บท 448: Chapter 407
I ignored the pain I was in.
I didn't have the courtesy of time to contemplate what exactly I did to allow Raikou's Noble Phantasm to hit. It was stupid and dangerous, and I immediately felt the side effects, indicating that I instinctively pulled off some bullshit to let that sequence of events happen. Which perhaps further increased the rebound, but that was a matter for future Wilhelm to consider. Along with worrying about how the enemy would be wary of similar methods for now on.
Raikou followed as I pushed everything I had into my Shunpo. The rooftop I stepped off was reduced to dust from the sheer force I gathered to push forward.
The time for subtlety was long gone.
"And now, I am furious." His voice reverberated. The sky had a small tear open, a void of darkness if you looked at that exact spot. His arm looked mangled, but it healed at ridiculous speeds, and the clothes he wore were mended just as quickly. Whatever damage Raikou had done, it had reached him, but it wasn't enough to stick.
"Raikou!" I shouted, basically throwing the two Jeanne away. It happened so suddenly, and they surely were utterly confused, but I really didn't even have a second to explain.
Raikou didn't argue and she caught my intentions clear, she grabbed the two handedly.
[Master?]
[I have a plan.] I replied. [Take them to where Chaldea is.]
"מְחִילָה"
I had a plan.
And that went out the window as soon as the, what I assumed was Hebrew spell words left the mouth of that thing.
Funny, in another situation, I would probably have lost myself in thought regarding the fact that I couldn't innately understand Hebrew.
But in this particular instance, my heart was beating way too fast for me to care. And the spherical anomaly that pulsed from the thing as the center rang my danger senses like a bell. With him at the epicenter, it expanded outward, a monochromatic visual indication of utter stillness.
As soon as it touched matter, it was reduced to dust. The buildings closest to him posed absolutely no resistance, and no confirmation that there was anything once standing there bar the drifting dust that the wind swept up.
My Demonic Form receded. In this instance, it didn't make much sense to try to fight fire with a different flavor of fire.
This wasn't the time to hold back my Trump Cards.
I reach for the opposite end of the spectrum.
I slid to a stop on the ground, retrieving the Spear. "True Longinus, Balance Breaker!" The Holy Power erupted from me in every direction. It gathered and solidified into a familiar shape. A Halo appeared over my head and Twelve Wings sprouted from my back.
My Wings flapped, and I gathered the Holy Power available to me and reeled my arm back, holding the spear and thrust with all the accumulated power.
The Spear extended, collided with the Magical Phenomenon that devoured a chunk out of the surroundings already.
"What!?" His startled expression accompanied by his confused shout was all the indication I needed to know what happened, as after a brief moment of battle between the two opposing forces, My Spear pierced through. And the Holy Power that swirled around the spear tip was discharged, scattering the errant magical effect and disrupting the spell sequence completely. The bubble of eradication pulsed and melted away from reality.
I allowed Whisper to slip out and fly up into the sky, undetected.
But that wasn't the end of it.
I felt it.
My Spear connected, the extension of my spear hit something and it felt like trying to push through a solid steel wall.
I dropped Musū Tengai from the opposite hand I held the spear, letting it sink into the ground. Instead, I grabbed the spear with both hands, and forced out all the strength I had. My Aura bubbled to the surface, Lightning crackled around my hands, and even my Reinforcement was activated to the fullest extent.
With a roar, I adjusted my grip on the spear, and swung it down at the ground, carrying with it the foe I had impaled.
The dust had yet to even settle, and I couldn't see him, but I knew he was there. No need to be stealthy, I needed immediate results, thus – "Strun Bah Qo" I spoke, summoning storm clouds high above to facilitate the next casting of a spell.
Whisper only had to work half as hard to cast the remainder of the spell, barely a blink of an eye and it was completed.
"Thor's Hammer!" I finished.
My Lightning construct pulled itself free from the dark clouds, wielding its mighty hammer to strike down upon him.
"עפר לעפר"
The words overcame the chaotic nature of our fight, of my thunderous spell. Despite the distance and the ambient noises, I could hear it clearly.
A bright light extended upwards, piercing through my spell. It reached high up into the clouds, and then cascaded outwards in all directions, clearing away my Storm Clouds and any semblance that my spell had existed.
[Brat, let me out. I can stall him for a bit.]
"Ddraig?" I hesitated.
[Don't think too much about it, just let me have a go.] He responded.
I relented, and grabbed the other Staff out of my Ring and summoned the Boosted Gear onto my arm. "Bex Zii Zoor Frul Lo." The Swords were needed to set up what was essentially a Dragon's Gate directed purely at Ddraig inside the Boosted Gear. "Disgyniad yr Ymerawdwr"
Ddraig's dark scales reflected the sun's light as his fake body materialized in front of me.
"I'll handle him, go brat." Ddraig's gruff voice shook the surroundings.
I barely saw the silhouette of Solomon, but I forced myself to grab my stuff and shot off back to where everyone else was.
Right now, the priority was getting Chaldea out of here.
[***]
I flew as fast as I could to the front of the City. The monsters and Undead were practically cleaned up at this point, so I was thankful for the small mercies there.
I saw Raikou, and it looked like she just arrived too, because everyone was warily looking at the other Jeanne, as if ready to pounce.
I shot down to the ground amidst the confusion and widening eyes at my appearance.
"Schweinorg!?" Olga blurted out, staring at me.
And above her hand was a projected image of Roman. "Wilhelm!? Are those wings, and a Halo? Why do you have those!?"
"No time, Roman, initiate Rayshifting." I cut him off.
"Wait, what's going on? Director?"
I grabbed the Grail that Jeanne was holding onto, the squeak from her was ignored in this circumstance. I practically shoved it into Olga's Hands. "Solomon is here, Rayshift them back now!"
"Was that the lightshow a few minutes ago!?" Roman blurted out
Olga only needed a second to comprehend what I said. "Roman, initiate Rayshifting!"
"Initiating Rayshift retrieval….. I need a minute or so, but what about Wilhelm?" Roman asked.
"I'll – " The words died in my throat as I looked up.
"He's here." Cu was the one who answered for me. He knew much more about what was going on than even I did.
Like the second time he appeared, a tear in the sky above us opened up, however, it was much larger this time, and something looked out from behind it. A large red eye, reminiscent of the one I saw the first time we fought.
He stepped through, looking tattered and battered. He clutched his lower abdomen, blood seeped out and I was guessing that was where I stabbed him with the spear. His arm was still somewhat mangled, and his kept appearance was in disarray.
Despite this, I didn't think for a second that anything done so far was permanent. He was still keeping up the visage of a man opposed to what he was hiding underneath.
….Ddraig. I didn't feel his 'presence' return to the Gauntlet yet.
"I'll hold him off, you guys just focus on returning." I held up the spear towards him.
"….that's him?" Olga whispered.
"I will stay and fight him as well." Saber stated.
"You can't –" I started, but was quickly cut off.
"Do not tell me what I can and cannot do." She glared.
"You literally can't." Olga hissed under her breath. "Rayshift systems grabs all of us at once."
Before she could rebuke, Solomon's presence weighed down on everyone.
"Chaldea." The king of Magecraft spoke, looking down on everyone.
Surprisingly, it was Medea who answered him, and not with words. Still holding my staff, she cast her Light Rain spell. The dozens of condensed beams of Magical Energy all targeting the man in the sky.
"הֲגָנָה"
A simple one word response, and a barrier flicked up around him. The dozens of spells landed on it, splashing helplessly upon his shield that didn't waver in the slightest. "Amusing." He said curtly.
Frankly, everyone looked at her.
"What? I'm a Magic User and have my own pride." She snorted. "He can't claim the title of King of Magecraft, and not expect me to take a swing."
"Boss, what's the plan?" Samuel asked.
"Yes, Magician, what is your plan?" Solomon apparently found the situation funny. "Is this what was rallied together? A group of human mages that have no experience with Magecraft….a Director that cannot hold a Servant Contract…and an Elemental." He finished, looking at Hinako. "I would be insulted if this was not just another expression of humanity's pitiful existence."
"Frankly, I'm someone who likes simple plans. Stab the bad guy with my spear until he dies seems pretty solid." Talking was fine, talking wasted time. I could keep calm despite my heart beating rapidly in my chest.
"Yes your….Spear." His eyes narrowed and he removed his hand from his abdomen. "Something capable of harming me in a way that I cannot analyze."
"Its name is Gae Bolg." I said completely straight faced.
"Like hell it is." Cu scoffed.
"Perhaps you've heard of it? Demonic Spear that curses wounds to be unhealable. No need to look into it further."
Something told me that he did not believe me.
"Ignore the wings and Halo. They're just an illusion." I added offhandedly.
"Do you think I would not recognize the Holy Power?" He snorted. "I am Solomon." He waved his arms open. "Do you take me for a fool!?"
A beat passed. "....yes."
And my stalling worked well, because everyone that came from Chaldea began glowing.
"Rayshift has activated!" Roman declared.
The effect took hold of them, I expected Solomon to interfere, to do something, but he just stood there, watching.
It was a huge relief to see them begin to disappear. Even if Saber was absolutely furious and mouthing many different words to express that.
The moment they disappeared, so too did the Singularity shake.
The world was reaffirming its place on the Time Axis.
Solomon looked at me, and slowly floated to the ground "How curious it is that you care for those lesser species despite not being one of them. I admit, I am surprised to see you living. An intriguing distraction as I watch my plans come to fruition."
I looked at Jeanne, and her counterpart, then at the other Servants that were still present. The ones not brought through Chaldea. It was always going to happen this way, they went with the Singularity, they knew it, and Chaldea knew it.
"Well, look at the time? I better get going. You're probably very busy, I'll leave you to it." I was just talking out my ass so I could get closer to Raikou and them.
"Do you intend to flee once more? Shall I then direct my attention to Chaldea? Nothing but gnats, not worth the effort, but you have already forced my presence here, and I detest my time being wasted. Thus, I may as well remove the annoyance that has entered my eyes in recompose."
I stiffened at his proclamation.
"Did you think that Chaldea was safe? That it was beyond my reach?" He continued, with a laugh. "Foolish and naive thinking. I have willingly turned a blind eye as one would ignore the ants moving between the blades of grass. But you must know what happens when one of those ants bites."
…..I didn't know what to do.
Damned if I ran, damned If I didn't….
"Will!?" Jeanne grabbed me. "What're you doing?"
"I don't know." I whispered. "I need….I need a moment to think."
"Then we shall give you time."
I looked up to see who said that.
"Lancelot?"
"We would disappear regardless, allow us to assist." Siegfried smiled, standing between us and Solomon. "Sir Lancelot is correct."
"I admit I am very confused on how to feel with you appearing in that form, but my path is obvious." Saint George joined him.
"A Musician is always prepared for an Encore." Mozart chuckled.
"I'm not much of a fighter, but count me in too!" Marie cheerfully added. "I don't really understand what's going on but he's the one responsible for hurting my country, right?" Despite her cheerfulness, there was an edge to her tone.
"I am Master's Servant." Raikou said as well.
Solomon raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "How droll."
As if to signal the start, they all moved at the King of Magecraft to engage him.
They wouldn't last long, they didn't have a source of Magical Energy besides Mozart and Raikou….I wasn't even sure if they could deploy their Noble Phantasms in this state, let alone fight an opponent of that caliber.
Think, think!
He handled my Authority so easily last time. I could summon my Tree, but I don't know if that would be enough. Ddraig wasn't here, even if he was defeated, his spirit should return any time now. Dragon Words? Primordial Runes? Do I call for help?
{The Spear.} I heard Musū Tengai's voice. {The Spear is reaching out.}
"You can hear it?" I asked in confusion.
{I am a weapon, it is a weapon do you find it strange? The Spear is the answer. There is one path we have yet to take.}
I felt a jolt run through me, understanding what he was speaking about.
A Miracle.
Would that be enough?
What even was a Miracle? I could understand it on some level, but a single word failed to fully extrapolate the depth of its meaning.
"Alright, alright." I felt myself getting more confident. "How do we do this?"
{It doesn't have enough strength.} Musū Tengai replied.
"What do you mean it doesn't have enough strength? Use mine!?"
{It's – }
My head jerked up because I heard Marie scream. Saint George stumbled back, Solomon pulling his arm out of his chest.
{It's not that kind of power. Where do you think the Holy Power comes from?}
"Then use my Authority? Use my Magical Energy, my Aura, fuck use my Demonic Power!?"
{It's already going to be making use of that. Simply put, it needs more Holy Power.}
"Then why even bring it up? Where…." I stopped. "No."
"Master, what's wrong?" Raikou grabbed onto me.
"Absolutely not."
{It's the only way if you want to save both yourself and Chaldea. Otherwise, you will need to sacrifice one. Not only is she a Saintess, she was imbued with his power to repair her Saint Graph.}
"I'm questioning if you're really my Zanpakutō spirit right now."
{My priority is and always will be you.} He replied.
"There's another way." I dismissed him. "We will –"
Jeanne's hand grabbed onto the spear.
"What are you doing, Jeanne?"
"I felt it call to me." She smiled softly. "….I understand now." Something felt…off.
I didn't dismiss my Balance Breaker, rather it felt like it got sucked away. The Spear pulled it away itself.
"Let go of the spear."
"It's okay, let me do this."
"Let go of the spear." I said again.
"I'm sorry." She replied.
"Jeanne, this isn't something you can just walk off." I remember the feeling of just using his Authority once. And it was considered less burdensome for him than to use a Miracle.
"I know, I can feel what I need to do." She tried to reassure me. Didn't give me a chance to rebuttal, the Spear responded to her and the torrent of power held inside was unleashed.
It nearly blew me away, I had to force myself to keep my grip on the spear.
Like a hurricane made purely of Holy Power, it radiated out in all directions.
"Magician!? What are you doing?" Solomon's voice carried. His eyes focused solely on us now. The casual and almost bored demeanor of his changed. He grabbed Siegfried by the throat and threw him to the side, looking rushed and he moved towards us.
Raikou was fine, she was not particularly hurt, but definitely not in a winning spot as she was pulling herself up.
I was worried, because I felt like if I let go of the spear, something bad would happen. Even if it went against all my instinct to protect her as much as I could.
"You will go no further!" Lancelot wobbly stood to his feet, holding his blade up, not looking very good at all.
"Begone!" Solomon scoffed, activating a chantless spell and a hole was blasted through Lancelot's chest.
He spat out blood, nearly tumbling over, but his blade stabbed into the ground to stop himself from falling. The others weren't doing much better, Mozart was the least affected. But his attacks were nearly ignorable in this circumstance.
I would have panicked, if it weren't for the loud roar that resounded across this dissolving world.
Ddraig shot out of the city, in any other situation, his flying would have been comical. But I was genuinely happy to see him. But his fake body was barely held together, practically unraveling at the seams.
He didn't do much but fly into Solomon, but I was thankful, nonetheless.
The King of Magecraft was forced to defend himself. Ddraig's last hurrah seemingly destroyed what was left of the power sustaining his body, and his spirit quickly returned to the Boosted Gear.
"Will, you need to let me." Jeanne stated.
"Neither of you will be doing anything." Solomon growled. "I do not know what you attempt, but my foresight warns me either way." He flexed his fingers, and I was forced to let go.
"Reflect -- Musū Tengai" I quickly drew my Zanpakutō again, deflecting the spell he cast.
"What is that you hold?" He looked at my Zanpakutō, eyes narrowed. "Twice now, my predictions were cast aside and the future altered. No matter, I simply need to calculate the interval variance for your temporal –"
The Holy Power emanating off Jeanne and the spear intensified. This time, I was well and truly knocked off my feet, barely stopping myself after rolling a couple times.
Jeanne's entire figure was barely visible. More so an outline, than any discernible features bar her eyes. It was mostly a pure light that enveloped everything in the vicinity.
I felt my heart ache and turned back to Solomon who…..was in pain.
He let out a shout, falling to his knees. His hands began to glow, no, rather the rings on his fingers began glowing, burning his flesh.
…only nine of them glowed.
"What is this!?" He roared in anger, starting with his hands, the flesh on his body was disintegrating. Pieces of what was underneath began to show the Demon that hid in the flesh.
I felt hands wrap around me, Raikou, helping me to my feet. "Master, we must leave."
"I…."
I didn't want to leave her again.
Even Raikou knew that something was going to happen.
The world came to an eerie Silence, then Jeanne opened her mouth. "Yod – "
Another hand grabbed the spear. Someone I think we all forgot about in the moment, the other Jeanne grabbed hold of it, and promptly kicked regular Jeanne away.
"Ehh!?" Jeanne squawked, as the Holy phenomena began to recede.
"Hey, you're the one responsible right?" The Dark Jeanne, looked down at Solomon.
Solomon looked pleasantly surprised. "That is correct." He pushed himself up, regaining his earlier demeanor. "You exist because of me. I was the one who handed the Grail to your companion." There was a very pleased undertone to his words, almost smug with his gaze landed on us. "And I can assure you that your assistance will be rewarded similarly. This Singularity is falling, but it matters not. I will give you another Grail for you to use however you see fit."
"Is that so?" She smiled, then too did she cast her gaze on us.
"But…..you said…" Jeanne muttered.
"I'm just a fake, no matter what you say, that won't change. Those memories forced into my head weren't mine."
"No, that's not true!"
"Foolish." Solomon snorted. "Why do you protest? This is merely human nature. You all betray one another, you all would willingly step upon the corpses of your friends and family just to eke out a miniscule advantage in your worthless existence."
I ignored him.
Instead, I looked at the other Jeanne.
She smiled, it was a sad smile, not one of revenge or cruelty. "But they were my happiest."
Solomon's gloating abruptly stopped as too did his face twist into a scowl as his head snapped towards her. "What are you doing?"
"Did you know? I'm a fake, through and through." She laughed, pointing the spear at Jeanne. "But a fake made from her."
The Holy Power erupted like a geyser once more.
"You will not—!!" He moved to stop her, but the abundant Holy Power stopped him in his tracks.
"No!!" Jeanne screamed, but with Raikou's help, I grabbed her and moved towards the only other person still around, Mozart.
I quickly opened a Portal for us, trusting Musū Tengai in what he said.
The world turned a Holy White, dyed with the ridiculous amounts of power that was being discharged.
I could hear the words spoken, both from her voice and not.
"̵̗͉͓̇͊͠Y̸̮̘͑o̴̡̱͔͙̬͗̿̔̚d̶̞̈̀͋̿͂.̸̱̜̖͌"̵̳͊̈́
̴͓̖̙̤̏̐̀̌͠"̵͖͚̈́̉́̀͑H̷̡͉̓̍̽̕e̴͉̲͎͊͒̍͠ȟ̶͕̞͙̖.̶͙̪̟̓̍"̸̙̄͂̂
̷̤̆̓̍"̶̻̎̿͝W̶̢̜̭̳͌́̏͘͠a̷͓̒͝w̸̨̨̱͌͝.̶͇̈́"̵̪͉͖̞͚̊
̶͖͈͛̏̍"̷̨̮͔̦̅͒͛̇H̴͉̒̃è̴̦̤͌͝h̶̭̬͕͆̒͗.̵̯͕̤̲͆̑͒͝"̷̱̊̀̎̽
"To invoke my name, is to invoke Creation."
I pushed everyone through and slammed the portal behind us, not daring to look back.
The peacefulness of Chaldea's white walls did nothing to stop my heart that was still beating rapidly.
There was a moment or two, that I think we all needed to gather our wits. Unfortunately, that was utterly demolished by space tearing asunder. It was not Solomon's method to traverse into the Singularity, nor was it something like my own. Rather, it was like someone tore open space with their bare hands and ripped it apart so they could come through.
The Spear shot out, slamming into the nearby wall. Steam was wafting off of it with errant bits of Holy Power that evaporated once it flowed too far away from the source.
Cracks now ran all along the weapon.
It was horrifying to think about how the Spear became like that, what transpired that made the vessel – what is essentially a Divine Construct, but also what is housing Big G's dying will, become like that.
I forced myself to discard those thoughts.
Rather, I had something else to take care of immediately.
That was tending to the sobbing Saintess with a head buried into my chest.
[***]
A/N
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