16: A promise broken, a promise made.
It takes me a few seconds to get my bearings. I manage to avoid clutching my chest - there's no pain there. I'm just having phantom sensations from the last death. There's no sword through my heart, and no Unseen Hand grasping it either.
I'm back to this morning, which is nice - it means we don't have to fight Heracles again.
"Man, she's being pretty generous with the reset points recently…" I mumble. Of course, after more than twenty returns to the day I got sent back to Earth, it's certainly a welcome change of pace.
I contemplate that last death for a bit - saber has infinite mana as expected, and the Grail can't be destroyed without horrible cursed goop getting everywhere. Furthermore, destroying it won't help, because there's a second grail! Why on earth is there a second-!?
No. Wait. From the start, I've got it in the wrong order. The grail Saber has is the 'first', because-!
"...atsuki. Natsuki! I'm talking to you, you know!" yells the Director. As before, she's pretty clearly still receiving medical treatment.
"Ah, right. Sorry, I spaced out a bit there. Anyway, I was thinking…" I start to say.
"Hey! Don't just start talking about whatever you want at your own pace! We can't afford to waste time!" She interrupts. "You don't have any reliable food or water supplies, need I remind you! And pulling you out could-!"
"Lead to a delay of about a year. Yeah, yeah…" I say. "I wasn't going to talk about pointless stuff in the first place. It's important that we get all the details ironed out before we start fighting - otherwise we might somehow lose in the final stretch, you know."
"Oi, master, the hell are you implying?" snaps Mordred. "There's no way I'll lose to Father! I'm 'the man who killed King Arthur', after all!"
"I'm saying there's a flaw in our assumptions! Sure, in a battle between swordsmen, you surpass Saber in every way. But Saber's hooked up to the grail - she's got infinite mana, and we've got three command spells." I shoot back. "And what's worse, I'm pretty sure she's got more than one grail!"
"The hell do you mean, more than one grail!?" Yells Caster.
"Well, the grail is what's responsible for this singularity, right? Somehow, Saber won the grail when she shouldn't have, and created this whole mess." I say, and I receive a nod. "Except - when you think about it, isn't that the wrong order? A grail is needed to distort the timeline, so in the first place, how could Saber have distorted the timeline and gotten the grail?"
"...You're right!" Says Olga. "And if Saber had claimed the grail during the events of the war, then this wouldn't be a singularity in the first place! It would just be proper history!"
"Shit, that clears some stuff up, actually…" Caster mutters. "Like how she was able to empty the grail of servants without it running out of energy."
"So what does that mean? Double infinite mana? What the hell would that even look like?" Mordred says.
"[Excalibur]! [Excalibur]! [Excalibur]!" I say, miming a slashing motion. "...A lot like that, probably."
"...Yeah, that's basically what she does." Says Cu with a shrug. "Though she's been calling it [Excalibur Morgan] ever since she went evil."
"Excalibur...Morgan?" Mordred asks, voice shaking. Seems she got set off again, huh? "You mean… Father, my perfect, flawless Father, was tainted the same way as the other chumps in this war?"
"Yeah. That thing in the grail, whatever it is, it's got one hell of an aptitude for curses." Caster replies. "I haven't seen many things nastier in spirit than the old Crow, but that thing is definitely-"
"Don't fuck with me!" Mordred yells. "Father, there's not a chance in hell that he could turn out that way! So, whoever that is, pretending to be him... I won't forgive them. I'll kill them. I'll kill them. No matter what it takes, I'll kill them!"
"...I didn't ask last time, but do you have some kind of tsundere relationship with your father?" I can't help but say.
Mordred flushes. "E-eh? Of course not! I just wanted the throne, that's all! There wasn't any deeper motivation, none at all!"
"No, that was definitely a tsundere line just now!" I yell.
"I-it was not!" She yells, getting even more flustered. "I hold, absolutely no love in my heart for Father! None whatsoever!"
I laugh. "Heh, spouting cliche lines like that, you're almost as bad as my..."
...For an instant, Mordred's face is replaced by that of a certain drill-haired little girl, and my voice dies in my throat.
Stop. None of this. I can't just suddenly break down crying because I was separated from someone for a bit. I'll get back. I'll definitely get back.
But, you know, I was forced to make a contract with other spirits. I'm pretty sure that's a violation of my agreement with Beatrice. And I made that deal with the fairies of Avalon without even thinking about that. And then I went and used EMM without her, too, using other spirits to help me cast it.
"Hmph. Subaru truly is an enemy of all women, I suppose." - she'd say something like that, probably.
"...Dammit. I really am the worst." I mumble. My eyes sting, and I blink a bit to try and keep it under control.
It was necessary to stay alive, of course. Beako will forgive me for sure. From the start, it wasn't like "Subaru can't have Spirits other than Betty, I suppose." was meant to do anything other than keep me from getting overwhelmed by her immense upkeep costs. And considering the whole 'Heroic Spirit' thing, it's possible that there's no way back to her without violating the contract - it really depends on whether Servants count.
But it's the spirit of the thing. I could have avoided that temporary pact with the fairies. I can [Return by Death] after all. And furthermore, the fact that I'm still lugging the damn thing around as if it were somehow capable of replacing her-!
"Ah, dammit. This is why I was trying so hard to keep from thinking about everyone back home..." I mutter, brushing the tears from my eyes.
"S-senpai?" Mash asks as the fairies begin to swirl around me. Negotiating with them is gonna give me a headache, but…
"It can't be helped. It just... can't be helped-!" I exclaim, as I send thoughts to the little guys. Evil Arthur, two Holy Grails, and, most important of all…
A girl who would cry if I replaced her so easily.
Avalon flares with golden light. Cracks spiderweb over the surface of the blue lines wrapping across the golden sheath, emitting crimson light - and then, with a sound like glass breaking, but somehow more - Avalon, the Everdistant Utopia, crumbles away.
Leaving in its place a gleaming silver sheath decorated with red enamel.
"Catch." I say, tossing the reforged sheath to Mordred.
"Wh-what the hell!?" She yells. "What is this!?"
"[Avalon Inferno: The Cruel Reality That Destroys Utopia]... is what I've named it just now." I say, with a nod and a smile. "Basically, I asked the fairies if they could change the wielder requirements on the sheath, and they got all excited and reforged the whole thing all on their own."
"Wait, how is that even allowed!?" Yells Olga Marie. She's still here? "Suddenly reforging a Noble Phantasm, in the modern era no less - that shouldn't be possible!"
"Mm… well, I got the impression that it's only possible because this is a singularity, because it's Mordred, and because Excalibur is being used improperly." I reply, shrugging. "That aside, it's a rush job, so it's not gonna last more than a few hours. We should… probably hurry."
"W-wait! What about that spell of yours? That possession interruption spell!" The Director asks, a bit of a panicked look on her face. "Don't you need the sheath to cast it?"
I wiggle my hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. "Sorta. I can't cast using my own mana, so I had to use the fairies as a bit of a proxy. If I really need to, I guess I could force it out with a command spell - heck, with that much mana I might be able to use its upgraded form."
"...Wait, if all you need is mana, then why can't you just repurpose the [Mystic Code]'s spells?" She asks.
"...Mystic Code?"
"The uniform you're wearing." She says, eyes closed as she carefully enunciates each syllable, trying desperately not to fly into a rage. "Which harvests excess magic energy from its wearer to power up to three support spells. As I explained during the briefing."
"...Right, there was something like that, wasn't there?" I mutter.
"Senpai, she's turning red, so please stop!"
As we head over to Ryuudou Temple, I can't help but feel like I'm forgetting something.
"Yo, Assassin. Find anything good?" asks Caster as we reunite with Hanam, and upon seeing the skeletal man, both things I'd forgotten finally click.
"...Right. Hanam, I just remembered. Your [Divine Protection of the Wind] or whatever it's called, it's been deactivated. Is there anything you can do to fix that?"
The eyes of his mask seem to widen. "...So it has. [Protection against the Wind] was a blessing from my faith, so it must have been taken away when I lost faith and embraced Shaytan. Thank you for informing me, Lord Magus."
"No problem. Saber's got some kind of wind attack, so it could cause trouble if you thought you were immune." I say. "Anyway, there's one more thing before we advance - I'm pretty sure we're gonna need to fight someone else right after Saber."
"...Based on what?" Asks Caster. "I'll handle Archer, and Lancer's hiding, so who..?"
"Her accomplice from the modern era. Someone planted bombs in Chaldea, and someone had to send the grail back in time for her to receive it." I reply. Of course, I'm leaving it vague, but the culprit was probably-
"...Lev, right?" Says Olga Marie. Her gaze is downcast, hands clenched white-knuckle tight. "Romani told me you thought he was being possessed. And that he had… a detonator. When the bombs went off."
"...That's right. Flauros, one of the Dukes of Hell. Or, at least, something that casts spells using its name." I reply, eyes narrowed. "Anyway, I don't know that much about him other than the fact that he can cast a nasty fire spell and that he's somehow living inside Lev's magic circuits."
The Director closes her eyes, and swallows nervously. And then she speaks, her voice shaking with desperation. "Um, Natsuki. About that. Your anti-possession spell, the one used on Hanam earlier. Could you…?"
...Shit. That's right, Lev was probably a friend of hers before he was possessed. If someone I loved had been possessed by Petelgeuse back then, surely I would be feeling the same thing. Searching desperately for any solution to bring them back.
However… "I don't think that Shamak can do the trick, unfortunately. From the start, it's not like it's a spell designed to do fancy things like break possession. It's a sensory deprivation spell. The fact that it broke Hanam's possession was just a result of his unique circumstances. Don't get me wrong, Shamak-san is my oldest reliable ally, so I trust him to be able to pull off some unexpected things. But I can't make any promises."
"I see." She says, eyes going dull. "So Lev… there's nothing we can do to save him. Lev..!"
This is… too cruel to watch. Ah, there's no helping it. It can't be helped.
"...I never said we wouldn't save him." I say. "I just said Shamak wouldn't do the job. But, if there's any possible way to save Lev Lainur… I'll find it."
"N-natsuki… You…"
"Don't worry. After all, when it comes to fights with my life on the line, I've got a one hundred percent winrate, you know? This won't even be the third time I've put a stop to some kind of possession. So don't worry, Director! I'll definitely save Lev. That's a promise." I conclude. Ah, why'd I go and say something so troublesome? Man, this is gonna get me killed for sure.
"...Thank you. B-but. Remember, the mission comes first. We're potentially dealing with the fate of the world here." She says, finally settling into a melancholy smile. "So, don't make promises you can't keep. Chaldean Master forty-nine, Natsuki Subaru. Mash Kyrielight. Your orders have not changed. Save the world, and destroy any obstacles that would stop you doing so. But… If you can remove an obstacle without destroying it completely… that would be fine too."
And with that, she winks out of existence.
"...Man, I know I shouldn't be talking, but you're a pretty confident one, aren't you?" Says Cu, clapping a hand on my shoulder. "I mean, getting a big head because you've won every life and death fight you've been in is just asking to get killed."
"...Don't I know it." I say with a sigh.
A/N:
Extra long this time. Subaru is very good at making promises. Like me, I guess. Well, it's not like I said which Wednesday it would be updated by.
Avalon only actually got the equivalent of a new paint job. It looked all fancy, but metaphysically the thing wasn't changed much.
Incidentally, such a thing was only possible because of Excalibur being turned against The World. One does not use The Sword of the Planet to end all life on the planet and expect Gaia not to get pissy.
It was the plan from the beginning for Mordred to temporarily acquire Avalon; though initially I had planned to have Cu hack the thing with runes. But that seemed a bit dumb, so we'll save jank rune hacking for next chapter.
Speaking of which, next chapter Friday hopefully.
REVIEW RESPONSES
cheekiserval said:
Dude, won't she remember that?
Nah. For simplicity's sake, the only people who can remember RbD timelines are Subaru, Satella, and people who look at his memories directly.
Raj8 said:
Man poor Saburu at this rate he's going to break pretty badly.
He already had his breakdown offscreen for this arc. There'll be a flashback to his return to earth at the end of the Fuyuki arc; I didn't want to open the story on pure misery.
The author has outright confirmed that Subaru is aloud to die a max of 4 times per Arc for a reason after all.
Didn't this rule get sorta broken in arc 6 though?
I haven't counted all the times he's died just yet but with how unfair this all is we'll have to see how long his sanity lasts.
Five, if counting the deaths in chaldea as deaths for the Fuyuki arc. Over twenty five, if counting the deaths offscreen before he arrived at Chaldea. Subaru has had a rough fucking time since his return to Earth.
Guest said:
MrNoName can't wait to see Subaru lose his cool when he finds out who he has to go to Camelot and face the lion king
"How many times do i have to teach you this lesson old man"
Also funny considering what the sixth lost bolt is.
It's all arthurs, all the way down. She's got a good chance of stealing second place on the leaderboards (of subaru kills) at this rate.
Guest said:
Nice chapter as always. If EMIYA(Assassin) had a conversation with Subaru how would it go?
Depends on the conversation. If it was about the weather or something it'd be fine, but anything relating to their ideals would result in Subaru getting pretty angry. Sacrificing those you love is no fucking good in his eyes.
XXxxxadisxxxXX said:
It's an enjoyable read but definitely rushed as hell. Everything is extremely fast paced. I'm surprised things flowed so well with how fast everything is.
I have very little patience, something that extends to my writing. It's a double edged sword, because it allows me to not get bogged down repeating the same details over and over but on the other hand it means a lot of extra stuff that I could include in the story gets cut because I don't have the patience to write it down.
Nexxoz Highdraco said
Puedo ver cierta conjetura diferente en especial con zel digo casi siento que lo del año y medio fue un troll
Google translate: I can see some different conjecture especially with zel I say I almost feel like the year and a half was a troll
Kinda. He sorta suckered subaru into saving the world, but by the same token he doesn't have any other option. The Silver Keys won't arrive until Salem, after all.