Capítulo 193: A Worthy Foe And Odd Commanders
Entry 167:
Linus Ozias POV:
After the men had eaten their fill, they cleaned up and bowed to me after it was revealed that I was the one who cooked the food, and some even had tears in their eyes as a noble feeding the average soldier is almost unheard of. I accept their thanks and form their lines, and we march towards the two other generals Nero has under her purview.
The main plan is to meet up and group the two armies together and fight into the capital, defeat their leader, and take the grail. The plan is simple, but this is the Fate universe, so a wrench has to be thrown into our work somewhere, and that wrench exists in the form of a certain Spartan King. As we cross the plains and forests of Gaul, we see a force guarding the way forward.
Ritsuka and Nero, who had taken up residence on my back, then hop off as Nero says to herself, "This is an ambush it has to be. Ready yourselves, men!" The soldiers then form their lines as we march slowly toward the other army, but before we meet them, Mash asks, "Why do those soldiers seem more similar to servants than normal humans?"
That is a good question, but I can think of why, and I say, "This is most likely the work of a noble phantasm that acts as a means of increasing the strength of one's soldiers. This will be tough for the normal men." Mash nods as Ritsuka readies herself with the other servants prepared to do battle.
But before the two armies can charge at one another, an authoritative voice exclaims from the enemy, "Hold! Who dares to walk so brazenly towards my forces?!" A man then walks in front of his men in nothing but a helmet and cape, wearing not even chest armor but leather underwear and basic gauntlets.
Nero then yells back, "I am Nero, Empress of Rome, and you must be one of the generals of the United Roman Empire. Who are you, foreign general?"
The man then looks at Nero through his helmet and says, "I am Leonidas, King of Sparta! Lancer class. We stand before you to defend this empire from all invaders now. Will you continue this?"
Nero nods as Mash says, "Leonidas! The man who led the three hundred Spartans against Persia. This will be difficult. I hope you are ready, delusional Master." Ritsuka looks at Mash and says, "I feel like you do not trust me, Mash, but I will be fine. I have this armor after all, but Oz, try to keep the really buff gut from hitting me, please."
I nod as I shield her with multiple skin-level wards, and as she nods at me, Nero raises her sword and yells, "For Rome! Death to the pretenders!" The men repeat the chant and charge the hundreds of other spectral Spartans. Leonidas himself looks at me, and I blitz my way to the front as I feel Leonidas smile under his helmet.
He takes his spear as I take out my own, and I feel the power of my Telesto spear seem almost excited. As we clash, he attempts to stab me. I parry the strike and slam my fist into his helmet.
The man is momentarily stunned but soon regains his bearings and attempts to take a swipe with his spear. I dodged, but he was seemingly expecting that as he redirected the swipe into a slashing motion and attempted to cut my left arm.
I then phase the spear through me by transforming into light temporarily, and as the spear phases through, I take my own weapon and slam the shaft of the spear into his chest.
As he is thrown back, I see Mash and Ritsuka taking out the ghost Spartans, with Mash using her shield and Ritsuka the anti ghost weaponry I gave her. "Definitely a confident one if you are not focusing on me," Leonidas says as I block the slash toward my chest.
"I can pay attention to multiple things at once, but I do appreciate the concern King Leonidas." The king chuckles as we fight with him, continuing his barrage of stabs and slashes with him using his round shield to block my strikes. I then use a form of mana burst to slam my fist into his side, and he coughs out blood as he is sent across the battlefield.
I then blink my way over to his position and attempt to stab him in the chest, but he rolls out of the way and proceeds to stand up, albeit shakily, as he says, "You know this is one of the few times I have seen a mage of your caliber fight physically and for so long you are not a normal human are you?"
I shake my head and say, "I have my gifts, and that is all. But I do admit I am enjoying this fight."
Leonidas seemed excited as he said, "I can tell you're still holding back, and while I should feel offended that you are seemingly not taking this fight seriously based on my current condition, I would not have even been able to strike you. Let us give the gods a good show, shall we?" I nod, and we clash once more with his brute strength and my own reinforcement magic, causing quakes and tremors.
Our spears meet multiple times, and the slashes leave deep cuts in the ground, and our stabs cause enough air pressure to pierce through diamonds multiple times over. If I were to equate the power of this current version of King Leonidas, he would easily be the ultimate class if you were sent to the world of High School DxD.
But soon enough, I overtake him as I grab the man's spear and toss him into the air. I fly up past him, and using my Telesto spear, I blast him with holy power, and he yells in pain as he slams into the ground. The crater leaves an indent in the ground for multiple meters, and in the center, Leonidas still stands out of sheer will.
Floating down to his level, he looks at me as I ask, "Why help the United Roman Empire? There is nothing here for you. Your war is over. Why do you fight us?"
He looks at Nero and says, "When I was summoned here and learned of the fate of my country of my kingdom, I was satisfied, and the only reason I stand with the United Roman Empire is to test any possible contenders. I am not loyal to him. Honestly, I also sought a good fight as any good Spartan seeks and a good death."
Leonidas then looks at me and says, "I admit you are a powerful warrior that not many can contend against. Even during the fight, I could sense that you've held back a majority of your strength, but I did not see this as a game to you. I saw an attempt to learn, and I can die proudly knowing I was able to fight such a powerful being. Finish me."
I give him a respectful nod as I take my Telesto spear, and with one swift slice, his head falls off his shoulders, and the spectral Spartans begin to disappear as his noble phantasm ends with his death. The men cheer in the exaltation of their Empress and myself, and as I take the Spear of Leonidas from the ground, I place it in my inventory as he is a worthy summons and a great commander.
Nero looks at me and asks, "Are you well, Lord Ozias? Do you require any medical assistance?" I shake my head and say, "I appreciate the concern and press, but do focus on the men as they most likely have many more injuries than I do." The Empress then shakes her head and says, "I told you to call me Nero! And I am simply making sure that my viceroy is alright. Accept this Empress's benevolence, umu!"
Chuckling, I give her a nod, and she smiles as the men reform their lines, and we continue our march towards the forward base, which is only a couple hours' walk. Immediately after the battle ended, Ritsuka climbed back onto my back along with Nero, and as I asked, "Not to be offensive, but do you both truly need to sit upon my shoulders?"
Nero then says happily, "Well, since I am lacking a formal chariot, you shall make do, and besides, it's comfortable up here." Ritsuka just smiles and says, "The empress is right as you are just way too comfortable, and if this was an airline that was based on their seats, I would give you five stars."
The servants simply chuckle as Nobu looks ready to explode with laughter. Mash, on the other hand, just sighs along with me while patting me on the back at both of their antics, with the normal soldiers just accepting this is life due to their Empress's eccentricities this is normal for them. At least, I hope they are cool with it, as they do not seem to be reacting, although some are seemingly giving me a jealous look.
As we walked along the dirt roads, I began to make conversation with the other servants. "So, is everyone enjoying our vacation through this singularity?" Artoria looked at me and said, "As much as the heat does me no favors, I am satisfied with our current progress." Nobu says with a content undertone, "I have gotten to slay hundreds of men since we arrived in the Singularity. I am definitely having fun, boss."
Karna, with his normal flat tone, responds, "I have no thoughts on the matter, but a small part of me is happy that all of us are able to defend ourselves satisfyingly." I nod along with the rest as Nero asks, "You speak of this Singularity often. What exactly is a singularity?"
Mash then answers the Empress by saying, "Well, your majesty, a singularity is a point in history that has been altered to a point where it may cause a branch in the human timeline, and we are here to aid you in stopping the alteration before the world reaches a dead end." The Empress nods as I simplify it: "Essentially Nero, a singularity is caused by a change in history, and the best example would be old emperors rising from the dead."
Nero then nods as we continue our walk, but soon enough, we arrive to hear the sound of clashing blades and see the camp being attacked as the walls and gate are being sieged by a small force of Roman soldiers. I nod to the Empress, and both of them hop off my shoulders, and we rush down the hill towards the camp with the friendly soldiers on the camp wall shouting, "Reinforcements have arrived. The Empress is here!"
The enemy soil ders then turned and charged at us, to which I said, "Karna, show them your fire." The demigod then appears and, using one mana burst, produces flames that burn the enemy force in an instant, and with that, the rest that remains immediately begin to retreat, to which I sigh as I snap my fingers, knocking them out. While they may not know much about the enemy, it will be beneficial to learn any information they hold.
The men in the camp begin to cheer, and as we enter the gate with a couple of prisoners, we manage to see two new servants arguing over at the command tent.
One of them appears to be a woman wearing a long flowing robe, and the other is a giant of a man wielding a large halberd whose eyes look blank and responds to the woman's questions with grunts and roars.
The woman says to the large man, "Yeah, we'll probably lose the soldiers Nero Claudius provided for us. I'd like to avoid that if possible. Find a way out of an impossible situation. People like you and me can get through it on our own, but it would be too harsh to force them to do that. What should we do? Huh?"
The woman noticing us says, "Reinforcements, huh? Though I heard Boudica and Spartacus were in Gaul." Nero then nods and says, "Yes, we managed to defeat the enemies at Gaul, and now Boudicca and Spartacus are gathering their forces to meet us here soon enough. But I need a status report. Who sent those men?"
The woman then says, "Well, sadly, Empress, we don't know who sent them, at least not yet, and they have had us surrounded for days." She then looks at us and says, "Thanks for the help. By the way, from what I hear, you've managed to kill two of their emperors. I'm jealous as I myself am waiting to rack up a good body count of emperors. I am Jing Ke, by the way. The big lug here is Lu Bu."
Mash seems uncomfortable with the way the woman speaks of killing and racking up body counts, so I decided to divert the conversation. "It is an honor to meet you both, and we have managed to capture a couple of prisoners, so we should know who is sending these men soon enough."
Jing then looks at me and says, "It's odd, as I have a feeling that makes me want to kill you, but since you are our allies, I will be able to hold back the urge." While that is ominous, Mash looks happy as I was able to divert this conversation. I then ask, "How long have these men been sieging this camp?"
Lu Bu grunts as Jing Ke says, "The big man is right. They've only been here a couple of days, which thanks, by the way, for the perfect timing as we were about to send this guy out to fight." Lu Bu looks rather annoyed at that, but it does not matter.
Nero then remarks, "Based on the shared history of all the servants that have been summoned, most likely it is another conqueror or emperor, and they shall reveal themselves soon enough, for now, all the men need rest."
The two generals nod as we repair the damages to the camp. I sense a new servant being summoned, but again, it matters not as with me here. This is easy mode to the max.
Estado de energía semanal
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