37: Thinking is nice.

I gag and choke as salt water fills my mouth and nostrils - here again!? Why here, Satella? Why not the clearing from earlier, or Ahab's boat!?

Ugh, do I just wait until I pass out again? According to what Prelati said on the boat, that should float me to the surface. But then, there's no guarantee that they'll find me floating around up there. And it certainly didn't look like Prelati's scheme to get Ahab to kill Fafnir was going to pan out in the first place - both the old captain and myself were half melted by the time I popped this fake Reality Marble.

...Well, I might be making a biased call, since the alternative involves nearly drowning, but I'm going to make the call to end this stupid ocean adventure early.

"[E-M-T]!" I yell, command spell blazing - and in a ten meter sphere around me, the water vanishes, my feet landing with a soft crunch upon fresh green grass. It's not necessary to keep the negation effect up for long - already, the disruption of Francois Prelati's fake Reality Marble has spread a good two meters beyond the boundary of my spell. Punching a tiny hole in his [Grand Illusion] was all that was necessary from me; the planet will take care of the rest.

If my understanding of that whole [World Egg Theory] thing is correct - and that's a pretty big 'if' - this kind of trick wouldn't work against a true Reality Marble. But since Prelati's more or less directly assaulting the Planet with his illusion... that more adversarial nature probably makes this black sea far more vulnerable to disruption. Probably.

And so, not five minutes later, the hellish dark ocean disappears entirely.

I find myself finally able to breathe easily, standing beneath a clear blue sky. Rolling hills of gently swaying grass stretch on far into the horizon - save for a few trees dotting the plains, and a small village several kilometers away, there doesn't appear to be much out here. No sign of dragons or sea monsters.

Behind me, I can hear Mordred coughing and sputtering, spitting out water, and to my left, Mash leans on her shield, panting heavily. Near her feet, Fou kicks the ground angrily, shaking his fur - come to think of it, he disappeared at some point during the last loop, probably when Prelati teleported us. I doubt he stood much of a chance against the Wyverns, so that's another failure to add to the list, I guess.

"What… was that?" Mash mutters, and before I can respond, a hologram of the director pops in to ask the same question.

"We completely lost your signal for a few seconds there! What happened!?"

I sigh. "We got unlucky with our landing zone - got trapped in a fake Reality Marble for a little bit there."

"A fake Reality Marble? Senpai, what exactly…?" Mash starts.

"Ugh, I've got a bunch of information now about what's going on in this singularity, but I haven't had much time to think about it. Can you give me a few minutes to get everything straight?" I reply, rubbing my temples. "Like before, I can't tell you how I know it, though…"

"Ugh, I was hoping it would be limited to the Fuyuki mess, but this is going to be a pattern, huh?" Olga says, heaving a sigh.

"Sorry, but my hands are kind of tied. Anyway, while I think, we can head towards… that village, I guess."

...Rather than starting at the beginning, it might be best to start at the end. I need to figure it out, since that could very easily be the biggest problem I'm facing. Namely, what the hell was that, at the end there? It felt like… Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti. It felt like the time I was possessed by that guy, the Archbishop of Sloth.

Ugh. Even now, that bastard's causing problems for me, huh?

He should be dead. He's definitely dead, and yet…

Let's backtrack. Why did he start invading my thoughts in the first place? It had to be because that Berserker tore out my [Invisible Providence]. Leaving aside the obvious 'how the fuck?' there, the fact remains that he stole my authority of Sloth, and as a result, Petelgeuse started leaking into my mind.

But that doesn't make any sense. If he's tearing my [Sloth] out of my body, why would I feel more like Petelgeuse?

...

This isn't the first time I've heard the voice of a dead Archbishop in my head. Back in Fuyuki, Louis showed up. And beneath the Watchtower, too, I think I heard Sloth and Greed. It's obviously got something to do with the [Witch Factors], but…

Dammit, I should have asked Beatrice more about how they worked. But I put it off, because I didn't want to think about it, and now… well, it's far too late.

In any case, it's just circumstantial evidence, but the best bet seems to be that the Witch Factors keep some kind of record of their prior holders - or maybe the Archbishops' souls were absorbed alongside their abilities. There's no real difference either way. Those guys were headed for Hell anyway, so if the Hell they get to suffer is my life, I'm fine with that too.

So, when that Berserker tore out my Authority, it might have been like tearing the faucet off of a sink - only [Sloth] sprays everywhere, instead of water. Or maybe he tore out the whole Witch Factor, and Petelgeuse left a bunch of gunk behind in my soul on his way out.

"...Either way, it's an important reminder, I guess." I mutter with a sigh. The Witch Factors can't be trusted. My Authorities are not my friends. They are not good for me. They're something to use when things are at their most desperate, and nothing more.

Next up is… Prelati, I guess.

Francois Prelati. A Cleric, an Alchemist, and an Illusionist. He's useful. Without a doubt, he's useful to have around, to the point that his sheer utility can't be understated. What's more, as far as I can tell, we only got the bare minimum information out of him regarding the nature of this Singularity.

It's not like another Caster Servant would be a bad thing to have back at Chaldea. Yeah, from an objective standpoint, finding Prelati and teaming up with him again is the right move.

However.

However, his personality is completely rotten! He seems like he's made it his life's mission to piss people off! He's the type of guy who finds the line he's not supposed to cross, crosses it, and then jumps back to the side he's supposed to be on just so he can cross the line an additional time for good measure!

Sure, the results of his compulsive lying turned out well enough for us, but since there was a perfectly sound rationalization for it anyway, he should have just started with that, instead of tricking us into doing the correct thing. Not to mention his tendency to needle people, to get under their skin and twist the knife. He was mostly targeting Mordred, but I'm sure that's just because he hadn't figured out enough about me or Mash yet.

Yeah, there's no way we can work with him long-term. Maybe someone like Flat or El-Melloi could manage him as a servant, but there's no way I could. He reminds me of someone - several someones, really. I couldn't place it earlier, but thanks to the unfortunate reminder of Petelgeuse's existence, I figured it out - deeds aside, Francois Prelati has a personality suited for a Sin Archbishop.

Speaking of Prelati's deceptions, I should think about that trick he pulled during the summoning ritual.

"[Foreigner-class], huh...?" I mutter.

To start with, I only have an extremely rudimentary knowledge of what a Foreigner-class Spirit Origin actually means. From what little of my memories survived my life in Atlas, I know those guys were pretty spooked by the concept. I remember Flat mentioning Foreigner at one point before the professor cut him off and yelled at him for going off topic. And I know that Zelretch warned me about them; that my very connection to Satella was liable to get me labeled a [Threat to Humanity].

...Ugh, from all that, I guess rather than being pissed Reid showed up, I should be thankful that it wasn't the Witch of Envy.

Speaking of which, Reid Astrea. What the hell was he doing here? I was under the impression that the Throne of Heroes only recorded people from Earth! Obviously, that's why he was summoned in a class reserved for aliens, but that doesn't answer what he was doing on the Throne in the first place.

...Well, he wasn't Reid, though. He was Roy Alphard, who lost his existence to Reid Astrea during that mess at the Watchtower. That's important to remember. No, that's definitely the answer to a lot of questions.

If I expand off that guess earlier that Witch Factors keep a record of prior holders, then it makes some sense for Roy Alphard to be recorded as part of the Human Order - he got copied from my soul.

Which probably means that the other archbishops I killed have a chance of showing up as well. And possibly even the Witches who had the authorities before them.

"Summoning a Foreigner is a 'no', then." I mumble under my breath. We got seriously lucky last loop! If Daphne showed up and started adding Mabeasts to this mess, I might cry!

The fact that he was actually Roy Alphard is probably why he lost, too. Reid was already stupidly fast in life; as a Servant he should have been fast enough to cut the rest of the leaves out of the air when the first one pierced his skin. But since he was just Roy Alphard imitating the memories of the human Reid Astrea using Solar Eclipse, he didn't get the bonus of Reid's legend.

And so, that Berserker was able to defeat him.

...That's the last question, I guess. What was going on with that Berserker?

I couldn't see what he looked like. I couldn't see anything about him, other than that black fog surrounding him, and that glowing red line on his face - but I felt a metal chestplate when I missed his heart with [Invisible Providence], so… that red line could have been a visor slit.

"...A Black Knight, then?" I sigh. "And those cannons…?"

He discarded them, after firing. In that case… is it some kind of trick where he can empower things he touches? Everything he grabbed turned black with glowy red lines - all the way down to the leaves on the uprooted tree he used against Reid.

Can he just… use anything he grabs as his Noble Phantasm?

That would explain the cannons and muskets, I guess. To start with, it's not like medieval cannons have triggers or anything. It would probably be a nightmare to fire them dual-wielded like that, unless he had some way of igniting the cannon's fuse without touching it. And it explains how fucking leaves were able to kill Reid Astrea.

They weren't just leaves; they were a Noble Phantasm, with all that implies.

But still, an improvised weapons master, huh? Or at least, someone who could 'master any weapon'.

"The first to come to mind is Benkei, I guess..?" I mumble. The man was literally called Oniwakamaru, which means Oni child, when he was growing up, so the Berserker class is an obvious fit. And considering the fact that he and Yoshitsune used disguises while on the run, something that hides his appearance probably isn't too far afield…

If his glowing red visor was a Western-style helmet, that would be a point against the theory, but it's not like steel plate helmets are rare in Medieval France. It would be easier to confirm one way or another if I knew how tall he was, but that fog even made his height difficult to perceive.

"I think I've put together as much as I can right now…" I say aloud with a sigh, tapping the communicator on my wrist so that the Director appears once again. "Alright, I'll try and summarize everything I know, so everybody listen up."

A/N:

A bit late, sorry. Next chapter is aiming for next Monday, because I've got a busy week unfortunately.

Incidentally, Subaru mentions El-Melloi, he's talking about Reines, not Waver. Case Files is pre-5th war (which is in 2004), and FGO is in 2015, so she's probably got the El-Melloi title by this point barring shenanigans.

Review responses:

pokemonrot377 said:

Is Subaru in your fic the reincarnation of Flügel?

There's at least a connection there. Frankly, with all the stuff in arc 6 it might as well be confirmed in canon, so I'm comfortable going with it.

Crown of Reaper said:

Did Lancelot just weaponized the Unseen Hands? How!? He sees the hands as a weapon!? He can't see them!

Because ARTHUUUUR, that's why. Also, Witch Factors trade hands naturally in canon, so snagging them directly from the user is within Lancelot's abilities. Benkei and Alcides could probably do it too. He knew where the hand was because of the hand size-d hole in his armor and the floating mass of metal right in front of said hole.

Subaru acted like Betelguese. That's bad. Will he stay crazy in the next loop? I guess I'll find out next chapter.

He's fine.

Also, is it just me or is Subaru starting to return Satella's feelings? Cause a few chapters ago he technically described Satella as the perfect form of beauty.

No that's emilia :P

L33t Horo said:

NGL, the story felt a bit jumbled up here

Yeah last chapter was confusing. Hopefully this one helps a bit.

The Indominator said:

Oh hella, last chapter I assumed the Sub and gang encountered a beefed up Napoleon with the whole canon thing, but now I understand. That's Lancelot ain't it, almost forgot he's in Orleans.

ARTHUUUUUUR!

Makes fat lot of help that he seems to be even more angery than usual here, the knight that basically brought down his liege's entire kingdom is right there after all. Usual Lancelot might not be so salty at Mordred, but Berserkerlot might be a whole different story.

AAAAAAARRRRTHHHUUUURR!

Glad to see him having his moment to shine against even Reid thanks to his utter and complete bullcrap broken knight of owner skill. I enjoy the heart throbbing of this chapter immensely.

AAAAHHHTHAAAA!

Also, I take it that Lancelot can steal Invisible Providence because in his basic hulk smash mind it has mass so it's "Good enough" as a weapon he can use?

Witch factors get passed from person to person on death anyway. So yeah, Berserkalot and those with similar abilities can theoretically yeet them.

Taromaru said:

Sorry to sound redundant if this has already been brought up, but how high is the probability that Subaru may end up summoning Echidna or any of the other Witches (sans Pandora) as Caster? Or given his ambiguous connection to Flugel, could Shaula also be summoned?

They'd be Foreigners since they're aliens. That aside, the witches are less likely than the archbishops. Well, if they show up, they show up.

Shaula cannot be summoned by Subaru.