#i like seeing da vinci and romani being seen in this light...

[mako-neexu]

i bought an issue today, here is my 4 favorite pages from the newest chapter on salem manga

[lo-55]

Shattered Chains of Fate Ch. 4

Loss.jpeg

Night has fallen on Chaldeas. Though the globe still casts its red glow across the room, the doom of humanity, it’s too late and Ichigo has been awake for too long for the grief to wash across him like so many waves right now.

He’s summoned another servant today, with the help of technology and Saint Quartz and Cu Chulainn, of course. It was maybe  his fault that he now had two celtic servants. One a caster with vicious loyalty but a habit of hitting on girls, and another that avoided women like the plague and followed Ichigo like the most desperate of puppies.

So now he has four servants to keep up with, and so he’s  tired .

They go off to the next singularity soon. Somewhere in England, in the late nineteenth century. He should really be resting. Getting ready for the next fight. Letting Olga Marie try an fail to teach him even the simple but powerful magecraft that she and Cu specialize in.

Instead, Ichigo finds himself standing in the doorway to the Chaldeas observation room, looking not at the ominous depiction of their future, but the man standing in front of it.

Romani Archiman. Dr. Roman. His shoulders are tense and drawn and his hair is out of its usual pony tail. He looks as tired out as Ichigo feels. When no one’s watching, right now, his green eyes are dull and his humor has faded. When had he last slept? When had any of them?

Mash kept reminding him how important it was to get proper sleep, and maybe it was easier for demi-servants than it is for humans. He doesn’t know. He never thought to ask.

Ichigo comes to a stop beside him.

It is a testament to his exhaustion that Roman doesn’t even notice Ichigo enough to react until he’s been standing there for nearly a full minute. When he does he jumps, startling and in the space between breaths Roman’s demeanor shifts. His eyes crinkle with a smile and he turns to Ichigo, a dozen times more cheerful than he’d been mere seconds before. It’s a startling contrast. From one face to another in less time than it took Ichigo to even realize he’d seen him looking so serious.

Roman was not a serious man. He had a tendency to jump around and get overly excited over seemingly nothing at all. Like cake, and slacking off and a blog he’s obsessed with that is, somehow, still posting online even though the world outside is nothing more than ash and fading memory. Ichigo personally suspects that it’s a prank put together by Da Vinci.

That artist is something of nuisance.

“Ichigo!” Roman’s smile is hard to spot as a fake, when Ichigo doesn’t know to look for it. Now that it is, it’s still hard but he can see the slant to his eyes, the tiny purse of his mouth. Ichigo is no genius, but he likes to think Roman is his friend. And so he does his best to learn to read him.

“Did you need something?” Roman asks, peering curiously at him. Something under Ichigo’s skin hums and crawls. The hiding sets his teeth on edge. Maybe it's because Ichigo himself is such a straight forward person, but he doesn’t much chair for people who hide like this.

And maybe it’s hypocritical, but at the moment he, frankly, doesn’t give a shit.

“You need to sleep,” Ichigo says, his jaw set in a stubborn line.

“Oh! Ah, I just have a little more work to do here before I can do that. See, Sonya wasn’t feeling well earlier and-”

“Roman,” Ichigo grabs his elbow and watches the man jump, like he’s been shocked. He acts like no one’s ever laid a hand on him before in his life.  “Go to sleep. We’re not going to a singularity tomorrow. You can afford rest.”

Still, Roman’s smile turns, tilts, like he’s confused, and this close Ichigo realizes that he’s thrumming with anxiety.

  No wonder he can’t sleep.  

Ichigo is not a genius. And he’s not the best at offering comfort, especially not at times like this. This is a time when they have to step up, when there is no other choice for them than to stand together, and he can’t say he’s entirely sympathetic with the doctor.

But he pulls him, by the elbow, not giving him time to argue as he manhandles him towards the hallway that leads to the dorm rooms. Most of them are empty now, their occupants frozen in cryogenic coffins. Anyone who isn't working is frozen, in fact. All of the staff that had died during the initial explosion had been dragged out, sometimes in pieces, and laid in the snow and ice outside the facility. It would preserve them for the time being. And with Ichigo around, so too were the ghosts.

It had started with Marie, but by now most of the dead staff have started to drink in his reitsu, to supplement themselves. If they take enough, they can even interact with the world around them, though it leaves Ichigo exhausted if too many do it at once. It’s like vampires, but they're eating his soul instead of drinking his blood. And in any case, it keeps the chains in the chest from eating their way up.

Marie had explained, very vaguely because her family specialized in astronomy not ghosts, that if those chains vanished entirely they would have less ghosts and more ghouls. Which was bad.

They pass twelve of them on the way to their destination.

“Ichigo, please,” Roman tries to tug his arm out of Ichigo’s hand, but out of the two of them it’s no contest who the stronger one is. “I have work-”

“You’re no good if you work yourself to death!” Ichigo snaps. He closes the door behind them with a tap to the pad on the wall and tosses Roman bodily onto the bed.

Roman scrambles to sit, blinking at their surroundings in confusion.

It’s almost the same as the last time they’d been there, during their first meeting ever. The only difference is that there’s a pair of jeans in the corner and a picture of his sisters and his mom on the desk under the window now.

“This is…”

“My room,” Ichigo finishes for him. He runs his fingers through his hair, his customary scowl in place. This was probably stupid but-

“You said you come here to relax, right? To goof off and slack on your duties. Well, relax. Marie’s still around so it’s not like you’re the acting director anymore.”

Roman gapes at him like a fish.

“But- But-”

“Shut up,” Ichigo orders tersely. He’s already second guessing his initial reaction but he wasn’t gonna leave Roman there to stare at their doom and he doesn’t have the damn poetry of words to convince him that they’ll rise above their challenges. “And go to sleep. Chaldea will be here in the morning, and so will the past.”

Roman slowly gathered his limbs together underneath him. He looks at Ichigo, confusion written across his face and it’s all Ichigo can do not to snap at him. Roman is a doctor and grown ass man. He should know better than to neglect himself.

To be fair, Goat Face is also and doctor and grown ass man, and Ichigo doesn’t trust him to so much as feed himself.

“O-kay,” Roman says at last, drawing the words out and his face finally softens, with fondness and truth. Some of the lie slips away. “Okay. But what about you, Ichigo? You need to sleep too. You’re supporting multiple servants and multiple ghosts, now.”

Ichigo hadn’t even thought about that.

He shrugs, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I dunno. I can just sleep in a chair or something.”

“No!” Roman shakes his head. “No, that’s not acceptable. As your doctor I have to advise against it.”

“ ‘as your doctor’? What the hell kinda crap are you going on about?” Ichigo scowls deeper.

“You need to sleep, in a real bed. Honestly. We can just share.”

“Excuse me?”

“Like a sleep over in a movie!”  

“... You were homeschooled, weren’t you?”

“Eh?!”

“Fine, whatever,” Ichigo was too tired to deal with this. In the morning he’ll kick himself, and maybe Roman, but for now all he can think of is turning the lights off and getting some sleep, at last.

And if it’s easier to sleep when the living are next to him and not when he’s haunted only by figurative ghosts instead of literal ones, no one will even be the wiser.

*

It’s not so much a house as it is a room where he can simply exist.

It’s small, single story and a basement that still smells faintly like lightning and copper and a strange magecraft. One that he can’t quite place, one that he’s never encountered before.

Ichigo doesn’t ask about the old owners and Waver Velvet, who gets pissed every time Ichigo doesn’t call him something stupid like Lord Elmeloi the fifth or whatever, hadn’t volunteered any information.

Ichigo spends a few minutes looking around. There’s a fold out couch in the living room and the kitchen is stocked with none perishables and frozen meats. The bedroom has runes carved above the door and the window, offering Ichigo a modicum of protection from what might be out there. There’s a bed big enough for his whole family and then some, and the closet has a few changes of clothes. Three suits, of all things, and a familiar mystic code.

White and black, it’s a body suit he’d been given early on. His Chaldea combat uniform.

The material feels like silk but Ichigo knows better than to think it is. It’s tough enough to hold up to arrows and fire and more than he wants to think of. He’d only taken blunt force trauma when he’d worn it. There were three spells woven into the fabric, and Ichigo wonders what it will be like to wear it again before he dismisses the idea.

Ichigo wonders just what Waver had thought Ichigo was going to be doing here, that he needed this.

He goes to the basement.

It’s bigger than he would have expected, and there are weapons lined on the walls. Spears, swords, and bows, and a range setup with dummies stuffed with straw.

There are no windows, to hide him from curious eyes. Any non-mags who finds out about magic is sentenced to death, and that is part of why Ichigo hasn’t told his family about his escapades. His wars.

Kon walks past him at the foot of the stairs. Along another wall is a shelf built into the stone foundations, filled with texts and materials that Ichigo can recognize instantly.

He’d never been good at spell work on his own, but he can use the magic equivalent of chemistry just fine. And, on top of that, after Babylonia a certain goddess had magnanimously taken time out of her ever so busy schedule to teach him the graceful art of gem magic.

Or rather, a stuck up deity who Ichigo had bribed to be his friend had taught him how to shove magic energy into rocks he could throw at people to blow them the fuck up.

Combined with the runes that Cu had spent years drilling into his head, Ichigo could survive a regular mage battle fine on his own, if he had time to prepare. And war has made him paranoid, so he starts taking stock of everything that he’d been given.

Evil bones, dragon scales, eternal gears, crystals of several types and a mystic gunpowder. A few feathers, and a jar of scarabs. Chalk, too, and strong thread that’s more like fishing line.

There’s also, definitely for the best, a fire extinguisher in the corner.

“What kinda place is this, Ichigo?” Kon finally asks. He pokes at a jar of red liquid on top of the thick desk that Ichigo has been given. It’s all and all not very personalized, but for Ichigo’s purposes it’s more than enough. Especially given that Ichigo’s purpose was to sit somewhere where his dad wasn’t. Where he didn’t have to think about the spirits or the hollows or the shinigami, however briefly that might be.

“It’s just a house, Kon. A… friend of mine owns it. Think of it as our secret hide out,” Ichigo waves his hand around, idly.

“A secret hide out huh… I get it!” Kon bounced towards him, his soft paws scuffing lightly on the concrete floor. “This is a place to bring girls!”

Ichigo snorts and punts the plushie towards the stairs. “What girl is gonna hand around a creapy basement with you, huh? What are you a serial killer?”

“More like a lady killer! Or I could be, if I just had a body to call my own. Hey, you said I could borrow yours, remember!”

“I didn’t forget. Sorry, we’ve been busy,” Ichigo steps over him and climbs back up to the totally normal looking house above, with Kon on his heels. He lets out a soft breath. It feels too warm above ground, but Ichigo opens the windows and lets the sunlight pour inside upon his skin, lets the wind pull at his hair and dance through the drapes. “I’ll let you have it tonight, okay?”

“But nothing in this town ever happens at night!” Kon whines. When Ichigo sits on the couch he climbs up to flop across his lap, pouting.

“Just try to stretch your legs, and you can have some time on the weekend, deal?”

Kon considers him suspiciously before he nods, once.

“Deal.”

They sit together in the sunlight, in the foreign house, with the spring air cooling them until his phone goes off. Rukia, of course, because work doesn’t give him much of a break.

It’s alright. Sometimes a few minutes to breath is enough.

* *

Rukia Kuchiki is  not the first Shinigami that Ichigo has ever encountered.

There was another, a man who had taken to following their group around North America.

They met in 1783. He was… strange. And admittedly, it was a strange situation that they had found each other in. He’s pretty sure Shinigami don’t normally hang around Alcatraz, but what does he know? The island is infested with all sorts of monsters and guarded by one of the oldest heroes of written legend.

Beowulf. Powerful and vicious, battle hungry but not necessarily cruel. He’d even let them pass into the fortress after just a ‘test’ fight against a dragon.

They, or rather Ichigo, find the Shinigami with Sita, sitting next to her in the deepest prison of Alcatraz. Florence Nightingale is somewhere above them, charging headlong after him with Rama strapped to her back. He’s in bad shape, his curse slowly consuming his body, and Sita is their only chance to save him. Even without Beowulf the prison is crawling with dangerous creatures of all types.

Ichigo finds Sita first.

But she is not unguarded and Ichigo curses himself for leaving his servants upstairs to handle the chaos there.

Ichigo is more than capable of handling celtic soldiers, who fall beneath his vicious attacks and his steadily strengthening magic. The more he uses it the stronger it gets, and his body is adapting quickly to the strain it puts upon him. It’s only been a year or so and he can already go toe to toe with most average mages. A simple soldier with a spear is well within his abilities.

This man, Ichigo can tell with a second of inspection, is not.

He doesn’t have the same energy as a servant. And he’s dressed in clothes that aren’t celtic or american. He’s dressed like he’s from japan.

A black kosado and hakama. All black, with curly brown hair that’s nearly past his shoulders and brown eyes that almost fool Ichigo into thinking that he’s harmless.

But people are more themselves when they aren’t being watched, and this man, older than Ichigo and, he realizes, most certainly dead, has no idea he’s been seen.

He looks at Sita like she’s some kind of puzzle, like some game that he doesn’t know all the rules to. Ichigo stays a moment, and watches him watch her until Sita realizes that she has a visitor.

“Oh!”

She leans forwards on the bed, and right through the stranger, who half turns to look at Ichigo over his shoulder. He’s not interested in him though, not really. He can see it.

Roman is hiding something.

Something important, and he doesn’t know what but he does know now how to recognize when someone is hiding something. Even if it wasn’t for Roman, it’s not only heroes he’s summoned. There is an assassin class, and his heroes have their flaws. Their secrets. Each singularity is it’s own mystery and they are full of liars and tricksters and more than ever before Ichigo has a bone deep appreciation for people who are plain and true.

Ichigo crosses his arms over his chest and stares right at the ghost.

“You’re Sita, right? Rama’s wife?”

“My Lord Rama? Is he here?” she rushes to her feet, all red hair and fire the flutters like an ember on the wind. Not like Rama, who burns anything in his path if he must.

Ichigo nods, once. He lets the stranger inspect him too. There’s the smallest amount of stubble around his chin, like he hasn’t shaved in a while. And he’s armed. Saber class.

“Yes. But he’s injured. We need your help to heal him.”

Ichigo finally breaks eye contact with the ghost. He steps backwards and points his fist at the lock on the door. Sita hurries to brace herself and he shoots it off with a vicious Gandr. When he uses them on living things, he’s lucky to stun them. On inanimate objects, they blow up. He doesn’t get it, but that’s his life. Becuase fuck him, obviously.

“Yes!” Sita agrees eagerly. Her smile is equal parts soft and fierce. “If I can be of use to him, then I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Okay,” Ichigo stands away from the prison door. “Stand back,” he orders, and she steps back into the cell, against the door. The ghosts watches him raise his hand, holding up his fist at the door. The mystic code hums across his skin and he feeds his own mana into it. There’s a flash of pale blue and red and the lock explodes in shards of steel, just as they’re joined by others.

Rama comes stumbling around the corner, his fine clothes stained with blood and his body frayed at the edges. He looks bad. The hold in his chest is starting to gape and glow gold at the edges.

Ichigo hears the ghost suck in a sharp breath and he takes a step towards Rama before Ichigo cuts him off, blocking him from his friends. Sita rushes to him.

“Sita!” Rama reaches out around him and Ichigo can’t understand how he’s even on his feet. How deep does his love for his wife run? “Damn it, my vision is blurry. I can’t see anything…”

“I’m here!” Sita falls to his side as Rama collapses, finally succumbing to his festering wound. Ichigo watches, his hands clenched at his sides as Mash explains about Cu Chulainn Alter, and his Gae Bolg.

Ichigo stands back, with his Cu at his side. The caster leans on his staff, watching Sita gently stroke her husbands hair. They will never meet, and it drives pain into Ichigo’s chest on their behalf.

“Well. Fuck.” Cu says bluntly.

Ichigo snorted. “Yeah. That sums it all up pretty well.”

The ghost tries to take another step, but Ichigo catches his hand.

He spins, his brown eyes wide. “You- You can see me.”

“Well yeah. No shit,” Ichigo says aloud. Caster peers at him curiously, but Ichigo just taps the corner of his eye. A ghost, and Cu nods and leans back again. Even amongst his heroic spirits he’s an oddity. Not all of them can see ghosts. Only the ones that attack them, and more than once has Ichigo had to forcibly guide them into striking true.

Cu is a bit better. He hasn’t told him explicitly but Ichigo suspects that Scathach is somehow related to the afterlife. The land of shadows sounds like it should be full of ghosts.

Ichigo let’s go when the ghost pulls at his hand, peering at Ichigo. It’s funny, watching someone pull a metaphorical mask onto their face. This one is a kind person, someone who’s harmless, but Ichigo can still see them. He is armed and his eyes betray him, as eyes so often do.

Sharp and intelligent. Like a cat watching him.

“I suppose you do have some reitsu. But to be able to see me, is still not an easy feat.”

Ichigo frowns. “I do? It feels like all of it’s being sucked out by everyone at Chaldea…”

“Excuse me?” he blinks at Ichigo a couple of times.

“Nevermind. There’s just some people who are sucking up my reitsu so they don’t disappear, you know?”

And now even the ghost was looking at him like he’s crazy. Great. Awesome.

The glittering glow of Sita’s body dissolving interrupts them, and Ichigo turns to face his servants with a hard clench of his jaw. Rama slowly sits up, sorrow over taking his features. Even in a holy grail war, he will never meet his wife again.

“We should go,” Ichigo says quietly. “We still have to go east. We have to finish what we started. Rama, are you ready?” Ichigo goes to him, and offers him his hand. Rama takes it and stands.

“Yes. My body does not falter. I renew my vows now, Master of Chaldea. I, Rama, King of Kosala, will fight at your side. I shall not be defeated again. This I swear!” He bows his head to Ichigo, this proud, powerful king.

“Yes,” Liz steps up, a noble countess with her chin lifted and her eyes defiant. “We will win, for you our master!”

“We will rip out the root of the infection,” Nightingale agrees, smacking her hands together. Her red eyes burn with a ferocity that would make lesser men tremble.

Mash nods, shortly and firmly. “I will put my faith in Master, and follow his lead.”

“You already know that I will strike down your enemies,” Medusa adds, her long hair swaying with the promise of poisons.

“Lead the way, Master,” Cu claps his shoulder and Ichigo looks each of the mover in turn. Finally, he speaks.

“I swear I told you to use my damn name. You’re all so dramatic.”

Cu laughs at him, and Ichigo starts the long walk. From Alcatraz to Washington.

Only now they have a tag along. The ghost insists on following them along, because apparently Ichigo and the singularity is dangerous enough to warrant his attention. Which is  great .

“What do I call you then,” Ichigo asks, side-eying his newest companion.

He tilts his head, sending brown waves spilling across his shoulders.

“Mmmm. Kyo,” he says after a minute.

“...That is  not a real name.”

* * *

“So, your friend, the Lord, how do you know him?”

Ichigo looks up at Rukia. She’s standing over his bed that night. Chad is asleep in the corner, passed out after a study session run long.

“Who, Waver? We met a while ago.”

Ichigo scoots back on the bed, until his back is to the wall and he can sit, criss cross, looking at her. Waver had come to town earlier, on business as much as to see Ichigo. They’d talked, briefly, in front of the school earlier until Ichigo had had to rush off. Not before Waver had extracted a promise to meet up with him a few days in the future. Apparently there was some weird shit going on in town that had nothing to do with Ichigo and his friends, but was now his problem because he was a mage.

A two bit one, but still.

“How?” Rukia asks, narrowing her eyes at him if only slightly.

Ichigo considers telling her everything, but it’s a bit too much to believe.

‘I time travelled for three years trying to stop the incineration of humanity and I met him as a demi servant and his old servant because he fought for a holy grail and oh yeah did I mention i punched god?’

Yeah, no. Even shinigami didn’t go time travelling. He’d checked. It didn’t help that most shinigami were so out of touch with the living world that even three hundred years ago they didn’t know much about human magics or the goings on. Before the fall of the age of gods humans and spirits had been closer, had almost lived together. Ereshkigal had told him some of how it worked, four thousand years ago, but he’s certain things have changed. For one, she is clearly not in charge of the afterlife anymore. Which begs the question of just where she had gone.

To the reverse side of the world? Or somewhere else entirely?

“After Chaldea,” he says instead, picking over his words with as much care as he can, “After the explosion of Chaldea, their patrons, the Clock Tower in London, sent someone to see what was happening. And to take stock in the situation. Waver was the one that they sent.

“Apparently he gets the ‘problem children’ a lot.” And that was what they were, really. He and Mash, they were just teenagers. Even now. Eighteen….

Eighteen is not enough years for what he’s seen, what he’s done. For the choices he’s had to make.

“No wonder they sent him for you,” Rukia snorts at him, but there’s a smile at the corner of her mouth and Ichigo fights not to return it. Instead he scowls, as he usually does.

“Yeah, yeah,” he waves his hand dismissively at her. “I’m going to get a drink. Do you wanna come with?”

“No,” she shakes her head and he stands and leaves her in his bedroom. His dad is in the clinic. He’s been avoiding Ichigo for weeks, ever since that day in the cemetery and Ichigo is fine with that. He’s still angry.

Yuzu and Karin are up in their own room, and the lower half of the house is quiet. Ichigo pours himself some water and takes a few minutes to calm himself. Waver has him on edge, and more than that…

Something is coming. He doesn’t know what, yet, but his instincts are hissing in the back of his mind, louder and louder ever since he took Rukia’s power as his own. Something is something. Something dangerous. Something deadly. Some change he has no idea how to see or stop.

His cup is covered in a thin layer of frost.

Ichigo stares down at it.

The cold spreads across the surface, white eating over the glass. Elegant swirls of frozen leaves spread out from his finger tips.

He pours out the water and puts the cup away, trying not to think about it.

Because even with Ichigo, even with magic and ghosts and all the other shit in his life, he’s never frozen anything. He isn’t fucking Jack Frost.

He goes back upstairs, trying not to think about it, and helps Rukia rouse Chad to send him on his way home. There’s work to be done. A smarter man would ask about the ice. Would mention it to Rukia. Would wonder if the two aren’t connected.

And Ichigo is not stupid, but he’s maybe a little too used to strange things happening and learning the why at a later date.

* * * *

The acrid smell of burning flesh sears into his mind. Into his soul. Choking him, smoke curled into his lung like an ash made cat that tears claws into the soft tissue.

It’s red. Red, red, red everywhere. Fire singes along the edges of reality. The earth hovers, red and burning and doomed from the start. Doomed from babylonia, doomed from the present and the now.

Mash lays in front of him. Crushed, broken. No shield, no armor, just a dead little girl, reaching for his hand.

Yuzu and Karin are sprawled apart from eachother and they never should be, never should be, because they are twins, they were born together nothing should ever tear them apart-

Isshin. Isshin and his mother, they lie beside a river that runs with fire instead of water. Bloody, broken, staring at Ichigo.

The air shifts and the glittering shine of gold spins around him with a scream. His servants, his friends, cut down and torn apart and left only as glitter that roars their betrayal at him. At his failure. He is the master, the center of power, but he cannot fight on his own. He is powerless in the face of the hulking monster that drags itself out of the rubble to kill him.

He takes a step back, fear clogging his throat. Lahmu crawl across the broken rubble of Fuyuli, of Uruk, of Rome and London and Camelot. His foot hits something. He doesn’t look down, he doesn’t need to. Orange and green and white. White and gold and black. Romani, laid to waste.

He is helpless. Powerless. His command spells are gone and he has failed. Lost.

Fire roars at his throat and-

He’s punched in the face by the smell of perfume.

Ichigo looks up at the sky. Pale blue, a few whisps of cloud floating across it.

He drinks in air. Air that tastes like flowers instead of ashes and death.

Something soft touches his shoulder and it’s only familiarity that keeps him from lashing out.

Lavender eyes peer down at him. It’s his hand on his shoulder. His Caster.

His Merlin.

“Wha- I’m in a dream?” Ichigo sits, slowly, and Merlin helps him up. A warm hand on his shoulder and guilt in his eyes.

“Yes. I’m sorry,” Merlin shakes his head, mournfully. “I normally call you here before they can set in, but I was distracted this time…”

“Distracted,” Ichigo repeats dumbly. “Wait. So every time you’ve brought me here, it’s because I was going to have a nightmare?”

“I did tell you, once. Incubi are made of dreams. And I, as half of one, gain my sustenance out of them as well. Bad dreams are sour, so I don’t want yours to-”

“Cut the crap,” Ichigo elbows him lightly in the side. “Just tell me the truth. We’re friends and you don’t want to see me suffering.”

Merlin can only stare at him for a second. “... I always forget how brazen you are, Ichigo. You never have minced your words. You really consider me a friend, do you?”

“Of course I do! And don’t try to give me any shit about we can’t be friends because I’m human. I’m not anymore, remember. I’m a shinigami.”

“Yes, yes. And isn’t that ironic? I, unable to die, and you a creature made of death.”

“You make a bad philosopher. Stick to being a dreamer, Merlin.”

Merlin merely laughs at him, a softness in the wind, and Ichigo sits with him until the sun comes up outside his bedroom window.

* * * * *

What was with people and coming in through his window?

Ichigo stares at the man, Urahara, that is sitting on his window sill. Kon is having a minor panic attack in his arms, flailing around. Rukia has left. Vanished with only a note to tell them not to look for her and if she thinks Ichigo will listen to it, she doesn’t know him very well at all. Ichigo has never been one to abandon his friends, even if they don’t explain what’s happening or why they’re in trouble.

Ichigo will go after her, but first he needs to figure out how to turn into a shinigami again. Kon is no help, he’s too busy running around for Ichigo to dig his pill form out of his plush body. And this man…

His timing is too good. Is he some kind of clairvoyant, like Gilgamesh? Or just a man with far too many cards in his hand to play?

Whatever the case, Ichigo is strangely glad that he’s here. Without Rukia’s glove and with Kon losing his mind, Ichigo needs help to get out of his body.

“So you’ll pop me out of my body,” Ichigo says, eying his cane, “Just because Rukia is a regular customer. Is your shop really that slow?” He definitely has too much time on his hands.

“That’s right!” the man practically sings and Ichigo could swear for an instant his eyes were lavender instead of grey. He’s like a strange mix of Merlin and Da Vinci.

And isn’t  that a scary thought?

“...Yeah, okay. I’d appreciate the help.”

Kisuke pushes his cane through Ichigo’s chest and he pops out the other side like a weasel.

Ichigo carefully lays his body in bed and covers it up. It’s almost two in the morning and normal humans are asleep, including his family. He picks a few small rocks out of his school bag, simple stones with straight lines carved onto them. He eyes Kisuke, still sitting in the window.

“When I get back from this, I’ve got a couple of questions for you,” he says, marching up to Kisuke, who flicks his fan out over his mouth. Only his eyes are visible and those are still hidden in shadow.

“Oh? I can’t imagine what you’d ask a simple shop keeper like me…”

“Plenty,” Ichigo says plainly. He plants his hand next to Kisuke’s head and leans over him. “But for now. Get out of my room.”

He pushes him straight out the window, and onto the lawn beneath. Ichigo figures that he’s probably tough enough to take a little tumble. He trusts Kisuke to be fine before he jumps out the window after him. He needs to get to Rukia. He can feel it. Something is happening.

His instincts hiss that he needs to  move .

He follows the feeling of coolness and wind and snowflakes that he can almost see. It’s joined by another feeling, something clean and pale and just a little bit angry, thin threads that wrap together to be stronger.. Uryuu.

He needs to hurry.

Ichigo sprints across the city, pouring on his speed. Faster and faster until he swears he’s running on the wind.

He turns the corner.

Uryu on the ground, Rukia not far. Two Shinigami. Red hair and black. The red head with his sword lifted above Uryu’s head, ready to strike.

Ichigo swings his sword off his back and the streets cracks and erupts beneath the sudden force of his power. It throws the shinigami, Renji Abarai, off of his feet.

“Huh? Who are you? Who’s orders are you here on?” he barks.

Ichigo ignores him. He touches Uryu’s shoulder, making sure he’s still in one piece, and pours Mana into his human body. It should be enough to jump start his own healing process. Mana transference is about all Ichigo is good for anyhow.

“What did you…?” Uryu looks up at him, bewildered.

“Later,” Ichigo says. He blocks the blow that comes from behind, bracing himself against the ground.

“I get it,” Renji pushes down hard, his eyes wild. He feels like fire and venom and bone. “You’re the one that stole Rukia’s powers! Because of you, she’s going to be executed!”

Ichigo’s blood runs cold. Rukia. Executed? For helping him? For giving him the power to protect his friends, his family?

No. He will not allow it.

“That’s bullshit!” Ichigo throws him back, power surging through him. His own anger and the energy that Rukia has given him. Cold coursing through his veins. “Rukia was just helping, she saved us! Isn’t that what your job is?!”

“She broke the rules is what she did. What’s a few human lives to a shinigami? She should have never done that.”

A few human-

Ichigo throws himself at Renji with vicious abandon. Renji is fast but Ichigo is strong, Rukia is strong, and it’s her power that lets him swing his sword with utmost surety.

Still, it’s hard to keep up when Renji won’t shut up. Something about menos and children and then he asks Ichigo’s swords name.

He frowns and racks his brain. That feels like something he should know. On the tip of his tongue. His sword. Rukia’s sword. Does it have a name?

Renji takes his silence for ignorance and he’s not wrong.

He puts his sword in front of him and it glows faintly red. The taste of fire and bone is stronger.

“A shinigami’s zanpakuto is the true form of their soul, it’s their true power. And this is mine! Now Roar, Zabimaru!”

Ichigo watches the sword change, grow fangs and cracks. A Noble Fantasm? No, it’s much weaker. He looks at Renji, looks harder at his power. He’s strong, probably stronger than Ichigo but is he stronger than Ichigo and Rukia together? This will have to be a battle where he can’t rely on brute strength.

The sword swings and the cracks pull apart until it’s a glorified whip with teeth and Ichigo jumps back to dodge it. The stones weigh heavy in his pocket and his mind whirls. No longer a saber, no longer capable of simply attacking and slashing until he’s won.

“Give up already! You’re 2000 years too young to beat me!”

And maybe Renji would be right. Maybe he would be too much for Ichigo to handle, in another life. Maybe if he really was just a fifteen year old kid, shihakusho more green than black, he would leave him laying in a puddle of blood without breaking a sweat.

But Ichigo is not fifteen. He is eighteen and he has fought eight wars. He has ended extinction and walked the land of the dead, and demons, and stood amongst stars. He has fought and bled and killed and died, and he has done it all for his family, his friends.

And now.

Now these two are trying to take another friend. They are trying to steal Rukia, to punish her for saving him and giving him strength enough to fight.

And he will not allow it.

His temper howls, blood rushing into his ears and battle fury washes over his skin.

Beneath it, beneath that hot fire that has driven him for so much of his life there’s something else. Something cold and foreign, frost on a window pane in summertime, snow floating around a campfire.

He lunges for Renji.

Renji is forced to release his noble phantasm, his zanpakuto. It lashes out, a segmented whip that bites the pavement with terrible teeth. Ichigo takes it in stride, catches it’s glinting teeth in his own too-long blade and twirls it like spaghetti around a knife. The teeth catch and hold, Renji’s eyes go wide and Ichigo yanks him forward with his zanpakuto.

He takes one hand off his own sword and drives it into Renji’s jaw. His teeth click and blood spurts between his lips before he drops like a lead balloon.

With Renji at his feet Ichigo turns to face Rukia and the man in the white cloak. He tilts his long blade, letting Renji’s zanpakuto slide off. On the ground it glows faintly red and returns to its original form.

“Are you next then?” Ichigo asks, his voice careful and calm even as the wrold inside him rages. Plans pick up and he reads this mans strengths. He’s leagues ahead of Ichigo but even still…

Ichigo is not the type to run. He is not the type to give up. No matter that Rukia is screaming at him to. He won’t-

He twists and blocks the blow he had barely ever seen, his sword moving faster than his mind.

Surprise registers on the man’s face, muted and little more than a twist of his mouth and a twitch of his eyes. Ichigo shoves him away, but he wasn’t fast enough.

Blood seeps out of his back. The cut it shallow, it won’t slow him down but the fact remains. He got hit.

Faster, whispers a voice in the back of his head. A memory, a premonition. He blocks the next attack but only just and under the force of the drawn sword, his own begins to crack. No. No, he will not lose, not like this.

He shoves the man back and flings one of the stones at him, shooting a burst of Mana through it. The man in white has to move fast to avoid the fire that erupts in front of him.

“Ichigo?” Rukia stares at him, her mouth open. “What was that?!”

“I’m not that great at magic,” Ichigo admits, tossing another stone up and down in his hand. He never takes his eyes off of his enemy. “In fact, I wouldn’t even call myself a real mage. I’m pretty second rate at this stuff. But this much… This much I can do.”

He shoots another stone at the shinigami in front of him, who’s name he never did get, and grins when he’s forced to release his own zanpakuto. He’s glad about it, but Rukia is screaming at him.

The air fills with glittering flower petals and Ichigo tastes steel, feels the weight of ‘Duty’ and ‘Honor’ and the scent of sakura blossoms wash across his skin.

They surge at him, a tidal wave of power, danger. Each one is a blade and Ichigo cannot dodge of block them all. Even still, he will not run. He will-

  Protect Rukia!  

Fine.

Cold chases through his body, Rukia’s power surges. Ichigo gives his strength over to it, pours his reitsu into the sword as he once did his saber’s and the sound of bells echoes around him.

A ribbon flutters graceful in front of his face and he swings, running on instinct alone.

The wave of flower petals is stopped in its tracks. Frozen in a circle of ice that reaches towards the sky.

Ichigo is aware, from the shock on the faces of the people around him, that he’s just done something impossible. Again.

Oh well.

He turns again to the Shinigami, bringing his blade in front of him. Not his, Rukia’s. He was going to save her-

“Rikujōkōrō.”

Ichigo shouted when light, six straight rectangles of it, slammed into his stomach. He froze, unable to move. The ice shattered and the blades inside of it floated back to their master, reforming into a single sword. This time, Ichigo couldn’t block. He could do nothing as the blade pierced him twice, and the light faded.

He tried. He did. He would crawl if he had to but-

“Stay alive, for just a little longer, Ichigo. And if you follow me, I will never forgive you.”

He can recognize what she’s doing. She’s drawing the man, Byakuya, and the newly awakened Renji away from him. She is protecting him, and the helplessness is acid on his tongue.

He was left, bleeding, dying, on the streets of Karakura.

* * * * * *

[fuwafuwamedb]

The King and His Tot (Hakuno, Caster Gilgamesh, Gudako)

They couldn’t… take the two from Chaldea.

That was what Gudako had told her simply as the alarms had gone off and everyone had started running. Gudako had found out the location and Hakuno had recognized the name immediately.

“I can be backup!”

“You have an infant.”

Hakuno shrugged, holding the little one in her arms. “I’ll strap him to my back.”

“You’ll- Oh my god, do you even hear yourself?” Gudako motioned Mash ahead, shaking her head more. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. The whole area will be a danger.”

“I’ve learned more Sumerian than you could ever hope to know.”

“Okay… Rayshift has a translation thing.” Gudako waved her hand, pushing her after a second towards the couch. “Go. Lay down. Do not go near my rayshift room. You’re an honorary Chaldean, but you don’t get to go rayshifting. I’m not explaining to baby goldeen why mommy decided to go galavanting into a singularity when he was a tiny tot.”

She rushed out a moment later.

Everyone was so busy running around that she couldn’t help but to head in the direction that so many were going. Gudako was chatting with Romani about the singularity, trying to argue about strategy and which servants to keep on deck for coming over. She glanced towards the room.

Six months ago, she’d been found and brought here. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had a necklace she kept on at all times and the memory of the name Gilgamesh. The doctor, Romani, had found that she was so close to having a child that she’d quickly had her son. Ur-Nungal, she’d decided to name him after a couple weeks.

She’d studied every bit of text she could get her hands on about Gilgamesh. His personality, his appearance, his class as a servant; she’d tried summoning him, but her mana was blocked. No one knew why. She’d scared all of Chaldea by collapsing before they’d found that her mana was being blocked off.

Still, Babylonia meant Uruk. The timeframe that had been said was right.

Gilgamesh would be in the singularity.

Ur was sleeping soundly, easily staying in the harness on her chest. She wrapped her jacket around him just to be safe. The shift was gentle enough, but the climate would be sunny.

As the others came in, Gudako shouted towards the window to crank up the machine. They had to go fast.

Mash was the first to notice her.

Gudako was cursing, trying to stop things when the flash came.

Perhaps it was because she had been outside of the normal area for standing in. Maybe it was because she had been almost against the wall. Maybe it was her mana, since she hadn’t really done much support at all outside of Chaldea. Whatever it was, the others vanished.

The white light and the winds blew passed her, waking up Ur and sending her jacket flying. She had to hold onto the boy as everything went wild.

The shift was supposed to be quick.

That was what she knew about it anyway. Gudako had always described it as a split second action and then a world entirely new around her.

Instead, she was falling with Ur.

A cold chill was running through her veins. She kept her hold firm, not worrying about anything else at the moment except making sure that Ur made it through this journey.

She’d apologize endlessly to Gudako later.

She’d explain herself endlessly to Romani and Da Vinci later.

She would never again step outside her room without an okay or a go ahead from them.

Further and further they went.

Ur was starting to cry, making her coo and soothe him as best she could. She could see those red eyes looking to her, trying to understand what was going on.

And then the world came back.

Or rather, Hakuno found herself tumbling onto a bed. The room was warm, comforting to feel as she sat up and cuddled her son close. The little man was already so bothered, looking around at the strange room and shaking with the threat of a wail. His hands were holding her tightly as well.

“You were so brave,” Hakuno murmured, kissing his head. “My brave, brave little prince. We are taking a small trip, but we’re going to find our friends and go back in a few hours.”

They were in Uruk.

She could see the Sumerian art around the room. It looked like something she’d seen in photos, although the works here were much more colorful and looked new.

First mission: Find Gilgamesh.

She wanted to see him. Was he her enemy? Her friend? Did he know her at all?

If she had this chance, she could stand in his audience chamber for a moment and look up at him. It would give him the chance to see her and exclaim how she knew his name or the chance to make her realize that the name might have been a coincidence. Her son’s eyes and hair could have been from another. Maybe a brother or a relative…

Ur was calming, having seen the sun shine into the room and make the gold around them gleam.

Maybe…

There was a lot of gold in here. Ur never wanted to leave things that interested him. As she cracked open the door to the room, she found a hallway that needed investigating.

She could tiptoe down both ends, come back here, grab her son, and then go whichever way was more promising. She could cover him with a fabric from this room to keep his hair from being seen, take her look, and then leave.

Easy.

Simple.

She did just that with moderate success.

There was another hallway.

She moved quietly, glancing around corners only to pause.

Everyone in this place was dressed differently. Even with the fabrics she’d taken to cover her son and her own clothes, it didn’t provide an inconspicuous enough look to get passed these people. Someone would frown. She might be insulting as well.

Ur wiggled, beginning to wrinkle his nose.

“I’ll set you down for a moment,” Hakuno whispered.

Just a moment. She needed to think.

If she had been given more time, she could have finagled an outfit in Chaldea. These people were big on robes and dresses. She could have managed that. The rooms that she’d seen were a gamble. If she found something that was ceremonial or one in a million, she could be charged with theft.

That was dangerous.

What to do…

“Ur…”

Hakuno looked down only to feel her face drain.

Ur was gone.

No- No, he was waddling. Balanced on his two feet and walking in an almost dangerous manner, he was already around the corner and heading to where the people were. He must have thought this was Chaldea. He was used to the pharaohs and the knights, people who would coo and praise him just at being present.

The Uruk people turned and paused. A few women gasped, the guards that were there were staring at the boy as his golden hair gleamed.

He must have seen something interesting, Hakuno thought in horror, finding her son hustling his pace to get into that audience chamber.

“Ur!”

Hakuno rushed after him, stumbling around people and into the room.

She caught her boy a third into the room, wrapping her arms around him and holding him close. Her lips pressed against his face, earning a soft whine before the boy simply cuddled against her.

“You didn’t tell me that you were starting to walk,” Hakuno complained gently. “You’re going to give me a heart attack.”

“Ummumm…”

“Shhh, we need to leave.”

This was foolish. She could find Gudako first, explain, and maybe she would help. Her son being here was a bad plan. Mash and the others could watch him for a moment, couldn’t they?

Somehow, that didn’t feel possible.

“Ummum!”

“What is it?” Hakuno looked down at the boy. “What’s wrong?”

“Umm,” the boy waved his hand in another direction as someone cleared their throat.

Her gaze followed that hand, all the way to the man sitting on the throne.

Adorned in few and far between attire, a man of blond hair sat in the center of the seat. His legs were both pressed to the floor, his body leaning forward. The turban on his head held two horns that gleamed slightly in the light. The gold necklace bore chains that held onto his vest, no doubt there due to needing to keep him dressed. His pants held holes and his chest was exposed, leaving little to the imagination.

It was the gaze that held the most of her attention though.

That piercing red gaze was like a snake’s, looking between her and Ur. It froze her to the bone, leaving her unable to speak as her son looked back over to him.

“…What is this?”

I know that voice.

Her whole body hurt. Something was making her head feel like it was suffering through a deep migraine or trying to split in two. She wanted to run. She needed to run.

Ur beamed up at the man, waving his arms both in the man’s direction.

“Ah-bum!”

The room couldn’t have gotten any quieter at Ur’s statement.

Before her, the man at the top of all those stairs in that throne simply watched, not daring to even blink.

“HAKUNO!”

The sound of running came her way. Mash’s face blocking her view of the king. She could feel Ur slip from her grip as she found Gudako trying to speak. She tried to grab the boy, but he was crawling towards the stairs, stairs were a pair of slippered feet were walking down.

“Chaldeans!”

The man’s voice was all over the place. Her mind felt like it was in a spin cycle.

“This… is different from what I had foreseen…”

“I don’t understand what’s going on either, my king.” Another’s voice spoke up, closer to her.

“My friend ended up coming with us by mistake. We’ll send her and the boy back quickly.”

“Oh?”

She was fading out. Her eyes looked up as the man from before lingered over her, holding Ur against his chest.

“…Your woman is not going anywhere,” the man told them all simply. “I do believe Merlin and your groups have brought me something of merit. It’s a shame the timing is so poor.”

Her eyes closed.

The last thing she heard was that man’s voice calling for an apsu, the magician doctors.

[pryotra]

A Tale of Beasts: Mersuka Valentines Day

Based in Chaldea

Valentines Day in Chaldea was more or less Chaos Incarnate. With everyone rushing around making sure  to get chocolate to their friends and loved ones before the next singularity or pseudo singularity ended up making everyone too busy.

Even Dr. Roman seemed busy, or at least, Da Vinci and he hadn’t been seen for a while, so Ritsuka hoped that they were having fun together. As it was, she was slowly making her way through, giving chocolates to the guys, and, to her surprise, getting a lot from the female Servants.

She wasn’t entirely sure what to do with Jack’s…very atomically correct human heart that managed to be both adorable and horrifying at the same time.

As she walked, she stopped at the sight of a familiar white robed figure.

Merlin.

The half incubus didn’t seem to have a direction he was going, just trailing aimlessly as flowers bloomed behind him.

It was funny, no matter how long he stayed…somehow he just seemed out of place in the white, sterile halls of Chaldea. Maybe it was the fact that the other Servants, mostly avoided him. The knights seemed to dislike him, and it seemed only Artoria, her Lancer Alter, Bedivere and the various Gilgameshs seemed to ever actually speak to him.

Maybe it was just that someone who made flowers bloom just felt more natural in an open place filled with sunshine.

“Hello, Ritsuka!” Merlin called out on seeing her, smiling brightly. “I see you’re wandering the halls today as well! Could it be that you’re hoping for more Valentine’s Chocolate as well? Honestly, I think it’s wonderful! You should experience the journey of love and passion!”

Ritsuka raised both her hands.

“I’m just trying to give out stuff!” she said.

But Merlin didn’t seem to be listening, he was just cheerfully chatting away.

“We should go together! It would look bad if I was the only one here trying to flirt on Valentine’s Day, but if you’re there, then there’s no problem!”

Actually, for all his reputation, she wasn’t sure she’d ever actually seen him flirt. Just mention it enough for all the women to avoid him. Also, he was hedging around being a bachelor on Valentine’s Day, wasn’t he?

He wasn’t going to stop though.

She needed to let him hang around in her room more. He seemed to really want to talk to her. Well, he could do it better if they had something to talk about, so she started digging into her back for his gift.

“It sort of like the saying that if you’re going to hide a leaf, it’s best to do it a forest, or a secret is best hidden at a party-” he cut off as she pulled out the box with his name on it. “Hm?”

The smile melted off his face, as he stared at the box she was holding out, as he looked at it with a blank expression.

“That box you’re holding in your hand…it couldn’t be for me…” he whispered, and then looked up at her. “Really?”

He looked confused, as if he wasn’t sure what emotion that he was supposed to show her, but also as if this was just something that couldn’t be.

Merlin might joke about flirting, but part of the joke…was his failure.

Slowly, almost like he half expected her to snatch it away, Merlin took the box and opened it.

Six small chocolates, made to look like his flowers looked up at him.

“Yeah…though I’m not sure about it though…”

She was not flirting with him or…

“I wanted to make something that reminded me of you, and you said you liked flowers, as much you just just sort of made them, right?” Ritsuka asked. “They’ve got a fruity filling, I thought you’d like that.”

Merlin held one up almost in aw, but when he smiled at her, there was something to the look that felt…wrong.

Now, Ritsuka knew that Merlin didn’t feel anything. Everything she saw about his personality was just the emotions that he took and burned. He only had half an ego, manifested in will. So, his smiles, his laid back appearance, all of them were just a show. A mask to hide the fact that he felt and cared about nothing other than a vague idea of ‘humanity’.

Mash and Romani called him the worst, but for the first time…

“I see…” he said, that smile still in place. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but…no matter how sweet this may be, I will never taste it. Sugar or other human foods provide no sustenance for me… however…you said that you made this? Then I will be able to taste that. After all, feelings are food for us incubi…”

It never was ‘half human’ always ‘incubi’.

Slowly, Merlin took a flower, placing it in his mouth.

His eyes widened and he gasped slightly.

“I…cannot put words to this,” he said softly, that strange smile becoming…maybe more normal. “It is…how can I put it…fluffy. And light...it might be considered too rich, but at the same time I want to savor more! I suppose this would be close to what you could call sweet.”

He smiled, that same gentle smile he’d always given her in Babylonia.

“It suppose it’s one of those many things that you can never understand by looking.”

I’m a man who can only watch.

Those words as he vanished back to his tower…

“Yes,” he nodded to himself. “I will have to show my thanks. Though it’s good that I’ve been working on this!”

He fished into his robes, bringing out what at first looked like a small scrap of fabric, but as he gave it too her, she realized…

It was Fou. A little hand puppet of him, complete with his little cute capelet and large eyes. Merlin had even worked to give the fabric the same sheen that both he and Fou seemed to have.

“This is cute…” she said.

“It’s my own craft,” Merlin said. “It has no value at all, but I would be very happy if you accepted it.”

“Of course,” Ritsuka nodded. “It’s really great looking! I know that you were good at making things…”

But she’d mostly just thought that Bedivere’s arm had been a fluke and he couldn’t much make anything good…. Why had she just assumed that…

Merlin beamed at her.

“I’ll tell you a secret: he and I are very much alike. You could say that our origins are very similar as well. As was our choice. It’s why we appear similar,” he nodded to the puppet, something very far away in his vision. “So…when you look at it, no matter where your path takes you…please think back on the two of us…and of one story. From the inland sea of stars, who continued to gaze on your life…the story of Beasts whose daily bread…is only that.”

While his voice had been strong, it ended only in a whisper. And when Ritsuka looked up, there was no one there. Only a small field of flowers before her, and a small testament to a tale of Beasts in her hands.

[shuttershocky]

Doctor Roman awoke in the comfort of his office chair, with Da Vinci’s fingers gently drumming the top of his head. A little smile tugged on the corners of his lips. This was nice. Yes, it was good to relax sometimes. He didn’t get a lot of time to rest when he was at work. Like now.

Wait.

“GAH! I’m awake!” 

Roman jolted out of his chair, his eyes rapidly scanning all four corners of the dimly lit Command Room. The monitors had been shut off, and no sounds came over the speakers.

“Good evening Romani,” Da Vinci said, not looking up from her notebook. “I was hoping you would sleep just a little longer. You’ve been working for days on end now. That can’t be healthy. You’re no heroic spirit you know?”

“What did... How did... How did I even fall asleep?” Romani eyed his coffee mug. “Did you... Did you spike my drink? Not cool Leonardo! We can’t be fooling around with humanity at stake!”

“I did no such thing,” Da Vinci replied, still scribbling away. “I just gave you decaf, and you passed out before you even touched your mug. Besides, you said it yourself, today’s was a simple, low-threat mission without any risk of failure whatsoever. We can afford to be relaxed.”

“We have to remain constantly vigilant, “ Romani said. “A threat could come from anywhere at any time while Gudako is out there. Now please turn the feed back on.”

Da Vinci rolled her eyes but obeyed anyway, lazily tapping at a few buttons and turning all systems back on.

Roman’s jaw dropped. 

It was a warzone. On the monitors were the crumbling ruins of some European city, the rooftops and streets swarming with soldiers of a uniform both very familiar, and yet not quite. They wore black, metallic armor, and many had blood-red capes draping from their shoulders. They wielded strange weapons, rifles that appeared to shoot bolts of dark energy, which they rained down into the city below, and others held large blades that carved the pavement beneath them as they walked. Overhead, the sun lay edge to edge with the moon. A solar eclipse was about to take place.

Also onscreen was a certain teenage girl, who looked rather peppy for being in such an apocalyptic landscape. She looked right at Da Vinci and Doctor Roman, flashing them a wide smile.

“Hey guys!”

“What... How...” Roman said

“Hey kiddo,” Da Vinci said, completely unperturbed. “Give me a sitrep.”

Gudako clapped her hands.

“Okay, so I’m pretty sure these guys aren’t human. I mean, we thought they were human, but when Mash knocked one legionnaire out and ripped off his mask, these glowing black tentacles just burst out of his mouth like ‘BLAAAAHHH’ and Mash and I were like ‘AAAAAHHHH’ and then Geronimo was all ‘RAAAAAAAAAAAAA’ and he stabbed it repeatedly in the face until it died.”

“Really now?” Da Vinci said.

“No, Geronimo was actually like ‘Stand back, Master!’ and then he stabbed it repeatedly in the face but it didn’t seem fair that he got to keep his cool.”

“Wh-wh-wh-wha” Roman stuttered.

“Anyway,” Gudako continued. “We made contact with the resistance movement and are now in the middle of launching an attack on the head honcho’s palace. Ozy’s giving them hell from the sky, but we can’t move in until Hundred Faces says she’s secured the prison camps all across the city. The bastard inside’s been incarcerating random citizens and using them as mana batteries for his big evil ritual thingy and I’ve got a feeling that whatever it is is invincible so long as it stays inside. Current plan: We rescue the citizens, take away its power source, lure it out, then take it down along with its stormtroopers.”

If Roman had any coherent thoughts upon first seeing Gudako, they were all gone now.

“How are your forces?” Da Vinci asked. “Do you believe they can keep up this assault until the prisoners are rescued?”

“Yeah we’re doing fine! I think Billy’s already killed like, 50 of these Demon-Nazis.”

BLAM

A loud gunshot echoed over the monitor. A sword legionnaire who had been steadily making its way over to Gudako suddenly lost its head, wobbling a little before collapsing backwards.

“If I may correct you Ma’am,” Billy said on the sidelines, pumping a shotgun. “51.”

“51,” The master confirmed. “Oh, oh, you’ll want to hear this it’s gonna be great. I had King Hassan lead the resistance into the propaganda towers. We should be hearing their broadcast in 3... 2...”

Beep

“Cursed Arm,” rumbled the voice of the Old Man of the Mountain over hundreds of loudspeakers on every building. “How dost one tell if the device is active?”

“Er, Great Founder,” Cursed Arm whispered, failing to keep his voice from being picked up by the mic. “You are already on.”

“Oh? A-Ahem. Greetings O’ oppressed and noble souls. Liberation has come in these darkest of hours, and the reckoning of thy enemies is nigh. Arise! Arise! Thou must take up arms and throw off thy shackles! Make your way to every corner of thy city, and purge thy home of the evil that festers within! Hold the love of thy kin deep in your soul, and know thy blade fights on the side of the righteous. And if thou shalt fall saving their home on this most exalted day, I shall deliver thee through the places of death, and into the gates of paradise!

Was that adequate, Cursed Arm?”

“Ohhhhh Great founder!”

Beep

“Pretty cool huh?” Gudako said to the Command Room, a wide grin on her face.

“I-I-I-I-”

“Fantastic work there Gudako, but what will the signal from Hundred Faces look like?”

“Ooh I think that’s it!”

Gudako pointed to a dazzling blue flare soaring high above the fog of war and into the sky. It exploded when it reached the top of its arc, projecting the image of... Of...

It was a hand. Doing the “OK” sign. 

“That’s it! That’s the signal!” Gudako yelled, leaving her hiding place and sprinting through enemy fire. “Everyone who’s not a servant, fall back! Fall back! The big guy’s gonna come out any second no-”

BOOM

Something struck the ground right next to the girl, ripping through anything in its path and covering the screen with debris.

“GUDAKO!” Roman screamed. Even Da Vinci flinched in her seat.

“I’m okay! I’m okay!” The teenager called, waving her arms to clear the smoke. “I had Mash’s Wall of Chalk on me! Anyway, it looks like the boss has arrived.”

In the center of the battlefield stood a red hooded figure, levitating a foot off the ground. Rusted chains encircled his arms, and strange runes Roman had never seen before were etched all over his limbs and face. He had no eyes, the sockets bleeding a dark, oily fluid, and his hands continued to tear up everything in range with black lightning.

“You!” It pointed a shriveled finger at the girl. “You insignificant, wretched, pompous little insect! No one can stop the birth of the Black Sun! My rule is inevitable, and my reign shall see the end of time!”

“Yeah well point me to the bathroom because I’m about to be a real big party-pooper.” Gudako hollered back.

“Fall where you stand child!” it roared, charging her with a sword in hand.

“Gudako, look out!” Roman shouted.

“Don’t forget to test out my mystic code sweetie, “ Da Vinci said. “Took me a whole week to make them.”

“Oh right!” Gudako said, pulling out a pair of metal fists from out of nowhere. They restructured themselves as she put them on, fitting snugly into her smaller hands. 

CLANG

Gudako lunged forward to block the hooded figure’s sword with her right gauntlet. The black energy was repelled by the light blue hum over her arms, as a white light swirled around her left fist. The boss’ eyesockets seemed to widen. It knew what was coming, but was too late to stop it.

“Shoryuken!” The girl yelled, slamming the boss’ face with a fiery uppercut. It was sent flying, slamming through a building which then collapsed on top of it.

She looked back at the communicator, clumsily taking it off and gently setting it down on a nearby wall.

“This can get a bit gruesome. I’ll call you later after I kick its ass. Love you both! Bye!”

Gudako ran towards where the terrifying unknown mage had fallen.

“So you wanna play rough?” She shouted to the shifting rubble. She slammed both gauntlets together, sending an arc of blue lightning between them. “Let’s play rough.”

Both visual and audio feed died at that instant, Da Vinci having shut them off.

Roman’s jaws on the other hand, had not shut the entire time.

“See?” Da Vinci cooed, tapping a pen on her glasses. “All under control.”

Roman turned to her slowly.

“THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE GONE GROCERY SHOPPING!”

[mobagehell]

FGO Choco Event: Da Vinci

*thanks @cielcin for the screenshots~

Da Vinci: Hey, sorry for calling you out. Were you waiting, Guda-chan.

As you know,  I am a universal genius, and also a rare artist. I complete all things effortlessly but, I cannot forgive something being easy.

Therefore, I tried to take focus starting from the situation. It’s finally Valenntine’s, wouldn’t it be uninspiring to just gift at Chaldea?

Guda: To be recieving from Da Vinci-chan...... (Choice 1)            It feels like a date doesn’t it (Choice 2)

Da Vinci: That’s a good reaction Guda-chan! For you to focus your attention on that, it was worth me coming dressed up!

Hmーhmm~. It’s because today is a special day. So I’m dressed up in full equipment.

What, I’m normally beautiful too but, today I’m so beautiful that you’re already losing your eyesight, you say? Why you, you know just where to compliment!

Well, the preface got lengthy didn’t it. Well then once more ー

I’m praying for your fortune up until now and, your hopes from now one. Accept from me, this chocolate made with all my power!

Guda: Da Vinci-chan, this issssssS!? (Choice 1)            Why is the chocolate shiningggー!? (Choice 2)

Why you ask, well that’s because things of perfection shine don’t they? Like psshewww.

Well, if I do say so myself I got too into the outer appearance but, don’t worry, the taste shouldn’t be bad! Although I didn’t taste test it!

Guda: Thank you very much            I’ll hang it up in this art museum

Da Vinci: Oops. Hmm, I see. This is what they call the special effectiveness of Valentine’s I guess.

For trifling words of appreciation to have this much affect in my chest.  Oh my, I’m getting excited, my passions are running! My urge to create is surging!

However, if I let my usual eccentricities run here this long-awaited day will be spoiled. Could you let me shut myself up in the Atelier for a bit!

What, I’ll probably be able to calm down my passion if I have a mere two hours! I’ll return immediately, so until then go relieve yourself in the arts!*

Craft Essence: “A Chocolate that is Perfection”

Valentine’s chocolate from Da Vinci-chan.

A perfect chocolate that even emits light. The halo is so strong the actual thing can’t be seen well but, the Vitruvian Man has been made into a chocolate bar.

“Love? Of course, I put a lot of that into it! However whether that’s grounded in my love for scholarly, and medicinal interests, even I won’t differentiate!”

forgive me on onomatopoeia (－－〆)

* da vinci uses the word 揉む momu which means to rub/massage, specifically or at least commonly breasts; i’ve frequently seen comics where she asks a depressed romani if he wants to rub her boobs to feel better where/whether this happened in game idk but yea she’s telling you to go console yourself with the works in the museum til she gets back

[fuwafuwamedb]

Singularity Subspecies V: The Holy Land: Jerusalem: Jerusalem of Holy Sin - Chapter Nineteen

Chapters: Prologue - Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five - Chapter Six – Chapter Seven – Chapter Eight – Chapter Nine – Chapter Ten – Chapter Eleven – Chapter Twelve – Chapter Thirteen – Chapter Fourteen – Chapter Fifteen – Chapter Sixteen – Chapter Seventeen - Chapter Eighteen

_________ 

It felt like a hole had formed within his chest. Like a part of him had been carved from his chest and set before him on a platter.

He could feel the surge of mana near him. He could see the anger in the other’s eyes and he agreed. He couldn’t agree more.

How dare this beast steal what was theirs from their side? How dare this monster destroy something so refined and beautiful from this world? Things such as this… they had no right to live.

His power surged forth. He let the mana drip from his person, glaring back at Gudako.

“Release my noble phantasm.”

“Ozy…”

He turned his gaze to his brother, seeing the nod.

An accord was met.

There would be no true forgiveness. He could see his brother was still hurting. He could see there were stresses and pains between them that would never come to a close…

However…

There were those who meant something to them. There were people whom had come to be of value and use to them. They could appreciate an innocent in the midst of their hatred. They could understand how to set aside their problems.

Nefertari had expected better between them. She had loved them both despite their hatred and their pains.

Nefertari had believed in them. She had seen the depths of them and she had marveled at them.

“Ozymandias,” Gudako declared behind him, her voice echoing in the air around them. “I command you to use your noble phantasm.”

He began with the surge that went through him, feeling the hand pressing to his shoulder as a tome rose next to him. The ten lines of text glowed bright, the surging with golden light.

“So long as my faith remains,” his brother declared, closing his eyes, “so long as I have people whom I hold dear to me, I will never allow tyranny or death to plague my people. Hear my call, oh my dear lord, whom I hold close to my heart. Allow me your TEN COMMANDMENTS!”

He could not comment, couldn’t stop himself to see his brother’s attacks. He was surging the depths of the palace to split open, grabbing the demon and raising it up towards the heavens.

The surge of hellfire struck just as he rose it up and blasted at it with the light of the gods. The pyramid slamming down was hitting both the attack and the enemy.

The power burst out, whipping his cape and his brother’s robes. They could see parts of the palace crumbling, the floors shaking beneath their feet. They stood together there, immobile. They stood together over the body of the woman who had believed in them.

The woman who had loved them…

The demon pillar screeched as it descended back to the palace depths. They could see it heading for them, but they both were needing a moment. Ozymandias could feel the attack about to hit-

“GIL!”

A barrage of gates opened before them, blasting back the demon pillar with liquor and swords. Spinning around, Ozy and Moses could see the suit of golden armor walking in, the woman on his shoulder holding the man’s armor with one hand and raising her hand with the other.

The golden king smirked, holding up his hand and glancing at the woman sitting upon his shoulder.

“Shall we show them how a master and servant fight?”

“Just be sure to give me a candy when we’re done,” the brunette on the king’s shoulder replied.

The laugh echoed before more were coming in.

Karna blasted up from the floor, landing in a flash of fire. Those calm eyes looked at the demon pillar attempting to make its way to them. His eyes drifted to the other lancer climbing up from the depths of the palace.

“Cu Chulainn.”

“After you, Fireball,” the Celt replied, spinning his lance into position.

“EVERYONE!” Gudako looked around, laughing a little. “LET’S SEE SOME NOBLE PHANTASMS!”

“Watch a plain human like me show the value in average,” the brunette on Gil’s shoulder declared, moving before the man and opening more of her gates. “Behold the powers of one who can sate the heart!”

Ozymandias grinned, feeling the fires and the alcohol burning the world around them. He could feel the heat and feel the winds of Ea beginning.

His hand pressed to his brother’s shoulder. His cane rose once more.

“Brother.”

Moses looked at him, pausing from his preparation to attack once more. His lips parted, but he stopped. He shut his mouth and smiled, those eyes simply gleaming softly.

He shook his head.

“To call someone so hellbent on vengeance like me by such a name… My brother…”

They looked together to the demon pillar, raising their weapons again.

Once more.

With everyone else.

“RAMESSEUM TENTYRIS!”

>> 

Gudako stood up, shaking on her feet.

“Master,” Mash was rushing over to her side, starting to push her back onto the couch when she held up a hand to stop the woman.

“Please. I’m going stircrazy on this couch.”

Mash hesitated.

“Please,” Gudako tried again. “Mash, take pity on me.”

It’d been a week. The palace in Jerusalem had been destroyed. Gudako had seen the demon pillar fall into the depths of the palace and the world had begun to fall apart around them. They had all begun to run to the exit… all but Moses.

“BROTHER!”

��I wish to see its death with my own eyes,” Moses had told them. He held Nefertari’s body in his arms. “…This is our end… at least, for now.”

They all knew the drill.

They couldn’t take the others with them. The only one who would be able to come back was Hakuno. Hakuno- or Ninkasi, as she was supposed to be called- was the servant to Gilgamesh. However that worked, it meant that she could come home.

Karna and Cu had grabbed Ozymandias, rushing them down.

Sheba had laughed the whole way down the stairs, declaring this a majesty that would have made the king of Jerusalem happy to see the fall of the palace.

“Solomon would love this!”

They had run all the way to the wagon, climbing upon it a moment before Gilgamesh had called forth his damn ship and flown ahead. Ozymandias had grabbed the damn thing with his cane and the rest of them had grabbed him as they had found themselves flown from the destruction and wreckage.

Screaming, they had been flying when Gudako had felt the last of her mana trickle away.

Her arms had let go, the sound of all the servants screaming after her as she’d begun to fall…

“You’re lucky Hakuno caught you,” Mash told her, shaking her head with that statement again. “You still hit the waves of liquor hard.”

“She’ll be fine,” a voice perked up.

The woman in golden robes entered the room, smiling softly as she gave Mash a small bow.

Mash rolled her eyes, still smiling at the sight of the woman.

She was funny.

If nothing else, she seemed to really understand how stubborn servants could be. The moment she’d awakened, she’d found Hakuno telling stories to Mash and Da Vinci about Gilgamesh causing trouble for her. The lot of them had been laughing at the thought of Gilgamesh freaking out about some spicy tofu when Gudako had sat up.

“Hakuno,” Gudako greeted.

“Hello Master,” the woman replied, smiling. “I have seen to the other servants. They seem eager to try to help you recover faster.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Gudako…” Mash shook her head. “You thought you saw…”

Gudako shook her head.

They wouldn’t have that conversation again.

Hakuno cleared her throat.

“Mash,” the woman addressed, “Could you check on Ozymandias for me? He was gambling with Iskander and Gilgamesh when I left him.”

“They’re gambling? Oh no…”

The Shielder rushed for the door, slamming it shut behind her. They could hear her yelling for others.

“You will be fine,” Hakuno reiterated.

“He said I would,” Gudako agreed.

She had let go of the others, seeing the sight of the others crying out for them. She could see the others falling into the distance.

“HAKUNO! CATCH MY MASTER!”

The woman had fallen towards her, casting magic upon the world around them. Waves of beer splashed over the lands, filling the lands around them, sending her falling now into waves of the dark brew. She could feel herself being washed away over the kilometers of land, towards the cliffs and mountains in the distance. She could see the jagged rocks, feel her lungs burning with the overload of waters and the burn of the alcohol.

She was going to die.

Then a figure had come, delving into the hearty waters after her as she sank. She could see the red hair, feel the arms around her.

They broke the surface, her face pressed to his chest.

She could feel the figure swimming them to the sides of the valley, escaping the waters with the blasts of mana from the other.

Gudako had looked up, coughing and spluttering. A hand pressed to her chest, sending another surge of mana into the world. He had made her all but vomit up more of that liquor.

“You will not die here,” the voice… so familiar that it brought tears to her eyes… “I will not let you perish, Gudako.”

“…Romani…”

The woman at her side had showed up when she’d come to, pulling her into her arms and sending a blast of her brew into the air.

Vimana had landed nearby. They had called for the rayshift and left the singularity behind, resolved and concluded.

“I didn’t see him,” Hakuno confessed quietly. “Not for more than a second.”

Gudako nodded, closing her eyes.

“We’ll find him.”

“I know.”

Her friend was out there. He was watching over all of them.

Old friends, as it happened, were as close after months and years as they were after seconds away from one another.

They still cared for one another, despite it all.

“Shall we try summoning Moses again?” Gudako offered.

Hakuno grinned, “Sure, but we should probably let Ozymandias meet his wife afterwards. I think Nefertari has had plenty of time to design her room.”

[fuwafuwamedb]

Singularity Subspecies V: The Holy Land: Jerusalem: Jerusalem of Holy Sin (Prologue)

She’d seen him.

In each of her dreams, she had seen the world around her. She’d walked through dark stoned city streets. She’d suffered and bled onto stone roads and dirt paths. She’d looked up at the sun, watching it wane onto the wayside as she forced her way forward.

It felt like the city walls shadowed the world around her, leaving a darkness behind that anyone could hide in. It felt like the city was riddled with a magic that defied her expectations. No gods or goddesses here.

Religious whispers echoed in her ears. Her feet stopped as she reached a great throne, her body turning.

She’d reached out with her hand towards the white-haired man before the throne and seen him look up, smiling in her direction. She could see the doors open, hear the sounds of fighting in the distance.

“What will you do?” he would ask.

What could she do?

She didn’t want to turn away from him. She didn’t want to surrender him after coming this far. The man was right there before her eyes.

Romani…

No.

“Solomon.”

Those golden eyes looked up at her a moment, his smile changed, eyes narrowing a bit.

“You won’t abandon them, Gudako. You would rather surrender me.”

The skies outside would grow dark. She could see a flicker of light. And then another flicker of light. A rainfall was coming through the night and suddenly the world outside was set ablaze. She could see the fire’s light dance across the man’s face as he looked up at her.

An overflow came from above.

Endless rivers of dark waters poured forth from the ceiling.

She could see two figures stand up amongst the heavy waters. To the left, the woman adorned in white raised her hands, summoning a gold and blue cane to her hands and casting a great waterfall of the dark waters to come pouring in through the skylights. The waters gushed around them, rising slowly higher and higher despite the exit being open.

To the right, the woman adorned in gold cast out her pale hands, her brown hair whipping behind her a moment before gates opened around the grand caster and a great staff landing in the center of the room. The currents of darkness began to churn around the staff, foreign symbols beginning to glow a moment before a great mist overcame Solomon.

“NO!”

Trying to run always ended the same way.

Her footing would slip, her body plummeting into the waters.

She would see bubbles and foam, like she had fallen into a fine beer rather than waters. She opened her eyes and her mouth to shout again, but she could feel a burn as whatever she was in went down her throat.

Breaking the waters, she would look up only to gasp.

A tall figure stood in place of where Solomon and his two attackers were.

Glowing red eyes pierced the darkness. Great armor covered the beast of a man’s shoulders and arms. As she looked up, she could see the bearded mouth open.

Smoke and ash came forth from his mouth, filling her mind with a frozen feeling. Every drop of blood in her body turned to ice.

“A follower of the future king…”

Why wasn’t her mind working? Her legs?

“You…will…die.” The last word came out in a stream of smoke, blocking her view and filling her lungs with soot. She coughed endlessly, pulling her hand up and preparing to call for one of her servants.

She looked behind the man, gasping at the sight of dozens upon dozens of bugs, flying into the building behind the giant beast.

She opened her mouth to scream.

“Gudako?”

Her body was being hugged, her face pressed against Mash’s neck as the other held her close.

“Gudako! Wake up! You’re okay! You’re fine.”

Her heart was hammering away. A fine layer of sweat was over her person as she tried to think about what was happening around her. The more she looked around, the more Gudako could confirm for herself that she was fine. She was in Chaldea.

Nothing was going to happen here.

By the door, she could see Gilgamesh standing with Cu Chulainn lancer and Nitocris. The latter two were looking at her worriedly, but the king snorted.

As a newer servant, he was proving to be remarkably stubborn about being here.

“Gudako?”

“I-I’m alright.”

She pulled back, wiping at her face a bit only to find a rush of air hitting her.

A cloth was before her face, her eyes drifting up the blue body armor to Cu’s face.

“We could hear the screaming from down the hall.”

Ah.

She would need to do something to either soundproof her room or stop the nightmares. One or the other was fine, but now she was summoning her servants to her room by screaming. It wasn’t doing her any favors, especially since she’d just finished a psychological evaluation.

Being declared sane and then screaming over night terrors was not going to stand.

“Did any of the interns hear me?” Gudako asked quietly.

“I didn’t let them,” Mash murmured. “We should talk to Da Vinci or one of the others about this though, Gudako. At this rate, you’ll end up in a lot of trouble.”

“I’ll be fine. It was just a bad dream.”

Accepting the rag from Cu, Gudako took a moment to wipe her face off, ignoring Mash’s complaints about seeing someone. Despite all that had happened, she’d been fine. They’d gone to Shinjuku and Agartha, she’d dealt with a little of this and that.

There was nothing to warrant these dreams she was-

The lights began to flash overhead.

The alarms began to sound around them.

“A singularity at a time like this?” Mash looked up, sighing.

“Eh, nothin’s ever easy.” Cu shrugged, heading for the door. “Oi! Master. Grab a quick shower and meet us in the rayshift, will ya?”

Pretty bad when Cu Chulainn’s taking the reins, Gudako thought quietly.

Nitocris was following after the lancer as Gudako stood up. She could see the pharaoh hurrying along, the door closing a moment before Gudako sighed in relief.

The alarms were still going off, but Cu would cover for her for a few minutes.

“Gudako.”

“I know. I know.” It was very obvious what she wanted. “Look,” Gudako smiled her way. “if I find that I have these nightmares after this singularity, then I’ll contact the Clock Tower and get myself checked out again. I think it’s probably just some bad food or something.”

“This often?”

She shrugged.

They had switched out the kitchen help recently.

“I just don’t want you going there and for something bad to happen. I’m worried about you.” Mash stood up, brushing her dress off and smiling softly. “Just… Promise me that you won’t do anything too crazy in this singularity.”

“When have I done anything crazy?”

The woman just stared at her.

Point taken.

“I’ll be fine,” Gudako dismissed, waving a hand. “Can you help Cu distract the others?”

“Fine, just remember.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

She entered the shower and sighed, letting the lukewarm water pelt away the cold sweat from her person. Her eyes closed once more as she tried to think about the dream from before.

Solomon standing before her.

Meteors and bugs filling the skies.

Beer pouring duos with one tanned maiden in white and a pale maiden in gold.

A giant threatening to kill her.

She wasn’t a drinker. It made no sense for any dream of hers to involve liquor. The bugs and meteors… well, that could be something to do with having to deal with fates and things being out of her hands???

God, she wasn’t some fortune teller.

And she didn’t have clairvoyance.

If only I had Caster Gilgamesh instead of Archer Gil, she thought.

Caster would have been able to give her a twenty minute mocking session before directing her on how to deal with what she’d dreamed.

Her eyes were locked on the drain, watching the waters swirl towards the darkness. She could feel the same chill in her person as before. She could feel the same sense of anxiety building.

It was like something was going to happen.

Perhaps… if she just stayed in here…

“Master Gudako, please report to the rayshift.”

Da Vinci’s voice echoed over the intercom system, making her sigh.

Perhaps not.

She had the shower off, tossing on her uniform and heading for the door. She was in the rayshift in only a few minutes, frowning at the lack of servants around her.

“What’s this?”

“Gilgamesh disappeared,” Cu explained. “As did Merlin and a couple others.”

Gudako looked to the window to the control room.

“We think they may have gone ahead,” Mash explained. “I’m sending you both in now to find them.”

Why the hell would Gilgamesh run ahead into a singularity?

It didn’t make sense for him.

“Mash!” Gudako shouted over at the window. “Get Enkidu!”

If anyone would make that stubborn Archer listen to her, it would be the clay being that let themselves be used as she deemed fitting. Enkidu seemed to always be happy to take her side on things and, at the sight of them entering the rayshift chamber, Gudako felt relief flood through her.

This was just another singularity.

There’d be trouble.

They’d fix it.

That was all.

“I will see you all when you get back!” Mash told them. “Please be safe!”

The world of Chaldea vanished from around them.

A great stone city with high, dark gates met their view.

Great stone walls that hid away the city streets, until it was like the darkness was happening during the brightest of daylight.

The city where Solomon slept.

The city of sins…

Gudako reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone and calling Mash immediately.

“M-Mash… Where are we, by the way?”

“The Holy Land: Jerusalem.”

The holy land…

They were in Solomon’s homeland.

“M-Mash?”

“Is something wrong, Gudako?”

Gudako held her phone tightly. “C-can you please go get David for me? I think we may need an archer with us.”

Forget Gilgamesh. They had bigger problems here.

She wasn’t setting foot into the kingdom without one of its rulers at her side.

“LET ME IN!”

A pounding was coming from the distance. They could hear the voice rising as they looked around their surroundings.

“YOU DARE TO DENY A PHARAOH PASSAGE INTO HIS OWN BROTHER’S KINGDOM? STAND ASIDE OR LOOK UPON ME AND DESPAIR! YOUR WALLS WILL FALL!”

A great pounding resumed.

“Master?”

Gudako nodded.

Time to investigate.