Hello everyone and welcome back to the start of chapter 131 as well as the first one of Babylonia!
And yes, I saw the same news as you the previous week. The man, the legend, the myth, Dante Alighieri is finally in the game at long last. Cool design overall to what I assume to have been one of the most awaited historical characters to appear in FGO. Now the devils will actually cry. And all that is missing now is a Niccolo Machiavelli servant so that my scenario of realistic amoral elder brother-principled optimistic younger brother comes to fruition.
With that said, let's head in!
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.
Mesopotamia, circa. 2700 BC
The rain poured hardly from the sky, intensly drenching the shores of the Persian Gulf. In it, the young and prideful king gazed in a silent sorrow to the corpse of his friend while letting the drops of rain run their course on his head and body.
It was the king best and only friend. His very equal in a world that he used to be the superior and mighty above everyone in the kingdom. An exhuberant arrogance fueled by his mythological and divine roots that was attempted to be curbed when the gods sent down an instrument of clay with the mimic of a human. What was meant to placate the young king's pride in order to do his duty properly and as of the gods bidding, ended up developing into a strong companionship of this epic. As well as the most tragic in its closure.
For what the gods could give, they could also take away. And it was on that rainy day under the clouds of storm, that the once disdainful and legendary king witnessed his equal's body parishing in the same clay that had formed them. Yet, their smile never faded away in the presence of their friend.
It was at that the point, that the king's pride was struck and left shaken for the first time in his life. The first time that the ancient and powerful king of Uruk, Gilgamesh, felt trifling and derisory in the face of the cruel fatet he gods had pulled on him. The feeling of companionship, was taken from him.
He was alone in the world again. His best friend Enkidu, was gone.
"Fou?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Inside the cafeteria, Fou stared in confusion to Ritsuka, Peko and Nala who were already up and out of their bedrooms, being in the middle of the breakfast. However, the three were seemingly awfully silent, having barely spoken to each other while eating. Something that was equally nagging at all of them in that instant, results of an 'unquiet' night in the trio's sleep.
"So...are we all thinking the same here?" Ritsuka asked to the twins, bringing a spoon to his mouth and taking a bite.
"I think we do." Peko responded, staring back to Ritsuka on the other side of the table as his sister was sitting by his side.
"Thank god I'm not the only one that has noticed it." Nala speaked, boringly resting her face on her hands. "Mash still hasn't showed up. She's usually the first one to arrive here."
"Not exactly what we were thinking about." Ritsuka responded with an awkward smile as Peko sighed in seeing that Nala wasn't on the same thought as them. Yet, she was still making a good point. "But now that you mention it, it's truly weird how Mash hasn't appeared yet."
"Hope it's nothing bad and it's just one of those extra rare times were she just ended up sleeping a bit more than usual." Peko replied, having finished his breakfast while Nala was playing with hers by scrabbling the fork on the dish. "It wouldn't be good at all given that today we are finally going to the remaining Singularity. Doctor and Da Vinci even made sure everything was alright with her body some days ago. Mash isn't one to miss out on these sort of stuff."
"You said it!" Nala stopped toying with her food. "She was rocking the 'First At Cafeteria' scoreboard and everything! Now I can't believe Mash's winning streak is about to be over." She said sorrowfuly.
"You have a scoreboard about which of us reach first for breakfast?" Ritsuka asked, raising the eyebrow as he stared weirdly at Nala.
"Wonders of having some free time." Nala responded with a prideful look and smile on her face, not hesitating in showing how she was proud of herself for having come with such idea.
"May I know who's sitting at the bottom of the competition?" Peko asked to Nala, smilling as he had a good guess on who was occupying that position.
"Humm...i-it's a tie between me and Ritsuka." Nala told a bit reluctantly, gaining smuggish looks from both Peko and Ritsuka.
"Really? Counting with yesterday's?" Ritsuka asked, his smirk well present.
"Yeah." Nala tried her best to remain serious as well as ignore the two's looks.
"And the day before that?" Peko brought it up.
"..."
"And the one before that one too?"
"..."
"And what about the day before that as well?"
"..."
Remember of the day previous to that one?"
"..."
"Yeah, I sure do. Not to mention of the-"
"IT'S A TIE!" Nala shouted, having enough of Ritsuka and Peko's bantering on her, jumpscaring Fou a bit.
"Fou!?"
"I have been keeping track of it everyday fair and square!" She said. "You think I would cheat on the score?"
"Yes I do." Peko responded without any problem.
"Fu Fou!" Fou nodded with his head.
"You're also betraying me, Fou?!" Nala looked down on the animal with shock and then indignation. "That's it! You'll be the first one I'll go after if things turn south!"
"Fou!?" The animal's fur went all the way up, gaining a laugh out of Ritsuka.
"Easy there, Nala. If you say so, then I believe you." Ritsuka said nicely as the girl dropped her face on the table, a bit sulky.
"I only wished Mash was here. She's have my back one hundred percent!" Nala said, her cheek lying on the table's material. "If she doesn't appear, we all better go to her room to see if she's okay."
"I don't think that will be necessary, Nala."
From the cateria's entrance, Mash's already familiar voice sounded as the shielder herself entered the area, looking great and in her casual outfit.
"Mash!" Nala lifted up her face from the table as she exclaimed in happiness.
"It was only a matter of time!" Peko added, also greeting Mash with a joyful gaze.
"What took you so long today, Mash?" Ritsuka asked her. "You're usually the first one to be here at the cafeteria."
Mash adressed it. "Sorry for being late, guys. I took some good minutes in trying to find my glasses." She blushed a bit embaressed. "Only to find out I was already wearing them..."
"At least it wasn't something awful." Peko responded. "Bad would it be if you had lost them for real."
"That sounds a bit of a silly thing to happen coming from you." Ritsuka also replied, thinking that such scenario would be hard to occur on someone as attentive as Mash. But guess even the shielder had her ridiculous moments.
"Tsk tsk. Silly Mash. That's a thing you don't see everyday." Nala patted her friend on the shoulder while wearing a comprehensive smile on her face. "Don't worry, it happens to the best of us!"
"I suppose it's because I might be feeling a bit tense for today. We're heading to the seventh and last standing Singularity after all." Mash explained, revealing a bit of her emotions at the moment. "I got so focused in wanting to be ready and prepared as quickly as possible that my brain must've automatically forgot I had already put the glasses on."
"Can't blame you on that one. I also got a bit anxious on the nights before our first Singularities." Peko confessed, empathizing with the shielder's sentiment. "I eventually got used to it but still...it's hard to think there's now only one left instead of seven at the beggining. The goal to save humanity seemed so distant at the beggining."
"And now look to how far we've comed!" Nala said, getting up from her seat. "With everything we've experienced since that day we first met, it would have more than enough content to write a full story! It's crazy to think me and Peko have been here in Chaldea for well over a year now."
"Same here. We found you on the same day I got to this place basically." Ritsuka commented, remembering well of his first day at Chaldea and how much of an eventful rollercoaster it was for him. The day he had become the last master of humanity and entrusted with 'Grand Order', the mission to save humanity from the inceneration Solomon put the entire human race and world in. Contemplating that day, Ritsuka looked down to the almost empty mug with a toughtful smile. "It has really been almost a year and a half by now, eh?"
"Makes the statement of 'time flies' really hit, doesn't it?" Peko also speaked with some nostalgia, proceeding to take out an item from his pocket. The ancient paper document they had found at the Atlas Institute base back at the previous Singularity. Possibly, the most vital clue to his and Nala's past. "All that remains, it the Mesopotamia Singularity. We go there, discover more secrets, foil whatever scheme is happening there, make more allies and enemies, resolve it, and then..." Peko's mind hesitated, not confident of what he could say or what would happen next after they'd finish this last Singularity. Of course the obvious would be defeating and stopping both Solomon and Man of Sin. Yet, if they where to pull it off, Peko feared abit of the unsureness of what would come after that.
An emotion that silently ressonated with everyone else has they read it well from Peko's face. All of them have by now thought about that topic ever since they've returned from the sixth and previous Singularity. It was one of those things that the group knew it would eventually happen but never wanted to think about it. But now that they were nearing the order's completion. And while they wished to roam the outside world alongside one another, the more they dreaded the possibility that it might could not be able to happen, since they were uncertain what the end of their mission could bring them.
Would they remain together? Would they go their separate ways? At that moment, it was impossible to tell.
"Fou..." A low and saddned noise even came out from Fou's mouth, expressing the same thinking the creature was having with them as well. These next few months, could very well be their last together.
"And then, whatever happens, happens." Mash speaked up, wanting to cheer up her companions. "No matter how this journey may end and if we're all going to still be present beyond it or not, I want you to know that for what it was, with so many lows and highs, I am sure that what we created together will not be easily forgotten. Even if I never get to see you or spend one more tomorrow with you again...I want you to know that right now, I'm glad to enjoy this present with all of you." She told them, thinking that just because the end to their journey could be sad, it wouldn't automatically make all the other moments they had to be sad by default. Being the one who had the days of her life counted, the impact and meaning on Mash's words were felt. After having the truth about her revealed, the shielder wouldn't hide it anymore from her friends. For she knew now she could trust in them for her confessions.
"Hence why while that is yet to come..." Mash placed a hand on Peko's shoulder, looking warmly at the boy. "Lets enjoy the time that still remains by living in it instead of thinking ahead. That way, we will always remember one another. Got it?"
Being told that, Peko's melancholy got partially replaced by a more optimistic view as per Mash's approach of the discussion. It felt nice having the shielder giving helpful advices. For someone that never seen the world outside these walls, Mash was sure smart and compassionate. And Peko appreciated it. "Even if gone, the memory of a dear person will never fade away. The more we relate with tha person, the more easy they will be remembered. You said it well, Mash. By now, thousands of years could pass, that I think I'd never forget you." The boy then gave a look to the others at the table. "Any of you for that matter."
"That's a hell of a way you put it, Mash!" Nala responded more effusively, agreeing with her. "We should be spending all the time we can with each other as much as possible while the future is uncertain! And I for sure enjoyed that movie night last week!" Nala got closer to her friend. "By the way, when we will see the last one of the triology? Ending in that cliffhanger was just so cruel!"
Mash giggled in return, finding Nala's curiosity and excitment amusing. "When we return from this Singularity we might get some time to watch it."
"I sure hope it will be the first thing you'll do when we come back." Peko said, looking to his sister. "Nala wouldn't stop filling my ears with random theories about guys of a movie I never heard about."
"But you told me you were interested in hearing them!" Nala exclaimed in surprise, turning around to look at her brother.
"Interested as in how absurd and nonsensical it sounded. It might as well have sounded pure gibberish!" Peko told, remembering how his mind tried to make sense of all the weirdness Nala spouted about the movies she watched with Mash and stuff.
"It wasn't! It was deep and engaging such as the movies themselves!" Nala protested. "If you saw them, you'd understand!"
"Sure. Problem is, I don't have any intention of watching them. Much less so when you already told me the plot so thank you for spoilling them alredy." Peko replied, not showing any interest, fueling his sister's displeasure.
"But they're great! You just don't know what's good!"
As the chattering between the twins would develop in its usual bickering, Mash watched them with a fond smile.
"How long you wanted to say that, Mash?" Ritsuka asked her, getting his servants attention.
"Hm?"
"What you've just said. I can tell it were thoughts that you wanted to express yourself out for quite sometime." Ritsuka commented, seeing that Mash's statement was something that clearly came out from the bottom of her heart.
"Eh, was that easy to figure out, Senpai?" Mash smiled to him. "I did learn a lot of things through these Singularities. One of them being that certain aspects become more valuable as the time goes on. After our fight with the Lion King, I came to the realization that not only you were able to accept me from what I truly was, but I also was able to accept myself and be at terms with my condition." She looked down to her own hand. "Senpai, Nala and Peko deserve to remember me in all my truth. I will no longer live afraid by concealing secrets from you."
"That's a great honesty you have there, Mash." Ritsuka told her, the previous Singularity meaning a lot to Mash's own character. "The real you is as caring as the Mash we knew before that revelation. So I think there is really no difference at all." Getting up, Ritsuka looked at shielder in the eyes. "So to us, Mash Kyrielight has always been the same since the beggining. And nothing will change that."
A bit surprised at the declaration, Mash blushed and slightly adverted her gaze from Ritsuka, her mind feeling incredibly positive about the master of humanity at that moment. Truly, there was never a moment he has ever abandoned her. "Eh. Perhaps I am, Senpai." She responded lowly albeit cutely.
Before the group's conversation could continue, Meuniere walked into the cafeteria. "Hello everyone! How you doing?"
"Oh! Heya there Meuniere!" Nala greeted the staff member of Chaldea.
"Ah! I-I can't believe it! You guys actually got my name right for once!" Meuniere exclaimed in huge surprise before being on the emotional verge of tears. "Such moment...I think I could cry!"
"Eeh, did the doc and Da Vinci sent you?" Ritsuka asked, looking at him a bit awkwardly.
Quickly cleaning his tears and putting back his glasses, Meuniere responded to that question. "Yes they did! They wanted me to tell you that the Rayshift preparations for your next Singularity have already been completed! Hence why they requested all of you to be in the Command Room as quick as possible!"
"Right on timing!" Peko replied, having precisely finished his breakfast at that exact moment.
"I still haven't even begun mine." Mash sighed, still having to pick up her food. "Guess I'll have to eat in record time."
"No problem. We can wait in here until you finish eating it." Ritsuka said, deciding that he'd be staying in the cafeteria with Mash, gaining a smile from her.
"Fou fou!"
"Do you have to?" Meuniere however wasn't so sure of it. "Director and Da Vinci want you to be there with them as fast as possible."
"No biggie! I'm sure they can understand!" Nala replied to him. "How about you stay in here with us to incentivate Mash to eat as well?"
"Hum? As in...part of the team?" Meuniere said, a trace of hopeful expectancy on his voice.
"Yep!" Peko confirmed.
"...Cool! I'm in!" Meuniere smiled all happily, joining the other three in cheering Mash to eat her breakfast at a great speed, much to the shielder's shy embaressment.
On the center of the Command Room, Romani Archaman was silently glaring to the miniature planet Earth that was to date, Marisbury's most prideful creation: CHALDEAS. His eyes pensative while gazing at the globe. His now deceased 'friend' always speaked of it with such importance and care, for it would be the cornerstone of his whole operation to save and preserve humanity. The doctor always wondered how grand of an ambition he must have had to come with such concept and magecraft build.
Standing a bit behind him, contemplating the silence as well, Leonardo Da Vinci's ears caught the noise of footsteps coming from the entrance. "Good to see you on time! You really made sure to not leave us waiting." She greeted the group as they entered the Control Room, heading torwards the two.
"Nice to see you too, Da Vinci-san, Doctor." Mash greeted them back, waving her hand.
"How was the night for you? Hope you all got well rested and a comfortable sleep." Romani talked to them, wanting everyone's energy to be in the top of their condition.
"Humm...yeah."
"Surely."
"Slept like a rock."
Ritsuka, Peko and Nala all replied sheepishly, all of their brains having some glimpses of the dreams they had during the night before.
"Fou?" Fou looked at the three a bit weird.
"Anyways, doctor, Da Vinci. What more is known about this last Singularity that we're heading in?" Peko asked to the two adults, wanting to see if more information about the Singularity has been made from their part ever since they had discovered the region where it resided.
Da Vinci nodded. "For start, I think you all know already that out of all the seven Singularities Solomon created, the one you're about to head in is the only one that is set during the BCE. Logical of course, since all the great civilizations and cultures of Mesopotamia as a region flourished in those ancient times, at the very twilight of the Age of Gods. Thus, its magic level is way higher and more unstable than any of the previous six you've been to."
"And going more into the region's history and background, it is believed that Mesopotamia was the place where human society as a whole concept formed, the very beggining of what we call 'The Bronze Age' where humanity's first civilizations springed thanks to the fertile lands beetween the region's two rivers: Euphrates and Tigris. A land of the very first legendary and mighty kings as well as powerful nations such as Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and even Babylonia later on." Romani continued the explanation and history lesson. "Alongside Egypt, Mesopotamia forms the area knows as the Fertile Crescent, responsible for the human diaspora of the Era before the Classical Age. Thus, Mesopotamia could very well be considered as one of the most important cornerstones of humanity's history."
"Meaning that if Mesopotamia collapses, then all that came after it does as well." Nala commented, understanding it well. "Just like a sand castle without a base."
"Anything else? What about the 'great evil' the Lion King warned us about?" Mash brought that up, still remembering of the words that the ruler and goddess had shared with them after having defeated her.
"We haven't discover exactly what she meant by that yet. Still, if the words of 'great Evil' are anything to go by, we deduce that, just like the previous Singularity, this one might be harboring a Beast in it. So you better take extra extra care this time around." Da Vinci told them, going by her speculations. "Alas, we cannot make much of an analysis in this Singularity."
"A Beast..." Mash whispered. A concept that Holmes had teached them back at the Atlas Institute when they first met and one of the creatures Arthur Pendragon was searching for. She wondered if the king ever got to conclude his mission after they went their separate ways. "B-But you cannot make further analysis on the Singularity? Why?"
Unfortunately, Romani wouldn't give her and the others a satisfying answer. "Due to being way far into the past, SHEBA is having problems with analyzing much of it. Putting the system to do any other thing but pinpoint the time-space location could entirely distabilize it. Which means, like the Singularity in Jerusalem, you will be heading into this one without knowing much about it."
"Second time in a row? Is Chaldea deciding to cut fundings now?" Ritsuka replied, making a bit of fun with the information.
"Even machines and magecraft apparatus get to have their limitations." Romani replied in good humour. "It's the Age of Gods we're talking about it. Despite that you're most likely going to be dropped to the end of such Era, there was still some Divine Spirits roaming the planet at the time of Mesopotamia shortly before they all dissapeared from Earth once the Age of Man, the AD Era, hit."
"By now, I think my eyes and brain have been used to witness everything. Wonder what the surprise will be this time." Ritsuka wondered before looking to the italian inventor. "Are you coming with us again, Da Vinci?"
The servant shook her head. "Nope. Sadly, rayshifting a servant like me as well could break down the entire process, therefore, this time I'll stay in here at Chaldea to navigate you across the Singularity alongside Roman and the staff."
Ritsuka frowned. "So no more racing in vehicles..."
Peko smiled a bit smuggly behind him, with a hidden look* (*Look of superiority from someone who had gained a motorcycle)
Da Vinci attempted to put his spirits up. "Aww, don't put that face, Fujimaru. Despite not going with you, I have prepared a small gift to you for this Singularity: A brand new Mystic Code!" She revealed, winking. "An updated version from the one you used before. Hope you get to like it!"
Ritsuka got slightly less sad with that. "Hmm, doesn't beat a buggy car, but still..."
Coming from the side, Nala poked Da Vinci, wanting her attention. "Soooo, does that also means what I think it means?"
Giggling, Da Vinci patted Nala's head. "Yes, Nala. I've also made the same Mystic Code for you and Peko."
"Awsome!" Nala shouted in happiness, her eyes shinning as she putt a hand in front of Peko. "Gimme five!"
The boy's eyes also shinned as well as he made the high-five with his sibling. "Five given!" Calming a bit his over-the-top thrill, Peko composed himself back, coughing a bit, having a thing to ask for both Da Vinci and Romani. "What about the content of the document? Any possible clue to which civilization or tribe from Mesopotamia could it belong to?"
"Nothing yet. Even with the sumerian and akkadian alphabet to our dispose, the letters seem to have some characteristics of their own to not be part of those two groups of written language." Romani responded, he and Da Vinci not being able to reach to a precise answer. "The best of hypothesis that we came for it is that the document may have belonged to a smaller civilization of Mesopotamia that had a third language, fruit of a combination from both sumerian and akkadian. As for the creation of the document, being made of paper would pratically exclude any hypothesis of it being made in Mesopotamia, at least during its apex of the Bronze Age."
"However, like Nitocris mentioned before, Mesopotamia is a very vast area that contained lots of minor civilizations and tribes as well." Peko speaked, grasping onto the important piece of paper. It could be the key to everything involving him and Nala after all. "So, we will start from the assumption that one of those less notorious civilizations already wrote in paper at the time, this document having persisted throughout the ages."
Romani gazed at Peko's eyes, seeing the need behind them of getting to know the document's origin. "Correct. Altough wishful thinking, it is a scenario that we mustn't discard yet. So while normally, the objective in this Singularity would be retrieving the holy grail to resolve it like all the others, discovering where the document came from and what civilization it belonged to is also pretty high priorities. Make sure that when you find either a deity or king from there, show them the paper and ask if they know if it's from Mesopotamia or not in case such chance presents itself."
"Understood!" Ritsuka replied, nodding his head alongside the rest of the team.
Still with the document in hands, Peko gazed deeply into it. "After so long...Mesopotamia. The place where we will get our answers." The boy murmured. Ever since they've returned, he had hadly thought of anything else other than the document, almost obsessive with it. "Am I and Nala from there? Dad, Mom...will we get to see you?"
"If the speculations are correct, then you coul consider it as a homecoming of sorts." Mash commented, thinking positively about it. "Are you excited for possibly seeing your home, Peko, Nala?"
"Hmm, I guess so." Peko said, somewhat contained and reserved. "D-Don't ge me wrong, Mash! We sure are eager to see it if it's true. It's just that...if Mesopotamia is truly the place where me and Nala come from, then hearing the name would, like, ring a bell y'know? Yet..."
"Hearing 'Mesopotamia' hasn't really make anything pop up in our minds." Nala completed, feeling the same thing as her brother. "Perhaps it isn't actually our home and we're just making a big fuss over it."
"Or, it is one of those things that you'll remember once you see it." Ritsuka said, putting it in a more kind perspective.
"You think so?" Peko looked to his friend.
"I sure do!" Ritsuka smiled confidently, putting both hands on the hips. "Wait and hope-hm?" His smile faded as he said those words, hismind puzzled. "Did I heard those words somewhere before or is my brain just making things up?"
"Well, if that's the case then I am way more enthusiastic now to be rayshifted to the Singularity!" Nala smiled, believing in Ritsuka's guess. "So we better get this mission started!" Increasing her smile with joy, Nala slapped Peko on the back.
"Agh! My back!"
"Also, make sure you don't get captured this time!" Nala told to her brother, reminding him on how he ended up as captive of the Lion King in the previous Singularity.
Smiling too, Peko chuckled. "Oh, because the same never happened to you, right?" He responded, remembering how Nala was made prisoner of the Dragon Witch, or Jeanne d'Arc Alter, in the very first moments of the first Singularity, way back in the start.
"Bah! Silly! That was when I was still inexperienced!" Nala playfully pushed Peko's shoulder. "I guarantee you that if that battle were to repeat again, I wouldn't lose."
"And you know what? I think the same." Peko responded, having seen how far Nala's evolution has been ever since their first Singularity. Even if he wouldn't outright say it, Peko was proud for how far his sister had reached. And he wasn't the only one.
"Ah. Just look to all of you." Romani crossed his arms, looking to the team of four affectionately. "To think a group of two teenagers and kids would be our sole remaining hope of saving humanity and doing so by clearing through six challenging and deadly Singularities...If you told me that humanity's chance of survival was up to you, maybe with the excpetion of Mash, I think the major part of me would find it a weird joke."
"Not a very good compliment." Nala said with a displeased deadpan face.
"But a small part of me, even for how absurd it would sound, would think that it'd make total sense." The doctor then said, rather surprising them. "When I saw how bravely you fought, how you used each of your skills against many adversities. The way you cooperated. The chemistry between all of you. I think that odd such occurence that brought all of you together in order to save humanity, makes me think that perhaps there was a meaning in you becoming each other companions." Romani smiled warmly. "What better improbability and twist in history than you being the ones to prevent its destruction? Specially when the leader is a below average mage, nontheless."
"Doctor..." Ritsuka muttured. He knew that Romani always speaked well and openly with them. However, this time, it felt different. What the doctor and now director of Chaldea was saying, felt personal for him.
Before things could get emotional, Romani put up a big goofy smile on his face. "But why I'm speaking as if you had already completed your order? We still have a few things left to do first if we want humanity to still be around, right? Hahaha!" He laughed for a moment, gaining weird looks from the rest. "Anyways, 2016 is on its last months and we have to avoid humanity goes extint right before 2017 comes around!" He told them of the limit date they had to save humanity, that being the limit of the foreseeable future that SHEBA had observed. "Thus, with all said and done, get ready to be out on the seventh and last Singularity!"
"The plataform is already set! Hop on and good luck!" Da Vinci signaled for the group to head to the plataform. "Remember, we here in Chaldea will be cheering for you!"
With the change of words seemingly done, Ritsuka replied to both Romani and Da Vinci. "Alright! We're gonna come back with the grail in hand like always! What do you say, guys?"
"Time to start our expedition to Mesopotamia!" Mash replied.
Folding the document and guarding it in his pockets with extra care, Peko also responded. "To save humanity and discover the truth!"
"Last Singularity standing! We better give our all on this one!" Nala said by last, being as ready as ever.
"Fou fou!"
"You heard us." Ritsuka speaked to Romani and Da Vinci. "We're ready to go!"
Thus, both the two exited the center of the Command Room as the group headed to the plataform, waiting and antecipating for the Rayshift activation. Here they would go once more. One more campaing remaining in their long journey. Mesopotamia, the only Singularity left.
"Iniciating operation Rayshift...
Starting in 3...2...1..."
"P-Please! Have mercy on us!"
"W-We never meant to upset you O Almighty Goddess-"
"SILENCE!"
From the dark interiors of a deep and dimly lit cave, an unfortunate pair of average human and citizens had been abducted by a vengeful being, concelaled within the shadows of the lair. The voice sounded of a woman, agressive and impetuous, showing little to no pity for the poor captures couple at her mercy.
"You humans and your pathetic begging utterly disgusts me to the point my stomach sickens! You, who has rejected the Mother of Demonic Beasts once it was no longer of use to humanity and decided to abandon her guidance and presence therefore! And now that retirbution is upon you, you crawl and cry for mercy like the miserable weak beings that you are without the aid of the same gods you've abandoned!" The goddess speaked furiously with intimidation, the dreading red shine of two demonic looking serpent heads slowly coming out from the darkness, surrounding the helpless human duo. "You pigs have no honour! No shame! Thus, you, that stupid city of Uruk, and all of Mesopotamia shall suffer for casting me aside! The only good thing about your putrid species, is the taste of your flesh!"
"N-No! Don't do it! Ple-AAAHHHGHRGH!"
"Aah! I beg you O goddess! S-Someone, save m-"AAARGRGH!"
With nothing but hatred for the two poor humans, the goddess serpents devoured and ripped their bodies apart without remorse, ending with the sinister and agonizing scene that was taking place, replaced by a short lived silence as the two creatures finished their meal.
"Tsk! Brainless creatures. Acting like they are able to be independent from the gods who gave them everything their lives are about. Such transgression will never be met with the act of being saved. In my temple, all humans pay the price of their insolence." The goddess speaked. And altough thought that she was speaking to herselfm the goddess was actually speaking to other two individuals, present in the same room as hers.
"Wow! You didn't even gave the poor humans a chance! I think that the fair deal would be with a lucha to the death!" Another woman's voice speaked, this one sounding quite energetic, jovial and joyful. "That way, I could make and hear the sound of every single one of their huesos cracking and breaking!"
"You're quite impulsive for a goddess..." A third female voice speaked in response to the second one. This one sounded more composed and collected. "Both your bloodsheds sound remarkable. However, there isn't much need to make humans suffer more than the necessary in their deaths. As the only sumerian goddess left present on the Earth of this era, I'd like if you at least had some minimal restraint. Unless you are forgetting the pact our alliance made."
"Of course. Do not judge me for a liar when I say I respect it vehemently." The first, resentful, goddess and mother of demonic beasts responded. "For we, the Three Goddesses Alliance have been formed under one motive and one motive only: Obtain the grail that is under the posession of that outrageous king of Uruk!" She stated, remembering the deal the three goddesses now present made at the time of forming the alliance. "While we might have different approaches and views about the topic at hands, the goal of the grail is what brought us to a coalition of forces. That is why the pact was made. Until none of us obtains the grail for ourselves, we came to the agreement of no-agression between us. Whoever of us gets to kill the king and get the grail, shall rule the world, making her the winner. As simple as that."
"And what happens in case the pact is disregarded?" The third goddess asked to the first one, wanting to see if she remembered it well, teating her trust a bit.
"The infracting goddess shall receive retribution and punishment for the breaking of the oath by the part of the attacked goddess and the other one, putting our very own activities and operations across Mesopotamia to come to a momentarily stop untilt the situation is resolved." The goddess of the demonic beasts responded and speaked clearly and well articulated, showing that she remembered and was aware of the consequences. "Do not judge me to be one to forget about it so quickly. If anything, I respect our alliance and am well aware of the benefits it can bring us."
"Agreed! Trustworthiness between deities is always welcomed!" The second goddess replied, cheerful. "Speaking of which, knowing that the grail is with the king in Uruk, how do you exactly plan to obtain it?"
"Simple. I shall burn that whole sewer of a city to ashes with my powers. Vaporize it building by building. Human by human. Every last square meter until there's nothing left!" The first goddess responded, expressing her harmful and violent tendencies and plans for the entire city of Uruk. "Then, as there is nothing left standing but big piles of ashes, I shall fing the grail amidst it."
"Ay hermana, you really have a grudge against the humans! Altough I admit they can serve as good punching bags sometimes." The second goddess giggled, her behaviour very much the complete opposite of the main and first goddess. "I am really one to talk, ahah! For my own part, I'll only need my kick, punches and connections with the sun and nature overall to destroy Uruk in its entirety! That's what will get my blood pumping as I kill my adversaries one by one!" Explaining her own plan to get the grail, she looked over to the third goddess, also concealed in shadows. "And may we know what your scheme is as well, dear sumerian goddess?"
"Since I'm already a part of Mesopotamia's mythology, this entire region which includes Uruk is my land by default. And wherever Mesopotamia reaches so does my underworld's domain." The third goddess described. "Sniffing out the king and the entire population of Uruk's lives will not be an hard challenge as my authority allows me to end life without warning. No buildings or defenses will need to be destroyed in order to obtain the grail for myself."
"Oi oi oi! Your land 'by default', you say? What foolish nonsense is that?"
Coming from the room's entrance, a fourth voice, this time of a man, speaked.
"I would not be so sure if I were you. You aren't the only one who knows Mesopotamia like the back of their hand after all." The guy said, his voice sounding haughty and prideful.
"And what does that concern you exactly?" The third goddess replied back to the newcomer. "This is supposed to be a meeting between goddesses only. What exactly are you doing here?"
"And so what if you're goddesses? Can't a mighty king seat at the same table or one above it?" The man asked conceitedly. "Mind you, lady goddess of the underworld, that the right to rule over Mesopotamia is also mine by birth. While you and other deities have confined yourselves to observe this piece of land develop from your godly realms in this era, I on the other hand have truly come to govern it all from north to south, west to east. It would only make sense if I became the true ruler of Uruk and the other cities once more, no?"
The third goddess snorted in response. "Hphm! You might have been all powerful throughout your life, but that measly attittude of yours will always remind of you of the fact that you're human at the end of the day."
"While I might have been born a human, do not forget that the divine does inhabit my body as well due to being the moon god's beloved one since the beggining." The young man replied back to the goddess, seemingly knowing her. "With the grail in hands, not only I'll get to have my empire back once more, but I'll also expand it to a new zenith never witnessed before!"
"Quiet with the boasting!" The first goddess shouted to the man who had just entered, wanting his ego controlled. "As general of my beast army, I just want you to tell me one thing. I'm sure you know what is it."
"Pff! Not even to say a 'please', you asinine goddess..." The man whispered in slight annoyance before responding. "Yes, I do. Kulla, the latest raided city, as been destroyed and ravaged by the beasts of te army. All the alive captives will be sent to the temple for more sacrifices or either become food for our 'soldiers'. Whatever they do with those lowly nitwits, I could not care less."
"Excellent! Another down on the list." The first goddess of the alliance replied after hearing the report. "Eshnunna, Sippar, Kish, and now Kulla. All the north of Mesopotamia will soon be at my control. All that I need now, is for Nippur to follow soon after." She calculated, sounding pleased. "If it falls, then the Northern Wall that king put in my way to protect Uruk from my forces will likely fall within a month. And once it does, no one shall escape my fury and the grail will be mine at last!"
The man crossed his arms, staring to the goddess with some contempt. "Not only you reek of hate but also of full hypocrisy. Befitting of someone of your intellect."
"What did you said?!" The first goddess, full of hate, stopped laughing in order to give a deadly glare to the man.
"Do pay no mind to that condescending general of yours, mother."
Gaining everyone's attention in the room, they all looked up as they witnessed another arrival to the scene, descending from the ceilling while their voice sounded a perfect mix of female and male.
"If anything, I would be more cautious to that goddess alliance Mother decided to create alongside the other two. Associating too much with the allies can lead to the most fatal of betrayals." Hovering down to the sound of chains jingling, they landed softly right in front of the first goddess. Or rather, their 'mother'. "A competition for the grail to fulfil each one own ends only makes this more obvious."
"Returning already? Did the sight of one of that fool's weakling servants made you flee?" The young king taunted the person who had just arrived.
Despite being hidden in the darkness, a smirk in their face could be visible. "Quite the contrary, my dear brother in arms. I decided to come here with some very important news that could make the scenario and destiny of this Singularity to become, let's say, interesting."
"Oh? Interesting you say? My, my, now I wanna hear that!" The second goddess speaked with mild amusement, curious.
"If it's meant to shaken this situation of our conflict with Uruk, it may be used to our advantage." The third goddess wanted to hear it as well.
"Then tell us. Tell me, precious child of mine." Being of a gigantic frame, the first goddess bowed over to approach her child. "What are the news that might be fundamental to this entire cause?"
The messenger replied with a quiet yet malicious smile on their face. "I sensed the flow of mana of this Singularity suddenly vibrate. The people of the far future that the stargazer at Uruk had prophecized to appear, have arrived. What will be one of our greatest enemies in the way of Mother's goal..."
"Chaldea is here."
And correctly, they had guessed it. Among the vibrant fertile plans of the region, the noises of rayshifting echoed. The team had finally reached to Mesopotamia.
Or rather...an height of five-hundred meters from the ground, being on a free fall.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Ritsuka yelled out as he and the rest were all falling from the sky. "This wasn't what I had in mind for our start in here!"
"At least beats being chased by a giant sandworm in the middle of a desert storm!" Peko replied, yelling as well.
"Falling at the speed of ninety miles per hour! Impact on the landing projected to happen in ten seconds!" Mash calculated as they continued to fall. "Master! Grab my hand!" The shielder told to Ritsuka without much explanation, the master of humanity doing as requested. Summoning her shield, Mash was about to use it to soften their landing.
Meanwhile Nala, brought forth her royal armour, Kristallblume, ending up landing her feet softly and with grace on the ground as she hovered above it, stopping her fall. "Hm! Sticks the landing!"
Peko, fingerguning at the ground, fired a light bullet that was powerful enough to put an abrupt halt to his own fall and velocity, projecting the boy a bit forward as he fell a bit clunkly on the ground, rolling a bit. "Ah! Great! First seconds in and we almost end up dying." He protested a bit before cleaning off the dirt from his clothes. "Did the doctor and Da Vinci even made sure to check where the Rayshift was located to?"
"Why didn't you used your own armour to stop the fall? You got one now as well, haven't you?" Nala asked to her brother, addled why he didn't soften his fall the way she did. "Don't tell me you don't know how to summon it properly." She smugged, teasing him.
"No, it ain't that. Calling the armour just costs quite the amount of mana energy and more to keep it around." Peko justified. "I wouldn't say it's a wise choice to already be using it when we've literally just arrived."
"True, but once you begin to use it regularly, it kinda stops wearing down that much as you gain control of it." Nala explained, moving her armoured limbs, checking her own armour out. "Plus, if the method is efficient, why bother?"
From behind, a big loud crash hit the ground, interrupting the twins conversation.
"Ritsuka! Mash!" Heading close to the area of the landing, Peko and Nala observed the dust fading away, revealing the other two who had just landed.
"Ugh..Nghhmmm.."
"Master...Are you alright?"
"Yes, Mash. I think I am." Ritsuka responded, feeling his body to be fine after Mash's shield having protected their fall. "Thank you for softening our landing."
"Sure thing, Master. However..." With the dust gone, Mash's cheeks were blushing a bit as she was lying on the ground, with Ritsuka accidentaly on top of her, their faces close and the bodies in a 'peculiar' position, giving a bit of embaressment to the scene. "C-Could you pull away from my body please?"
"..." Ritsuka's own cheeks blushed as well once he fully realized the weirdness of the situation he and Mash ended up in.
"Foooou?" Hidden in her armour, Fou popped out from the shielder's chestplate, having sheltered in there from the fall.
"Well, that's...something." Peko gave a a timid smile as he adverted his gaze to the side, a drop of sweat falling from his face.
On the other hand, Nala pulled a sassy smile when seeing the other two. "That's quite the compromising position if I ever saw one."
"S-Sorry! My bad, Mash!" Ritsuka responded immediatly getting up and away from the shielder's body. "I-I didn't meant to..."
Coughing discreetly, Mash composed herself, back to her feet as well. "N-No stress, Master. It was an accident."
"And we got connection!" Romani exclaimed happily, his hologram appearimg for them. "First impressions of Mesopotamia so far?"
"We almost died by falling from the sky." Peko replied with little to no exhilaration in contrast to Romani.
"Oh. That's unexpected." Romani responded. "But now that I see the surroindings you're in, that's weird. I thought we had set the Rayshift to the right place."
"Where to?" Mash asked what was the planned location that the Rayshift was supposed to drop them originaly.
"The city of Uruk. At the time largest and most important city of Sumer and the entire Mesopotamia." Romani responded, his muddled mind now thinkering, putting a thumb on his chin. "Hmmm, yet, the Rayshift has instead dropped you in the middle of nowhere. Could it be that somet-"
"That something is protecting it?" Da Vinci barged in, getting in front of Romani.
"H-Hey! I was talking!"
"Something protecting it? Like a magical barrier?" Peko replied, pondering if that was the reason why the Rayshift didn't put them where it was supposed to.
"Exactly!" Da Vinci said, looking to both Peko and Mash on the screen. "Much likely a Bounded Field that was cast over the city of Uruk to protect itself and its citizens from exterior attacks as a type of defense mechanism. Once it felt the presence of the Rayshift appearing within the Singularity, it must have rebounded it off and put it miles away from Uruk." She explained while Romani walked back on the background, a cup of coffee in hand and drinking it with a blank expression while hearing Da Vinci. "So unfortunately, it seems you'll have to walk for a long bit before reaching to your destination. I know it must suck."
"Better than being currently in danger." Mash said with a comprehensive smile. "Don't worry, Da Vinci-san, doctor. A little detour never stopped or slowed us down."
"We will still reach Uruk, either be it today or tomorrow!" Peko added. "The faster we reach there, the faster we can start looking for answers!"
"We'll entrust in those words then!" Da Vinci smiled to the two. "In the meantime me and-hey!"
"Me and Da Vinci will search and analyze more of the area of this Singularity." Romani said, brushing Da Vinci away as he took back the spot that had been taken away from him, both Mash and Peko watching with sheepish smiles. "We will keep in touch with you and contact the team later in a few hours just to see the progress. Good luck!" And the transmission stopped.
With the conversation done, Peko and Mash stood a bit silent between one another.
"Hey, Mash."
"Hm?"
"Do you know to which direction Uruk is?"
"No,I don't."
"Neither do I."
Thinking on how they would search and find the city of Uruk, the two came to a realization.
"Wait a moment."
"Where's Ritsuka and Nala?"
A bit ahead of them, the other half of the group was enjoying the vast large view of the mesopotamian biome.
"This breeze feels soooo refreshing!" Ritsuka said, stretching his arms up in the air in a great satisfying relief.
Nala was doing the same. "Uuuh! Way better than that insufferable hotness of the desert as well as getting sand in the shoes." Crouching down, the girl picked up a flower that was planted on the ground, staring sweetly at it. "I was already missing seeing some type of vegetation around."
"You tell me." Ritsuka replied to her, looking down to Nala as he heard Mash and Peko approaching. "Hey, Peko! Is some memories kicking in now that we're finally in Mesopotamia?"
"Hmmmm, negative." Peko responded, looking around to try and see if the place, that was just nature itself, could make him remember of anything that screamed home to him.
"Master. Nala. Did you heard what Doctor and Da Vinci told us?" Mash speaked to them since the two weren't close when Da Vinci gave her explanation why they had been rayshifted into the sky.
"We heard it loud and clear." Nala responded, proving to Mash and Peko that wasn't the case. "We were supposed to land on this 'Uruk' city but something is currently protecting it."
"A type of Bounded Field that redirected the Rayshift's location, right?" Ritsuka added. "And now we have to walk to wherever Uruk is."
"Wow. You actually were earing EVERYTHING that was being explained, uh?" Peko said, a bit impressed alongside Mash.
"Of course we did. We were still around!" Nala told him. "We aint deaf you know?"
"Since we all know our objective then, let's see if there's something noteworthy to see in here first." Mash proposed, giving a look to her surroundings. "This zone doesn't seem to have anything else besides these plains and some forests in the distance. I even think we can see one of the rivers from here."
"That and a destroyed village over there." Nala speaked, pointing torwards an obliterated human settlement a half a mile away from them up north, making the rest of the group notice it as well.
"A destroyed village in here? What happened to it?" Peko said, looking to the degrading state of the buildings.
"We'll only know by heading there." Ritsuka talked, pretty much everyone's curiosity in wanting to check on the abandoned village. "Come on guys!"
Walking away from the landing spot, the group ended up reaching the ruins, giving a closer inspection on them.
"Few things from here were left unbroken. Almost the entirety of this village is in shambles." Nala commented, touching and turning some of the wreckage. "Who or whatever did this clearly didn't liked this place."
"And the marks of damage here..." Peko verified a wall near him, seeing signs of claw scratches. "It seems..."
"Recent." Mash speaked, observing it as well. "It must mean that the creature that brought this village down didn't do this that long ago."
"Wonder if we can still encounter it." Ritsuka replied. "That would give us some insight to what is happening in this Singu-"
"aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Hearing a distant scream that was progressively getting louder, Ritsuka looked up to the sky to where the scream was coming, seeing a sillhouette descending from it at an incredible speed. "What a-!" Taken by surprise, Ritsuka was almost runned over as the person falling from the sky bumped into him, the master of humanity dropping to the ground as the other person tried to regain their balence, manuvering enough to hover above the earth.
"MASTER!"
"RITSUKA!"
"RITSUKA!"
Mash, Peko and Nala all shouted in unison and went to the aid of their friend and leader in an instant.
"Are you okay?" Peko asked him as the three helped a dizzy and stunned Ritsuka get up.
"Yeah...Almost felt like getting scratched by a bullet." Ritsuka replied, apparently fine.
"Ghgggggh! Great! A person cannot fly freely in the skies these days without getting snipped out of nowehere by some random asshole! If I discover whoever did this to me, they'll be dead meat!"
The person who had collided with Ritsuka complained harshly. She had the appearence of a young woman as tall as Mash if not slightly taller, with long black hair with the two long twintails, tied by black ribbons on her head. The young woman's outfit was a bit revealing, wearing a white bra with golden clad around her chest, a black and gold thong on her bottom, a long dark blue sleeve of more golden patterns on her right arm and a long dark blue and golden stocking on her left leg. She was also wearing a few more golden pieces on other parts of her body such as a tiara and 'O' shaped earrings. Next to her, the young woman had a large bow shaped item of blue color and golden patterns, hovering just like her.
"That must have been quite a fall from up there. Are you alright?" Mash asked to the young woman, trying to see if she too didn't get hurt.
"Physically? Fine as a jewel? Spiritually? Hell no! I think my day had just been ruined!" She replied angrily and in bad-mood, staring unfriendly torwards Ritsuka. "Specially now that your pervert of a friend over there as touched me without permission!"
"W-What?" Ritsuka responded, completly oblivious and confused with the accusation.
"Don't play fool with me! You touched my body right as I reached the ground!" The young woman replied, having none of it. "No permission whatsoever, you disgusting pervert!"
"I-I think we're escalating things to a thousand here!" Ritsuka said nervously, raising and waving his hands in self-defense.
"It was an accident!" Peko exclaimed to Ritsuka's defense. "He didn't meant to!"
"Right! You expected him to be a ninja to dodge at the speed you were falling from?" Nala added, finding the woman's allegation to be absurd.
"Excuse yourselves from being his lawyers!" The young woman however appeared to be hotheaded and stubborn. "He touched me and that's that! Now not only he will get the repercussions because of it, but you will as well for defending him!" She decided, ready to battle. "How shameless! Inhabitants of Mesopotamia like you just give a bad reputation overall!"
"But we aren't from Mesopotamia!" Mash replied with some panic, wanting to avoid a confrontation already.
"...Huh? You're not?" The young woman, who was hell bent on fighting them, stopped for a moment.
"We're travellers from afar actually. My companion didn't meant to touch you nor upset you." Mash explained, seeing if she could talk down this situation. "Apologies if it seemed you misunderstood it."
Having been able to cool down her temperament, the young woman allowed a conversation. "Who are you then? Need names. Introduce yourselves."
"With pleasure." Mash smiled, happy that it seemed a fight wouldn't happen after all. "I am Mash Kyrielight, a shielder of this small group. We came from a place named Chaldea with the mission of saving humanity."
"I'm Peko Finsternis. Nice to meet you." Peko followed up, introducting himself to the young woman.
"Name's Nala Finsternis." Nala did afterwards.
"And my name is Ritsuka Fujimaru. The guy who 'touched' you." Ritsuka went by last. "Sorry for the unfortunate incident. Got distracted and didn't see you coming." He apologized despite knowing that he didn't even had a blame in this for start. But in order to avoid picking up a fight, it was for the best to just pretend to be sorry. "So please, let us reach to an understanding instead. We want no conflict or trouble with you."
Getting to ear all of their names, the young woman's face became less tense and hostile as well as she begun to reconsider her choice. "Hmmm...W-Well, you really look to feel bad about what you've done. And you could consider that I'm also from a 'traveller from afar' of sorts...I forgive you." She replied, backtracking on her previous statement, much to the group's collective relief.
"Thankg goodness. Thought we were about to have another Nitocris situation." Peko reminded of that first encounter with the egyptian pharaoh as this one here almost took the same route.
"Now that things are clear, could you please tell us about your name as well please?" Mash asked to the young woman, being only fair since they introduced themselves to her.
"No." The young woman replied without second thought, sounding dismissive.
"Huh?" Mash looked at her a bit surprised.
"I ain't telling you who I am. Sorry not sorry." The young woman repeated, snobbishly brushing her hair.
"Hold up there!" Nala exclaimed, irked. "You first go accusing my friend of doing things he didn't do and now you won't give us your name despite we gave ours to you? Is your job supposed to be a professional jerk or something? Because you do it way too well!"
"Eh? 'Professional jerk' you say?" The young woman looked down at Nala with an annoyed smile.
Peko immediatly pushed his sister away. "How about we don't make her change her mind back?"
"Excuse our friend's behaviour. She's a bit hot-blooded." Ritsuka explained with a timid smile and a nervous cackle while Peko tried to silence Nala's insults at the back.
"Meh. It's alright. Brats are just brats after all." The young woman talked, trying her best to sound and look like the insults weren't provoking her. "Altough I'd hate to admit the armour she's wearing is pretty shiny and beautiful." Brushing her hair again, the young woman crossed her arms. "But I warn you that if the same 'accident' happens again, I won't be so merciful."
"Yeah. We understood it." Mash replied, already thinking the other girl was starting to absuse their empathy.
Quickly, a thing popped up in the young woman's mind, having an idea. Altough she herself didn't know if she liked it. "Buuuut, if you help me with a certain thing, I might tell you who I am."
"You will?" Peko asked, to which the young woman nodded. "What is it then."
A bit reluctant, the young woman begun to poke her fingers together. "Well...It's about...a thing."
"What thing?" Mash wanted a better answer.
"...A thing." The young woman's face begun to turn red from embaressment, a sheepish smile in her face. "Like, a valuable thing. Very, very, valuable."
"Mind telling us what it is then?" Ritsuka was already getting a bit impatient.
"Eeeeh..." The young woman's eyes moved to everywhere as she tried to avoid their gazes. "No?"
"You've gotta be joking!" Ritsuka said, frustrated, him and the others getting tired of the young woman's antics.
"Are we supposed to help you find the 'thing' without knowing what that 'thing' even is? How's that supposed to work?" Nala questioned the young woman with a skeptic stare.
"As if you'd understand!" The young woman replied, indignant. "It isn't as simple as telling y-"
*ROAR!*
Suddenly, a high and loud animalistic animal roar sounded across the village they were in, putting a temporary stop to the conversation.
"Huh? What's this sound?" Peko turned his head.
"Do you heard it too?" Ritsuka speaked as all of them became cautious and wary.
"This sound. I know it too well." The young woman said with seriousness as right in the next seconds, a group of red feral monsters with huge fangs appeared behind the wreckage, surrounding them. "Uridimmu!"
"Ten hostile creatures detected in the area! Preparing for combat!" Mash exclaimed as she grabbed her shield. "Be cautious everyone!"
"What even are these things?" Peko said while looking at their animalistic yet clearly unnatural appearence. "Are they supposed to be some sort of lions?"
"They're targets for practice!" Nala responded, sword in hand. "Let's show these things who they are messing with!"
Thus, their very first confront in Mesopotamia happened against this new type of enemy. And so far, it was going smoothly, with the trio of Mash, Peko and Nala able to fend off and defeat the creatures without much difficulty, showing off their abilities and cooperation, a mark of how far they have reached in their journey as well as have evolved.
"Ah! These things are always an eyesore to look at!" The young woman talked, having obviously joined the fight to help them, the group ending up seeing how pwerful she actually was. Every projectile fired from her big bow object, she would kill an opponent in an instant. "Tiamat really unleashed hell by creating these things!"
"Tiamat?" Mash murmured, having heard that name before.
Finishing off one more monster, Peko saw a lot more waves coming torwards them, invading the destroyed village. "Seems like we now know what brought the downfall to this place!"
"They don't stop coming!" Ritsuka gritted his teeth as the minutes would pass but the beastly monsters continued to appear.
"Have we run into their nest or what?" Nala brought down more and more enemies as she would swing her sword and release powerful slashes. "Are they infinite?"
Starting to get bored of the fight that would extent unnecessarily, the young woman let out a sigh. "I've had enough of this. Bye!" Without saying much more, she grabbed her bow object and begun to fly away, about to abandon the chaldeans.
"What a- Where are you going?!" Ritsuka exclaimed in shock as he was seeing the yong woman distance from them, getting higher in the sky.
"Why are you leaving all of a sudden?" Mash interrogated with the same shock as well. "Weren't you helping us?"
"If you can't take down these Demonic Beasts in an instant, then forget about getting help of someone as important as me. Let alone think about saving humanity." The young woman replied, looking at them judgementaly. "If you want to triumph here, you'll have to do way better than that. Until a next time!" And so, she dashed away into the clouds above, dissapearing from the scene.
"W-Wait!" Ritsuka tried to call for her but she had already left them all alone to fight against the hordes.
"Tsk! That woman..." Maintaining her posture at a moment like this, Nala sliced down even more enemies before looking to Ritsuka. "Ignore it! Let's concentrate in getting out of this mess first! If she thinks we aren't giving our all, then let's give our all!"
"Agreed!" Peko replied, the situation forcing him to summon his own armour: Weltraumstern. "Gonna open a our way out of here! Ritsuka! Mash! Keep focused!"
Abandoned to get out of trouble by themselves, the chaldeans proved that they still had enough to push against the Demonic Beasts on their own, with Nala and Peko, now on his knight armour as well, making way through the waves of enemies with their attacks, reducing their numbers until almost nothing was left of them with few standing. The moment they had a clear path, they all rushed out of the village with Peko's motorcycle, Árma Hermes, everyone managing to fit in the vehicle before the boy sprinted it into the far away distance, having escaped from the peril.
"Alright! I think this is a safe distance here." Peko said as he stopped Árma Hermes once he acknowledge how far they probably were from the Demonic Beasts. "You can all hop out."
"Uff! Another warm welcome this was." Ritsuka said, putting his feet on the ground as the rest exited the motorcycle, Nala and Peko calling off their armours and go back to the Mystic Codes designed by Da Vinci.
"That woman! I swear..!" Nala tighten her fists in a cute fury just thinking back at how the person they had met decided to abandon them in that situation. "When we meet again, I'll make sure to knock all of her teeth out!"
"The bad thing about all of this is how we do not know if we got closer or further from Uruk with the distance we just travelled now." Mash frowned.
"That woman could have known but she decided to rather leave us. A stroke of bad luck to a wasted opportunity." Peko said with the same sadness. "I could've also shown her the document to see if she knew something about it! Can't let that happen next time!"
"But you don't really know where Uruk is, Mash?" Ritsuka asked her. "As in, don't you remember from seeing on a map from all those books you've read before?"
"Well, I do know that the city of Uruk is located in the lower Mesopotamia some kilometers away from the Persian Gulf. However, one thing is to locate in on a map and the other is to locate in the middle of nowhere in a region with no georeferencing." Mash explained how knowing Uruk's exact location in this context was hard. "If we at least could see one of the rivers from here to verify which way is flowing torwards the sea so that we could accompany it until reaching the city...But with no river in sight, I'm afraid there is nothing for us to do other than wait for Doctor and Da Vinci to show us a map of the Singularity."
With the problem in question, Nala tried to come up with an idea. "I know! Then all that we need is just the location of the river and walk in the direction that its waters are running that we will eventually reach Uruk, right?"
"Yes. Uruk usually was placed some miles nearby one of the two rivers that travel across Mesopotamia. If we were to find it, we could have more or less of an idea to which direction the city is." Mash replied.
"But trying to spot the rivers in the middle of this land would surely take sometime." Peko responded. Even with Árma Hermes to travel and make the search quicker, if he wasn't familiar at all with the region, he could take the risk of driving in circles until any sight of the bodies of water.
"Hm hm. Do you already forget I can jump very high? More so with my armour?" Nala smugged, shaking her finger. "If I get to at least a good enough height, I might be able to spot the rivers right from here!"
"That's good thinking, Nala!" Ritsuka replied, he and the rest of the team seeing how that could easily resolve their problem. "If you spot one of the two, we can travel there with Peko's vehicle!"
"And then, it's all the way south torwards Uruk!" Mash concluded, hopeful. "Yes, I think it might work!"
"It will have to." Peko replied, checking on Árma Hermes. "I'll already put the vehicle ready for the trip."
Ritsuka stared to Nala. "You already know what you'll have to do, Nala. Once you come back down, tell us if you spotted any river or something worth mentioning."
"Aye aye captain!" Nala exclaimed, preparing to summon back her armour. "Gonna do this with just one try-"
"Hehehe. You look very committed in reaching Uruk."
But as a voice was heard, the girl stopped right before her transformation, getting on alert once more. "Who goes there?" She picked up her weapon as the chaldeans got their guards up again as they heard a new voice in their vicinity. An ambiguous voice that could sound either masculine or feminine.
"Show yourself!" Ritsuka demanded as they all looked in the direction of a lonely tree near them, the source having most likely come from there.
"Needless the apprehension, people of Chaldea."
"Uh? What did they said?" Peko thought he was hearing things.
"You...know who we are?" Mash asked to the voice who then became present, the figure stepping out from the tree shadow, revealing themselves to the team.
"Of course I do."
The person was wearing only but a simple white mantle that covered all of their body alongside white pants and a wide leather necklace around their neck. A very minimalist design. They had long, straight and vivid green hair and their eyes were of soft purple. A beautiful androgynous face, unable to determine of what sex exactly the person greeting the chaldeans was. But all about them felt mystic. Mysterious, as if it had been birthed not by a human, but by nature itself.
"As a helper, I have patiently awaited for your arrival."
To be continued...
And that was it for chapter 131!
Hit the Babylonia anime opening now! Jokes aside, I have to confess that during this whole fanfic, I've always visualize it as having the animation of Cloverworks, the guys who made the Babylonia anime. Like, as much as I love Ufotable and the animation they gave us of the Fate animes and movies, I think that the designs of Cloverworks for the characters fitted like a glove. Not only of the anime but the Solomon movie as well. When I watched that for the first time I was like 'Yeah, I'm sold. This is exactly the type of art design I think it suits the most for FGO.'
It's to the point that if Type-Moon announced a long series anime adaptation of the entirety of the Cosmos in the Lostbelt, and it would all be animated by Cloverworks, I honestly wouldn't mind. (Okay, maybe a movie triology of Avalon Le Fae made by Ufotable in order to maximize the experience to its peak), but all the other Lostbelts? I'd trust my life and body on Cloverworks to pull off the good work...and maybe even A-1 Pictures (If they'd do with the same quality they do with the tvcm).
And like, I too sometimes also imagine the moments of this fic in the style of the games visuals and presentation (because it's almost as if its a retelling of the game's story :O) and even in Camelot I visualized more with the visuals of the movie duology naturally. But for anything else? I'll always visualize it in Cloverworks designs and artstyle. Just like I think Ufotable is unchangeable with the Fate animes it adapted, I too think Cloverworks has become the same thing for FGO.
And speaking about animes and adaptations and such, let's talk briefly about something with Peko and Nala...their hypothetical VA. Now, to be honest, I think majority of the people who create OC's barely give importance to what voice actors would be making the characters voices. And myself included. When I created both I didn't thought too much about who exactly could voice them in a way that would represent their personalities best. But years and a hundred plus chapters later, I think I could at least entertain that idea of what VA's could be hypothetically voicing them.
So here you have it.
Nala's VA: Ayaka Ohashi who has already voiced the characters of Kuromi Serika from Blue Archive and Kaede Akino from Madoka Magica. That would mean that Nala, in this reality, would be the first Fate character she would voice and maybe even possibly one of her first major breakthrough roles in the industry since she started a few years before FGO released.
Peko's VA: Ryoko Shiraishi, who gave the voice to Angelica from the Prisma/Illya anime as well as to Asuka Kazama from the Tekken series, Cliffheart from Arknights and Schrodinger from the Hellsing OVA. She has already voice quite the handful of shota archetype characters in the industry before, so I think it would be fitting as well as she'd have the experience to voice Peko.
Now, I'm not saying that those are the voices you are forced to hear in your mind everytime you read Peko and Nala speaking, it's just more of a personal vision of mine on what VA's I think it would suit best to represent the characters.
Anyways, that's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 132! Peace!
P.S:
Nala (Peacefully drinking tea with Takasugi at the edge of a grassy plateau): Aah, thanks for the invitation. This place feels really nice to enjoy nature.
Takasugi (sipping on his tea): And I thank you for accepting to come to this trip, Nala-chan. The scenery of the mountains and forests are truly beautiful, aren't they?
Nala (nods in agreement with a peaceful smile): Hm hm.
Takasugi: But do you know what would be even more beautiful?
Nala: What?
(Suddenly, the entire trees and the forest are abruptly slammed by the sight of a massive, bustling and advanced metropolis.)
Takasugi: AN ADMINISTRATIVE AREA!
Nala (Spitting out her tea): IS IT EVEN LEGAL WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE?!