51: Oath of Vengeance
A short time later, we exit the [Grand Illusion] in a familiar forest clearing - the Leyline location, from last time.
"-and that's basically everything you missed." I conclude, deftly ignoring the way the Director's eye is twitching at my words.
"I'm not going to bother warning you about how obviously untrustworthy that Caster is. It's obvious, after all, and if Magi only worked with those they could trust, nothing would ever get done." Olga sighs. "But just to confirm, you do have a contingency plan, right?"
"...Yeah. I don't think he'll backstab us directly, but if he does, I can handle it." I reply. "I can't tell you the details right now, though."
She rolls her eyes. "Obviously. It stops being a reliable plan if he knows about it."
Well, that's true too, I guess.
"That aside, good work on finding the leyline. And on not dying, I suppose."
"Woah, praise from the Director? Hey, Mash, did you hear that? The director just told us we did a good job!" I shout.
Glancing up from the magic circle she's preparing a few meters away, she smiles. "That's amazing, Senpai! I'm glad to hear it!"
"W-why are you both acting like this is a momentous occasion!? I at least complement my employees when they succeed!"
"All that aside… hey, Mordred, have you remembered anything about that Black Knight yet?" I ask.
The Saber moves to scratch her head, but her fingers touch the bandages over her eye and she rethinks it. "-Nah, I've got nothing. He definitely yelled Father's name though. Bet the bastard was mistaking me for him, huh?" She sighs. "That 'Overload' thing he did… I've seen it. Gareth had a move like that at one point, and she had that ring of shapeshifting-"
"'She'...Were there any knights of the round that weren't secretly women!?" Romani shouts from offscreen.
Mordred's eye twitches, but she doesn't rise to the accidental bait.
"Anyway, you're sure it's not that Gareth person?" I ask.
"Yeah, I'd have kicked her ass if it was." She replies. "She was crap with everything except a lance."
"What about the whole hating King Arthur angle? Can you think of any standout enemies?"
"I mean, Father had too many enemies to count. But...I guess it could be that Vortigern guy? Gawain said he looked like a hole in reality, and he couldn't see him clearly... He could turn into a Dragon too, so he would fit the theme."
"Ugh, so this isn't even his final form?" I groan. "That tracks with our luck so far."
"-Senpai, it's ready." Mash calls out.
"Ah, thanks." I walk over to where her shield has been placed on the ground.
"You know, you didn't really need to go to all this trouble. With my illusions, we can fudge the circle pretty easily." Prelati notes from his seat atop the boulder in the center of the clearing.
"Yeah, yeah. And then we'll summon some weirdo I can't control because you messed with the ritual. Not happening." I snark back.
Reid was probably going to end up as a dead end no matter what happened, after all, and the rest of the Archbishops are the same. Best case, I'd have to Command Spell them to kill themselves - and that might not even work on Reid or Petelgeuse depending on how they wound up manifesting.
...That's not true. To be honest, I probably could trick Petelgeuse into thinking I was his Gospel or something, if I used a Command Spell. And Louis knows the score. She'd work with me, if only because she has no other option. Regulus, Mordred could probably take out, assuming his Authority still worked the same way. And Reid, I still somehow feel like I could reach an understanding with - however idiotic that thought might be. They're all manageable, I was just trying to look away from the possibility.
The absolute worst case is Lye. Because there's no possibility of working with him - and I don't know if I have it in me to kill a kid again.
"...Senpai?" Mash interrupts my thoughts, a worried look on her face.
"Sorry, Mash-tan. I got a little lost in thought. Let's do this-!" I hold out my hand as the magic circle starts to glow.
And then, Mash's eyes widen, and she lunges for the shield in the center of the magic circle.
"To paraphrase your words earlier- 'I won't let you do that.'" A voice filled with scornful laughter says from behind me.
"What-!?" He's here, standing right behind me. Edmond Dantes. How is he here!? How is he even alive!?
As Mash jumps in between us, Mozart starts his tune up again, but the Avenger doesn't even flinch. Mordred rockets towards him, sword blazing-
"- I follow a path beyond love and hate! [Enfer…" Suddenly, he blinks out of existence, several dozen copies of him materializing around the perimeter of the clearing. Each one is holding an orb of black flame. "-Château d'If]!"
"[Lord Chaldeas]!" Mash slams her shield down, marble wall taking form to repel the bulk of the blast - but another double appears behind me, hands alight.
"Like I'd let you!" I shout, and [Heaven's Lash] shoots towards his hand- only to pass through it.
"Sorry, but this is just an afterimage." the double says - and then it explodes into a gout of black flame, and despite my attempt to dodge, it engulfs my right arm.
"Aaaagh!" I scream. It hurts. What the hell is this - this isn't fire! I can already feel my muscle and bone melting from it, real fire doesn't get that deep so fast. "Aaaaah!"
Mash's eyes widen as she glances at me in horror - the marble wall shatters, and flame swallows her.
She screams, and crumples to the ground. And screams, and screams, writhing in pain.
This is hell. Without a doubt, this fire must be hell on Earth.
"Incidentally, my [Wisdom of Crisis] skill gives me [Item Construction] at B rank." In an instant, the Avenger appears next to Mozart. The Caster sends a blast of music at him, but he shrugs it off, and a moment later, the composer is swallowed by a column of fire. "An Avenger always comes prepared, you see. Earplugs to deal with your music-"
He flickers to the side to avoid a bolt of magic and retaliates with a blast of flame towards a seemingly empty patch of grass. "-glasses to deal with illusion magecraft -" The invisible Francois Prelati screams, and his illusory double disintegrates as he too falls to the ground in agonizing torment.
The bastard is hit by a blast of magic from Marie, but his body explodes into a cloud of flame again as he blinks behind Mordred. The Knight swings at him, but- "-a sword catcher to deal with this sword." A red, claw-like blade whips out of his cloak, catching the Azoth Longsword in its grasp. A loud crack rings out, as the Mystic Code finally shatters.
Black fire spews from his hands, engulfing Mordred as she stumbles forward- but still, she lunges out of the dark pyre, her charred hands grabbing his wrist, a mana burst empowered kick tearing it clean from his body - but then that arm and body, too, burst into flames, just an afterimage.
"Aaahh! Aaah! Just… kill me! Kill me, please!" Through it all, Mash is still screaming- I have to… I have to-!
No, Cor Leonis won't work here. I'd just die right away, and she'd go right back to hurting. Slowly, deliriously, I point a hand at her, pulling a spell from my Mystic Code.
"[Shamac]." Her senses disappear, and she finally goes mercifully silent - now I can focus.
"Aaah! Where is he… where is he?" I scream, eyes flicking around the battlefield as I look for Edmond Dantes. I need to see it. Every moment, to the very end, I have to see all of it. So I can kill him. I'll kill him. I'll kill him.
Jeanne runs towards Mash and I, but suddenly he's next to her, and in between blinks she's reduced to a pathetic state, her legs set alight as she drags herself still trying, trying to reach us.
The fire has reached my shoulder now, and my voice has long since given out.
Berserk, blinded by flames, fighting on nothing but instinct, the Knight of Treachery chases after his flickering afterimages, only serving to exacerbate her injuries.
Dimly, I notice a 'light' in my sense through Cor Leonis going dark. Suddenly, my blood feels like it's caught fire, and I vomit blood.
"That's far enough, Edmond Dantes-!" An angelic voice cuts across the battlefield.
"Kuhaha! So you think you'll stop me, your highness?" He laughs, blinking towards her, hands wreathed with claws of flame.
"I'm sorry it took so long, everyone- [Guillotine Breaker]!" The Avenger is forced to teleport again, out of the path of a stampeding horse of crystal, as motes of light fill the clearing, snuffing out the black fire.
It's not enough. Even though he blinks out of the way, he clips one of the small motes of light, and crystal erupts from the point of impact, both shredding his body and freezing him in place to allow more and more of the lights to hit him. "What-!?"
"By the way, [Guillotine Breaker] is even more effective against enemies of the crown - and intentional or not, that does mean you, Monsieur Dantes." Marie says, a hint of sorrow in her voice.
"Gh… You think, this will hold me!?" He yells, even as his body breaks into crystal.
Finally, the pain vanishes, and I feel my wounds closing- and looking around, it seems like it's the same for everyone else.
-No, that's not true. Because Mash is completely missing, aside from a faint cloud of golden dust rising from the charred patch of ground where she fell.
Time seems to stop. My mind is moving at a million kilometers a minute.
I'll kill him.
The battle seems like it might be over. Marie's Noble Phantasm counters his - but Mash is dead, so it's meaningless. I'll have to reset.
I'll kill him.
Can I reset? Can I really do that? I've died for Emilia. I've died for Rem. I've died for Beatrice. Can I die for Mash's sake? I think I can, but some part of me hesitates. This is a step in a direction I don't want to move- but it can't be helped. I have to-!
-And then, I'll kill him.
Slowly, Invisible Providence emerges from my chest-
"[Attendre, Espérer]!" Suddenly, in a cloud of spiritron dust, Berserk Avenger is whole again. Restored to perfect form, as if nothing happened, shooting forward with speed and force somehow even greater than before
"Not yet, it's not over yet-!" Dantes hisses, flickering across the battlefield, in my direction, flame trailing behind him. One of the gently drifting lights hits him, and crystals sprout from his body, tearing his arm from his body, but he ignores it, and the next second he's closed the distance. The black flames engulf me again, this time swallowing my entire body.
I'm dying. I know that I'm dying. I feel every part of my body burning away in agony. Layer after layer of skin, muscle and sinew peels back and falls away. I can't scream, because my trachea is seared shut, my whole throat full of boiling pus and blood. My eyelids fall off like crinkling paper, and my eyes burst.
I feel a faint tugging sensation, and-
"...It's happening again."
Somehow, despite my eardrums already caving in from the pressure difference, I hear him mutter those words.
And then, there's nothing.
A/N:
What's scarier than a teleport-spamming Avenger with crazy cursed fire and an OP self-heal?
A teleport-spamming Avenger with crazy cursed fire and an OP self-heal and prep time.
Next chapter will hopefully be sometime this week, since I've got a general idea of its structure