SSR 12: Complications
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"One Two, One two! One Two, One Two!!" Karna Santa, the pale white Indian Heroic Spirit, said this as he threw out consecutive punches at the enemy before him.
Normally, Beowulf would ignore such pointless noise and focus all his attention on the fight. However, after failing to land any blows on the hooded divine spirit even once and getting constantly punched in the face, the noises only served to annoy him.
"Will you. Shut. The. Fuck. Up! Gah!" Beowulf felt his nasal cavity implode as a solid and much more powerful punch struck him in the nose.
He wildly swung his blade, but it found no purchase as Karna Santa ducked under the horizontal sword slash and punished the attack by delivering a punch to his liver. Any normal person would have been taken down from such a strike, but not Beowulf. That punch had managed to leave a small, purple bruise on his side, but he remained standing. He did let out a hiss, however, as a punch to the liver was still a punch to the liver.
"Deal with it. I am under no obligation to let my enemy dictate how I fight, especially to someone who doesn't bother to avoid catching these hands," Beowulf growled and, in an unexpected but foolish move, he threw away his swords and threw a fist at the divine spirit. Karna Santa avoided the sloppy punch thrown at his face with a tilt of the head and countered with an uppercut, which caused Beowulf's teeth to creak under pressure.
"If you truly want to get one over me, you need to stop being such a scrooge and start punching in the name of the Christmas spirit!"
"Cheh, for the last time, I—" Beowulf received another punch to the face mid-sentence, "don't fucking—"
And another, "Give a fuck about your shitty Christmas!"
And another, "Now shut up and let our fists do all the talking like proper warriors!"
Beowulf bellowed a growl and threw a surprisingly fast punch toward Karna, who managed to protect his face by blocking with his arms. The punch was heavier than normal, likely due to being fueled by the Deputy Warden's anger toward him, which was further boosted by his mad enhancement. However, Karna Santa didn't care for that. All he cared about right now was the utter blasphemy this bastard had just said to his face.
"I see... I have misjudged you. All this time, I believed you to be nothing but a Grinch. That even with your tiny black heart, the power of words, and the Christmas spirit, you would learn to do the right thing."
Beowulf clicked his tongue, "you're still going on about that crap?"
He ignored his statement and leveled a glare at Beowulf. "But I see you are actually a Scrooge. A person who will never understand the true meaning of Christmas by conventional means."
Beowulf merely stared at him with an unamused and bored expression, "Which means? What?"
Karna Santa proceeded to take out a pair of brass knuckles and equipped them. "Which means putting coal in your stockings alone isn't going to work on you anymore."
One moment, Beowulf was staring down the divine spirit, the next, he felt the air inside his stomach leave his body.
The divine spirit had punched him harder than he anticipated.
Before he could even recover his lost breath, he felt a second punch land near his bowels again, followed by another, and another without pause.
Unlike the last few minutes of their fight, the punches were increasing in number exponentially. From one to four, six to twelve, until he received hundreds upon hundreds of punches every second.
No quips, no banter, just punching.
Despite the flurry of attacks that prevented him from moving, much less attacking, the only thing that Beowulf felt at that moment was joy. Joy that the heroic spirit shut up for once and truly went all out on him.
The Beowulf that was being dominated was not the King of his epic, no, he was a savage through and through.
He loved conflict. He loved fighting.
It didn't matter to him if he was getting destroyed by a lunatic talking nonsense about a pagan holiday that was adopted by Christians to lure in pagans for conversion into their faith.
All that mattered was that this divine spirit was using a strong attack to give him a proper warrior's death.
Finally, the punches stopped for a moment, but Beowulf knew better, it was not due to the divine spirit being left tired due to the intensity of the attack.
This was the end for Beowulf. Seeing as this was one of his last moments, he opened his mouth to speak, only for them to clench shut with an audible snap. The force of the blow was so powerful, many of his teeth groaned under the strain until they finally gave in and shattered inside his mouth.
He could feel the skin around his neck stretch beyond its limits.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!"
Those were the last words he heard before his head was separated from his shoulders.
"... I cannot fix that." Nightingale, who had just arrived, bluntly stated as she gazed upon the fading decapitated body of Beowulf.
Karna nodded, "Indeed, that was what I was aiming for."
Nightingale hummed before turning to see the rest of the group behind her.
"Master, you have arrived. Do not worry, the threat has been neutralized." Karna Santa told Gudao, who managed to get a glance at the state of the man Karna Santa had just killed.
"I can see that. Where's Rama?"
"Up ahead," Karna Santa said, "I made a path for him, but I fear his condition has deteriorated so more than when we arrived. I pray he had managed to meet his wife in time… even knowing that doing so is an impossibility."
"All the reasons I must push forward. I cannot allow him to get killed before I murder him for not staying by my side!!" Nightingale rushes off, causing the rest of the group to follow suit.
By the time they manage to reach the end, they see the last motes of Rama's magical energy dissipate into the ether, leaving what appeared to be his grieving wife Sita behind, who was quietly kneeling on the ground and sobbing where he once lay.
"Damn it!!" Nightingale cursed as she tightened her fist in anger so hard, she bled. "That fool! I knew I should have chopped his legs off before he ran to his death!!"
Seeing the reality of the situation, Gudao decided it was better to just accept their losses. Seeing nothing else he could do, he decided to just default to doing the one thing anyone else would do when seeing a widow crying for their dead husband.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Gudao expressed his condolences to the grieving wife.
The woman wiped the tears from her eyes, stood up from where she lay, and looked at Gudao. She said, "Thank you. I apologize for my current state. My name is Sita, and I am Rama's wife. Though, seeing your presence here immediately after my husband's death and your reaction to his passing, I assume he was your ally?"
"Yes, he was. My name is Ritsuka Fujimaru, but my friends call me Gudao." He said, which caused Sita's eyes to widen.
"So you're Gudao?"
"Yes? Have we already met?"
"Rama's last words mentioned your name and someone by the name of Geronimo. He was apologizing for leaving you behind. If I may ask, can you tell me what happened to him?"
Gudao proceeded to give a quick summary of the events leading up to the present moment, starting from their arrival in America. Due to time constraints, he didn't delve into the complete depth of what had happened in other singularities, but rather emphasized the need to obtain the Holy Grail to resolve the singularity.
In the background, the prisoners, who had been eavesdropping on the dramatic scene, began murmuring about the shared information. Many of them expressed disbelief and confusion at the ludicrous tale Gudao was telling Sita. However, Gudao chose to ignore them and concluded his explanation of the situation.
She pursed her lips tightly as she listened to the challenges her beloved had endured to reach her. "Rama..." She closed her eyes and nodded firmly after Gudao finished speaking. "I have decided. Though I may not be as strong as my husband, I am capable on the battlefield. Would it be alright if I joined your group?" she proposed, seeking to contribute to their cause.
"Are you sure? I assumed you would want some time alone to mourn," Gudao responded, expressing surprise.
"Yes. If my husband had not arrived in such a state, I would have gladly given my life to assist you in your mission," she said, causing everyone to look at her in shock at the disturbing confession. "However, as his wife, it is my duty to see his unfinished business through before he departed this world."
He took a moment to consider the situation. Frankly, at this point, they had already lost a major player in the resistance, so having a replacement who, by her own admission, was slightly weaker to fill his role but capable enough to fight would help ease the burden of losing Rama. "Alright, you can come with us then," he agreed.
"Hey, where are we going?" Gudao was caught off guard by the sudden voice of a young boy nearby. His vivid blond hair and blue eyes were telltale signs of him being a heroic spirit.
"And who might you be?" Gudao asked.
"Ah, this is Beta. He cannot say his name or class, so that's what I've been calling him," she explained. "He has kept me company during the months I've been here. I hope I don't sound selfish for asking this, but I don't feel comfortable leaving him by himself. May he accompany us?" Although it sounded like a request, the stern but cute look in her eyes made it clear that there would be no room for arguing against it. Beta, for all intents and purposes, had been adopted by Sita and if he rejected him, she could very well rescind providing her aid.
He turned to the boy and saw that he appeared to be a child, but he couldn't judge his competence based solely on his looks. After all, they had Paul on their team.
"Can you fight?" he asked.
"Not much, no," the boy replied, not even sugarcoating his words. As expected of a child.
Gudao didn't feel entirely comfortable bringing someone who couldn't fight onto the battlefield. However, considering he was the weakest member of the group by a long shot, he didn't have much room to argue. Besides, if his sister found out he turned away such an adorable child, he would surely catch hell from her.
"Alright, you can come with us," he told the blonde-haired, blue-eyed little boy, "just make sure you stick by Sita."
"Okay!" The boy saluted, reminding Gudao of a soldier from the modern era. Perhaps he had a military background? No time to delve into it now. They needed to keep moving.
"Welcome to the team." With that, Beta and Sita solidified their connection to Gudao.
Now that they had new allies, they could finally regroup with Geronimo's team at the rendezvous point.
"Senpai, what about the people in the prison? They seem to be from the present day," one of his companions asked.
Gudao hadn't noticed the presence of the non-magical individuals until it was brought up. As he turned to face the group of people in prisoner's outfits, he winced at the realization of how many had been unwittingly dragged into the situation.
"Romani, will these people remember what happened here once the singularity ends?" Gudao inquired.
The doctor appeared in his usual holographic form, causing the surrounding people to flinch in surprise at the display of magic. Ignoring their reaction, the doctor took a moment to respond, humming thoughtfully. "I believe so. Technically, they are part of the singularity, so once it collapses, they should be able to return to their own time without issue."
Good. Gudao wanted to ensure that nobody would face any repercussions for being exposed to magic once they were finished here.
"But won't it be a problem if they escape? Some of these people are criminals, unlike Sita. Moreover, we lack the necessary resources to take everyone with us. Plus, we're deep in enemy territory, and bringing them along will only draw attention," Mashu pointed out, raising a valid concern.
"We can hypnotize them all to ensure they stay here and don't wander off into danger," Romani suggested.
Gudao expressed discomfort at the direction the situation was taking before addressing everyone else. "Does anyone here know how to use hypnosis?" He was aware of basic hypnotic techniques, but they were limited in scope and meant for only a few individuals, not hundreds.
Everyone shook their heads, which prompted Gudao to groan in frustration. "Great, now we have to summon a caster."
"Apologies for the bad news, but the nearest leyline is too far away for practical use. You'll have to rely on your rudimentary hypnosis to keep everyone here," Romani informed him.
Gudao released a sigh of exasperation. If he couldn't fully hypnotize everyone, he would have to rely on his public speaking skills, backed up by his magic, to convince people to stay.
"Look on the bright side, at least things can't possibly get any worse," Romani remarked, unknowingly triggering a landmine with his words.
"How... How did this happen?" His eyes widened as he took in the sight of Lucina, covered in abrasions. Cuts and caked blood while she shouldered the weight of an unconscious Robin Hood. Next to her was Billy who was sitting near a rock sporting a nasty cut on his forehead which Nightingale was now immediately fussing over.
Billy, despite his position, was still capable of speaking and thus decided to explain what had happened.
"Well, the bad news is, as you can see, the plan semi-failed."
Yes, everyone could tell that at a glance.
"Wait. Semi-failed? What do you mean?" Mashu asked everyone asked.
"He means exactly that. The plan semi-failed, which means we managed to achieve some degree of success." Billy tried explaining.
"For starters, Carmilla was able to gravely injure Mebd, so much so that her sparkly white dress got stained red."
Then he grew somber, "Sadly, it cost us Geronimo's life."
"N-No…" The voice of Lyn's heartbroken voice caused the mood to fall even lower. Out of everyone in their group, Lyn had grown the closest with Geronimo. And now he was gone.
"I apologize. I should have done something. He was next to me, if only I had reacted sooner I could have intercepted that spear." Lucina's guilt was written on her face.
"It wasn't your fault, Lucina. Even if your divine blade had intercepted the strike, it would have been pointless," Romani's voice suddenly spoke, offering an explanation. "Gáe Bolg is a weapon that reverses causality when its name is uttered. So when the spear's name was called, his heart had already been pierced. No matter what you or anyone else did, you could not undo what was already done."
Lucina bit her lip in frustration upon hearing this information.
"That is such Pegasus shit!" Lyn exclaimed, her voice breaking after her prolonged silence. "How can a spear pierce someone before it's even thrown!?" Tears streamed down her face.
"W-We know, and we understand your frustration, but that Noble Phantasm has saved us more times than we can count. Now, we find ourselves on the receiving end," Mashu consoled Lyn, who appeared as though she wanted to argue further but was abruptly interrupted by Billy before the situation escalated.
"Once Geronimo died, it took a lot of effort from your heroic spirit for us to retreat. We encountered unexpected and troublesome reinforcements in the form of a bulletproof Archer," Billy explained, annoyance evident in his voice. "If Carmilla hadn't injured Mebd enough for the Archer to take her away for healing, he would likely have been the one to kill us all. After all, a single arrow from him vaporized Robin's arm."
Gudao's gaze shifted to the side, sensing the weakened, spiritualized forms of his heroic spirits nearby. He sent them a message through their connection, expressing his gratitude for their hard work, to which they seemed appreciative despite their current state.
They had truly underestimated their enemies, hadn't they? It had been an issue since their arrival in this singularity. Gudao had never fully realized how much he relied on his sister during missions.
Sure, there were times in Okeanos when he was able to handle himself, but in the end, it was due to Francis Drake being near him that he was confident in his choices. Mashu helped too, but unlike in Okeanos, he let his guard down here.
His sister had always compensated for his shortcomings. Whenever he stumbled, she fearlessly rushed into battle. He had always followed in her footsteps, but now that she was far away, he keenly felt the weight of their responsibilities resting solely on his shoulders.
"Senpai, what are your orders?" The voice of his kohai, Mashu, snapped him out of his reverie. He looked around and saw worry in the eyes of his comrades. What had he been doing? He needed to focus and turn the situation around. People were counting on him now, whether his sister was present or not.
Taking a deep breath, he composed himself and replied, "We need to regroup and fall back to the west. Once we're out of Celt territory, we can assess our next steps. But first, "
He turned to the hologram of the good doctor and asked, "Romani, please tell us the location of the nearest leyline." He wanted to ensure the safety and well-being of his heroic spirits. They had already done enough and deserved some rest. They had earned it.
"Give me a moment," Romani's eyes scanned his computer monitor while clicking his mouse for a minute before he responded again. "Good news, everyone," he said, his voice filled with a mixture of relief and happiness. "There's a significant leyline just a few miles from here. These are the coordinates."
"Thanks, Romani. Alright, everyone, we need to move."
Everyone agreed with Gudao, and after Martha and Nightingale patched everyone up, they set off westward. The sight of his beaten-up comrades reminded him of a childhood memory.
He recalled seeing Gudako and himself in a similar state after being dragged into a fight with some bullies in kindergarten. They had lost and were beaten up so badly that they had to call their parents.
Why was he remembering this now?
The answer came straight at him when he felt someone, likely Mashu, harshly pull on his arm so hard that he felt a 'pop' on his shoulder, but that sound was then followed by a loud crash and a plume of dust shooting up into the sky.
His vision was filled with a dusty brown, created by the explosion kicking up dust and obscuring his vision.
As the dust settled, he turned to see the location where he had been standing, and his blood turned cold.
Looking around at the surreal scene, he saw it. The very Servant who had been causing them the most problems since they arrived: Cu Alter.
Cu Alter had just tried to skewer him from above. The ground around his spear had been cratered, so if he had not been yanked out of the way, he would have been turned into a human kebab.
"What a pain. And here I thought I could take you out without wasting my energy. As expected of a Master. You lot are always a slippery bunch to kill," Cu Alter's voice echoed across the area, causing Lucina and Billy to tense.
Gudao turned to the voice and was met with a savage-looking person. A hooded man with sharpened teeth like a shark and dismissive angry red eyes. His exposed chest showed various red tattoos etched into his pectoral muscles. Out of all his features, it was the tail that hung behind him, covered in long spikes, that made him look even more dangerous.
"Cu Alter..."
"Yo," was his only response, before he stood up straight and tall, towering over all of them.
His eyes briefly landed on Sita and Beta for a moment. "I see you managed to get that guy's wife out of prison. Considering the fact he ain't here, it means the curse of my Gae Bolg finally did that roach in."
As soon as he finished that sentence, three arrows of light flew in Cu Alter's direction. Unfortunately, Cu easily batted them away like flies.
"So it was you who made my beloved husband Rama die in pain... Unforgivable." The amount of hatred and magical energy seeping from Sita was so thick that it could be felt by everyone.
Cu didn't seem to be fazed in the slightest.
"Nothing personal. It is the duty of a king to cut down rebellious dogs like that husband of yours."
Suddenly, a malicious and evil energy engulfed the spear in his hand, overpowering Sita's divine rage.
"That being said," Cu turned to Gudao, "Sorry for underestimating ya. Allow me to correct this mistake." His face scrunched in fury before he leaped into the air and pointed his spear at him once more.
"Gáe Bolg."
He invoked the name of Gáe Bolg and threw himself at Gudao once more.
Now, there was no way to escape. Despite the best efforts of his heroic spirits and friends to stop the spear, it weaved around the attacks. Like a homing missile, it gunned toward his heart.
This was it. This was the end for him. He kept his eyes focused on the spear, refusing to back down in the face of death. Then-
"Enough."
The unstoppable spear met an unstoppable force.
The blonde-haired boy, whom he had picked up on a whim with Sita back on the island, had stepped in front of him seconds before the spear hit him. Gudao's eyes nearly shot out of his skull when he saw the boy catch the cursed spear with his bare hand.
Based on the silence that fell on the battlefield, everyone was just as surprised as him to see this display. However, none were as surprised or shocked as Cu Alter.
The mad heroic spirit's piercing red eyes, which were indifferent and bored just a few moments ago, were now wide in disbelief as they locked with the soft blue eyes of the tiny heroic spirit.
"H-How did you-"
"You've hurt enough people for one day. Go away."
The sound of a bone cracking caused Cu Alter's eyes to widen further in disbelief. Just when he thought Beta couldn't be any more outrageous, he went and proved him wrong once more. The young boy, who claimed he wasn't a good fighter, had just turned Gáe Bolg into a broken phantasm.
Cu Alter, who had portrayed himself as a stone-cold and uncaring tyrant, was now acting completely out of character as he stared at the incredible feat of the little boy with horror. "I-Impossible!"
The cracks in the spear grew larger, emitting a white light that engulfed the area, causing everyone's hair to stand on end. Memories of Fuyuki surfaced in his mind, one in particular stood out. The time they met Emiya, who had managed to pin them down by shooting broken phantasms at them from a distance.
Old instincts kicked in, and without thinking, he had already used a command spell to fuel Mashu's noble phantasm, Lord Chaldeas, which she had already deployed to protect him. Meanwhile, Karna Santa had used his special Santa powers to get Lyn and the others to safety behind Lord Chaldeas. Even after acting so quickly, Karna Santa barely managed to bring everyone, including the unconscious form of Beta, behind Mashu before a deafening explosion went off.
The world turned white, blinding everyone who wasn't prepared for the event within a mile of the epicenter.
By the time the light had died down, the only one who wasn't protected from the blast was Cu Alter, who was now lying broken but alive in the epicenter of the blast.
Seeing this as an opportunity to make their getaway, Gudao turned to everyone and shouted, "Now's our chance, retreat!!"
And so they made their getaway, ignoring the string of curses coming from the pissed-off Cu Alter inside the crater.
Author's note: Holy fuck. It's been 21 days since I updated. Whoops. My bad guys. Still alive, just had life stuff going on. Anyways. Here's this chapter.
This is the image that inspired part of Karna Santa's fight with Beowulf:
Thanks for reading.
Normally, Beowulf would ignore such pointless noise and focus all his attention on the fight. However, after failing to land any blows on the hooded divine spirit even once and getting constantly punched in the face, the noises only served to annoy him.
"Will you. Shut. The. Fuck. Up! Gah!" Beowulf felt his nasal cavity implode as a solid and much more powerful punch struck him in the nose.
He wildly swung his blade, but it found no purchase as Karna Santa ducked under the horizontal sword slash and punished the attack by delivering a punch to his liver. Any normal person would have been taken down from such a strike, but not Beowulf. That punch had managed to leave a small, purple bruise on his side, but he remained standing. He did let out a hiss, however, as a punch to the liver was still a punch to the liver.
"Deal with it. I am under no obligation to let my enemy dictate how I fight, especially to someone who doesn't bother to avoid catching these hands," Beowulf growled and, in an unexpected but foolish move, he threw away his swords and threw a fist at the divine spirit. Karna Santa avoided the sloppy punch thrown at his face with a tilt of the head and countered with an uppercut, which caused Beowulf's teeth to creak under pressure.
"If you truly want to get one over me, you need to stop being such a scrooge and start punching in the name of the Christmas spirit!"
"Cheh, for the last time, I—" Beowulf received another punch to the face mid-sentence, "don't fucking—"
And another, "Give a fuck about your shitty Christmas!"
And another, "Now shut up and let our fists do all the talking like proper warriors!"
Beowulf bellowed a growl and threw a surprisingly fast punch toward Karna, who managed to protect his face by blocking with his arms. The punch was heavier than normal, likely due to being fueled by the Deputy Warden's anger toward him, which was further boosted by his mad enhancement. However, Karna Santa didn't care for that. All he cared about right now was the utter blasphemy this bastard had just said to his face.
"I see... I have misjudged you. All this time, I believed you to be nothing but a Grinch. That even with your tiny black heart, the power of words, and the Christmas spirit, you would learn to do the right thing."
Beowulf clicked his tongue, "you're still going on about that crap?"
He ignored his statement and leveled a glare at Beowulf. "But I see you are actually a Scrooge. A person who will never understand the true meaning of Christmas by conventional means."
Beowulf merely stared at him with an unamused and bored expression, "Which means? What?"
Karna Santa proceeded to take out a pair of brass knuckles and equipped them. "Which means putting coal in your stockings alone isn't going to work on you anymore."
One moment, Beowulf was staring down the divine spirit, the next, he felt the air inside his stomach leave his body.
The divine spirit had punched him harder than he anticipated.
Before he could even recover his lost breath, he felt a second punch land near his bowels again, followed by another, and another without pause.
Unlike the last few minutes of their fight, the punches were increasing in number exponentially. From one to four, six to twelve, until he received hundreds upon hundreds of punches every second.
No quips, no banter, just punching.
Despite the flurry of attacks that prevented him from moving, much less attacking, the only thing that Beowulf felt at that moment was joy. Joy that the heroic spirit shut up for once and truly went all out on him.
The Beowulf that was being dominated was not the King of his epic, no, he was a savage through and through.
He loved conflict. He loved fighting.
It didn't matter to him if he was getting destroyed by a lunatic talking nonsense about a pagan holiday that was adopted by Christians to lure in pagans for conversion into their faith.
All that mattered was that this divine spirit was using a strong attack to give him a proper warrior's death.
Finally, the punches stopped for a moment, but Beowulf knew better, it was not due to the divine spirit being left tired due to the intensity of the attack.
This was the end for Beowulf. Seeing as this was one of his last moments, he opened his mouth to speak, only for them to clench shut with an audible snap. The force of the blow was so powerful, many of his teeth groaned under the strain until they finally gave in and shattered inside his mouth.
He could feel the skin around his neck stretch beyond its limits.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!"
Those were the last words he heard before his head was separated from his shoulders.
0-0-0
"... I cannot fix that." Nightingale, who had just arrived, bluntly stated as she gazed upon the fading decapitated body of Beowulf.
Karna nodded, "Indeed, that was what I was aiming for."
Nightingale hummed before turning to see the rest of the group behind her.
"Master, you have arrived. Do not worry, the threat has been neutralized." Karna Santa told Gudao, who managed to get a glance at the state of the man Karna Santa had just killed.
"I can see that. Where's Rama?"
"Up ahead," Karna Santa said, "I made a path for him, but I fear his condition has deteriorated so more than when we arrived. I pray he had managed to meet his wife in time… even knowing that doing so is an impossibility."
"All the reasons I must push forward. I cannot allow him to get killed before I murder him for not staying by my side!!" Nightingale rushes off, causing the rest of the group to follow suit.
By the time they manage to reach the end, they see the last motes of Rama's magical energy dissipate into the ether, leaving what appeared to be his grieving wife Sita behind, who was quietly kneeling on the ground and sobbing where he once lay.
"Damn it!!" Nightingale cursed as she tightened her fist in anger so hard, she bled. "That fool! I knew I should have chopped his legs off before he ran to his death!!"
Seeing the reality of the situation, Gudao decided it was better to just accept their losses. Seeing nothing else he could do, he decided to just default to doing the one thing anyone else would do when seeing a widow crying for their dead husband.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Gudao expressed his condolences to the grieving wife.
The woman wiped the tears from her eyes, stood up from where she lay, and looked at Gudao. She said, "Thank you. I apologize for my current state. My name is Sita, and I am Rama's wife. Though, seeing your presence here immediately after my husband's death and your reaction to his passing, I assume he was your ally?"
"Yes, he was. My name is Ritsuka Fujimaru, but my friends call me Gudao." He said, which caused Sita's eyes to widen.
"So you're Gudao?"
"Yes? Have we already met?"
"Rama's last words mentioned your name and someone by the name of Geronimo. He was apologizing for leaving you behind. If I may ask, can you tell me what happened to him?"
Gudao proceeded to give a quick summary of the events leading up to the present moment, starting from their arrival in America. Due to time constraints, he didn't delve into the complete depth of what had happened in other singularities, but rather emphasized the need to obtain the Holy Grail to resolve the singularity.
In the background, the prisoners, who had been eavesdropping on the dramatic scene, began murmuring about the shared information. Many of them expressed disbelief and confusion at the ludicrous tale Gudao was telling Sita. However, Gudao chose to ignore them and concluded his explanation of the situation.
She pursed her lips tightly as she listened to the challenges her beloved had endured to reach her. "Rama..." She closed her eyes and nodded firmly after Gudao finished speaking. "I have decided. Though I may not be as strong as my husband, I am capable on the battlefield. Would it be alright if I joined your group?" she proposed, seeking to contribute to their cause.
"Are you sure? I assumed you would want some time alone to mourn," Gudao responded, expressing surprise.
"Yes. If my husband had not arrived in such a state, I would have gladly given my life to assist you in your mission," she said, causing everyone to look at her in shock at the disturbing confession. "However, as his wife, it is my duty to see his unfinished business through before he departed this world."
He took a moment to consider the situation. Frankly, at this point, they had already lost a major player in the resistance, so having a replacement who, by her own admission, was slightly weaker to fill his role but capable enough to fight would help ease the burden of losing Rama. "Alright, you can come with us then," he agreed.
"Hey, where are we going?" Gudao was caught off guard by the sudden voice of a young boy nearby. His vivid blond hair and blue eyes were telltale signs of him being a heroic spirit.
"And who might you be?" Gudao asked.
"Ah, this is Beta. He cannot say his name or class, so that's what I've been calling him," she explained. "He has kept me company during the months I've been here. I hope I don't sound selfish for asking this, but I don't feel comfortable leaving him by himself. May he accompany us?" Although it sounded like a request, the stern but cute look in her eyes made it clear that there would be no room for arguing against it. Beta, for all intents and purposes, had been adopted by Sita and if he rejected him, she could very well rescind providing her aid.
He turned to the boy and saw that he appeared to be a child, but he couldn't judge his competence based solely on his looks. After all, they had Paul on their team.
"Can you fight?" he asked.
"Not much, no," the boy replied, not even sugarcoating his words. As expected of a child.
Gudao didn't feel entirely comfortable bringing someone who couldn't fight onto the battlefield. However, considering he was the weakest member of the group by a long shot, he didn't have much room to argue. Besides, if his sister found out he turned away such an adorable child, he would surely catch hell from her.
"Alright, you can come with us," he told the blonde-haired, blue-eyed little boy, "just make sure you stick by Sita."
"Okay!" The boy saluted, reminding Gudao of a soldier from the modern era. Perhaps he had a military background? No time to delve into it now. They needed to keep moving.
"Welcome to the team." With that, Beta and Sita solidified their connection to Gudao.
Now that they had new allies, they could finally regroup with Geronimo's team at the rendezvous point.
"Senpai, what about the people in the prison? They seem to be from the present day," one of his companions asked.
Gudao hadn't noticed the presence of the non-magical individuals until it was brought up. As he turned to face the group of people in prisoner's outfits, he winced at the realization of how many had been unwittingly dragged into the situation.
"Romani, will these people remember what happened here once the singularity ends?" Gudao inquired.
The doctor appeared in his usual holographic form, causing the surrounding people to flinch in surprise at the display of magic. Ignoring their reaction, the doctor took a moment to respond, humming thoughtfully. "I believe so. Technically, they are part of the singularity, so once it collapses, they should be able to return to their own time without issue."
Good. Gudao wanted to ensure that nobody would face any repercussions for being exposed to magic once they were finished here.
"But won't it be a problem if they escape? Some of these people are criminals, unlike Sita. Moreover, we lack the necessary resources to take everyone with us. Plus, we're deep in enemy territory, and bringing them along will only draw attention," Mashu pointed out, raising a valid concern.
"We can hypnotize them all to ensure they stay here and don't wander off into danger," Romani suggested.
Gudao expressed discomfort at the direction the situation was taking before addressing everyone else. "Does anyone here know how to use hypnosis?" He was aware of basic hypnotic techniques, but they were limited in scope and meant for only a few individuals, not hundreds.
Everyone shook their heads, which prompted Gudao to groan in frustration. "Great, now we have to summon a caster."
"Apologies for the bad news, but the nearest leyline is too far away for practical use. You'll have to rely on your rudimentary hypnosis to keep everyone here," Romani informed him.
Gudao released a sigh of exasperation. If he couldn't fully hypnotize everyone, he would have to rely on his public speaking skills, backed up by his magic, to convince people to stay.
"Look on the bright side, at least things can't possibly get any worse," Romani remarked, unknowingly triggering a landmine with his words.
0-0-0
"How... How did this happen?" His eyes widened as he took in the sight of Lucina, covered in abrasions. Cuts and caked blood while she shouldered the weight of an unconscious Robin Hood. Next to her was Billy who was sitting near a rock sporting a nasty cut on his forehead which Nightingale was now immediately fussing over.
Billy, despite his position, was still capable of speaking and thus decided to explain what had happened.
"Well, the bad news is, as you can see, the plan semi-failed."
Yes, everyone could tell that at a glance.
"Wait. Semi-failed? What do you mean?" Mashu asked everyone asked.
"He means exactly that. The plan semi-failed, which means we managed to achieve some degree of success." Billy tried explaining.
"For starters, Carmilla was able to gravely injure Mebd, so much so that her sparkly white dress got stained red."
Then he grew somber, "Sadly, it cost us Geronimo's life."
"N-No…" The voice of Lyn's heartbroken voice caused the mood to fall even lower. Out of everyone in their group, Lyn had grown the closest with Geronimo. And now he was gone.
"I apologize. I should have done something. He was next to me, if only I had reacted sooner I could have intercepted that spear." Lucina's guilt was written on her face.
"It wasn't your fault, Lucina. Even if your divine blade had intercepted the strike, it would have been pointless," Romani's voice suddenly spoke, offering an explanation. "Gáe Bolg is a weapon that reverses causality when its name is uttered. So when the spear's name was called, his heart had already been pierced. No matter what you or anyone else did, you could not undo what was already done."
Lucina bit her lip in frustration upon hearing this information.
"That is such Pegasus shit!" Lyn exclaimed, her voice breaking after her prolonged silence. "How can a spear pierce someone before it's even thrown!?" Tears streamed down her face.
"W-We know, and we understand your frustration, but that Noble Phantasm has saved us more times than we can count. Now, we find ourselves on the receiving end," Mashu consoled Lyn, who appeared as though she wanted to argue further but was abruptly interrupted by Billy before the situation escalated.
"Once Geronimo died, it took a lot of effort from your heroic spirit for us to retreat. We encountered unexpected and troublesome reinforcements in the form of a bulletproof Archer," Billy explained, annoyance evident in his voice. "If Carmilla hadn't injured Mebd enough for the Archer to take her away for healing, he would likely have been the one to kill us all. After all, a single arrow from him vaporized Robin's arm."
Gudao's gaze shifted to the side, sensing the weakened, spiritualized forms of his heroic spirits nearby. He sent them a message through their connection, expressing his gratitude for their hard work, to which they seemed appreciative despite their current state.
They had truly underestimated their enemies, hadn't they? It had been an issue since their arrival in this singularity. Gudao had never fully realized how much he relied on his sister during missions.
Sure, there were times in Okeanos when he was able to handle himself, but in the end, it was due to Francis Drake being near him that he was confident in his choices. Mashu helped too, but unlike in Okeanos, he let his guard down here.
His sister had always compensated for his shortcomings. Whenever he stumbled, she fearlessly rushed into battle. He had always followed in her footsteps, but now that she was far away, he keenly felt the weight of their responsibilities resting solely on his shoulders.
"Senpai, what are your orders?" The voice of his kohai, Mashu, snapped him out of his reverie. He looked around and saw worry in the eyes of his comrades. What had he been doing? He needed to focus and turn the situation around. People were counting on him now, whether his sister was present or not.
Taking a deep breath, he composed himself and replied, "We need to regroup and fall back to the west. Once we're out of Celt territory, we can assess our next steps. But first, "
He turned to the hologram of the good doctor and asked, "Romani, please tell us the location of the nearest leyline." He wanted to ensure the safety and well-being of his heroic spirits. They had already done enough and deserved some rest. They had earned it.
"Give me a moment," Romani's eyes scanned his computer monitor while clicking his mouse for a minute before he responded again. "Good news, everyone," he said, his voice filled with a mixture of relief and happiness. "There's a significant leyline just a few miles from here. These are the coordinates."
"Thanks, Romani. Alright, everyone, we need to move."
Everyone agreed with Gudao, and after Martha and Nightingale patched everyone up, they set off westward. The sight of his beaten-up comrades reminded him of a childhood memory.
He recalled seeing Gudako and himself in a similar state after being dragged into a fight with some bullies in kindergarten. They had lost and were beaten up so badly that they had to call their parents.
Why was he remembering this now?
The answer came straight at him when he felt someone, likely Mashu, harshly pull on his arm so hard that he felt a 'pop' on his shoulder, but that sound was then followed by a loud crash and a plume of dust shooting up into the sky.
His vision was filled with a dusty brown, created by the explosion kicking up dust and obscuring his vision.
As the dust settled, he turned to see the location where he had been standing, and his blood turned cold.
Looking around at the surreal scene, he saw it. The very Servant who had been causing them the most problems since they arrived: Cu Alter.
Cu Alter had just tried to skewer him from above. The ground around his spear had been cratered, so if he had not been yanked out of the way, he would have been turned into a human kebab.
"What a pain. And here I thought I could take you out without wasting my energy. As expected of a Master. You lot are always a slippery bunch to kill," Cu Alter's voice echoed across the area, causing Lucina and Billy to tense.
Gudao turned to the voice and was met with a savage-looking person. A hooded man with sharpened teeth like a shark and dismissive angry red eyes. His exposed chest showed various red tattoos etched into his pectoral muscles. Out of all his features, it was the tail that hung behind him, covered in long spikes, that made him look even more dangerous.
"Cu Alter..."
"Yo," was his only response, before he stood up straight and tall, towering over all of them.
His eyes briefly landed on Sita and Beta for a moment. "I see you managed to get that guy's wife out of prison. Considering the fact he ain't here, it means the curse of my Gae Bolg finally did that roach in."
As soon as he finished that sentence, three arrows of light flew in Cu Alter's direction. Unfortunately, Cu easily batted them away like flies.
"So it was you who made my beloved husband Rama die in pain... Unforgivable." The amount of hatred and magical energy seeping from Sita was so thick that it could be felt by everyone.
Cu didn't seem to be fazed in the slightest.
"Nothing personal. It is the duty of a king to cut down rebellious dogs like that husband of yours."
Suddenly, a malicious and evil energy engulfed the spear in his hand, overpowering Sita's divine rage.
"That being said," Cu turned to Gudao, "Sorry for underestimating ya. Allow me to correct this mistake." His face scrunched in fury before he leaped into the air and pointed his spear at him once more.
"Gáe Bolg."
He invoked the name of Gáe Bolg and threw himself at Gudao once more.
Now, there was no way to escape. Despite the best efforts of his heroic spirits and friends to stop the spear, it weaved around the attacks. Like a homing missile, it gunned toward his heart.
This was it. This was the end for him. He kept his eyes focused on the spear, refusing to back down in the face of death. Then-
"Enough."
The unstoppable spear met an unstoppable force.
The blonde-haired boy, whom he had picked up on a whim with Sita back on the island, had stepped in front of him seconds before the spear hit him. Gudao's eyes nearly shot out of his skull when he saw the boy catch the cursed spear with his bare hand.
Based on the silence that fell on the battlefield, everyone was just as surprised as him to see this display. However, none were as surprised or shocked as Cu Alter.
The mad heroic spirit's piercing red eyes, which were indifferent and bored just a few moments ago, were now wide in disbelief as they locked with the soft blue eyes of the tiny heroic spirit.
"H-How did you-"
"You've hurt enough people for one day. Go away."
The sound of a bone cracking caused Cu Alter's eyes to widen further in disbelief. Just when he thought Beta couldn't be any more outrageous, he went and proved him wrong once more. The young boy, who claimed he wasn't a good fighter, had just turned Gáe Bolg into a broken phantasm.
Cu Alter, who had portrayed himself as a stone-cold and uncaring tyrant, was now acting completely out of character as he stared at the incredible feat of the little boy with horror. "I-Impossible!"
The cracks in the spear grew larger, emitting a white light that engulfed the area, causing everyone's hair to stand on end. Memories of Fuyuki surfaced in his mind, one in particular stood out. The time they met Emiya, who had managed to pin them down by shooting broken phantasms at them from a distance.
Old instincts kicked in, and without thinking, he had already used a command spell to fuel Mashu's noble phantasm, Lord Chaldeas, which she had already deployed to protect him. Meanwhile, Karna Santa had used his special Santa powers to get Lyn and the others to safety behind Lord Chaldeas. Even after acting so quickly, Karna Santa barely managed to bring everyone, including the unconscious form of Beta, behind Mashu before a deafening explosion went off.
The world turned white, blinding everyone who wasn't prepared for the event within a mile of the epicenter.
By the time the light had died down, the only one who wasn't protected from the blast was Cu Alter, who was now lying broken but alive in the epicenter of the blast.
Seeing this as an opportunity to make their getaway, Gudao turned to everyone and shouted, "Now's our chance, retreat!!"
And so they made their getaway, ignoring the string of curses coming from the pissed-off Cu Alter inside the crater.
Author's note: Holy fuck. It's been 21 days since I updated. Whoops. My bad guys. Still alive, just had life stuff going on. Anyways. Here's this chapter.
This is the image that inspired part of Karna Santa's fight with Beowulf:
Thanks for reading.
