章 1047: 61
061 - Gold Checks Black
Medusa Gorgon.
Despite the… various and persistent distractions that have plagued me since firming my resolve to never let Sakura out of my sight again, I have made good of it so far. Teasing the quiet and deliciously small cutie that's Saber without losing track of what was happening in the bed between Haku-chan and Sakura took some doing, but I managed. Same with the tease show thinly disguised as a sports routine from this morning.
I know I'm probably being paranoid. After all, Sakura is technically the safest she's been in years, War or not. But, as last night can attest, it only takes a moment of carelessness for my dear but infuriatingly self-sacrificing Master to do something unhealthy.
The fact that Caster has allowed Sakura alone and unsupervised in her Workshop should be reassuring, it should mean she's confident her wards will prevent any mishaps. Instead, I find myself worried that Sakura will put a hand somewhere she shouldn't and cause an accident.
Which is horribly unfair of me, Sakura is neither stupid nor suicidal, but I can't help it. Whatever she did also slowed the prana supply I'm getting from her to a trickle, so that's another reason to worry.
So I keep a close eye, ready to intervene at the smallest sign of a catastrophic mishap all through her conversation with the comatose woman in the glass pod. That's probably the only reason I manage to react in time when the one-armed woman's eyelids open to reveal markedly inhuman eyes underneath. The glass container explodes violently, dangerous shrapnel flying everywhere as the woman strikes faster than any human could possibly move.
I react in time to put myself between Sakura and the sharp glass fragments, but I'm not fast enough to put anything more solid than my forearms hastily-raised into a cross-guard against the bone-cracking punch that follows.
Strong!
That's not human strength, that's not human strength at all!
Even throwing myself back with the hit to bleed out force, the impact still leaves my forearms throbbing. But I don't have time to dwell on that. By allowing myself to be launched away, I kept my arms from breaking, but it also means I'm leaving Sakura open and exposed!
Gritting my teeth and allowing some of my [Monstruos Strength] to seep into my body, I throw my chained daggers around her while still mid-air, carefully wrapping her body to drag her towards me and out of the line of fire with as much power and speed as I dare use. I crash painfully against a mercifully bare wall, with Sakura falling into my open arms a fraction of an instant later.
"Medusa?" She looks up to me, eyes wide with shock, the situation deteriorating too fast for her to keep up. "What's going on?"
"Enemy." I whisper harsly, attention fixed on the threat. "Stay behind me, Master."
There's something… unsettling in the way the woman moves, unnatural. Jerky tugs followed by strange pauses, plagued with hesitations that make no sense while holding no stance worth the name. She doesn't act like a human at all. I felt the bones of her hand breaking against my arm when she punched me, but she doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact at all.
It's only when she tries lifting it and gets to see the way her forearm bends unnaturally that she seems to realize something amiss at all. The woman blinks and tilts her head, silently examining the wound for a moment before the human skin violently swells and bursts, making way for bone-white flesh and sharpened claws.
The woman's eyes -Bright red, with star-shaped pupils, unnatural, monstrous- go from the out-of-place and obviously inhuman hand to me, causing a shiver to run down my spine. Harmful strength that gradually transforms you into a monster is a condition that hits a bit too close to home.
But… no. The way she moves oddly and with poor coordination, the way her arm was physically replaced… This isn't a transformation. This is not the Irish woman we rescued from the Church anymore and it might've never been. This is just a monster shedding the skin it has been wearing. An inhuman creature puppeteering what used to be Bazzett Fraga McRemitz.
The thing lunges again and this time I'm expecting it, jumping out of the way and pulling Sakura out of danger with me. Unfortunately, I'm not the only one who's doing better than before. The creature is also faster, stronger and better coordinated. I managed to remain clear of the wicked-sharp claw, but it was closer than it should've been.
Seems like the human body only hampers it. And it's getting stronger by shedding it. This is ridiculous, the thing already has the speed and raw power to keep up with me. Depending on how much it grows, I might find myself struggling to keep up or even totally outpaced.
I could release more of my[Monstrous Strength] but that's always a dangerous prospect and… it doesn't address the main problem here. I can't fight at full power while covering for Sakura, I need to be smarter. The blindfold one my face disappears away, giving me direct eye contact with the creature. Let's see how well it handles supernatural attacks.
"[Mystic Eyes of Petrification - Cybele]"
Under my unrestrained gaze, the creature immediately stiffens, though it's capable of taking a couple of steps towards us before being rendered motionless. Slowly, painfully slowly, a sheet of stone begins forming at the tips of its hands and legs. A considerable degree of[Magic Resistance] then.
Even more worrisome, the further the petrification advances, the slower the process becomes. I release Sakura to focus fully on the process. My best bet is to fully petrify it before it becomes immune, but I'm working on limited reserves here and I'm not certain I'll manage without giving it my–
"I'll go find everyone else!" Sakura declares frantically.
"It's too dangerous, Master, we don't know if this creature is working alone or–" I try to protest with a pinched voice, but Sakura doesn't even wait for my acknowledgement before abandoning my side to rush towards the exit. "Sakura!"
The lapse in concentration costs me, something shifting on the creature I'm trying to contain and causing the petrification process to grind to a halt. Biting back a curse, I focus back on my eyes, but the harm is already done. The most I can do now is hold the thing like this, and it's just a matter of time for this approach to fail completely.
… I'd be better served making sure Sakura doesn't get herself killed by running like a headless chicken into what could perfectly be an ambush!
I can already feel the petrification receding as soon as I stop focusing my Mystic Eyes on the creature to follow Sakura. It won't remain contained much longer, so I collapse the workshop entrance behind me. The Inner Shrine that Caster used to build her Workshop in lies deep underground, so this will hopefully give the creature pause. That, or will simply motivate it to replace the human body with the monstrosity underneath even faster.
Barbatos?
We have lied in wait for days. We were given instructions, instructions we don't dare contradict.
After the accursed, terrible, frightening Golden One brought us to the female magus, we wasted no time to claim home within her Crest and take her Sorcery Trait as our own. Hidden snugly, away from prying eyes. A poor replica of the nest our King crafted for us to inhabit. Once, We felt safe like this, long, too long ago.
There's no hiding from the Golden One, there's no getting away from the Golden One, there's no safety from the Golden One. But this was the safest we could get, so we did. Even if it was what the Golden One wanted from us, it was still the best option we had, so we took it.
And then, we waited. It's something we… It's something most of what we are is familiar with. A lethargic state of semi-consciousness where we didn't interfere with the world, and the world didn't interfere in return. But we were still aware of the world.
We waited in the dark, as the body we inhabited slowly bled out.
We waited in the dark, as the human full of warmth found the body and took it with him.
We waited in the dark, as the witch from a bygone era did her best to stabilize the body.
We waited in the dark, as the strangely empty human that felt so familiar came in to speak at the listless body.
We paid an ear to her words, because there was nothing better to do, and we reflected on them. She talked about many pointless things we didn't care about, but she also talked about the human full of warmth. The human she called 'Senpai'.
Senpai was full of warmth and, around him, we could almost forget about the Golden One.
Senpai saved the body we're inhabiting, so we wouldn't be exposed to the Golden One again.
Seinpai saved the strangely empty human that felt so familiar because he saves pretty women.
We are as safe from the Golden One as we possibly could, but we're still not safe.
We… need saving.
Senpai saves pretty women.
Maybe… we can be a pretty woman, too?
We can— We need— I want…!
I want to be saved!
The strangely empty human that feels so familiar turns around to leave, and I wonder how I would go about it, how I could become a pretty woman too, so I could be saved. This body has most of what I would need for that, and whatever else I need I could just make myself as long as— No
No, I can't use this body, because Senpai wants to save it, too, and I don't want to make him angry by ruining it. As I'm trying to figure a way to work around this unexpected problem, the whole area gets saturated by the familiar power of the Golden One all of a sudden.
Panic raises, thought processes break down and instincts take over.
We have been given instructions, instructions we don't dare contradict.
Fear kill #danger, eat ;power, become strong.
Strong, strong strong strongstrongstrong!
Maybe strong enough that we don't fear the Golden One anymore.
'Fight, worm. Struggle, writhe and devour without end. Forever trying to rise above your station, forever failing to reach the King's heights!.'
We hate the Golden One.
We fear the Golden One.
We obey the Golden One.
So we can break free of the Golden One.
Our first strike gets ruined when the familiar of the empty one intervenes. We try to destroy the familiar instead, but it gets away. And then… numbness.
Foreign prana floods the body we're inhabiting and, through its circuits, it floods us too. Powerful and heavy it tries to overwhelm and drown us. Darkness creeps at the edges as a foreign drowsiness slowly seeps everywhere, cold, rigid and relentless. It smothers our mind, smothers our nerves and tries to smother our fear.
… But the fear is stronger. The Golden One is watching, it's always watching. If we fail here we will die. We need to act, or we'll stop being. We push back against the tide, fighting for every inch of the body we need to survive, frantically examining the overwhelming power, learning, adapting.
Painfully, agonizingly slow, the tide loses momentum. The foreign prana keeps seeping in, trying to deny what we are, turn our very existence to stone and bury us under the depths of the Earth. Mere survival forces us to think complex thoughts, to understand what we're up against, how it works and how it doesn't, and how we can make it stop.
…
I don't know for how long I struggle against the implacable tide, desperately pulling magecraft knowledge from the thing I once was, trying to find a way to counteract the [Mystic Eyes of Petrification] for good. Finally though, the breakthrough comes from outside.
It's a small opening first, a brief stalling on will behind this attack that I hurry take advantage of to consolidate my precarious position and make sure I don't lose more ground to the petrification, but it's soon followed by a complete abandonment on the side of the aggressor, leaving me free to undo the damage unmolested.
I don't dawdle, of course, there's no telling how long I have until the danger returns, so I hurry to recover full functionality as fast as possible. The eyes, due to their complexity, are the last part of my body I manage to restore. When I can finally see again, the first thing I find is reflection in a broken piece of mirror.
That's… that's who I am? That's not who I was before, not by a long shot.
(Am I pretty now?)
But I can make this work. I'm not a mere worm anymore. I have evolved. I can walk on two feet and look at the world from above the ground. It's nothing compared with the Golden One, of course, it's never enough. But it's a step closer to that terrible, blinding, unfathomable power.
To my side, on top of the table that's somehow survived everything that's transpired here, stand a series of small gray cylinders covered in a bright blue circuit-like pattern and a single flat square no bigger than a thumb. I remember those. The Witch, the familiar of the Warm One, crafted them here, right in front of me.
A Mystic Code… power that I can use to become stronger.
I grab the cylinders and the little square, holding them on top of my palm to flow them with prana. With a chittering sound, small dots of altered color spread through the objects, alongside the bright lines first and spreading outwards. Blue becomes red and gray becomes bone-white before they sink into my body, finding their resting places within.
I won't retreat, I won't hesitate.
I don't want to die.
After morning practice, I called Rin and Illya aside with the intention of letting her know my long term plans and how they'd affect the end of the Grail War. Haku and Medea already know about them, so it's only fair.
In hindsight, I should've expected things to go as poorly as they went.
Illya has gleefully taken the chance to spite her traditional magus upbringing, but Rin still clings to it. I can't really blame her, they're her only link with her dead father and these things are important even if your dad was a pompous fool who sold your sister as chum to a literal worm fucker.
She's not taking my utter disinterest with using the Grail for its intended purpose well. In fact, I'd go as far as to say she's taken it as a personal insult. It's honestly getting a bit tiresome. That stubbornness of hers can be cute sometimes and it's certainly part of what's made her such a competent and outstanding individual, but…
"We're talking about the Root here, the Root! The final destination of Magecraft itself!" She exclaims indignantly. "I would understand if you thought it was just a mere wish and didn't know about the Grail's real purpose, but how can you just ignore this?"
"Cut the crap, Rin." Enough is enough, I think. "We're all aware of what it takes to enact the true function of the Grail, and I don't think you have what it takes to betray Altera like that."
"You said Gilgamesh counts as three Servants." She tries to protest, not shameless enough to deny my accusation. "We could—"
"And, even if you don't make her kill herself, you'd still abandon her if you go through it." I cut her argument right off. "In fact, the same applies to any means for reaching the Root."
"You can take care of her if…"
"Reaching the Root is for old and bitter people without anyone to tie them to the world, Rin." I reply with a frustrated sigh. "Not for young and promising girls full of life that just found their way into my harem."
That gets a reaction out of her, at least. Though she seems determined not to acknowledge her fiercely blushing cheeks. "And what's that supposed to mean, Emiya-kun?"
"Do I have to spell it for you, Rin? I don't want you to commit suicide in the name of mad magus science. Especially when I know for a fact that the 'Truth' of the Root isn't actually the answer to everything as they claim."
"E– Even so…"
"Shut up Rin!" Finally fed up with our antics, or maybe noticing I just dropped an important hint, Illya finally jumps into the conversation. "What do you mean by that, Onii-chan?"
"The whole Kaleidoscope thing? That sum of all the 'possible realities' magi like to crow about? That 'everything that is' that you call Akasha?" I ask with my best smug grin. "That's what we call a multiverse cluster. Just a tiny little dot in the real 'everything that is'."
There's a moment of utter, dumbfounded silence as the two of them process my words. Then, proving her mettle in the face of ridiculous nonsense once again, Rin recovers flawlessly.
"Wait, 'we'? What do you mean 'we'."
"I was someone else somewhere else before I woke up in the flames of Fuyuki as who I am now, Rin. Someone from a different multiverse cluster." I answer with a shrug. "Why settle for the 'Root' when you can see what lies beyond? You just need to remain by my side when I leave this place for good. Alternate timelines are only the first step of my journey."
The two of them trade a look whose meaning I can only guess at before Rin faces me again with a frown in her face. I'm fairly sure they believe me, or at least believe that I believe what I told them, but they'll probably want further elaboration before deciding one way or another.
I'll never know for sure because, as soon as she opens her lips to speak, a golden light bathes the Temple and I'm suddenly standing somewhere else.
A wide clearing surrounded by lush vegetation atop of what appears to be a modest-sized hill, no sign of civilization as far as my vantage point allows me to see except for a humming levitating crystal right in the middle of the clearing. The shape is a bit too regular to be natural, though you never know for sure with crystals. The golden rings wrapping it and the metal contraptions levitating around it though, those are a dead giveaway.
As I take a step towards the mysterious artifact to examine it, a very unwelcome figure steps into view from behind it. Some unseen signal causing the artifact to waver and fade away into golden waves like a mirage. Damn, destroying the artifact is one way I'm not leaving this place.
"Well, well…" The voice of the Golden Cunt of Heroes echoes through the clearing, barely-restrained hostility written all over his sneering face. "If it isn't the stray!".
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