For all his strength.
Green lightning thundered above the skies of Orario, writhing and twisting into intermittent flashes of arcing bolts that briefly encompassed a figure traversing the city in a single breath.
Bulged muscles and popped veins pushed against an unwilling foe; a monster thrashing and roaring in resistance. No building or obstacle could stand in their wake.
For all his speed.
Dromeus Komētēs, the Noble Phantasm encompassing the legend of unsurpassed agility that dominated an entire era and human history itself. It was akin to instantaneous movement: God Speed.
Nothing slows him down.
There is no one, either before or after his death, who surpasses him.
Anything that enters his field of vision, is within his strike range.
Time and time again.
Rider's expression twisted, his spear crackling with divine energy.
-He was never there when it mattered.
His name was Achilles.
An exceptional Hero whose level was exceedingly close to that of the Gods that prophecy itself warned mighty Zeus of his birth.
"Rargh!" A war shout reverberated from the heavens.
Palmed in Rider's right hand was the Juggernaut's head smashing through building after building, accelerated forward again and again from feet that tore trenches in their wake.
Faces passed by in a blur, many stunned and frozen in shock through explosions of smoke, debris, and wood.
("What was-")
("Oh my god-")
("Rider?")
Reaching the front of Babel, Rider slammed the Juggernaut onto the ground. Cracks formed and spiraled out into a deep crater, pebbles and stones flying out like shrapnel in the echo of a deafening bang.
Wordlessly, Rider raised his spear.
Sparks grated as a sharpened tail swooped over and clipped Rider on the head before he could strike down.
He flew, smashing into the side of Babel where he left an impression of his body depressed into the stone.
All he did was grunt while pulling himself free.
In the tension, enraged eyes squared up against glowing red.
A strike that would have pierced even steel did little more than leave a deeper scratch over Rider's skin.
Blood dripped over Rider's temples, but he didn't even feel it.
"It tickles," he muttered, expressionlessly brushing the debris off his armour.
His eyes were bloodshot.
The Juggernaut roared in challenge, seemingly confused that it had done so little damage while Rider was just getting started.
In the distance, people ran close, drawn to the violent sounds and propagating reverberations.
Rider threw away his spear.
("M-Madness.")
("Someone, stop him!")
Barehanded, he struck with a speed faster than the blink of an eye and punched the Juggernaut square in the skull.
A shockwave was generated from the sheer impact, the monster recoiling. It was no augmentation magic or strengthening of any sort.
All of it was physical strength.
In pain, the Juggernaut countered with a swipe of its claws, but Rider's hands rose to meet them, grabbing them mid-strike. The sharp edges meant little against Rider's body bathed in the river Styx and quenched in holy fire.
Slow. Too slow.
Rider's present agility was in the realm of God Speed. His strength-
Veins popped over Rider's biceps as he pulled on the Juggernaut and lifted it into the air by the claws.
("W-Who?")
("T-That's not possible.")
Shouting, he swung the Juggernaut against the ground again and again like a sack of potatoes. Each thump shook the very streets of Orario and tilted Babel tower further and further off its axis.
The ground caved as two deep wells were forming on either side of Rider. One final smash had the Juggernaut entrenched into the earth, its hind limbs splayed, and the claws of its forelimbs cracked and shattered.
Letting go of his grip, the Juggernaut tried to respond, but Rider was too quick. His hands quickly found purchase on the horns of the monster atop its head. The sheer size had Rider mounting the top, but nothing the monster could do would shake Rider off.
Slowly, steadily, he began pulling, bending the horns inward.
Howling and thrashing in pain, the Juggernaut slammed the back of its head into nearby buildings. Finally, it knocked Rider off with one final swing of its head, but Rider's dismounting wasn't without value.
An abrupt snapping noise was accompanied by two horns cracking at their base. An anguished low growl escaped the Juggernaut's mouth as it pawed on its missing horns.
The fiery red of its eyes was no longer as potent as before.
"Does it hurt?" Rider asked blankly, tossing the horns in his hands away like garbage.
There was no answer this time. Not even a growl. Unlike upper-level monsters of the Dungeon, the monsters of the lower floors possessed greater instincts and intelligence. Spawned from the lower depths, the Juggernaut possessed its own judgements well enough to see that Rider shrugged attacks off without care.
Without warning, it turned around and chose retreat.
It would not be so easy.
In a blur of God Speed, Rider could appear anywhere in his sight, and that meant appearing directly next to the Juggernaut who could hardly react.
"Where are you going?" Rider grabbed it by the tail, and pulled it to heel.
Putting strength into his arms, Rider spun like a discus thrower and hurled Juggernaut threw the air at unimaginable speed.
Flying overhead, it flew past a gathered crowd and struck Babel tower. The structure creaked and groaned, but it was too much. It crumbled and buried Juggernaut under several tons of rubble, Babel tower finally collapsing on it.
A certain Goddess who lived on Babel was far from happy at the absurd scene.
Rider spit blood on the ground and proceeded forward, just now noticing the presence of a crowd, not that it mattered to him.
Not even the elf who stepped out and those who accompanied her.
Staring at Rider, Riveria shuddered as realization kicked in that, yes, Rider was fighting barehanded.
No. More than anything:
Against such a monster, the man had the audacity to be walking.
Riveria clenched her teeth, eyes narrowing at Rider in protest.
"Y-You…" Even the words would not come out properly.
It wasn't difficult for Riveria to interpret meaning in Rider's actions.
- To prolong its suffering, and then crush it.
Rider was strong to the point where Riveria and many others struggled to determine what level he was, but it was simple recklessness to not decisively put matters to an end when he could do so.
Such irresponsibility was an affront to those that already died, and those that could still die in the process, let alone the collateral damage.
If Riveria had expected Rider to stop at her protest, she was mistaken.
"Out of my way." Rider pushed past her, bumping shoulders to continue his war path.
Taken by surprise, Riveria stumbled back with an uncharacteristic yelp. Unable to catch herself, she fell on her bottom, glared at Rider, but then hurriedly lowered her gaze.
It was unintended, but Rider didn't even register his own rudeness.
All in his way were obstacles. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Ais and the others from Loki Familia bristled, but Bete was different. He blocked the way, veins popping over his temples. In his anger, he missed the panic that flickered across Riveria's face.
"From a minor Familia that was already kicked out!" Bete ground his teeth while staring at the symbol of a star and dolphin emblazed on Rider's back. "How dare you-"
Bete's mouth suddenly clamped shut, finally seeing what Riveria had seen to force her silence.
It was Rider's eyes and the unbridled savagery burning within them.
"…Do you want to die?"
There was no rationality in that fury. No reason.
Bete backed down, instinctively understanding that Rider would follow through with his words at the slightest provocation.
The sight was humbling, especially for those who personally knew Bete.
Not another word was said, but no one dared to move until Rider passed by and the Juggernaut re-oriented itself in the rubble.
Rider reached it in an instant when it tried to flee back into the Dungeon, and quickly re-engaged.
Staring at them, it was difficult to tell who was the real monster.
"Move aside!" Riveria pushed past the growing crowd to stand at the forefront, magic energy gathering into a written chant in the air around her.
"Harbinger of the end, the white snow."
Riveria focused her magic, targeting Juggernaut who Rider was toying with by snapping its bones and breaking its joints.
"Blow with the wind before twilight."
A single moment of carelessness, and the monster that had killed Fin and Tione could get away.
"Closing light, the freezing land."
Riveria had had no hope of victory before, but witnessing Rider's strength and capability, revenge burned with an ever-growing furor within her.
"Blizzard, the three severe winters."
It happened. Like a cowardly lizard, Juggernaut snapped its tail off and fled towards the entrance of the dungeon buried under Babel; Rider roaring in anger as he tossed away the tail.
"- my name is Alf."
Riveria's eyes shone with a blue hue as the Falna of the Loki Familia on her back emitted light.
The coppery taste of blood spread through Riveria's mouth from how tightly she clenched her jaw.
The entirety of her focus was on the monster trying to flee.
'Don't even think of escaping!'
"Wynn Fimbulvetr!"
The air in front of the Juggernaut rapidly condensed and froze, creating a wall that wrapped around its body and anchored itself on the ground. A roar escaped its lips, and the ice immediately began to crack due to its anti-magic shell.
Riveria staggered, a splitting headache disorienting her, but her efforts weren't in vain.
All at once, the ice shattered.
The monster didn't stop for long, but it was enough.
An unrelenting force gripped around the Juggernaut's ankle tight enough to depress bone over clamped fingers.
Juggernaut was dragged backwards, its limbs thrashing.
In the crowd, Archer frowned when Rider continued another pummeling instead of ending it. The legend of Achilles that qualified Rider for Berserker was known even to Archer.
"Rider," Archer suddenly called, his voice barely piercing through Rider's haze. "Enough," he warned.
"Tch." Rider paused, glancing to Archer then finally to Shirou in the crowd before he clicked his tongue.
He threw Juggernaut beneath him, and pressed it down with his foot.
"Balios, Xanthus, Pedasus."
A chariot was re-summoned beside Rider, pulled by three divine horses. Expressionless, Rider took ropes attached to his chariot and wordlessly bound the struggling Juggernaut within them.
Mounting his chariot, Rider took the reins, the personification of rage itself.
"Run!"
It was something that he never took pride in.
Rider whipped the reins, spurring his mounts into a sprint across the starry heavens, and dragging Juggernaut with it. They took to the skies, pressure building with each turn that created the symbol of infinity.
"RUUN!"
It was something that he instead came to regret.
The ropes dug into bone, tighter and tighter through the growing acceleration as growls turned into excruciating high-pitched wails.
What had once been visible was rapidly shifting into a green blur over the horizon, giving reason to Rider's summoning as the Servant of the Mount.
"RUUUN!"
Nonetheless, it was part of who he was.
Cracks turned into splinters that began snapping off entire fragments of bone quickly reduced to dust under the pressure of God Speed. That dust ignited through friction, illuminating the symbol of infinity with a trailing blaze of glowing orange.
An anger beyond reason.
The red light of the juggernaut's eyes soon faded in their entirety, utterly reduced to ashes scattered in the wind.
The wrath of a Demi-God.
An overwhelming silence befell Orario.
/-/
As the anger subsided, Rider felt nothing as he dismissed his chariot, his emotions muted as he turned back to those he'd left waiting somewhere in the wreckage of a broken down tavern and travel lodge.
He knew the way even beyond the rubble, and yet he trudged slowly onward.
His speed was a snail's pace to what he'd displayed prior, but there was no one to question him. Rather, it was difficult to say whether he would have responded anyway.
A path was cleared wherever he walked, crowds peeking their heads to check if the danger was gone only to see Rider walking by and a silent crowd tentatively following behind him.
Why the crowd was following was anyone's guess.
Curiosity, awe, or even trepidation, it was a miracle that someone of Rider's capabilities was relatively unknown in Orario, and to think he was from a Familia that was once kicked out was baffling.
Rider glanced up as droplets of water hit his face in a sudden downpour.
Thetis was a Goddess of water. It wasn't to the extent of hegemonic sea deities, but it was enough to reflect her influence over the lower world in a state of emotional imbalance, unmindful of the rules.
It was raining, dark clouds overhead condensed over a single location.
Rider's expression hardened, but he continued on, the pitter patter of rain clinking over his armour and creating a rhythmic drone.
His damp hair matted over his darkened features, his gaze growing clouded while the crowd trailing behind him finally got a grasp for Rider's fury.
There swept up in the downpour of rain and surrounded by broken debris was a crying Thetis. She was on her knees and hunched over the body of a man whose head she was cradling over her lap. A shield was haphazardly held up on the side.
To many, Rider's affiliation to the Thetis Familia was a given considering the symbols on his back that represented a Falna in the eyes of those in this world.
The correlation between mother and son was outside their considerations. But so too would they not understand that the Divinity Rider carried in his blood was the reagent catalyzing the response of the Thetis Familia's Falna.
It was an uncontested claim, a mark of heritage.
Everything suddenly made sense to everyone.
Rider's unrelenting wrath beyond rhyme or reason, had to have come from a source, and that source was here.
A crying Thetis.
What Familia would be able to maintain reason when their Goddess was pushed to the point of tears?
At least for those watching in silence, few if any could claim that they would remain rational.
Rider continued onward, and only then did the crowd focus on the other two near Thetis frozen stiff at the sight of Rider returning triumphant.
-A green star that shone over the sky of Orario, there was no way that the two hadn't seen it.
Iris hung her head low with mixed feelings while Ryuu just kept staring at the man who did the impossible.
Apart from the heel Rider had guarded, there were scratches, bruises, and blood over the rest of his body, all washed away and healed by the rain. It was a level that was far beyond ordinary.
Iris and Ryuu, by association, were privy to a secret revelation.
Rider was the son of Thetis.
A bonafide son of a Goddess.
'Demi-God,' half man, half god, a term wholly unfamiliar yet nonetheless, most fitting.
Iris and Ryuu hesitantly stepped out of Rider's way at his approach, standing solemnly on the side despite numerous questions in their hearts. Now just wasn't the time.
There was only one person in Rider's eyes right now, and it wasn't them, his Master, or the spectating crowd.
He stood silently like a statue a few feet away from Thetis, watching her sob over a corpse that had long since bled out.
She flinched as she registered his presence, and the reality she had to acknowledge.
"He's dead." Tired, flat, grief stricken, the voice was hollow.
Thetis couldn't even glance up at Rider. She didn't dare to.
She had an idea of what expression Rider was making, and she didn't want to see it for fear of pushing her further over the edge.
The rain continued to pour, a distant echo in the two's ears.
"Sorry."
The word struck Thetis like thunder, a shudder traveling through her body.
"Don't apologize." She cried harder, her voice dangerously warbled. She hunched her shoulders. "It wasn't your fault."
"I could have-"
"Please." Thetis's face finally twisted into a pitiful furrow as she craned her neck up at Rider. She sobbed, hugging Peleus closer, and burying her face into the groove of his neck, body trembling. "I don't know how much more I can take."
Did he not know, not understand? That as a mother, the grief and self-blame in his eyes only hurt her more? If anything, it was her fault.
If she had never come to Orario, if she hadn't insisted on staying so long, Peleus wouldn't have been in danger, and her son wouldn't have that sort of expression on his face.
"…"
Rider balled his hands into fists. Thetis couldn't even meet his gaze. His guts felt like they were twisting into shambles. Soon, resolve bled into his demeanor. In life, he'd already endured tragedy. In death and materialization, enough was enough.
"Wait here." Rider ground the words out.
In a flash of green, he leapt into the air and vanished into his chariot under the confused stares of all. Only Shirou and Archer had an idea of what Rider had in mind, and Shirou wasn't about to deny Rider's freedom and choice. The worst way to handle a Servant was to one-sidedly impose on them.
Not a few moments later, Rider returned with a frowning Caster caught in his grip. That frowned only deepened when Rider dismissed his chariot and forced Caster to the ground with him.
Caster's appearance turned many eyes.
Considering Rider's capabilities, it was difficult not to make assumptions about the skills of his allies. In this case, it would be warranted.
It was a cranky figure that was bound to reshape Orario's entire dynamic.
"This was not part of the arrangement," Caster said flatly, dusting himself off after Rider raided his medical ward and kidnapped him.
Beyond his irritation, Caster was already taking in his surroundings, first to the crowd, then pausing as his sights landed on Peleus.
"Please." Rider bowed his head on the side.
Caster knew exactly what Rider was asking of him.
Beyond Caster's capabilities to reject even death, he had no plans of ousting himself as the perpetrator of a revival skill to prevent drawing undue attention. Rather, he intended to use Archer as a proxy to not be disturbed in his duties and aspirations as a doctor.
To heed Rider's request was to put himself outside his intended calculations and into a spotlight, no; not a spotlight, a beacon. The fact that he was here was already outside his calculations.
Rider would have known of this. It was the reason Caster was absent throughout the entire incident until now.
An inconsequential doctor would be far less hounded than an influential one.
Caster had long since learned this sentiment in his former life, and yet, this and that were different things. It was annoying that Rider couldn't have brought the patient to a less conspicuous location, but Caster supposed Rider's mental state wasn't quite as sharp as it should be.
Thetis's sobbing gave Caster a good idea as to why.
Rider was bowing his head.
It was hard to refuse even if Caster wanted to reason for a better time and place. Rider would likely hear none of it, and Rider wasn't the same when swayed by emotion.
Hector and his corpse were proof of that.
"To think there'd be a day a warrior so renowned would be so humble." Caster grumbled, but relented in his own way. "Tch. Very well."
Caster could no longer stand idle.
He had his own principles, and as a doctor with his skill-set, reviving the recently departed required far less effort than those he'd revived in the Dungeon. More so with intact bodies and resonating bloodlines of the patient all conveniently gathered in front of him. Even Rider could help by donating blood as he was a mix of both parents.
Though the scenario was less than satisfactory, the conditions were ripe for Caster. The opportunity was before him.
No. More than that…Rider wasn't the only one swayed by benign emotion.
"Reckless as always, Peleus." Caster murmured.
Memories of the Argo and its crew came unbidden.
Peleus may not be entirely the same as the one Caster knew, but they were comrades, brothers, all led by an oddball in over his head.
"You were no Herakles," Caster closed his eyes, reminiscing. "But you were braver than any other."
Caster opened his eyes, coming to a decision and staring at Shirou and Archer in the spectating crowd.
"Master," Caster called, gesturing to his empty hand.
The patients revived from the Dungeon have yet to achieve true resurrection, so their conditions were maintained by Caster's staff, forcing him to leave it behind. Obviously, Caster could not possess more than one, but his current Master created a convenient loophole.
As others began looking for whoever Caster referred to as 'Master' a copy of the Staff of Asclepius appeared in the air in front of Caster.
Only Hestia and a scant few that had been near Shirou witnessed the process of circuit-like patterns flaring over his skin, and the heat of a forge.
"Hn." Caster grunted after taking his Traced staff.
The staff served as a conduit to focus his energy and was a key point in establishing his divine mystery spoken of in legend.
"Step aside Rider." Caster instructed as he moved towards Peleus.
Thetis immediately grew defensive, her eyes threatening mutual destruction if he so much as dared to-
Rider motioned to Thetis that it was okay, her pupils dilating with turmoil. She neither wanted to ignore Rider's insistence or to give up Peleus.
In the end, Thetis was coaxed to release her hold on Peleus before the two backed off to give Caster space.
Silence stretched as Caster laid Peleus down in front of him.
For a second, disgust crossed Caster's eyes before even that was washed away by necessity and acknowledgment.
As good a doctor as Caster was, the miracles he performed were not without the aid of the divine, especially when the patient was beyond mortal help.
Planting his staff next to Peleus, the serpent entwined around the base of the staff hissed and slithered. A white bounded field was released, steadily propagating outward with Caster at its center.
Caster focused inward on the divinity flowing through him and reluctantly let it loose.
"O radiant sun who knows not of folly's treacherous bane."
Wind began blowing, pushing down the hood of Caster's cloak to reveal silver hair and solemn features both familiar yet distant in the eyes of all.
"Thy regret and thy sorrow linger anew."
Someone choked, but Caster cared little.
"Guileless mother, wayward son, I do not forgive. I will not forget."
He stretched his arms forward, marking a boundary in his mind as the light surrounding him intensified with Divinity.
Whispers grew louder as divine mysteries manifest.
"Killer of love in false betrayal, thy mark remains in mortal flesh."
Light pierced down through the clouded skies, shining over Caster and reflecting the image of a bow and arrow.
"Though rejection bounds, thy blood flows in a cherished vessel."
Caster grimaced from the light that resonated from within.
"Unworthy father, sing Asclepius a song of your grace."
The playing of a lyre echoed with the soft neighing of sheep, as the God, Apollo, stumbled out of the crowd in a daze; the divinity within him surging and giving him mixed feelings beyond his own control and understanding.
The unmistakable sigils of Apollo appeared over Caster's body, illuminating the sclera of his eyes in a tranquil golden divinity.
A mark of validation and heritage higher in rank than even Rider's.
[Child of Apollo: A]
"May proof of the Divine Secret create a boundary here."
The white bounded field released from Caster's staff flickered and altered the environment. A holy temple that embodied the mysteries of the Divine Cult of Asclepius appeared through the Caster-class skill, Territory Creation.
The body Caster had laid on the floor was erected over a small altar.
"Time to operate."
Caster lifted his hands forward and revealed a vial hidden in his long sleeves.
"Fuha, fuhahaha! God of the underworld, take a look! Your role is done!"
The liquid bubbled and condensed into a floating sphere in front of his outstretched arms. It shone with a radiance beyond what any mortal could hope to achieve. It was neither potion nor tonic, but something that could only be recognized by the Gods as a Divine Elixir.
"Humans have conquered death!"
Asclepius, he who heals even death.
"Resurrection Fraught Hades!"
The liquid was poured unbidden onto Peleus's corpse, the elixir spreading across visible wounds and mending them in real time. Rigid muscles slackened, bones snapping in place or regrowing, as a pale complexion grew ruddy.
Most of all, the rhythmic contractions of the chest, up and down, left little else to the imagination.
It was breath.
The dead do not breathe, and so-
"P-Peleus?" Thetis felt her knees grow weak as she stumbled forward, only sparing a glance at Caster who let her through.
There was no answer. She didn't expect one, rather, she quickly pressed her ear to his chest and wept at the steady sound of a heartbeat.
She cried; hugging Peleus close while everyone just stared in muted silence as thoughts and speculation abounded.
Caster retrieved his Traced staff, the bounded field dissipating along with it.
Caster paused when Rider suddenly placed a hand over his shoulder to convey gratitude.
Grunting, Caster glanced at Rider who only now realized that he hadn't been thinking clearly by bringing Caster directly into the spotlight.
Rider even looked guilty, causing the edges of Caster's lips to curl up in amusement.
It was already too late anyway.
Caster was annoyed, but he wasn't one to dwell over what had already transpired. That was Jason's thing.
Rider started to walk away, but it was a mistake to turn his back from a mother that was too caught up in emotion to care about anything else.
"Achilles!"
An arm wrapped around Rider's neck, pulling him down to where Thetis clung to him on one side, and Peleus on the other. She was hugging both of them tightly to her chest, as if too scared to let either of them go even if it looked unsightly.
"Uwaaa, t-thank goodness, hic, thank goodne..ss hic...D-Don't leave me..."
Rider's expression softened.
The gazes of the crowd meant nothing to Thetis. Many would have lost friends or family in the sudden attack, but Thetis was too caught up in her own happy ending to be mindful.
She was sobbing while laughing despite the destruction and grief that surrounded Orario.
Thetis wiped at her eyes, but the tears wouldn't stop.
.
.
Caster was immediately accosted when he tried to leave.
In the fleeting moments between silence and brewing chaos, Shirou saw a vision focused on Caster.
Just like now, Caster was surrounded by a crowd and looked upon with eyes that regarded him beyond the status of a mortal. Everywhere, eyes would follow him, the desperate, the damned, and the grieving. Beyond sentiment, the one at the center of it all never cared for praise or recognition. Rather, he continued with his practice no matter the patient that came his way.
He performed miracles, curing the incurable.
He mended wounds thought to be fatal.
He ventured into lands of plague and destitution to treat those abandoned.
In the end, that perseverance led to a single result:
A defiance of the natural order, and retaliatory strike of lightning that rendered all efforts moot.
The sun did not shine on that day. Not until a new constellation joined the heavenly bodies of the night sky.
/-/
Asclepius, a man elevated to the title of God of Medicine.
He who was worshiped and enshrined in a divine cult.
'…Yet he who had never cared for it.'
/-/
Was it a fate, bound to repeat?
The vision ended in Shirou's eyes almost as soon as it began, but the initial scene itself did not fade.
It was simply replaced with something more chaotic.
"- Hey, wait you!"
A crowd surrounded Caster, barring his path with a desperate zeal that threatened mutiny at the slightest misstep. Agitation fuelled by suffocating hope charged the air, and drew the aspiration of the grieving upon Caster in full.
An unseen pressure was emitted from the eyes; a concept like obligation. If one, and one alone, is granted power or a skill that could benefit society, what right did he or she have to covet it for himself?
A woman found herself standing in front of Caster. Dried blood, bruises, and white dust covered her body from a building that had collapsed over her family. She was the only survivor, her features hollowed and listless. Her eyes, though unfocused, stared at Caster with a blank intensity that was magnified by everyone else who had the same eyes.
'M-My daughter.'
'M-My son.'
'M-My friend.'
'M-My husband.'
'M-My wife.'
Words that were unsaid, yet implicitly understood from those who cradled bodies in their arms, or carried the agonizing and haggard appearance of loss.
Caster paused in his tracks, silently taking in the sight of the crowd, but saying nothing in wake of the raw emotions poured over him. The silence carried more weight than words.
Caster neither buckled nor caved, but looked back with an expression all too used to this atmosphere. In his life, and even in his death, people were always the same.
Caster inwardly sighed, and readied to defend himself.
Stifled by the silence and inaction, it was inevitable when the desperate reached out, their hands like claws, their grips steadfast, never to let go. They would sooner die than give up the only light they could see in darkness, and Caster was that light.
One moment Rider was held in Thetis's arms, and in the next, he stood up and appeared in front of Caster like a stalwart wall against the reaching crowd.
"Back off." Rider said, expression clouded by awkwardness and sympathy, but he was impelled to action regardless.
As the one who brought all this attention to Caster, Rider could not sit out and just watch. Unfortunately, he never considered how he who had benefited from Caster should not have been the one to advocate reason. It only emphasized the difference between him and them.
"Is this your intent, Thetis?" The crowd ignored Rider and rounded on Thetis behind him, much to Rider's stupor. "Monopoly?!"
Thetis's eyes widened as she let out a gasp when the attention focused on her.
She winced, not knowing what to say when she had already benefited from Caster while others had not. She hugged Peleus close as the crowd's agitation heightened, but the animosity directed at Thetis, though done in grief, was no doubt spurring Rider's fury.
Rider's expression was gradually tightening, restraint waning.
Iris, among all, could see that best. She moved beside Thetis, displaying an awkward solidarity as the two former affiliates of Orario's past powers entered the limelight. All in a bid to placate.
Rider took in a breath, but his features lost all friendliness and compassion.
Iris gave warning gestures to the crowd, but the desperate did not care.
Rider was someone they could not hope to pressure, but it was not the same for the head of his 'Familia,' who was wearing her emotions on a sleeve. She was no hardened warrior, or even in a state to effectively wield her authorities in the lower world.
- She was culpable.
"Look at us in the eyes, Thetis!" The people pleaded, their desperation and misery so blatantly clear. "People have died, and only you receive grace?!"
Thetis flinched.
Rider snapped.
"Bastards! Would you like to join them?!" Rider snarled, embers of his fury lingering within his eyes as he flared his magic energy into an intolerable pressure.
The crowd's knees buckled. Primarily composed of non-adventurers and city folk, many fell to the dirt in terror, and were hard pressed to stand back on their feet. It was like gravity had doubled, the force gradually crushing with the added divine nature of a demi-god's aura.
"Achilles, no!" Thetis grew appalled, her voice shaking Rider out of his stupor and returning reason, but the frustration did not easily abate.
He gnashed his teeth.
"I'm the one you're talking with, so leave her out of it!" Rider reeled in his magic energy and gave his final ultimatum, his tone hardening as he summoned his spear. "That is my only warning."
"…"
Barehanded, Rider had dismantled the monster running rampant through Orario. Armed, there was no telling what he could do if pushed over the edge.
Spectators, especially the higher-level ones who hoped the crowd could garner sympathy from Caster, had no choice but to intervene at the sudden turn of events.
"Alright everyone, calm down." Riveria tried to mediate, pushing her bangs down to hide the flickering emotions in her eyes. It was a lie to say she was unaffected, but a Familia captain must keep their composure among all else. "We have to be civil-"
"As if your Familia are any better! Look at her!"
A man pointed to someone from the Loki Familia who had quietly and stubbornly made her way to stand in front of Caster.
Tiona's attention was fixated on Caster. Her pupils were dilated, and a hand was subconsciously over her weapon.
Any fool could see that she would be one of many who would not agree to Caster's departure. Not after what they had just seen.
You see, emotion was a cloudy thing. Sunny on the best of days, and an irrational storm at the worst.
Tiona had watched her sister and Captain die and was still in denial of it. During that, a solution presented itself that she could not just let go. Even if that meant grabbing at the knees and clawing at the ankles.
Riveria's composure gradually crumbled away.
The wrong words could turn Tiona into an enemy at a moment's notice, and that didn't just go for her. It went for everyone who'd lost someone close, including Riveria herself.
Already, Riveria realized she lost the right to speak when her own intentions were steepled with ulterior motives…
A voice pierced through the tension.
"You all talk as if my services are free?" Caster finally spoke, shifting his gaze from left to right and watching as everyone continued to focus on him. "But that's not for you to decide, is it?"
It was like cold water was splashed over everyone's faces, yet Caster was being purely logical both for his character, and as a physician.
Caster was not in a rush. It was unrealistic for him to just go around Orario and cast his Noble Phantasm upon all the deceased. It was doable, but he lacked the proper facilities and tools to maintain proper treatment, and no doctor undergoes an operation without a degree of certainty. The dead can be raised, but in a vegetative state unable to eat or drink, his staff was what maintained their health.
His staff was exclusive, and although his Master could mitigate the problem of numbers, Caster could not maintain numerous copies of his staff working in tandem.
Nevertheless, Caster had already thought things out.
"I take appointments, but for now, this will be all," he said, nodding at Rider who tacitly understood.
The crowd would never let them go, so it was better to just not give them the choice.
In a flash of magic energy, Rider's chariot appeared, a strong wind blowing back the crowd.
Tiona stubbornly grounded herself in front of Caster by stabbing her Urga into the ground, but the pressure still swept her feet from under her. Only Riveria maintained her footing, but her mind was too rattled to act in time.
Rider swiped Thetis, Peleus, and Rider into his chariot, and rode it into the skies where they hovered above the stunned crowd.
"Where do we find you?!" Riveria yelled, having gathered her thoughts and processed Caster's words.
"You will know," Caster replied offhandedly.
"That doesn't fucking tell us anything!" Bete growled, while Tiona looked like she was judging if she could use the destroyed buildings as a spring board to reach the flying chariot.
She couldn't.
Rider was too skilled a charioteer to let her.
Meanwhile, Caster hummed, knowing he had already said what he had wanted to say. His research to perfect his elixir required various samples to further his study, so he was certain to keep his word. However, he was prudent enough to realize that if he left now, nothing would stop the crowd from issuing a manhunt for him.
Troublesome.
Caster frowned, but suddenly grew enlightened as the sigils of Apollo still lingered over him.
He thus employed an age-old strategy, an adage that had always withstood the test of time.
The objective of the weary is not on the side of the majority, but to avoid finding oneself as the joke of controversy.
-If controversy finds you, you make it find someone else.
Unwittingly, Caster finally acknowledged Apollo's presence in the crowd and nodded at him for a good second before gesturing Rider to withdraw in a burst of speed. Rider and his chariot, and everyone in it vanished at the blink of an eye across the horizon.
None had missed Caster's actions as he fell under intense scrutiny. Added with Caster's 'Falna,' a perfect picture was painted.
Everyone turned towards Apollo with unconcealed expectations.
'Sheep shit.'
Apollo's face gradually became cramped.
/-/
Easing away from the agitated crowd, Shirou, Archer, and Hestia were making their way back to the abandoned church with their heads lowered. It would be where Rider would eventually land his chariot anyway, and the three knew this. Rider had only ridden his chariot off into the horizon to throw off anyone trying to follow him. In fact, with Rider's speed it wouldn't be a surprise if he returned sooner than them.
From behind Archer at the lead, Shirou let out a small breath he didn't know he'd been holding while opening and closing his hands.
In the end, he hadn't intervened with Caster.
There had been no need to garner attention on himself just yet when his existence was the most vulnerable to scrutiny, but that reasoning wasn't fooling him.
It was all in hindsight. At the time, he'd fully intended on acting as he wasn't one to just watch his allies in duress, but was it because they shared a connection as Master and Servant, or was it due to Rider's sense of duty?
Rider had responded to Shirou's intent, and acted first. This was likely for the best.
Rider's presence at that moment was effectively the strongest deterrence as he'd established his capabilities by tearing a monster apart bare-handed. The wrath he'd displayed might as well have been Berserker's Mad Enhancement with the extent his fury charged the air.
In contrast, Shirou would have looked like a nameless adventurer without the influence to hold the crowd at bay. Inevitably, without a show of force, he wouldn't have been able to sway anyone. Hence, Rider had been the best choice.
Shirou had to remind himself that he couldn't be as impulsive as before. Maturity breeds wisdom, and even Arturia had grown out of her naïve tendencies of youth. He wasn't at her level of composure yet, but it didn't mean he couldn't try to better himself and emulate it.
If not Arturia, then Archer who maintained a level head and carried the demeanor of a legendary hero.
"It's clear up ahead," Archer said from the front, making sure there was no one that would care to spot them before proceeding ahead. "Keep your heads low and follow me."
From behind, Hestia was pursing her lips. She kept staring at Shirou and Archer, but ultimately lost focus when Bell was involved.
Bell had been Hestia's main objective, and now that he was safe and trailing behind her, she was admittedly relieved, but in the end, her vigilance only heightened at the additional tag-along.
Now hear her out.
Bestia knew- hehe, Bestia. She'd remember that one.
Hestia shook her head from dumb thoughts. She knew she had many questions both personal and as a Goddess regarding the events that transpired today, but somehow all of that was taking a back seat from the forefront of her mind.
It wasn't just Hestia, Shirou, and Archer retreating from the crowd.
'Why was some waitress from the Hostess of Fertility sticking to her Bell?'
Hestia's expression flickered with annoyance while shooting messy glares behind her. Bell was following with Syr in hand, escorting her back to the Hostess of Fertility which fortunately hadn't been damaged in the chaos.
Indeed.
Hestia pursed her lips and pouted with puffed cheeks filled with hot air ready to burst.
What was undoubtedly taking precedence in Hestia's mind was the presence of the hussy cozying up to her Bell…and Bell not shooing her off!
Hestia's priorities were as straight as they could possibly be, if not straighter.
Syr grew awkward under the attention, a hand nervously scratching at her cheek while focusing her gaze on Bell.
"Uhm, am I being a burden?" Syr muttered.
"No," / "Yes!"
Bell said one thing, Hestia said another, the two meeting eyes and Hestia huffing, daring him to fight her on this.
Bell was the one who agreed to escort Syr back to her inn, certainly not Hestia, Shirou, or Archer. Therefore, as far as Hestia was concerned, that Syr girl was an unwelcome competition for Bell's attention. Good riddance.
Bell made a face, not knowing how he should account for his Goddess's bluntness. Syr was a kind girl, helpful, and charming. She even consoled him when he was down from being unable to enter the dungeon without a Falna.
"Now, Hestia, just hear me out," Bell wet his lips.
"No." Hestia would hear none of it, petulantly blocking her ears with her hands and focusing ahead of her.
"Hestia." Bell ran up to his Goddess and clasped his hands to plead. "Please?"
"I said no!"
"But it's on the way," Bell murmured, shoulders drooping and features downcast. He slowed his pace and lagged somewhat behind, causing a stubborn Hestia to finally face him.
"Ack," she staggered at Bell's pitiful eyes, but spewed fire from her mouth in the same instance.
Syr kept gripping onto Bell's sleeve, expression naively innocent which infuriated Hesita more.
Shirou had the vaguest sense of deja-vu while he and Archer served as silent witnesses to the scene, but wisely they stayed out of it.
Shirou kept close to Archer with his best impression of a poker face. If a circle of inevitability dictated that only a single protagonist must endure the middle ground between bickering women, this time it would not be him.
Memories of Rin and Luvia abounded, both the fond and the shuddering.
"If I'm causing problems, I can leave," Syr offered hesitantly.
For Hestia, that was the preferable option, but something annoying called a conscience was impeding her response. Like Bell had said, the Hostess of Fertility was on the way. Moreover, just because the monsters had been dealt with didn't mean that a few smaller ones couldn't be hiding in the rubble.
"Damn it. This must be one of those vile schemes Aphrodite warned me of." Hestia bit down on her lower lip, but in the end relented with a single condition. "Fine. You can come, but you must stay a foot away from Bell at all times! In fact-"
Hestia took Bell's hand into her own and worked herself in between the both of them. The world was suddenly back in order, but Syr's expression looked annoyed.
"There." Hestia beamed even as Shirou and Archer sighed from up ahead.
The regal image of a noble Hestia in their minds was gradually crumbling.
"Thank you for your generosity, Goddess." Syr bowed her head politely, and didn't waste time arguing over the arrangement.
Rather, Bell's offhand embarrassment at Hestia for putting Syr through the ropes for no reason was rather endearing to her.
On the way, Syr stayed true to Hestia's arrangements only because her subtle gaze couldn't help but be drawn to Shirou and Archer in the lead. Traces of divinity were flickering in her eyes, her thoughts abounded by question after question that took away from the irritation of Babel Tower's collapse.
"The Hostess of Fertility should be up ahead," Archer eventually stated after several minutes of walking.
Archer rose up to his full height and waved towards Mia Grand and the other waitresses behind her. They were standing anxiously in front of the inn, likely waiting for Syr's return.
Mia Grand and the others looked relieved upon sighting Syr in the distance, and Syr knew this was her cue to part.
However, Syr took a moment longer than need be to return to Mia Grand and her worried coworkers. It wasn't long enough to be suspicious, but it was long enough for a couple thoughts to come to her mind as Archer led everyone away.
If Bell had been a fixation, the odd way Syr had looked at Shirou and the others bordered on an obsession.
"Syr! Thank goodness you're safe."
Mia Grand's shout snapped Syr out of her daze. She shook her head and answered, running to her fellow coworkers.
"I'm fine everyone! Bell protected me!"
A contemplative smile graced Syr's lips.
/-/
In a gale of wind and a burst of verdant light, Rider parked his chariot near the abandoned church and helped disembark his passengers. He led Thetis and Peleus to take refuge inside the church before he stopped Caster on his way back to the medical ward on the second floor.
Caster raised a brow, but Rider showed no hesitation.
"Sorry, I was hasty!" Rider apologized. His sincerity was conveyed in the firmness of his expression and the willingness to lower himself after committing a mistake.
Caster could have expected nothing less from Peleus's son, but this honour was something a doctor didn't need.
"Raise your head." Caster grunted, trying to do away with trivialities in order to resume his studies. Besides, there was one undeniable truth regarding Rider. "You're a warrior."
Rider snorted.
It was a compliment, but coming from Caster, it gave the impression of an insult on the lines of 'brute,' or 'muscle head.'
Regardless, Rider simply accepted. He'd lost his cool, and that meant his reasoning had indeed waned.
He beat a hand over his armor and swore a trustworthy vow. "You can count on my name. I'll surely return the favor."
Caster nodded, and Rider left, likely to check up on Thetis and Peleus.
In the meantime, Caster continued into his medical ward where an impatient pair of eyes were the first to greet him. All day they had been staring up at an empty white ceiling with nothing else to see that could distract the mind from wandering.
The only company came from the soft breathing of others who should have been dead, but were saved from even damnation.
It was still all too surreal that the eyes never closed for sleep.
Blinking was the most they did because of irrational fear that if they were closed for too long, they'd find out everything was just a dream.
"Hmm, do I need to prescribe eye drops?" Caster mused to himself, the pair of eyes twitching when Caster literally approached and poured saline solution onto the pupils.
Blinking back tears from the sting, the owner of the eyes, a certain woman resigned herself to her fate.
She supposed she should say thank you as the saline solution relieved an itch she couldn't hope to reach, but what use was it if she couldn't move her mouth?
Caster moved onto other work, leaving only the woman's gratitude in her mind.
If only she could talk, at least the time would pass faster, but she was stuck in a vegetative state. The irony of the situation was not lost on her, but she found entertainment in quietly observing Caster work.
There was an almost soothing yet meticulous nature to it that naturally drew the woman in. If nothing else, Caster was earnest in his duty as a doctor and his research to pursue medicine. It was a setting in which he shined his best, his sunken eyes alive with passion, and complexion ruddy.
When not staring at him observing a reaction of liquids in a decanter-like vial and jotting down notes, the woman would be stuck staring at his soft features for hours. It was to the point she felt confident enough to state the number of eyelashes he had, or that he had a habit of frowning whenever an experiment turned out poorly.
…To think a day like this would come for a woman like her nearly made the woman chuckle in cynicism, only to realize that she couldn't.
Given her situation, she should have just let this go, but this feeling of being trapped in her own body was starting to take its toll on her.
She'd seen Caster get accosted by Rider before disappearing to who knows where for a couple hours before returning. Judging from all the noise she'd been hearing, the woman surmised that something substantial must have happened outside the medical ward. Curiosity was killing her, but Caster wasn't the type to babble about unnecessary things.
He wasn't one to talk during the midst of his work, and often, he lost himself in his research.
Time began to tick away, and without a clock, the woman could only base the passage of time on intuition, the lighting from the sun, and the movement of shadows.
The lack of sunlight, and the fact that Caster lit a lamp meant it was approaching the evening, meaning that several hours should have passed.
"Sleep," Caster suddenly muttered in the tranquil din before the woman realized he was addressing her.
Even talking with her, his back was facing her while he scribbled over several pages of notes he'd documented for the day. The sound of rustling paper and the dabbing of an ink pen echoed as the backdrop.
The woman blinked, and Caster took that as a sign asking for elaboration.
"Insomnia should not be one of your symptoms." Caster said, piling his notes into a stack which he organized to the side. "The body is not meant to remain awake longer than it should. Extreme cases may lead to impaired judgment and light-headedness."
The woman blinked again.
Caster sighed. "Shall I concoct a sleeping potion?"
The woman blinked rapidly in protest.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Caster grumbled about uncooperative patients not knowing what was good for them.
Eyeing Caster cautiously, the woman was ready to stop herself from swallowing if Caster tried to force feed her a sleeping potion. Her observations revealed Caster would really do such a thing if it was for a patient's benefit. After all, she'd already been subject to his brand of doctoring.
Ever vigilant, the woman was the first to sense an intruder in the medical ward. Vegetative state or not, the woman had been one the highest leveled adventure's in Orario, and her senses were not dull.
Caster, in contrast, was a doctor before all else. Lost in his research and in the boundary of his own territory creation, his guard wasn't even up to begin with. Not with Rider and the others acting as the first line of defense.
The woman's pupils dilated and she began to blink rapidly in warning, relieved when Caster took the hint and-
Caster, that fucker, gave her more eyedrops!
'Behind you! Fool, behind you!'
Inwardly hissing, it wasn't until Caster found a knife under his neck that he realized what the woman had been trying to convey to him.
"Don't move."
Caster sighed, his gaze arbitrarily making eye contact with none other than Ryuu Lion outside of her maid-outfit, and in a rogue's attire. Hunter trousers were worn on her legs while straps held a green cloak and half mask over her face.
"If this is your way of drawing a doctor's attention, then it's fatally flawed." Caster muttered, annoyed. He raised his hand towards the knife at his neck, but paused as Ryuu pressed the blade over his skin.
"I said don't move!" Ryuu warned, expression icy the moment she entered the medical ward and laid eyes on the occupants within.
Silently, she'd moved to subdue Caster before all else.
Her breathing was erratic as her gaze focused on one part of the ward where Caster had laid down the Astrea Familia members.
Caster leisurely raised his hands to show there was nothing in them, but Ryuu was nonetheless nervous with the simple fact that Rider was likely nearby and could appear at a moment's notice.
She had to be quick among all else. She could apologize later.
Ryuu had a script in mind, but Caster was clearly treading outside of it.
She scowled.
"The fact that you're here in my medical ward means that someone let you in despite knowing I'd be annoyed." Caster was acting at his own pace. "But the fact that my spell wards didn't go off is a point in your favor. They only detect hostility."
Ryuu knit her brows, before shaking her head and tightening her grip over her dagger.
"No one let me in!" She insisted.
Caster ignored her as if certain of his deductions.
"Rider? No, it can't be. He's still feeling guilty. Then Archer, or the Master?" Caster mused.
"I said no one let me in!"
Ryuu snarled at the feeling of being belittled.
Caster furrowed his brows in thought as he fell into a conundrum. "Hmm, but neither are inconsiderate people."
Therefore, the question becomes what could compel his allies to forego action despite Caster's expense?
"S-Sorry!"
Bell rushed in, and Ryuu's frigid features reddened in mortified alarm as she was caught red handed.
"Ms. Ryuu, what are you doing?! You said you were just checking!"
Bell stiffly bowed his head and Caster suddenly found his validation.
"Ah, that would do it."
His aunt, Hestia, was a pushover for Bell; and Bell was the one who suggested housing everyone. None of his allies would be able to intervene.
One does not bite the hand that feeds you, but it says nothing for the owner of that hand.
In short-
Caster deadpanned.
"I'm living with simpletons."
There was utterly no tension in the tone.
Meanwhile, Ryuu stared hard at her dagger to make sure it wasn't blunt.
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