Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 132 of the story!
The collab event with FGO Arcade is finally arriving to the NA servers, so I hope all of you have saved enough for Draco!
With that said, let's head into the chapter!
DISCLAIMER: All of the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author.
"You...were waiting for our arrival? To help us?" Mash said in puzzlement to the new figure that had shown up to her and the rest of the group. Just as they were about to try and execute the plan of finding on of the rivers of Mesopotamia in order to figure where the ancient city of Uruk was headed, this mysterious person had appeared all of a sudden to them with the statement of being an helper of Chaldea.
"I was. That I say with all my humbleness." The mysterious person said as they bowed down respectfully torwards the chaldeans, welcoming them. "So far, it seems your arrival here at this Singularity hasn't been on its best start."
"We're pretty used to it by now." Nala replied to them. "Whaddya know? Just another beggining with a bit of the left foot."
"But we'll make sure to eventually get on the right track! Like we always do as well!" Ritsuka added confidently, closing his hand into a fist, much to the person's slight amusement who chuckled lightly.
"You don't say." Their smile slightly increased on the tips of the lips.
Soon, Fou looked agitated. "Fou! Fou!"
"Hum? What's the matter, Fou?" Mash asked to the creature on her shoulder, trying to understand the why for the commotion.
"!" Feeling something arriving, Peko quickly turned around to where he felt the presences. "Over there!"
"I'm sensing it too!" Nala exclaimed, her senses doing the same as her brother. The mysterious person took peculiar note of that.
Not too much after, Mash's own sensors also went off as she detected signals nearby. "Great instinct, Peko and Nala! There's currently a small group of four Demonic Beasts approaching us from a hundred meters north in about eight seconds!" She informed Ritsuka who squinted his eyes.
"And to think we had escape them for now!" He hissed, he and the others already prepared to engage onto another battle against these new enemies, exclusive of this Singularity.
The mysterious person looked at them funly. "Oh? Are you about to have trouble again?" They asked as the aformentioned group of Demonic Beasts jumped into the scene, appearing right behind them, much to the team's shock.
Nala immediatly tried to get them out of there before they could get hit by an enemy blow. "Step awa-"
However, the mysterious person continued smilling, not seeming worried at all. A behaviour that was soon justified as with a simple maneuver of their arm, ethereal golden portals were open, with a long silver chain of golden spear at the tip quickly bursting out. It gave no opportunity to the monsters as it fastly blasted off their bodies in pieces or restrained them by tightly wrapping itself around the creatures. "Like I've said before, it is unnecessary your worriedness." They speaked calmly, as they had easily taken care of the situation. "For as you can see, I go them under control now."
Nala stood on her path once she witnessed the quickness they had dealt with the Demonic Beasts right before the second she could've intervened. "Woah!"
"Incredible. They handled the Demonic Beasts so trivially." Peko said, a bit agape as well alongside Ritsuka and Mash. "You're an Heroic Spirit, aren't you? That can only be the logical way for having easily dispatched those creatures."
"A very much educated guess, young child." They smiled amicably torwards Peko before introducing themselves to the chaldeans, putting a hand on their chest. "You are indeed correct. I am an Heroic Spirit and child of this very land. My name is Enkidu, the tool created bty the gods." They revealed, the chains finally killing off the Demonic Beasts that were boundly struggling. "A pleasure to be at your service as an ally, Chaldea."
"E-Enkidu?" Mash's tongue whispered, her brain having heard of that legendary name before. "Enkidu! The character from the Epic of Gilgamesh? You're really them?"
" 'Epic of Gilgamesh'? That's the name of the famous tale that was written around this age here in Mesopotamia right?" Ritsuka asked as he heard Mash said that name, his memory trying to reach out for it.
"Yes it is, Master. The Epic of Gilgamesh is synonymous with the mesopotamian culture." Mash responded. "Its ancient existence divided in twelve tables of clay is what allow us of the modern age to grasp many aspects of the Mesopotamia mythology and world. In the epic, Enkidu was the creation the gods of this region sent down to Earth in order to force the great legendary king Gilgamesh to obey them and due his royal duties."
"Enkidu was essentialy the gods weapon. I think I've heard that once they were cast down to the earthly realm, they were nothing more but a pure being of mud." Peko told, having seemingly read the work as well. "Their humanoid appearence was only gained after they were taken care of by a woman prostitute of the name Shamhat if I'm not mistaken, sent by Gilgamesh himself. It seems the Enkidu that we were seeing now modled themselves on that woman's appearence."
Enkidu smiled softly, chuckling. "Hehe. It is pleasurable in seeing that even thousands of years in the future, there would still be people knowing about my legend and its roots. I wonder with the levels of technology you humans of the modern age have, how long it must have took you to find the texts."
"I think Enkidu-san would be quite surprised to know how recently we happened to discover them when taking all of human history into account." Mash said, the humanity's findings on the cultures of Mesopotamia having happened relatively late. "Also, wow Peko! Didn't knew you had been reading about the epic. That's impressive!"
Peko smiled back to the shielder. "Don't think you are the only one who likes to read books on her free time, Mash."
"I've started to do the same as well. Might pick up a copy of that one of these days." Ritsuka told to the boy, revealling he was also kinda beggining his own literature hobby, much to Nala's shock.
"What?!" She exclaimed, appalled. "But then...that makes me the only one here who doesn't read." She said with a comically sad face as a dark mood envolved her head. "Hmm, how could you have betrayed me like that, Ritsuka?" She lamented, crouching down to the ground and sulking. "Now I have to be the dumb of this group alone..."
"T-There's no need to be down, Nala!" Ritsuka went torwards the girl, immediatly trying to make her feel better. "You can read the books with me or we can still continue playing videogames together!"
Quickly, Nala's bad-mood clouds and aura went away as she looked and smiled brightly to the master of humanity, her eyes radiant. "Sounds good to me!"
The interaction and quick change of behaviour was worth a reaction from the other three that were observing.
"And I thought we swore to never use our cuteness and likability for selfish purposes again, sis..." Peko muttured in dissapointment.
"I'm glad she isn't at least an evil cunning manipulator..." Mash speaked in the same way as Peko.
"Your group's chemistry seems very close judging by those two. It's actually beautiful to see." Enkidu meanwhile replied with a gentle smile.
"Now that I'm thinking, if Enkidu's here, then that means the time period we are in of the Mesopotamia must be during the very period where the Epic of Gilgamesh is occurring, no?" Peko commented, taking the implications of the specific era they were in due to Enkidu's appearance.
"Based on the information we've got, this Singularity is around the time were historians believed king Gilgamesh was alive, so it tracks!" Mash confirmed the theory. "We're pretty much in the middle of the Epic of Gilgamesh events!"
"I'd say your take on that is not exorbitant at all." Enkidu replied. "You are right. As of this present day, Gilgamesh is the king of Uruk. And I, Enkidu, am his most closest friend."
Before the conversation could get going, Peko's mind suddenly realized a possible inconsistency about the servant that was with them. "Hm? Wait a sec. Something does not add up."
"What is it, Peko?" Mash asked him, wondering why he looked serious suddenly.
"Enkidu told us they were an Heroic Spirit, correct?" Peko said, gaining a nod from the shielder. "But to be an Heroic Spirit, a servant, they would have to be dead in order for their souls to go to the Throne of Heroes and then return to the world with a Saint Graph as obligation to be one. Yet, if the Mesopotamia we are currently in is during the events of the Epic of Gilgamesh, wouldn't that mean that Enkidu here is alive and therefore, not actually an Heroic Spirit?"
"..." Enkidu themselves looked at Peko after drawing out such conclusion, their face losing the smile.
"That's true." Mash replied, her mind also catching up to the analysis Peko did, a bit perplexed. "An Heroic Spirit cannot exist without having died first in their original life." The shielder then gave a puzzled look to the servant next to them. "D-Did Enkidu-san actually wanted to say something else and got it mistaken?"
Having been asked the question, Enkidu slowly turned their head torwards her, the eyes and face giving the emotion of a cold, serious and stoic creature. And then they fastly went back to smilling. "Yeah. I might have forgotten to tell you about a little important fact about me. My apologies." They said composedly, almost invting.
"Which is?" Ritsuka asked to Enkidu, he and Nala hsving joined back to the trio to hear the conversation.
"Since I was created by the gods, my existence itself has always been of an Heroic Spirit since it's inception. You could even argue that I might be more of a Divine than Heroic Spirit actually." They responded, trying to clarify the doubts the chaldeans had about them. Enkidu called back his chains, holding a piece of it in their hands before fully storing the weapon inside their body. "Despite being a weapon of the deities, I have gained a heart of my own. The Chain of Heavens, as the title given to me in the epic. That is my Noble Phantasm: myself."
"Then you were already an Heroic Spirit since the moment you were born? No death included to become one?" Nala asked to the legendary hero of Mesopotamia.
"No. I am very much a living legend and Heroic Spirit right now that was conceptualized as such." Enkidu responded to her as well to the whole team. "Hope to have made myself clear with this. Sorry if I caused confusion amongst you for a small moment." They said kindly.
With that, Peko's doubt about them had seemingly dissipated. "N-No problem. I should be the one apologizing if I made it sound I was judging you."
"Fou! Fou!" Fou tapped softly Peko's cheek, not wanting him to feel bad about it.
"So you already knew of our arrival then." Ritsuka talked to Enkidu. "Was king Gilgamesh the one who send you? Does he also know about us?"
"In reality, it was the matron of the Temple of Uruk that sended me to pick you up." Enkidu replied, proceeding to put on a more serious face. "But Gilgamesh is aware of your presence as well. We are well informed of your goal, Chaldea. Of the King of Magecraft, Solomon schemes to extinguish humanity and the Man of Sin's lurking presence in this."
"You do?" Ritsuka asked a bit surprised to all that additional information.
"It really sounds like you prepared for our arrival then! I think that's a first where we already have allies awaiting for us in a Singularity!" Nala said happily to see that they would already be getting allies from the get go in Mesopotamia instead of having to look out for them.
"Is King Gilgamesh waiting for us in Uruk?" Mash made the question to Enkidu. "It's that we were originally supposed to land there but happened to have a little misfortune in it."
"Eh. That was precisely what I've been tasked to do." Enkidu replied, showing to the chaldeans he was there to guide them. "I'll gladly lead you to the city of Uruk in order to meet up with Gilgamesh. There, you will be able to discuss things further about the current panorama that's happening across the entire Mesopotamia."
"We were kinda a bit directionless before you appeared, so you came at the right hour. Thank you!" Ritsuka opened up his hand and put it in front of Enkidu. "I'm, Ritsuka Fujimaru, by the way. The last master of humanity."
Giving a brief chuckle, Enkidu shook Ritsuka's hands. "A pleasure to finally meet you, master of Chaldea." They turned around to look at the rest. "And you too of course. I'll make sure that you reach Uruk by the end of the day. Do follow me."
"Do you know any shortcuts?" Peko asked Enkidu since they were more than familiar with Mesopotamia.
"Yes, but the route we will take won't exactly be one." They responded. "We will be heading north now torwards the Cedar Forest a bit near the mountains. There's a small wharf in the river that runs nearby. Boarding it will lead you to the city."
"Be careful. The trail is a bit bumpy with stones so see where your foot's landing." Enkidu told to the chaldeans as they were now guiding them torwards their destination.
The party was now going upwards on a steep slope as they were near to arriving the mythical Cedar Forest. In the meantime, Romani's hologram went back to appear, checking on the team and wanting to know their current status. Mash was informing him of their initial battle with the hostile creatures of this place, the Demonic Beasts, as well as their encounter with the legendary mesopotamian living figure and hero, Enkidu.
"Hmm, I see. Gotta say, having runned into Enkidu out of all the mesopotamian characters was a hell of a strike of luck!" Romani told once Mash finished retelling their experience so far. "They are Gilgamesh's equal and basically a demi-god if you think about it. Having both them and Gilgamesh at our side from the very beggining as well as up tp date to our enemies plot is excellent! We couldn't have asked for better!" The doctor looked initially happy before making a more neutral face. "However, seeing that Uruk is more to the south, it is a bit weird that they're taking you all the way up to the north."
"Enkidu says that it's the best and safest way to Uruk. And they know this region better than any of us so it isn't like we could say no." Nala responded to Romani before looking over to the legendary hero that was leading them. "Still, why exactly couldn't we have headed south straight to Uruk?"
"Because it is the territory of a goddess." Enkidu responded. "One of the three that currently seeks to devastate the entire Mesopotamia."
"Three goddesses?" Ritsuka lifted up an eyebrow, wanting the servant to explain more on that.
Detecting the inquisitory tone on the master of humanity's voice, Enkidu felt compelled to reply. "While it might take us some good time before reaching Uruk, I think I can at least give you all an overall synopsis of the general scenario of the Mesopotamia you have landed yourselves in."
"Uh! Explanation time! Get your ears quite open everyone!" Romani warned the team, also being there to listen to what Enkidu was about to say.
"By now, you must have already gone past the sight of an eradicated village or city, no?" Enkidu questioned them back. "Specially if they had Demonic Beasts roaming around?"
"We did. It was the very first thing we saw and approached on thus Singularity." Ritsuka told them, the visit to the destroyed village they had spotted having happened literally in the group's very first minutes in Mesopotamia. "Are those 'goddesses' the reason behind it was destroyed?"
"They are." Enkidu looked back to the master of Chaldea. "To get in perspective, those three goddess have become the nemesis that terrorizes Uruk and all the other cities of Mesopotamia right now. They are known as The Three Goddesses Alliance."
"An alliance between gods?" Peko replied with oddity. "What's their deal?"
"Three female deities that once they were summoned, reunited with their common goal of destroying the entire region. That is, kill all of the mesopotamian society that's currently living in this era. They plan in attaining it so through the acquisition of the Holy Grail in order to have that desire granted." Enkidu continued to explain as they took a curve on the rocky paved trail they were walking on.
"So that Three Goddesses Alliance is set to be our main enemy here it seems." Peko commented, he and the team already getting the notion of who their biggest and main obstacles of this Singularity would be this time.
"And we also know that this Singularity's grail isn't in any of those three deities posession. That's good for us." Romani added. "As long as it stays like that, we have a chance to prevent their plot."
"Then there wasn't a better hour for you to show up than this one." Enkidu said. "As of today, the Three Goddesses Alliance have wiped out eighty percent of human civilization and have taken sixty percent of the mesopotamian territory."
An information that felt alarming to the group.
"Eighty percent of humanity here is gone already?!" Ritsuka replied a bit appaled. "How long has this conflict with the Three Goddess Alliance been happening?"
"Around a year. Each of the three goddess use their own methods to destroy and conquer parts of Mesopotamia. They have been an arduous foe to fight back during this war. Greatly astute and mighty as the goddesses that they are." Enkidu went on with the summary. "It forced the survivors of the captured and destroyed cities to flee and find refuge in Uruk, protected and ruled by Gilgamesh as their greatest opponent. Recently, the entirety of North Mesopotamia has been taken by the alliance, namely the goddess of the Demonic Beasts you've saw earlier. Out of the three, she's the most threatening and fearful of all. Her hatred for humanity could be equal to that of Solomon's fervent wish to erase it."
"So there actually isn't almost no cities left in Mesopotamia?" Nala said the dreadful conclusion. "Then things here are hanging by a thread!"
Listening to it, Peko looked to the side, hiding a slight face of distress from the rest. "This is awful! If almost all of Mesopotamia society has been destroyed at this point, there will be not much people left to whom me and Nala can ask about the document." His hand sneeked into his own pocket, feeling the paper of the important item as a sensation of apprehension came to him. "All of those villages and cities destroyed...Could our home have been..."
"But why would the goddesses decide to enact such harmful war against humans who worship them?" Mash questioned, her mind not being okay with what she heard. "Isn't a deity supposed to be proud of being venerated? The people of Mesopotamia loved their gods!"
"While that might by true, remember specifically at what age you are in, Mash." Romani replied to her. "This is the last milleniums of the Age of Gods. The end of it. While humanity here might pray and adore the gods, they started to become more independent from them like a child who can do their homework without their parents help. The evolution of civilization is to the point where gods interference isn't necessary with each passing year and century. Humans are now capable to look for themselves as well as craft things on their own. In a certain perspective, it might have deemed the gods obsolete, which is why many begun leaving the mortal realm during this period. So if you want my opinion, maybe those three goddesses just can't accept the fact humanity doesn't need them anymore and as thrown them aside, nurturing a sense of betrayal and hate."
"As much as your observation can hold some truth, I do have to say that gods do not feel that level of love and compassion for humanity." Enkidu expressed their own opinion, deeply. "If anything, I'd say the gods do not have such concept at all."
"Simply because they're gods? Is this about how they perceive themselves higher than a human?" Nala asked, her head thinking about the general chemistry of gods with humanity.
"In a way, it is." Enkidu replied. "Gods are higher and mightier beings than anyone born human could ever be. Thus, so is their vanity and lack of understanding for mortals feelings. Majority is insensitive to a human's struggles and pain. All that matters to a god is that they can always continue to have subjects who will always pray and laud them." The legendary hero softly passes their hand on a green plant that had sprung from the slope. "Deities who can understand and obtain the complexity that is 'love' for humans, are a rarity, almost deemed as an error on the logic that deities see the humans who worship them as posessions that must be valued and maintained, like that churly goddess, Innana per exemple." Enkidu closed their eyes for a moment. "All in all, a deity will hardly accept losing its followers and influence on humanity."
"So gods can be quite posessive..." Ritsuka commented, being the take he seemed to have get from Enkidu's words.
"Whether it is for a twisted sense of love or arrogant ownership." Peko added, his eyes glancing to the side for a brief moment. "And if Artemis obsession with Orion was anything to by." He said, his mind rememberin of their encounter with the moon goddess in the third Singularity and her almost unhealthy love for her teddy bear of a husband.
"So the Three Goddesses Alliance wants to kill humanity because they feel betrayed of not being needed anymore?" Mash drew the conclusion of the enemies motivations for such chaos across Mesopotamia. "I think that from a deity's point of view, it must be understandable."
"Still a bit of a jerk'ish' thing if you ask me." Nala speaked. "If I was a goddess, I'd rather be thinking on how many cool stuff I could do instead of being concerned if the people worshiped me or not like slaves."
"That might be you, Nala." Romani told to her. "But take into account that the gods are born and live detached of the human values. Let alone interact with one."
The party ended up ending the conversation for some brief seconds as they seemingly reached to the end of the trail, having took them to a large and high plateau at the end of the slope.
"Fooou!"
"Right Fou. This is a great view from here." Ritsuka told to the animal that was now on his shoulder, he and the rest of the team all gazing at the vast landscape in front of them from high above.
"This spot here does gives a good panaroma of a chunk of the Singularity." Mash added, able to see many things from where they were standing.
"And look! The Cedar Forest is right behind us!" Peko turned around, spotting a treeline of tall trees that marked the start of the legendary forest.
"To the forest we go then!" Nala said, about to restart walking.
"Wait a moment." Yet, Enkidu stopped her, standing a bit more to the left of the group as they were gazing at something else from the plateau. "I think you would like to see this first."
"Hm? What is it, Enkidu-san?" Mash asked them as the group walked closer to Enkidu, about to see what they wanted to show them.
"What you're about to see, people of Chaldea, was once the city of Babylonia that was situated in the middle of Mesopotamia." Enkidu told them. "Unfortunately, like many others, it fell to the ravages of the Goddess of Demonic Beasts forces. Nevertheless, Gilgamesh played smart and decided to bring creation out of its ruins."
"What exactly are you-!?" About to ask something to Enkidu, Romani's voice went silent as his eyes gazed at what the legendary hero was talking about, in pure bewilderment. "No way..."
"Is that..." Ritsuka could barely describe the scene he and everyone else were witnessing now.
"From the leftover stones and wreckage of the city, the king of Uruk ordered the construction of what is today's the last and greatest line of defense that separates the infested and destroyed north of Mesopotamia with the last bastion of humanity down in the south."
Way far ahead in the south from their location, an enormous wall barrier, as tall as the ones that used to protect the Lion King's Holy City, stood erected in the horizon as an agitated battle was happening on its field. A hundred, even thousands of those same Demonic Beasts that the chaldeans had fought before were charging on their way torwards the walls defenses alongside new variants. From atop the walls, large wodden catapults were hurling giant boulders or big wodden spears with metal on the tip, focusing on obliterating all of the monsters on below.
"This is the front that has been holding back the enemy from decimating what's left of civilization, having withhelded the advances it for six months straight. It has gained the famous name of Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia." Enkidu gave the name of the frontline the chaldeans were gazing at, such chaotic battle and commotion looking straight out of an historical movie.
"That front...is what's keeping Mesopotamia's society from being completly erased?" Peko said in disbilief.
"And they've been holding their ground against such creatured every day and night for six entire months? That's way beyond admirable." Mash also commented.
"The last line of defense." Romani added, seeing how the front's existence was synonymous with the people's survival.
"Despite of how impressive it may look, everything has a limit." Enkidu 'lamentably' looked away, no longer watching the front miles away. "Unfortunately, it's predicted to last only one more month before it finally gives in."
"Humm...There's already some holes and broken bits on the wall." Nala told to the rest as her beyond human gaze was able to catch some details from the front. "Despite if they are fighting valiently, it seems the defenses have slowly deteriorated with the constant fighting."
"So they won't be able to keep on defending for much longer." Ritsuka muttured, seeing that it was only a question of time before the Demonic Beasts could eventually penetrate the last line of defense that was protecting Uruk and its survivors.
"It is always like that. A futility of life." Enkidu looked up to the sky while walking away, a bittersweet smile on their face. "Lost life after lost life. So repetitive that it becomes senseless at a certain point." The smile then dissapeared to a more emotionless expression. "Humans are fools who only delay the inevitable. They'll end up dying anyways."
"Hm?" Mash looked weirdly at the legendary hero, thinking she had heard them wrong. Those sounded way too harsh words to come out from someone like them.
"But maybe that's just me having a bit of sympathy for the Demonic Beasts. After all, they are living creatures as well." Enkidu said, the smile coming back. "Perhaps if they weren't pawns of their goddess, they could legitimate live as part of this land ecosystem." They continued to speak, having seemingly brushed aside what they've just said about humans. "Anyways, the Cedar Forest is right there as you all have seen. Shall we continue?"
"Yeah." Ritsuka responded, having finally taken his eyes away from the demonic front and staring back to Enkidu as the rest of the team's focus did the same. "We must reach to Uruk as fast as possible!"
Once inside the Cedar Forest, the chaldeans continued to be guided by Enkidu, believing now that they were getting closer to the river with the boat that would take them to Uruk. Still, some apprehensions didn't stopped from appearing amongst the party.
"Hmm, how strange." Mash said as she looked around the forest.
"What's the problem, Mash? Enemies nearby?" Nala turned her head, asking to her friend.
"No. It ain't really that." The shielder responded. "It's just that I find the location of this forest to be a bit odd. According to the ancient manuscripts, the Cedar Forest was a mythical place guarded by the demon being Humbaba, located to the east of Uruk. However, it seems that it is on the west of it in this Singularity. I wonder if it is some sort of anomaly."
"No it isn't, Mash." Romani told her. "The Cedar Forest can be located much on the east as well as to the west of Uruk, depending of which version of the translated manuscripts you've read. Per exemple, you think the forest was in the east, right? Then you've read the akkadian version of the tales where it used to put the Cedar Forest near the frontier of the ancient kingdom of Elam, actual Iran in our days. Whereas the Cedar Forest being on the west is from the original sumerian version. So there really isn't any anomally in the first place. The forest would be on the right location eitherway." The doctor told her with a smile.
"Oh, I get it now. Since we are in a period where Sumer is still the predominant cradle of civilization in Mesopotamia, the Cedar Forest location will be in line with the sumerian version of it." Mash said, having had her doubts cleared by Romani. "Thanks for explaining it out, doctor!"
"But then both versions are correct? There's simply no fake one?" Nala replied in confusion. "Wouldn't it be much simpler if there was just one definitive correct version?"
"Well, there's no harm in someone making their own versions of tales and myths, right?" Romani replied. "It's always a plus to know how some other nations viewed certain things from the people that came before them as a way to assimilate cultures."
"That sounds more like a way to create inconsistencies to me." Nala responded, not being very into that vision of Romani.
"Whether its location changes or not, Cedar Forest will always remain the same place for me." Enkidu speaked foundly on the front of the group. "It's a place that brings me so many memories. Gilgamesh was quite the unruly one in the past."
Ritsuka tried to ask them about what was most important at the moment. "How long until we reach to that boat by the way? It's that we've been walking for quite some minutes into this forest now.
Enkidu turned around and giggled to the master of humanity, not wanting him to get concerned. "We aren't lost, worry not. The boat is awaiting you just a few meters ahead in the river. We will be there within the next minutes."
"It's that it is afternoon already." Peko murmured behind Enkidu, referring to the fact that the sun's rays were starting to lower, the light of the final hours of the day hitting on the tall trees of the Cedar Forest. It was then at that moment, that the boy's apparently deceased skepticism about the 'hero' that was with them returned back, squinting his eyes on Enkidu's back.
"You aren't the only one, Peko." Ritsuka replied lowly to his friend by his side. "I also have a weird sensation about them."
"I guess that goes for all of us." Mash replied also in a low voice in order for Enkidu to not hear their conversation, the group getting more close to one another and letting the mesopotamian servant get a few more meters of distance from them. "They've said and acted kinda weirdly some moments ago . Enkidu-san looks a bit suspicious."
"That's being nice. They're highly suspicious." Nala added, telling what everyone was feeling. "Like, not that I doubt they must know this forest like the back of their hand but it is taking quite the time for us to get to that wharf they mentioned before. It smells fishy in here."
"Not only that but it seems they've leaded you way too up north." Romani said, veryfying on the map of the Singularity that he and the staff of Chaldea were able to create with SHEBA after some hours. "You are getting closer from the Zagros mountains than anything. Enkidu might know safe routes in here but they still are making you walk miles on what's essentially enemy territory."
"I think we got further from the river compared to when we still hadn't met them." Ritsuka pointed out, feeling that Enkidu was actually taking them distanciate from the river that could lead them to Uruk. "Are they doing it on purpose?"
"Dunno. But if they are, there better be a good reason for it. Make sure to keep a close eye on them." Romani's face was more cautious as he said, warning the group to be wary of Enkidu in case their suspicions were right. Soon after, the doctor's eyes jolted a bit as he detected something on his monitor. "Hm? What's..."
"Something's wrong, doc?" Ritsuka asked to Romani, noticing the sudden change on his facial expression. And the doctor wasn't the only one.
"Stay still, everyone!" Enkidu exclaimed suddenly to the chaldeans behind them, having gestured with their hand. "There's someone here."
"Someone else is in the forest?" Mash looked over Enkidu, trying to see who the legendary hero was seeing.
"Oh oh! A group of travellers passing by? What a relief! I think we're finally save!"
From some meters ahead of them, a hooded duo appeared amongst the trees. The pair was a tall man in a white hood and cloak who was the one who speaked, sounding cheerful. He carried a wodden staff in his hand, resembling a wizard. The other one was a short young girl in a grey hood and cloak with some traces of long purple hair sticking out from the hood. She looked mostly silent.
Peko looked to the wizard a bit strangely. "That person...Doesn't he look familiar?"
"I am with that sensation too." Mash replied.
"This forest isn't exactly save for walks and travels. Who are you?" Enkidu questioned the hooded duo, a severe look in their eyes.
"Ah, we happened to be lost travellers, you see? We want to go to Uruk but it appears we've got lost on the Cedar Forest once we entered it." The hooded man explained, never losing his joyful tone. "Now we've been wandering aimlessly for three days straight in here. I has been hours upon hours of having to survive against the terrible creatures of the Goddess of the Demonic Beasts. If it wasn't for my dear daughter and fellow companion, Ana here, we'd probably be in one of those things bellies by now."
"Don't fabricate things up, idiot..." The girl, apparently named Ana, said in a whisper, sounding very reserved. Despite her size, she was carrying a purple chained scythe on her back.
"We're also on our way to Uruk too!" Ritsuka responded, sounding friendly to the duo. "How about you join us so that we can all go there? That way, you don't have to worry much about fending off against the Demonic Beasts."
The looking wizard man smile brightened. "Hmm, that's a splendid idea! The more individuals in a group, the better chances of survival we have against monsters that crave to eat us. I solemnly approve of it!"
"The guy seems a bit eccentric..." Nala commented on how lively and happy the hooded looking wizard would talk. "Who are you anyways?"
"Ah, introductions. A natural part when meeting each other. You can consider me as a type of person who likes to let others introduce themselves first. Product of ethical manners." The man replied, speaking smoothly as he gave the opportunity of introducing themselves first to the chaldeans. "Thus, could I get the opportunity of hearing the names of the group that has come to rescue us?"
Being convinced by him to tell their names first, Ritsuka was the first of the party to take a step forward. "Name's Ritsuka Fujimaru. I am the leader of this small team here as well as master of a far-away place called Chaldea."
"Oooh? Sounds like you're a big shot then. Introducing yourself like that." The wizard said, amused. "And your teammates are...?"
"Mash Kyrielight." Mash presented herself. "The shielder of this team and part of Chaldea as well."
"I'm Peko Finsternis. Sometimes cook of the group and a bit of a healer if needed. Which in itself doesn't sound that much of a great deal..." Peko followed up.
And lastly Nala. "And I'm Nala Finsternis! Full-time fighter and swordswoman!"
"Why are you introducing yourselves as if you were characters roles from a sort of RPG game?" Romani said, being very unusual for the team to introduce themselves like that. "I mean-*cough*! I'm their 'advisor' and mentor of sorts, currently speaking to you from Chaldea."
The wizard man nodded his head with a smile. "So a small group consisting of two teens and two kids. Loads of youthful energy in there, I see. Oh, and also their older mentor who's too much of a lazy to partake on the adventure as well."
"What did you said about me?!" Romani reacted comically with the teasing insult thrown at him.
"..." Meanwhile, Enkidu stood silent, not giving them their name, a thing that called the hooded man's attention.
"And I think there's still one left. Who's this person here with you? Are they also a friend of yours from Chaldea?" The wizard asked to the party.
"They're Enkidu." Mash responded, giving the servant's name to the wizard. A subtle flinch of annoyance slipping out from Enkiu's lips. "They're not from Chaldea, but they are guiding us to reach Uruk as an helper as per the task Gilgamesh gave them."
"Hm? Enkidu, you say?" The wizard speaked a bit puzzled before chuckling. "Now that's quite funny. I bet King Gilgamesh himself would find this plot very waggish."
"Plot? What plot?" Peko replied, addled alongside the other chaldeans.
"Do you know what this guy is talking about, Enkidu?" Ritsuka asked to the green-haired servant who opted to remain silent, their face looking stoic and dead serious.
"I'm sorry to inform you, but you're being fooled. Or rather, I think you already knew you were." The wizard man continued to talk. "Supposedly, they told you that Gilgamesh tasked them to pick you up, right? Well, would you know? King Gilgamesh is currently at the frontline of the Absolute Demonic Front. He isn't waiting for you in Uruk."
"!"
The entire party became stunned with the reveal, confirming it that indeed, Enkidu was deceiving them from the beggining.
"What?" Was all that it could get out from Ritsuka's mouth at that moment.
Enkidu however, decided to defend themselves for once. "And? Gilgamesh could have gave me the task to find the chaldeans once they arrived here at a much earlier date than today. What makes you so sure that I am trying to fool Chaldea?"
"Hmm, true. King Gilgamesh does have the powers of foresight, thus, he could've had predicted the chaldeans coming here way before their arrival." The wizard had presumably given a point to 'Enkidu'. Yet, all that the 'living' hero did was only give him more ammunition. "Unfortunately, King Gilgamesh only obtained that foresight after his quest for the herb of immortality ended." He stated, one of his eyes peeking behind the hood.
"..!" For the very first time, a hint of nervousness appeared in Enkidu as a single drop of sweat fell from his face.
"Then that confirms it!" Romani exclaimed. "Our suspicions were right all along!"
"Sorry but I still don't quite get that part. What 'herb of immortality'?" Ritsuka asked, wondering what the wizard man had just referred to.
Mash was quick to fill him in. "The herb of immortality was a plant found in the mesopotamian underworld that could give anyone who digested it immortality as the name suggests. It was a very central piece in the later half of the Epic of Gilgamesh."
"It was an herb that Gilgamesh seeked tirelessly. The motive?" Peko, who had also read the epic, gave an antagonistic look to Enkidu near them. "To revive his friend, Enkidu, who had died earlier in the epic."
Nala gasped at the realization, the truth about the 'Heroic Spirit' getting clearer. "So that means..."
"We had found ourselves a contradiction here." The wizard man smiled, moving up his finger. "The time period of the events of that epic have already ended in Mesopotamia and King Gilgamesh has wisened up. The true Enkidu, has been long dead ever since."
As a feeling of tension lifted in the air, Ritsuka slowly moved his gaze on the person who named themselves 'Enkidu'. "Then that would make the Enkidu who we've been walking with..." Looking at them, the master of humanity saw their hair covering the eyes, an almost disturbing and expressionless face as they had been discovered alongside their intentions. "..is an impostor."
"Eh. How I loathe inconveniences."
"Guys watch out!" Romani shouted as 'Enkidu' quickly summoned their chains to attack everyone suddenly.
Thankfully, the team was able to either dodge or block the chains that slashed and pierced through several trees around. The chaldeans and the hooded duo remained unschated.
"I knew it! This 'Enkidu' was trying to set us up from the very beggining!" Peko said as he was now sword in hand, ready for combat.
"There probably wasn't even a boat waiting for us in the first place! You were trying to walk us into a trap, weren't you?" Nala added, staring daggers to their actual enemy that pretended to be an ally.
"I was. Such a shame that you will never get to see what I had in store for you." The Fake 'Enkidu' lamented as their true mallevolent side had finally showed up to the chaldeans. "Alas, should have expected for this type of set-backs."
"Where's the true Enkidu?" Ritsuka questioned the fake one, wondering if the actual hero was here in the Singularity for start.
"Right here." The imposterous Enkidu replied as they begun to levitate from the ground, a hand in their chest. "I retain the same appearence and concept as the 'true one'. How more truthful to the original could I be? Only that this time, this weapon won't be leaving aside the duties the gods had instructed for it to do. No. Now, it shall help the goddesses annihilate the entirety of Mesopotamia's life!" Declaring themselves to be the new 'true Enkidu', the impostor liberated a percentage of their mana, sending their chains to attack.
"Crap! This is insane!" Romani exclaimed as he was getting the mana readings from fake Enkidu on his monitor. "The level of their magical energy is on par with that of a Demon God Pillar! This is serious business!"
"Don't tell me!" Ritsuka replied as the strong wind blew hard against his face, doing his best in staying with the feet on the ground.
Without wasting breath, Nala summoned her armour. "Then let's not spare mana if they aren't as well!"
Following his sister's exemple, Peko did the same with his armour. "Needless to say that in a life or death scenario like this one!"
"Then please do try." Fake Enkidu told to the twins as they aimed the chains at the two. "Try and fail miserably fighting for your lives!"
"Air Step!"
"Illuminary Route!"
Beggining the fight, Nala took the charge initiative as Peko supported her a bit from behind, their attacks being avoided by Fake Enkidu who floated around quickly in the air and sent more chains at the duo.
"Careful, Master! I'll give Peko and Nala a hand!" Mash told to Ritsuka as she had her shield ready, heading to help the other two. The battle quickly developed into a change of very fast paced blows, with Enkidu hable to handle against the trio on their own, but the trio also fighting very well and orchastrated, able to defend and dodge from the chains so far. Many trees of the Cedar Forest were sliced and cut down in the process.
Watching the battle until now being closely disputed, the wizard man opted to lend a hand to the chaldeans. "Hey, Ana. Care to help them out?"
The small girl, Ana, grunted lowly. "Do I have to?"
"Remember the contract." The wizard simply said.
Sighing, Ana picked up her scythe. "You better make all of this worth it in the end." Having been enough to make her step into action, Ana reluctantly went to aid the chaldeans against Enkidu.
Meanwhile, the wizard man went near Ritsuka. "Come with me here. It's our chance."
"Huh?"
On the fight, Nala was sprinting and dodging around the chains Fake Enkidu was sending after her, attempting to restrain the girl in place but failing as all that it hit were trees while Nala herself tried to reach close to the enemy and land a blow on him. Jumping forward, she parried an incoming chain as she came face to face with Fake Enkidu, charging up the blade of her sword.
"Precise Stroke!"
Descending her weapon, Nala sent a destructive slash of light in Fake Enkidu's direction. However, the enemy quickly teleported out of the way and reappered behind Nala.
"Not bad at all." Fake Enkidu gave a slight praise to Nala as they fired the chains torwards her, the girl's reflexes being high enough to deflect the blow in time as it sent her crashing into a nearby tree.
In the air, bright stars had formed right above Enkidu as Peko moved them down with a swing of his sword, firing all the way on the servant. Taking notice of the aerial projectiles, Fake Enkidu floated around with agility as they evaded all of the boy's stars that crushed on the ground. "You're actually making me sweat a little." They said as they spotted Peko on the floor, pointing the tip of his sword at them, firing a light projectile at a sonic speed.
"Yet it is not enough." The chains of Fake Enkidu intercepted the projectile, sending it away as it then bursted into a huge light explosion, illuminating the field of the combat for some brief seconds.
Coming from the side, Mash threw her shield at the floating enemy who was fast to descend down on the ground and sprint torwards Mash, attemtping to throw a punch on her face to which the shielder blocked it with her arms. She still managed to dodge from a chain that tried to sneekily attack her and retrieve her shield to block a second one, engaging in close combat with Fake Enkidu and his chains.
Peko came swiftly to Mash's aid, shortly followed up by Nala who launched back to battle, the three of them now all trying to corner and combo on Fake Enkidu who maintained their incredible performance of attack and defense, proceeding to get their body up, as high as the tall trees and open a dozen of golden portals that rained more chains on their opponents who protected themselves behind Mash's shield, with many earth being decimated and trees obliterated.
"We could stay like this all day long, that you'd eventually tire yourselves out." Fake Enkidu smirked down on the three, more specificaly Peko and Nala "Albeit powerful, I deduce your mana cannot keep those armours for entire days or weeks straight yet. In that, I have a great leverage over you."
"And? As if we already have showed you all that we can do!" Nala replied back. "If this battle proceeds to drag on, I'll try and use my Noble Phantasm to finish them off!"
"As much as they're a fake one, they still are as mighty as the True Enkidu from the epic used to describe." Peko said, panting a bit. He had to yet get used to the high mana consume the armour in him demanded. "I don't think we can take them down yet."
"The best to do here would be to escape from them and get out of this forest." Mash commented, also feeling that Fake Enkidu couldn't be defeated now. "Unfortunately, I fear that they won't let us do that as they're trying to kill us."
"No worries."
"Hm?" Hearing a calm voice form behind, Mash and the twins were about to turn around as Ana runned past them with the scythe in hand.
"I'll hold them off." She said before proceeding to dash torwards Fake Enkidu with her weapon. proceedint to attack them relentlessly.
"Eheh. I see that another one has come to join to the kill count." Fake Enkidu smiled sadistically as Ana did her best in keeping them occupied, using her chain scythe to attack the enemy at longer range. She was quite agile as well, parrying and dodging from Fake Enkidu's chains, jumping from tree to tree with her weapon to get as close to them as possible and deliver a fatal blow.
Much to her bad luck, Fake Enkidu anticipated to her movements and called their chains to hold back Ana's scythe from striking the in the head, much to the girl's frustration. Without wasting time, the impostor of the legendary hero called more chains forward as they easily overpowered their enemy and sent Ana's body bashing against a tree.
"Ah!" Letting out a painful puff, Ana's body was quickly tied to the tree, restrained by Fake Enkidu's chains.
"Now, to what you could be usef-huh?." As Fake Enkidu was pondering of what to do with the captured Ana, they ended up getting surprised as they witnessed the body of the girl simply vanishing in front of them, the chains no longer restraning anything. Not only that but the trio of chaldeans was also gone alongside the entire forest, now standing in the middle of the Mesopotamia plains. A bit confused at the beggining, Fake Enkidu smiled and exhaled softly as they understood what had happened. "Eh. Very smart of you, mage. Casting me in an illusion during the fight. As expected from an ally of Uruk." They talked to themselves, realizing that the wizard had pulled a trick on them by making Fake Enkidu perceived they were still fighting the enemies in the Cedar Forest when they actually had long been taken out from that same place.
By now, it would take some good time in finding the chaldeans and that mage again. If they hadn't bumped into the mage, the chaldeans would have already been taken care of. They got so close to end with a small problem that now would much definetly grow into a bigger one, being another headache for them and the Three Goddesses Alliance. Fake Enkidu couldn't help but sigh. "What a pain it is to capture and kill you, you sly wizard. That spell of yours won't just go away, for my misfortune." Looking torwards the direction where the Cedar Forest was, Fake Enkidu smiled, schemes conjuring in his mind. "Guess that leaves me with no choice but the only option that is guaranteed that it will break it. Alas, I think you all got enough of emotion and rush for a day as I did, Chaldea. Hope you come to bask in this vast, beautiful ancient land that was recently claimed by humanity from the gods, only to be punished with the brink of destruction."
Hearing someone calling out for them, Fake Enkidu took off from the ground and flew away in the distance, aware that this wouldn't be their last encounter with Chaldea. "As for now, I'll go seize down Mother's wrath before she rampages."
"Aaaand, I think we're far enough! Get yourselves a brief rest!" The hooded wizard told to the party as he and the chaldeans had took the opportunity that Ana was fighting Fake Enkidu while under an illusion to flee, getting out of danger.
"Phew! This was running like hell!" Ritsuka put both hands on his knees, having sprinted like he never did before.
"You...tell me..." Peko responded exhausted, calling off his armour, his energy on the low as he sat back against a tree's trunk.
"Are you feeling okay, Peko?" Mash asked to the boy while Nala unsummoned her own armour.
"You really need to get better used to wear the armour." Nala told to her brother, getting by his side. "Or else it can also eat your vital energy away."
"I...I know." Peko responded, groaning a bit as he tried to stabylize his heartbeats. "I'll be sure of that next time."
Ritsuka was about to offer some healing on his friend. "Perhaps a bit of cure will fix you right up-"
But the wizard stepped forward, interrupting him. "I can take care of that." Getting in front of Peko, the mage of white proceeded to summon some small circle field of pink flowers around Peko. "Here's the antidote to your fatigue, young man. How do you feel now?"
Immediatly, Peko started to feel much better, his body no longer sensing any fatigue, grip or heaviness, all the ache and discomfort in his muscles having dissipated in an instant. "I...I'm fully recovered!" Peko replied, moving his own body. "It's like my healing spell except superior!"
The wizard chuckled amusedly at the boy's comment. "That was a taste of my landscaped domain. Hope it got you to feel better."
"T-Thanks. It did indeed." Peko smiled to the wizard. "But why do I think I've witnessed this spell before?"
"And a thank you as well for having come with that plan to keep the impostor Enkidu distracted with an illusion, allowing them the chance to escape." Romani told to the wizard. "That's no easy spell that any mage could pull! You must be very talented!"
"Appreciate it. It flatters me a bit." The wizard responded.
"So the Enkidu that we believed to be an ally was actually our enemy that tried to lure us in to what would be our deaths." Mash speaked, still thinking how Fake Enkidu was almost successful in their scheme to kill them while wandering them away from Uruk. "We were reading the sings but should've acted sooner on our gut instincts. It could have costed us greatly."
"Well, you generally don't think that the good guy will turn out to be the bad guy as a plot twist very often." Nala commented. "I don't really blame ourselves if they were seen as a great hero in the entire Mesopotamia. Not like we could predict it."
The wizard agreed with Nala. "This Enkidu that you've seen is completly different from the one of the epic and other tales. They no longer live as a benign being, curious of humanity, but instead as the mediator of the Three Goddess Alliance and one of the two generals of the Demonic Beast army." He told the group about the version of the new and fake Enkidu. "Don't expect to get the help of the real one in this Singularity unfortunately."
"At least we can count on a mage as skilful as you. I think." Ritsuka replied, under the assumption that the wizard could be their ally.
It made him chuckle. A bit impressed. "Yeah. I suppose I am."
"So will you mind telling us your name?" Peko asked him. "I think we are deserving that, don't we?"
"Without any doubt, of course." The wizard said, accepting in good will to reveal his name to the chaldeans. "I have been eager to meet you after so long. I am-"
"FOU!"
"Eh?"
Out of nowhere, Fou jumped out of Mash's back, sounding extremely angry. "Fou-..." And with no explanation why, the animal proceeded to hurl himself torwards the wizard, delivering a punch right in his cheek. "Kyuuuuu!"
"Gah!" The wizard let out a painful groan as he was brought to the down, Fou repeatedly punching him in the face with his paws.
"Foukyu! Foukyu! Foukyu! Foukyu! Foukyu! Foukyu!"
"FOU?!"
The entire party of Chaldea reacted entirely dumbfounded at such violence and agressiveness a cute animal like Fou was giving on the wizard.
"I never saw him like this!" Ritsuka responded, appaled.
"Thank god I never pissed off Fou before." Nala responded, watching the assault with shock.
"But do they know each other or something in order to get that type of reaction?" Peko wondered.
Thankfully, the wizard was able to get hold of Fou, taking him away from his face. "I-It's also nice to meet you again, Cath Palug! I see you are unsettlingly energetic as ever! But don't you think you are being a bit harsh after all the time we spent together?
"Cath Palug?" Romani reacted strangely. "Have you took care of Fou before?"
"Something of that type, yes." The wizard replied, implying that he and Fou shared a past. "But that's not important now. What is, is that my name is-"
"The enemy was led away from the forest such as you ordered, Merlin." Suddenly, Ana appeared in the middle of the chaldeans, getting a scare out of them.
"Wah! Can you at least warn us of your presence first?" Nala told to the other girl.
"True! You almost gave me an heart attack!" Peko added before calming down. "But it's at least good to see you survived against Enkidu. Fighting them alone could've been risky." He told to the reserved girl, having been genuinely a bit concerned about her survival when going up alone against Fake Enkidu.
"Your concern is okay...I guess." Ana replied, showing almost no emotion and not even staring to Peko.
"That felt cold!" Peko exclaimed to himself.
"Wait! Merlin? Did she said, 'Merlin'?" Mash picked on the name Ana had said once she arrived, proceeding to stare to the wizard. "You're-"
"And there goes the big surprise." The mage sighed before trying to cheer himself up. "Well, a surprise is still a surprise nevertheless." Smilling, the wizard proceeded to take off his hood, revealing his face of long white hair, flower petals in his ears and mystic purple eyes. They were in the presence of what many would consider to be the world's greatest and most legendary mage to have ever lived. "Greetings, Chaldea! As the famous mage of Britain and candidate to the title of Grand Caster, I, Merlin, stepped out of Avalon in your aid!"
"Merlin!" Ritsuka exclaimed, amazed.
"Fou! (Fuck you, Merlin!)"
"I knew you looked familiar!" Mash also said in astonishment. "You've appeared to us before!"
"That time in North America against Cú Alter." Nala retold, remembering of when a mysterious mage had temporarily showed up to save them against the enemy on the fifth Singularity. "It was really you, wasn't it?"
"In every way." Merlin replied happily. "It sure feels nice meeting you properly at last, chaldeans. I did said we would still end up meeting more ahead in the future, didn't I?"
"You sure did!" Peko chuckled, staring to the great mage in awe. "I knew that spell you casted on me just now looked familiar. Guess only an amazing mage like you could pull it off!"
"Please, do not flatter this man." Ana said blandly near Peko and the others. "He is nothing more but a dishonest trickster."
Meanwhile, Romani's face looked in a still state of shock. "Merlin? Merlin?...MERLIN CANDIDATE TO GRAND CASTER! ARE YOU KIDDING WITH ME!?" He yelled out, finding all of it to be egregious.
"Woah, doc! Simmer down a bit, will you?" Ritsuka said, a bit taken aback alongside the rest of the team for Romani's sudden yell. "What's upsetting you so much?"
"First of all, there's no way this guy is a candidate to Grand Caster! No chance!" Romani protested.
"Why so?" Peko asked a bit confused to the doctor. "Isn't he supposed to be one of the greatest mages of all history?"
"If you know little about the world that is!" Romani replied, still looking bothered, the staff members in Chaldea looking at him a bit weirdly. "Normally, Heroic Spirits candidate to the position of Grand Caster have a great level of Claryvoince, like Solomon and Gilgamesh if we go by the comment this guy said earlier. However, Merlin, the supposedly 'great' mage, can only use his Clairvoyance to see the present!" As he heavily criticised Merlin's status as a powerful mage when compared to others, Da Vinci walked into the room with a dead-pan face and a mug of coffee in her hand, letting Romani rant continue. "He's bad- Correction! He's completly useless and of no peculiar talent when compared to the other candidates of the same class!" He concluded, being hard to believe Romani had just praised Merlin's skill as a mage literally a minute ago before learning his identity.
Still, Merlin himself didn't seemed to get the criticism affect him on a personal side. "Eheh. That's true. My Clairvoyance is unable to gaze at the future like those two. I'm sorry if I'm not the superior mage you all wanted to believe in." He smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Aww, don't be like that. You're still an amazing mage!" Da Vinci said as she got into the conversation, sliding Romani to the side so that he could stop slandering Merlin. "If anything, one of my studies have shown that the reactor that powers up the entire plant of Chaldea is being secretly sustained majorily on your incredible mana that comes straight from Avalon. Without it, the reactor would much likely not have the energy to power up almost anything in Chaldea. We do owe big part of the organization still running today to you. Doing so without Solomon having ever discovered it no less! That's a big thank you from me!" She winked at Merlin, thanking the mage for having secretly supplied Chaldea with mana during their whole journey so far, much to Romai's silent displeasure.
"Yeah, right. Big deal..." Romani muttured to the side. "However, how come Merlin be an Heroic Spirit if he's currently alive and well on the Tower of Avalon? It doesn't make any sense for him to have a Saint Graph of a servant!" He stated, bringing what was possibly something that was fundamentaly wrong with Merlin's appearence as an Heroic Spirit here.
"Hmm. That question does make some sense." Mash replied, thinking for a bit. "Merlin as a person is still very much alive in today's world. And given the fact Avalon resides on the Reverse Side of the World, it managed to escape from Solomon's Incineration of Humanity, so it continues to exist."
"Then this could be another case like with the fake Enkidu." Peko commented, bringing up how the impostor of Enkidu had also lied to them by telling they were an Heroic Spirit while still being alive. It automatically made the chaldeans get a bit wary with Merlin.
"Oh please, don't tell us that you're also trying to pull a betrayal here." Nala said to the wizard, thinking how absurd it would be if the person who saved them from an enemy who was pretending for them, was also trying to deceive the team.
Luckily, that didn't seemed to be the case as Merlin explained his situation calmly. "While it's true that as a mage who's still alive, it shouldn't be possible for me to materialize as an Heroic Spirit. Howbeit, I was able to find a loophole that allowed me to get past over the rule of dying to become a servant."
"How did you managed that?" Ritsuka asked him.
"Since this Singularity is happening in a period before I was born, it technically means that I am 'dead'." Merlin revealed. "For not existing could be interpreted as being dead. Thanks to that breaching of logic, I was able to bypass the rule that would kept me from becoming a servant, and ended up being summoned as the court mage of none other than King Gilgamesh himself in order to help him fight against the Three Goddess Alliance."
And to that, Romani looked pensative. "Hum, that actually does sound believable..." He muttured, having to come to the conclusion that Merlin meant no harm to them.
"Then you're really on our side." Ritsuka concluded, the explanation the wizard had gave him and the rest sounding plausible.
"It is not like I had much to gain if I were to work against you." Merlin replied.
"And what about her?" Nala speaked, looking torwards Ana who was by Merlin's side, bringing her up to the conversation. "Is she also a servant summoned by Gilgamesh to aid us?"
Merlin chuckled a bit nervously. "Well, she's a bit of a different case. You see, Ana here is-"
"I'm a Rogue Servant that was summoned here by the grail's will." The girl responded and explained her situation herself. "I've just met this charlatan Merlin for two days were he tricked me into signing a contract with him. I had no affiliation until then whatsoever."
"..." Merlin briefly opened up his mouth, trying to come with a way to deny or diminuish that he had really tricked the small young servant into signing a contract with him. But he just couldn't come up with any. "True. I can't deny that."
"That sounds kinda of a douche move." Peko replied, a bit disappointed that Merlin would do that.
"He is a douche." Ana replied in confirmation with a resigned face.
"A total douche." Romani added.
"Fou! Fou! (The biggest douche of them all!)"
"Aah, how I love my fans." Merlin said with a joyful and peaceful smile on his face, ignoring the insults.
"Douche or not, it is great that we finally met eye to eye." Ritsuka told to him. "We can count on you, can we?"
A question that Merlin made sure to answer with uttermost sincerity. "Rest assured, master of Chaldea, that in this Singularity, I shall be dedicating every ounce of my being to help your cause. With the long journey of amazing moments you've experienced and gone through, it has captivated my body into taking action." Kneeling, the arthurian wizard put a hand on his chest, as a form of oath. "Here I pledge my loyalty and aid to Chaldea in restoring humanity."
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 132!
I could have load of things to say about the chapter but I'm extra tired at the moment I'm writting this. So all that I can say is that finally, the Dick Wizard of O- I mean, Merlin, has finally arrived to the story in true definition of appearence. Possible big player for the sory here, so stay tuned.
And yeah, that's all I have to say this time. Sorry but I really trun out of energy at the end. Hope to be more energetic for next chapter!
That's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 133! Peace!
P.S:
Ritsuka (Typping out a long assignment in the middle of the night): Six hours in and there's still so much left to do...The coffee is also over and I can barely keep myself awake...What do I do?
Ritsuka (Gets an idea): I know!
*Meanwhile on a servant bedroom of Chaldea*
Lord-El Melloi II: Finally, I finished writting the essays and reports for the week. And in record time no less. It will feel wonderful sleeping three hours instead of one-Huh? New email? From master? Hmm, let's see (As El Melloi II reads the message Ritsuka sent to him, his eyes slowly lose life) Well...Another sleepless night it is.