped eyes flashing as beams of pure energy shot outwards towards the servants.
"Thermopylae Enomatia!" The beams glanced off the shield of golden shields which formed in front of Leonidas, the spartan General remained stone faced in the wave of the assault as a flash of light cut across Naberius, obliterating several of their eyes.
"How far have they managed to make it?" The light slowed down, Scathach twirled her spear, landing next to the King.
"They have progressed to the throne." Leonidas replied "The unnamed Caster is currently battling the Demon Pillar Flauros."
"Alone?" Scathach mused with a smirk "I know a certain King who won't be pleased about being shown up."
"Hahahahah!" A mocking laugh echoed out, several golden rays of light descended, slamming into the demon pillar "This is a battle that cannot belong to any but the Master!" Ozymandias proclaimed "However, the great Pharaoh will allow no other Servants to outmatch him."
"...Make that two kings."
"Inconceivable!" Flauros roared as the mystic eyes cracked out, shooting multiple beams towards the flying Caster, he flicked his left hand, the attacks were blocked by a shield "From were beyond the Kaleidoscope did you originate!? No other Servant from your strange world exhibited this level of competence in Magecraft!"
"Another failing on your part then, Flauros." Caster replied back evenly "They appear to be mounting, perhaps you are not as competent as was envisaged."
Flauros only response was to let out a roar, the dozens of eyes lining his body fixed themselves upon Caster, burning bright red with energy before launching a barrage of power towards him.
Caster waved his hand, incantations flying off his lips at impossible speeds as he wove a barrier in front of him. He was being more reckless than usual.
It was entirely because he had been split up from Fujimaru and Mash as they made their way to the Throne room. He wanted to be there, however Flauros attack had come from no where, and with no other option, he had been forced to remain behind to deal with the pillar.
He could only hope he was not too late in getting back to the pair-
"Bands of light, illuminate the throne room!"
Caster froze as the voice echoed out across the entire reality marble, his eyes went wide and travelled upwards, the throne room began to break apart as it revealed its true form. The form he himself had crafted from Solomon's corpse.
"Let my great feat begin!"
"We found it?" Ritsuka asked, rushing into the command room with a shocked expression, Mash and Caster following in after him. Romani turned to them, nodding his head.
"We have. The Location of King Solomon." His eyes briefly flicked over to Caster before returning back to Mash and Ritsuka "We have located his co-ordinates, and we'll have to move the entirety of Chaldea into enemy territory to reach it."
"Meaning its an exciting landing operation!" Da Vinci leapt in with a wide smile "Like Normandy!"
Romani rolled his eyes in amusement "Really? I suppose that's Da Vinci for you…"
"Of course, Military regulations don't mean a lot to me." She grinned back at him, turning to the trio "However, this is serious. You'll have three objectives, get into the temple, defeat Solomon and then return home alive." her smile became more carefree "Simple right?"
"Defeat the King of Mages…" Ritsuka breathe out, Mash tilted her head.
"And return back alive…"
"Yep!" Da Vinci grinned, then noticed as Caster led Romani off to the side of the room, the pair walking into an office, Caster sent a fleeting glance her way before the door closed behind them.
"Huh?" Ritsuka turned around at the sound "Where did Caster and Roman go?"
"Oh, you know how those two are." Da Vinci reassured him with a lazy wave of her hand "Probably Caster trying to stop Romani having a heart attack with how nervous he is."
Mash let out a small chuckle "Caster-san is a bit like that, he and the Doctor seem quite close though, don't they? Like the Doctor and David-san."
Da Vinci shrugged her shoulders, chuckling at an unspoken joke.
"It will not hide us from his gaze for long." Caster turned back to Romani as he finished inscribing the final symbol "His Clairvoyance will breach this place eventually, although he is likely overlooking us right now."
"...You're talking about Solomon."
"...Yes." Caster nodded his head, looking away to the side "Roman...before we depart, there is a reason I have set up this barrier."
Romani stared back as Caster with a serious look in his eyes "You're really not putting my nerves at ease."
Despite himself, Caster let out a small laugh, rubbing the back of his neck in a manner that emulated the man in front of him "No...I suppose not." he lowered his arm, looking Roman in the eye "For this to work...I will need something from you."
"What will you need?"
"Let this room be filled with our blessing! For a Beast of Humanity shall manifest here!"
Caster clenched his teeth, sweeping his hand towards Flauros and letting loose a barrage of spells which would have made any magus, even one from the age of gods, balk at them, such was his desire to get away from them quickly.
Flauros roared in pain, the spells blasting apart several chunks of his body as Caster turned himself to fly towards the throne room. Shooting past Viama as it made to finish off what was left of Flauros, Caster and Gilgamesh briefly exchanged eye contact. The Golden Archer let out a small huff.
"Master of Chaldea, you asked me who I am."
The command room was in a flurry of movement as staff members rushed around. Except from Romani and Da Vinci, who both stared at the monitor in front of them. One in rapt attention, and a growing feeling of foreboding, while the other was shooting concerned glances towards the former.
"I existed as Solomon, the King of Magecraft"
Caster was struck in the side by a beam of light, crashing through several pillars of rock before burying into a cliffside, raising his head, he caught sight of Bael rising above him, eyes glowing murderously, soon followed by Barbatos. Caster felt something in him he hadn't felt for a long time. Fear.
But it was not a fear directed towards himself.
"I am the system the King of Mages created."
A choked gasp passed through Romani's lips, Da Vinci and Holmes were paying closer attention to the voice. More specifically, how similar it sounded to another persons.
"I ruled a nation with Solomon, and was left behind when he died, as a primordial curse."
Ritsuka and Mash staggered back, Ritsuka felt a great fatigue and Deja Vu overtake him. He had heard this before, hadn't he? The dream cycle but it had been locked, he had seen something like this before…
"I used Solomon's body as a nest and achieved incarnation through a summoning spell."
Goetia flashed his hands out, blocking the beams of light which arced towards him, he cursed his servant form. Even in the Throne room, he was weaker than he needed to be. Especially if he was fighting two pillar-
Phenex burst out of the ground, instantly blasting a volley of spells towards him.
"I am the one who shall attain true wisdom, as was desired of me."
The beam of light exploded in front of Ritsuka and Mash obscuring their vision of the throne as a large humanoid shadow soon emerged, the heavy thud off footsteps soon followed as the smoke cleared. Ritsuka and Mash gaped up at the giant figure.
Dark golden amour covered its body, the arms were bulky, ending in blackened fists with red diamond shaped gems along each knuckle. Burning antler like appendages extended from the head. In its chest, a giant glowing eyes swivelled around before locking onto their forms. The head of the Beast lowered itself to stare at them, glowing red eyes intensified "I am the one who shall devour you to reach a new height and create a new planet. I am the one who shall gather 72 curses and set aflame to all of history."
The monitors clearly showed as the figure descended halfway down the steps, spreading its arms almost imperiously "I am the Ritual for the Incineration of Humanity."
Claude, Byleth and Lysithea stared up towards the direction of the voice, a sense of dread flooding their bodies. They had heard him speak of it and Byleth had encountered him in London, but it was an entirely new feeling of sheer might which now emanated from the Beast.
"I am Goetia, King of Demon Gods."
Romani felt the blood leave his face, his hand instinctively went to his ring finger.
Now feeling rather empty. He blinked, he now panicked for a different reason, whipping his glove off to stare down at his hand.
And the missing spot where his ring had been. He widened his eyes in growing horror, rushing over to the screens and frantically flicking through them "Come on, come on, come on…" he chanted under his breath until he found what he was looking for.
Widening his eyes as he saw Casters spirit origin currently in combat with three different Demon pillars at the same time. "Da Vinci!" Romani whirled towards the woman, she blinked at the steel in his voice "Direct any servants who are free towards Caster! He's in danger and we need to get him out of there!"
The woman nodded her head "Alr-" her eyes widened as she cut herself off, staring intently at the Doctors gloveless hand "Romani…"
"...Hypnosis." He muttered under his breath, turning his eyes back to the monitor "I don't even know why…"
"I admit my disappointment, Master of Chaldea." Goetia rumbled as he lowered his arms "Where is the nameless Caster? I had not expected him coward enough to avoid a second encounter with me."
"Don't insult Caster-san like that!" Mash called back "He's the reason we're here now."
"Oh?" Goetia looked off "Unexpected. However, with my great work almost complete, where he dies by my hand now or is erased when I kill you, Master of Chaldea, it makes no difference…" he clenched his hand, indicating his own annoyance at the sentence "However...I confess my hatred of him. Perhaps more so than Solomon, something about him disgusts me so." he gave a small huff "In the end, it matters not."
Caster continued to strain against the continued barrage striking his barrier, he could see it cracki-
"Nammu Duranki!" A titanic beam of magical energy shot above his head, striking Bael and cutting the Demon pillar in half, the remaining two pillars found themselves under the combine barrage of hundreds of swords and spears.
Caster blinked as a hand roughly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him to his feet, turning his head and seeing David giving him a carefree smile "This isn't really a moment to be taking a breather, you've got somewhere to be right?"
Caster snorted "You always were more perceptive than any would believe." shaking his head "Its almost vexing."
David merely smiled in response, he then frowned and turned his head towards Phenex, the demon pillar glaring at them as Bael and Barbatos began to revive themselves. "Get going to them, Caster." David pat him on the shoulder, spinning up his sling "We'll deal with this mess."
"...Good luck...gramps." Caster remarked as he shot into the sky, the sputtering of David being left in his wake. He looked off to the left, Tiamat waved at him, a small smile on her face before she turned her attention back to the pillars.
"Make haste, Mongrel Beast." Gilgamesh's mocking voice called out "To dare make me have to come over and save you. Clearly my generosity is boundless this day."
Caster would have scoffed in response as he shot towards the Throne, he still had time to get there before-
"Deploy Third Noble Phantasm. The Time of Birth Hath Come, I am The Remedy of Eternity. Now, burn like the garbage you are."
The horizon lit up, the burning ring in the sky exploded outwards with energy which could have cracked a planet. Caster, however, could hear none of the roaring of magical energy around him. A singular thought pervaded his mind as he heard the words echo out across the Reality Marble.
He was too slow.
"Ars Almadel Salomonis."
Ritsuka stared at the shield in front of him. The snowflake piece of metal, still embedded in the ground before him. Now devoid of its owner.
He numbly dragged himself to his feet, stumbling towards it, grabbing onto the handle and running his hand across the grip. He couldn't even feel the tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Yes. I suppose I should you one last chance to strike at me." Goetia's voice called out to him, sounding oddly emotionless as the Beast stared down at him "At the very least, I understand how you feel. Strike me with those frail human fists of yours and then die."
Ritsuka clenched his jaw, pulling the shield out of the ground as he turned his glare towards the Beast "Nothing would make me happier!" he snarled, marching forwards, dragging Mash's shield alongside him.
"Fujimaru." He almost snarled at Beast a second time when he hard the voice, only to realise it had come from behind him and sounded far gentler than it had moments ago. He felt something rest against his shoulder, turning his head to see Caster staring at him with a guilty expression "Save your strength, Fujimaru. Leave this next part to me."
"The Caster?" Goetia scoffed incredulously "I see you share a trait of his, incompetence to the very end. Far too late to accomplish anything now and far too late to even be present when your allies needed you."
Caster's eyes flicked away from Ritsuka, towards the Beast as he began to walk forwards "Indeed. Perhaps I did inherit some of Solomon's worst traits." he admitted.
"So...You are related to him then." Goetia growled "Yes, I can see it now. This overwhelming aura of inadequacy."
Caster came to a stop in front of Ritsuka, his back to the Master, as he stared down at the Beast "Solomon was right...perhaps I did hate him too much." he mused "But...I am here to correct his, no, my mistakes."
That seemed to throw Goetia for a loop, the central eye on the Beast seemed to narrow inquisitively "To what do you refer?"
"You asked me who I was." Caster replied, taking in a deep breath before exhaling "I existed once as Solomon, the King of Mages. I am the system he created and ruled alongside him during life, and after he died I remained behind. I used Solomon's body to achieve incarnation. I am the one who observed humanity and all their faults, I am the one who gathered 72 curses and set aflame to all of History."
Goetia took a single step back, the eye on its chest dilated in realisation, the presence Caster had been withholding dissipated.
Romani and Da Vinci stared at the monitor with wide eyes at the sudden reveal.
"I am the one who attempted to reach the apex of life, who would go to the very beginning and overcome death itself. I am the one who was stopped through seven singularities." Caster continued on "I was felled at this Temple, I am the one who saw through the mortal eyes of life and witnesses the progression as Solomon did."
He glared at Goetia "King of Demon Gods, Ritual for the Incineration of Humanity. I had no name before life, but if you would harken to the name I had taken, then bare witness. I am Goetia, King of Men. I am the Ritual for the Preservation of Humanity."
"Now…" The King of Men raised their hand, and ominous glow surrounded it "The time for retaliation has come..."