A/N: This chapter contains spoilers for major plot points of Re:Zero's sixth arc. If you're this far in the fic and still worried about things like that, and aren't caught up with the translation, this is your final warning. I will not be giving any such warnings in future chapters. This is, as they say, the point of no return.
Anyway, on with the show.
34: With friends like these…
The forest surrounding us ignites almost instantly as flames and lightning spew from the massive turtle-dragon's shell. Rebounding off of the marble wall of [Lord Chaldeas], the Tarrasque spins across the forest floor, six legs erupting from its shell and transforming the surrounding terrain into a tornado of dirt, stone, and uprooted trees.
"Oi, oi… You've got to be kidding me here. Lugnica would be one thing, but something like this exists on Earth…? You're kidding, right?" I mutter in disbelief.
The Tarrasque's claws smash into the ground in a blur of motion I can barely track, and the earth cracks and fissures, forming a rippling shockwave that passes beneath Mash's shield. A geyser of dirt and stone erupts under her, sending her tumbling through the air with a cry.
"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅-!" It roars, and shoots towards the airborne girl in another cyclone of spiked iron scales and fire-!
"As if I'd let you!" Mordred yells, her armored foot crashing into the beast in the opposite angle of its whirling motion with a burst of red lightning. I hear the now-familiar sound of tearing metal as the Dragon shreds through her boot, and see a spray of blood as everything below her right knee is reduced to a meaty pulp - but with the aid of the pre-built [Emergency Reinforcement] spell from my Mystic Code, she halts its spin for just a moment.
A moment is all we need. Ducking under a gout of flame and the swipe of its claw, Mordred grabs the beast by its shell with both hands, pivoting on her still intact left leg- "Master!" She yells.
"I'm on it!" I yell, tearing the final reserve of energy from within my Mystic Code. "[Murak]!"
[Murak] is a spell that I wasn't sure I'd be able to cast without Beako's help - but it turned out to be much easier to manage than our three custom spells. Simply put, it's another curse like Shamak, but while Shamak strips the target's senses, Murak strips them of their weight. It's useful when cast on allies or enemies, so there was quite a bit of practicing with it during our week on standby at Chaldea.
A small bolt of purple-black energy lances from my hand towards the Tarrasque. It's met in midair by a mote of golden light from Prelati's outstretched finger, and triples in size before impacting and rippling across the creature's shell. "Riders have Magic Resistance, so I'll have to lend you a hand!" the boy yells.
And then, Mordred hefts the Tarrasque into the air, and hurls it through the burning canopy. Flames and lightning shoot out of the shell in a vain attempt to correct its motion, but-!
"[Azoth... Blood Arthur]!"
- a stream of crimson light crashes into the Dragon, sending it sailing off into the clear blue sky.
"Woah, look at him go! So that was an anti-gravity spell, huh? Hey, I bet NASA would pay out the nose for something like that." Prelati laughs, but I ignore him, instead running over to Mordred to expend what remains of the [Emergency First Aid] spell in my Mystic Code, sealing her leg wound-
"Look out!" she yells, grabbing my shirt and tossing me out of the proximity of a sudden explosion of white energy.
"Thanks for the save-!" I say.
"Senpai, behind me!" Mash yells, her shield slamming into the ground between me and another magical explosion.
Within the burning forest, I catch a glance of a purple-haired woman with an angry face charging towards us, a cross-shaped spear-staff clutched in her hands, emitting another pulse of light.
She swings the weapon, and twinkling motes of energy appear in the air of the clearing, ready to explode-!
"You're wide open, idiot!" Roars Mordred, and with a burst of red lightning the Azoth Longsword is hurled through the air, cleanly punching through the woman's chest.
The lights hanging in the air twinkle and die out, as she stumbles forwards one, two, three steps, and collapses to her knees. As blood drips from her mouth, a serene smile takes shape on her face, and she mutters final words that I'm some thirty meters too far away to hear - before finally dissolving into a cloud of golden dust.
"...Wow! Really nice work, Mordred!" Prelati says with a nervous laugh. "That's Saint Martha down for the count."
I let out a breath I didn't notice I'd been holding. "Do we get a bit of a break, then?"
"Pssh. As if. Not that it wasn't ingenious, but that stunt you guys pulled with the Tarrasque damaged the illusion I put above the forest." The Caster replies. "We've got about five minutes before I run out of gas, and then we'll be up to our armpits in Wyverns."
"I'm confirming his analysis!" Doctor Roman interjects through the holographic link. "I'm reading upwards of forty low-strength draconic energy signatures headed towards you - and an additional high-level spirit origin! Evil Dragon Fafnir is approaching, about ten minutes out at his current pace!"
"Shit… That old man barely even slowed him down, huh?" Mordred mutters with a sigh. "Alright then. I've still got a bit of mana left over, so hand me my sword and then start running. I'll do my best to slow them down, so-"
"Not happening." I reply. "I've got no intent of leaving friends to die, so we'll just have to fight them all off and hope that someone comes to bail us out."
"Or… we could always take matters into our own hands and summon someone to help us!~" Prelati says with a wink.
"Um… Chaldea's summoning system needs a leyline, and the nearest one is…" Mash's eyes widen. "...Right here! Prelati-kun, you were able to transport us with that level of precision!?"
"Haha! Go on, praise me more! Praise me more!" He gloats. "Oh, but before that, you should see about turning that wall of yours into a ceiling, because my illusion's about to give out, and then it'll be raining discount dinosaurs for the next forty days and forty nights. I'll handle the summoning circle, so don't worry about that!"
"Uh, don't we need a catalyst, though…?" I mutter as he hastily draws a circle in the dirt. "If I use my body as the catalyst, someone nasty will probably show up, no two ways about it."
"It's fine, it's fine!" The alchemist reassures me as he draws an eye in the center of his poorly aligned pentagram. "We've got the planet pulling in our favor, and France itself to serve as the catalyst! There's no possible way someone who'd actively hinder us from saving the world could show up right now!"
"Oi, these lines aren't even straight! If we're counting on this to help us survive, isn't half-assing it like this a problem!?" I say, pointing at his poorly drawn magic circle.
The Caster grins and snaps his fingers, and the circle suddenly changes shape to a much more complex affair full of straight lines. "Ta-da! A high quality, high speed magic circle! Just have to draw a basic circle and illusion the rest into place."
"...I thought you said you were low on mana." I deadpan.
And then the light vanishes from the sky, blotted out by a curtain of leather-winged serpents.
"...Goddammit, Prelati!"
"Just hurry up and repeat after me!" The boy yells frantically as the white wall of [Lord Chaldeas] interposes itself between us and the sky. "Let silver and steel be the essence! Let stone and the Archduke of contracts be the foundation! The ancestor is mother Atë!"
Impact after impact begins to shake the wall protecting us, and I repeat his words.
"Return from the stars, to serve this world! And though your eyes are locked upon dreamlands beyond, You shall be bound to the Earth! I shall speak for humanity!" I yell as Mordred jumps using her good leg and impales a wyvern that had made it around the wall to the ground a few feet from me.
"Time's up, you know the rest!" Prelati yells, intercepting another wyvern with a flying tackle.
I open my mouth to tell him that I do not, in fact, know the rest - but what tumbles from my mouth instead are the last two lines, coming out of my mouth all on their own.
"From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power! Come forth from the ring of restraint, O Guardian of the Heavenly Scales!"
And blackish-purple light pours forth from the Magic Circle as a form takes shape.
"...Fuck." I blurt out as I start to make out his appearance.
Green robes, greasy brown hair tied back in a braid, and sickly green eyes. A young boy, about the same size and age as Prelati.
There's no possible way someone who'd actively hinder us from saving the world could show up right now - Prelati said that. Prelati said that, and yet-!
The eldest Sin Archbishop of Gluttony gives a sharp-toothed smile. "[Foreigner]-class, Roy Alphard-!"
I'm out of command spells. I'm going to die, if I'm lucky! How is he even here!?
-And then, Roy blinks, face suddenly shifting into a scowl. "No, that ain't right, you. The hell's with that name and class, you?"
My eyes widen even further at his words. It can't be. "Are you freaking kidding me...!?"
His body twists and distorts, a crimson kimono replacing the robe as he grows several feet in size. His hair takes on the appearance of a curtain of fire pouring from his scalp, as his eyes change to blue as bright as the sky. "There it is. That's the right shape. And for that 'name and class' stuff, well, you oughtta know that by now, young fish."
Yeah. I know. I know this man, for sure. The leftover [Memories] of a dead man, conjured up into human shape by the Pleiades Watchtower, and devoured by Roy Alphard. And yet, despite being Gluttony's natural prey, despite not even being properly alive at the time… those memories overwhelmed Roy's existence and swallowed him in his entirety.
It wasn't surprising, though, since it was someone like him. He was the legendary hero of Lugnica, after all. The strongest legend of that world, if not the strongest existence within it.
"[Sword Saint]... Reid Astrea." I mutter.
"Oi, I already told you. Don't need titles like that, you. I'm just a [Stick Swinger]." He replies, rolling his eyes.
I should be terrified. I should be running for my life. This man has killed me a few more times than I'd care to admit, after all. And yet, seeing him standing there…
Why do I feel such a sense of relief?
"Senpai… I…!" Mash yells, drawing my attention to her - legs and arms shaking as dragon after dragon slams into [Lord Chaldeas].
"Oh, good outfit, you! I like that a lot, you!" Reid calls out with a grin, swaggering up to Mash. "Ah... drop the wall for now, you. Don't need somethin' like a shield."
"E-eh?" She asks, the strained look on her face replaced with a confused one - and as her focus slips, the wall vanishes, and a seemingly endless tide of winged serpents surges towards us.
Facing the dragons, Sword Saint Reid laughs, and draws his blade.
A/N:
Orleans is Dragon-slayer party town, so Reid is here now. Surprise!
Review responses:
Undying Soul98 said:
Hi - first off, good job so far with this fic. You aren't getting too bogged down with the little details, and that's gonna be important for a fic like this. Momentum can be a killer for writing - this fic is a marathon, not a sprint, and with so many Singularities to go, just worry about reaching the finish line. Even if its not perfect, sometimes just reaching the finish line is enough (to me as a writer unable to freakin' finish anything, at least).
Momentum is haaaaard.
So. Content itself. The Subaru POV is handled well, I like the Chaldean characters in general (and explanations for how not to overflow the character list). I also like your handling of divergence. Prelati getting up and doing shit was a fun way to throw a curveball into the Singularity without utterly destroying it. Admittedly I would have been all for 'Lovecraftian France Singularity, due to Goertia's intervention', but this is fine too.
Orleans is still titled 'Hunting Ground of the Alien Sea Monster' in this fic, so keep an eye on that ;)
I'm in no hurry to see more Re Zero characters (they'll arrive when they need to), so for me at least, I'm interested to see how Subaru develops as a Master compared to Ritsuka.
Lol Reid's here now.
At the very least, when his Foreigner nature is fully revealed, that will be a fun thing indeed. Likewise, by the time he hits Babylonia, he is going to be ready to bitch slap canon away soooo hard. I also think that on a Temple of Time level, Subaru would also have some interesting interaction with the False Solomon. His interaction with death especially. At the very least, if Solomon has a similar interest in Subaru as he does to Mash, that would be interesting...
Solomon is very secret for now.
Deadsori said:
W8 doesn't the past servants from previous franchises should only have a faint recollection of past events not goal recollection
In other fate works yes, but less so in FGO. It's complicated, but Mordred implies in London that she remembers most of Trifas iirc.
mikelz0426 said:
That last line is giving me flashbacks of the Blue Shell when playing Super Smash.
For me tarrasque gives flashbacks to Mariokart Double Dash, where Bowser and Bowser Jr. have a unique item that only they can get, a 'Bowser Shell' that functions basically like a green shell, but far bigger. Good times.