024 - The pitiful dragon and the penniless saint

Mashu Kyrielight

To say Mashu knew what she was getting into would be a bit of an overstatement. Her thought process never quite got that far, after all. Once she saw people in danger, the only way she wouldn't hold back from helping would be for Senpai or the Lady Director to command her so. The Lady Director was unreachable and Haku-Senpai had enthusiastically joined her, so there was no reason not to rush at the monsters attacking the fort.

It was as simple as that.

Still… Mashu had made certain assumptions about the situation she was getting into. They were perfectly reasonable assumptions, mind you. Like assuming the presence of supernatural creatures would drive the local soldiers to panic, or that the fort walls wouldn't be of much use against flying creatures. She'd been mostly right, too.

But she had also kind of assumed Wyverns wouldn't gather in enough numbers to blot out the sky over a random and obviously minor fort like this one. She didn't even know such a number of Wyverns could exist within such a modern Singularity!

On that, she'd been very wrong.

After clearing the fort's wall with a single bound to land on top of the battlements, she finally got a clear view of what they were dealing with. It was her worst assumptions coming together with her most reasonable miscalculations, all wrapped up in one single heap of bad news. Panicked soldiers running in all directions, disorganized and aimless, a good number of them not even trying to fight, while uncountable numbers of winged monsters easily ignored the man-made barriers to harass them unopposed.

She might have… frozen up at the sight. Just a little bit.

"Look alive, Mashu!" A red headed blur calls out cheerfully as she rushes past Mashu's stiffened form. "Protect the soldiers while I cook up something to take out the overgrown lizards!"

Senpai doesn't freeze up, Senpai simply charges ahead with that permanent smile on her face. That confident and mischievous smile( that never fails to make Mashu's heart beat faster), like she knows something nobody else does. Then again, Senpai is cool like that. Not at all like a useless Demi-Servant who needs to be told what to do even when it should be obvious.

"Yes, Senpai!"

But there's no point in beating herself up when there's work to do, so she gets to it. She cannot challenge an army of rampaging wyverns head-on, she can't even really force an engagement while they're flying high up in the sky. What she can do is get her shield between monster and men, protecting soldiers about to be devoured alive, clawed to death, impaled with poisonous tails or burnt alive by dragon fire.

She's confident on at least that much.

Still… Haku-Senpai is taking much longer than usual in showing off her current trump card( and saving the day). For a moment, Mashu worries that something terrible has happened while she wasn't there to protect her Master, but she swiftly puts it out of her mind, chastising herself for the unsightly lack of faith. That can't be it.

It's at that point that the corner of her eye catches a dash of orange between the battlements on top of the main tower. It's Senpai! There's an expression of intense concentration in her face but she still looks fine and well. She draws some glowing symbols on the ground that glow brightly for a moment before doing… nothing? What's going on?

Mashu doesn't understand, but she doesn't need to. Just watching Senpai nod in satisfaction as the symbols fade away is enough to tell her everything is going according to plan. As it should be. No, if someone will become a point of failure today, it will be her. (Like always)

Speaking of which… her own mission isn't going so well. In spite of her best efforts, more and more soldiers are getting wounded, or even killed, by the frenzied monsters. Other Servants can do incredible things like clearing the skies of monsters with a swing of their blade or saving everyone here with a flex and a smile, but Mashu is nowhere near that amazing.

She only has her sturdy body and her trusty shield, and she simply can't be everywhere

'Haku-Senpai! I can't keep this up for much longer.' The admission of her own inadequacy burns, but not as much as watching someone's head getting bitten off because she was a second too slow. Again. 'I request assistance!'

'Just a bit longer, I'm almost… There!'

Haku-senpai's victorious cry is followed up by a superhuman jump that lands her in the exact center of the fort's courtyard. Coincidentally, that's also right beside Mashu herself. "Watch and learn! [Hellstorm Anti-Air Battery]"

An invisible pulse of magic follows Senpai's words, rapidly spreading outwards until it covers the whole fort. Sometimes, as the pulse washes over seemingly unremarkable vantage points, it triggers a thaumaturgical reaction that causes futuristic-looking missile turrets to come into existence and start firing anti-air salvos at the wyverns. It's only when one of them pops up from the exact same spot where she saw Senpai working her magecraft earlier that Mashu realizes what's going on.

"Senpai was setting things up for a coordinated mass projection." She mutters breathlessly. "Incredible…"

"I had to bring them all online at the same time or they would've been picked off one by one before they could do their job." Haku Senpai rubs the back of her head with an apologetic smile. "I sorry you had to hold them back on your own, but we should be in the clear now. These things can tear far more fearsome things than some winged lizards to shreds if they make the mistake of getting in range, you know!?"

Indeed, the turrets relentlessly fire salvo after salvo against the wyverns. Not just mere ballistic ammunition, but self-propelled projectiles guided by advanced targeting computers to unerringly chase down the flying monsters and blow them off the skies.

At least, that's the impression it gives at first.

Suddenly finding themselves in front of significant opposition, the swarm of wyverns descends into disorganized chaos for a while. It's the perfect opportunity to strike back and eliminate them in one fell swoop and the missile batteries have the volume of fire to pull it off. They are certainly causing more damage to the monsters than they've sustained so far, but… They're not enough, they lack the firepower to take down the swarm in time and the window of opportunity is swiftly closing.

The wyverns are turning their aggression towards the turrets and Mashu doesn't like their chances in a proper fight.

"Hmm… maybe I spoke too soon. Stupid spirit beasts and their stupidly sturdy bodies, they might be capable of withstanding the onslaught for long enough to destroy my turrets." Senpai frowns for a moment before her usual smile returns to her lips. "That's of course… As long as nobody protects them. What do you say, Mashu-chan? Ready to save the day?"

Save the day? Protect the turrets? Senpai couldn't be thinking about… her Noble Phantasm? But she still doesn't know if she could deploy it at will! She's only pulled it off once before and that was with the help of a Command Spell!

"I'll try, but I don't know…" Mashu starts up hesitantly, only to mentally slap herself for it. She cannot keep acting like that, Senpai is counting on her, so there's no room for hesitation! She needs to do it! "No, I'll do it, Senpai!

"That's my girl!"

Ah… Mashu can feel her cheeks grow warmer under the praise. But this isn't the time for that! Flaring up her full power, she does her best to recapture the feeling from back then, when she did the impossible to protect everyone from King Arthur's Noble Phantasm.

The feeling of safety, of acceptance. A special place where heroes gather and everyone's dreams can come true. A truth that's a myth, a myth that's a truth. A fragile vision bearing the full weight of humanity's hope.

"True Name… Frozen Deployment!"
"This is the Castle of Fantasy that holds many paths and wishes!"
"Now… Answer to my call!"

But the words get stuck on her throat, her mana flow sputtering and shutting off without anything to show for it. Maybe her visualization was too weak, maybe she wasn't confident enough in claiming this borrowed power as her own. The land itself seemed to resist her attempts and she lacked the power to assert her personal reality through the opposition.

"I'm sorry, Senpai." She admits ashamedly. "It's not working!"

"Can't be helped, then." Senpai sighs with a soft smile, putting a comforting hand on top of Mashu's head and nearly making her forget she just outrageously failed to meet expectations. "By the power of my Command Spell—"

But, as the symbols on the back of her hand light up, her words get cut off by an enormous power spike coming from right beyond the fort, at the same time their red glow gets overshadowed by an intense golden light.

"Our lord is with us!"
"O flag of mine, protect our comrades!"

"[Luminosite Eternelle - God is here with me]"

The golden light rapidly spreads out, similarly yet vastly different from Senpai's previous magecraft. Instead of washing over the fort to activate dormant thaumaturgy, it reaches for every surviving human being to enshroud them in a protective golden light. But it's not just the humans that are affected by this golden phenomena.

The turrets glow golden too, suddenly impervious to the wyvern's attacks even as they continue to fire upon them.

"… Or we can get random help out of nowhere. That works too." Haku drawls out in a faintly amused voice. "Well, the wyverns are done for now. We should thank our mysterious new friend, let's go take a look over the walls."

Before they can really get in motion, another power spike makes the earth tremble and a small castle to raise from the ground. On top of the central tower stands a winged and horned figure, balanced on the tip of the highest peak.

"Laaaa~"
"Sorry to keep you waiting!"
"This! Is! My! Finishing Number!"
"Let's get pumped up! Cry like pathetic little kittens!"
"[Báthory Erzsébet - Fresh Blood Demoness]!"

The swarming wyverns, already on their last legs by the anti-air batteries, get cleanly blown off the skies by a powerful sound blast.

Senpai and Mashu trade glances before rushing to the battlements, just in time to see the summoned castle disappear once again, leaving behind four figures. A blonde woman clad in a white armor and carrying a flag, a pink haired girl with horns and a scaly tail carrying a spear and…

And two albino women wearing… French Maid outfits? And rather daring ones, at that, Mashu couldn't see herself wearing anything similar. (Not unless Senpai was interested in such things and that's obviously not going to happen!) Just in case, she steals a glance towards Senpai, trying to gauge her reaction towards the dresses.

Unfortunately, Mashu doesn't really have any idea how to read people, so the glance ends up being pointless.

"How's that? I just saved the day!" The girl with the spear cries out cheerfully. "Feel free to start praising me, piggies!"

"Astounding." One of the maids, the one with sharp features and a no-nonsense air, comments curtly. "Certainly surpasses expectations."

"Fufun~" The girl puffs up her chest with a wide smile on her lips. "Praise me more!"

"Actually, I meant that everything was already under control." The serious maid continues. "With Lady Jeanne's support, the Chaldeans had already turned the tide of the battle."

"Yes, that's it! All hail the one and only Elizabeth Bathory, greatest idol in the— Wait, what do you mean they already had it all under control?" The horned girl rapidly switches from gloating to panicking. "Did I miss my cue? Was my gorgeous performance just a waste of mana?"

"Ah." The other maid comments with a soft and aloof voice. "Eli-chan did something pointless again."

"Geh!"

"Useless newt."

"Gah!"

"There, there. Headpats."

"Guh– Actually, that's pretty nice..." The girl mutters, slowly leaning into the maid's touch before she catches herself and jumps away with an indignant squawk. "No, wait! Don't treat me like a kid!"

"Eli-chan is not a kid." The calm maid denies without losing a drop of her aloofness. "She's a pet, yes."

"Gih!"

Somehow, Mashu has a feeling that getting to know that group is going to be an interesting experience.

Status Window Updated:

Hellstorm Anti-Air Turret (Starcraft): A robust anti-air defense system plus sensors to detect hidden attackers. In the Terran Missile Turret, you get both in an inexpensive two-for-one deal. Capable of automatic operation, this defense structure fires a rapid stream of Longbolt Missiles at aerial attackers in range.

When upgraded with Hellstorm Missile Pods, the Terran Missile Turret gains a great capability for area denial, becoming capable of clearing the skies of entire swarms of flying pests.

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