An engine's roar echoed through the forests as Kintoki rode through the trees with his Master hugging his waist. The ground shook as the titanic machine trying to squish them like bugs failed to step on them, instead crushing several trees underneath its massive foot. "So cool…"
"Master! I agree with ya but now's not the time!" Cried the Rider as he swerved to avoid another stomp. "Assassin, Archer, what's taking you guys so long!?" And where the hell was Berserker?! How has he not noticed the giant robot stomping around trying to kill them?!
Schwing!
"What!?"
His cries were evidently heard as the pursuing machine was literally frozen in place; its left foot was encased in ice, glueing it to the ground and stopping it from raising it. It was swiftly knocked off balance as a burning tree was thrown straight into its chest. The ground tumbled once again as the jet-black robot fell on its back and flattened everything behind it. "Great! Cool move, Assassin!"
"Please don't." Kintoki's attempt to praise Sakura was met with a deadpan face as she landed next to the bike, which had skidded to a halt after their pursuer's tumble. "Master, are you alright?"
"Never better!"
"…I shouldn't have asked," she sighed at Ritsuka's unnaturally cheery response after nearly being crushed to death. Glancing back at the fallen machine that was already getting back up, she urged them to get moving before dashing off to rejoin Eden and Kalpas. While it was incredibly resilient to their attacks, all they needed to do was stall it long enough for Ritsuka to get away.
Seeing as Ritsuka was very clearly not in the right mind to be giving out orders, Kintoki made the call in his place. "You heard the lady, Master. Let's burn more rubber!" His Master thoughtlessly nodded in agreement, his attention still being held by the giant robot trying to kill them.
"An actual mobile suit… but why?" He murmured in both awe and confusion. It was far too much of a coincidence for it to simply be that after his one was stolen. They needed to regroup with the recon team to get a better understanding of the Singularity's situation. "Tenoch? Where are you now?" He tried to contact the Pretender again. After a few seconds of static, he got a response from someone else instead.
"Chaldea's Master, I presume? So that's what you sound like." A giddy feminine voice came through the communication device. She sounded familiar, but in the same way Anne Bonney and the various Artorias sounded familiar. "Sorry to tell you this, but the conditions here tend to mess with long-distance communications. I doubt even that Vormund's pilot could call for backup right now."
"Vormund? Wait, no. Before that, who are you?" Ritsuka questioned the strange woman, only to receive a soft giggle in response.
"Don't worry, I'm a trusty ally of yours, Fujimaru Ritsuka~ We'll meet soon enough." The friendly tone she used had the opposite effect on him. He knew better than to trust an enigmatic voice claiming to be on his side, especially as she could speak through his speaker without difficulties. "Just take care not to get stepped on and hang on until your Servant arrives. Since it's on its own, the Fulminar will have no choice but to turn tail the second it sees your Servant's own machines."
"How can you be sure there aren't more lurking in the sky?" he replied, earning a more amused laugh this time.
"There's no need to worry about that. The Fulminar is the only one in this world capable of utilising that kind of stealth technology... that we know of," the mysterious woman added, almost teasing him. "We'll talk again later; I can promise you that, Fujimaru."
Just like that, the communication lines cut off, leaving Ritsuka even more puzzled than before. "Master? Who were you talking to?" His stupor was broken by a confused Kintoki.
'So only I heard her.' Ritsuka sighed, shaking his head and glancing towards the black machine—the so-called Fulminar. "Never mind that. Let's keep our distance from that mobile suit, Kintoki. We must wait for Tenoch to arrive." The ground would shake again as the other three managed to send it tumbling down again. A part of Ritsuka felt sorry that the pilot was essentially getting bullied… but he did start it. Ritsuka also felt pain at seeing a childhood joy of his getting beat up but he swallowed it and chanted to himself that it was for all their safety.
However, the Fulminar clearly had enough of getting thrown around by what should have been flies to it; the sound of hatches opening was all the warning Ritsuka needed. "Everyone, cover—now! Kintoki!" Ritsuka barked that order hoping that the three would hear him. Just as he thought, the sound of missiles being fired filled the air. Ritsuka didn't think the pilot would resort to carpet bombing so soon but as it stood, they needed to get to safety. 'Where was Mash when you needed her?!' Ritsuka briefly entertained the idea of having Kintoki summon Golden Bear if even for a moment to shield them from the incoming fire, but even using a Command Spell might not be enough for that—at least not without severe backlash to both himself and Kintoki. Their only option then was to pray for the best that Kintoki could evade the missiles with only his bike.
"Hang on tight, Master!" As the first volley blanketed the area, Ritsuka had to hold on for dear life to the Rider; his ears were ringing and he was hacking up a lung from all the dust kicked up by the explosions, but at least they had all their limbs still attached. Probably. However, they could not breathe a sigh of relief quite yet as a second volley was about to strike.
Another sea of fire levelled what was left of the surrounding area, and they were as fortunate as last time. Though they somehow managed to avoid most of the onslaught, the shockwave of the final missile sent the motorcycle flying and separated Ritsuka from Kintoki, landing on the charred ground with a heavy thud. "Master!" He barely had time to get his head straight before a dirtied Sakura appeared in a flash next to him. She didn't even bother helping him up and simply picked him up in a bridal carry before dashing off to safety.
Even with his dulled hearing, Ritsuka knew that there was one last salvo about to rain down on them. Seeing as Sakura was able to evade the hellfire so far, he trusted her to keep going but fortunately for all of them, it didn't have to come to that. A blue laser beam cut through the air, intercepting the missiles and making them blow up harmlessly above them. Ritsuka's ears were still ringing, but now he could breathe half a sigh as the ground shook from the arrival of a white giant. "Thank you Odysseus…" He made a mental reminder to reward the Rider once they returned from the mission.
"The White Horse?!"
"Viridheim's Diener, I shall warn you once: leave, or be destroyed. You know well you do not stand a chance alone," Odysseus's voice boomed, making Ritsuka wonder when he got a speaker installed into the Trojan Horse or if it actually had one from the beginning. Either way, his warning was heard loud and clear.
"...You'll pay for your heresy to our lords, Chaldea."
As suddenly as it appeared not even 10 minutes ago, the black mobile suit vanished as it activated its stealth system. The low roar of its jets firing was the only confirmation they could make that it took off. It was not time to rest yet however as they needed to regroup—but first… "...Sakura, you can put me down now."
Ritsuka was less surprised to find out that there were compartments within the Trojan Horse. It was, after all, the Trojan Horse. Once they were free of danger and he had been checked for any injuries, Odysseus picked them up and they departed for the base they managed to set up for themselves where the remaining members of the recon team were waiting. Tenoch was with him however, eagerly anticipating their reunion. "The Viridheims again? They've been a thorn in our side the entire time we've been here," the Pretender loudly grumbled upon learning who attacked them first.
"And why do I think you weren't helping matters, Tenoch?"
"I simply spoke my mind when I learnt what the people here revere, Tlamacazqui. Nothing more than that."
Her response made Ritsuka sigh; her not being at all remorseful over it was completely expected, but still incredibly annoying. Any sort of punishment would have to wait until later though as he sighed in exasperation. "Just catch us up to speed, Tenoch. Why was there a 40-tonne mobile suit?" Frankly, that was not a bad way to go out for Ritsuka with his love of robots, but he'd at least want to know the reason why.
"The easiest way to put it is the people here worship a pantheon of giant machines similar to my and Rider's Noble Phantasms as gods they call the Vormunds," explained Tenoch with an affable tone. "That one as you could tell belongs to the people of Viridheim. Their capital is not too far from this forest."
"And have you upset all the nations within this Singularity, Lady Tenochtitlan?" Eden inquired in her usual polite tone. "If we're going to be faced with machines like that who could resist our attacks, our mission here would be a difficult one."
Though her eyes were hidden behind her shades, there was no denying the annoyed glance pointed in Eden's direction, who met it with a cheery smile. "No. They're more like territories rather than full nations but there are a few with their own machine gods that are neutral to Chaldea. We've also joined up with a small enclave of outcasts who fled from the cities for one reason or another."
"Did Lord Odysseus and Lady Europa handle the talking?" Kintoki snickered, earning him a cold glare from Tenoch.
After a few seconds though… "I will neither confirm nor deny that." In other words, yes. "Tlamacazqui, we've yet to fully confirm the location of the Holy Grail here but… we have an idea."
"...Why do I not like the sound of that?" Ritsuka had a bad feeling about this but he waited for Tenoch to explain further.
"Each of the territories in this Singularity worship or falls under the protection of a Vormund, but there are a couple of singular city-states that has maintained their independence thanks to their own machine god—one of which being a tad more important to our mission. While the others could expand and control their territory thanks to their pilots, the city of Espérance's Vormund is completely autonomous and has only awakened to protect the city according to their legends." Tenoch paused dramatically but they all already had a good idea where she was going. "According to their legends, the Vormund has armour as white as snow and a single horn, awakening whenever the city cries for it to save it. We've yet to get the chance to see the machine for ourselves but acquired drawings of it."
"White armour, a single horn…" He heard Sakura mutter next to him. Those were the most simplest of descriptors but knowing their luck, it was more likely than not that this so-called Vormund was none other than the machine stolen underneath their noses.
Without a doubt, it was that. There were plenty of questions now but one thing was clear— the city of Espérance was in possession of the beast of possibilities. "Unicorn…"
A/N: And here's another chapter as a reverse-birthday gift from me. Didn't think I managed one out today of all days but nice that things lined up like that. Either way, some bit more lore of this small little world I crafted cause I decided to start watching Gundam, Ritsuka geeking out over nearly getting reduced to past by not-Blitz, a slight hint over a certain character, and the reveal over which one Ritsuka actually built with Vill-V.
Why did I go with Unicorn? Well, it was actually suggested to me by one of the circle of braincells and I then got around to watching the OVAs and needless to say, I got hooked. So it's the "main" one for the story now while I continue figuring out which the last couple not-Gundams being worshipped/used in this story
See you all next time!
EDIT FOR FNN: Forgot to upload this last week lol