Chapter 168

It was a beautiful sight. The flaming wreckage of a Noble Phantasm fortress falling from the heavens. How ironic that my fake Laevatein took out a fortress that would almost be like Asgard if you squint hard enough.

A reenactment of Myth?

It was possible that such an action had an effect on the actualization, to produce a more powerful attack.

This was my first time casting this spell, there were many things I needed to go over and tweak for the future. It was actually Scáthach who helped me theorize this completed form in the first place, back when I was training.

The others around didn’t speak, we all watched the fireworks in the distance, the moment the Fortress hit the ground, a colossal wave of Magical Energy cascaded out in every direction, enough that my hair was blown to the side.

It certainly did bring a smile to my face as I pet Sir Wiggles.

“Well then, I guess my head isn’t going to end up on a spike anymore?” I turned around towards Vlad. He flinched at my sudden addressing, maybe shocked a bit shocked at my magical display. “Perhaps we should negotiate the terms of our ‘ceasefire’, hmm?” I raised my hand up and both the Spear and the sword turned to point towards them.

All the servants quickly regained their wits, immediately prepared for battle.

I just let out a laugh, waiving my hand and dismissing the spell. The Massive tree, my Yggdrasil started to wither.

The Sword and Spear began to shrink, their ‘presence’ that weighed down upon everyone was receding with the fading of the World tree.

Both my Spear and my Sword dropped to the ground, returned to their true forms, -- the Sword of Destruction and Gae Bolg. I retrieved them quickly enough, and returned them to my ring.

I cast one last gaze towards my Tree, its entirety dissipating back into Magical Energy and dispersing back into the world.

“I’m kidding.” I raised my hand up to show no hostility. “I don’t go back on my word.” Once again, my pride would not allow it. Technically, we only agreed to allow me to bring that thing down, but it was the principal of the matter.

“H-how!” Saber’s master fell to his large butt, pointing at me. “How is that possible! That was a Noble Phantasm and you destroyed it with Magecraft!? There shouldn’t be any Mysteries like that left in the world!”

That man was the only one to speak, but the expressions on the other Mages there seemed to mirror his own. The horror on their faces, and the sheer bewilderment at what they saw.

Well, his statement wasn’t entirely accurate. The Queen of the Clock Tower has Magecraft that’s only a hairs breath away from True Magic. While she probably couldn’t have done same thing as my spell, a different set of circumstances and she could have managed something similar.

“No, it wasn’t just a spell.” Siegfried spoke up.

“Quiet! I commanded you not to speak unless I ordered it!” His master snapped at him.

“Yeah, Siegfried, you don’t want to give away any secretive information.” I also spoke up.

His master turned to me, mouth gaping.

“But I’m curious what do you have to say, Dragon Slayer.”

“That was Gungnir, the spear of the All Father, you somehow managed to create an image of it, one that possessed the same properties, if diminished.” Siegfried spoke, and his Master seemed cowled by a few glares. “And the Sword….”

“That’s impossible in this Age.” The large Master spat out. “There had to be some other trick to it.”

“Primordial Runes.” Siegfried closed his eyes, earning the undivided attention of everyone here.

My lips curled up. “You noticed, huh?”

“I thought those were gone from the world?” Archer muttered. “You seem to have many things that should be ‘impossible’ in this era, young man.”

“Not impossible if you know where to look.” I grinned. “And I had the best teacher.”

“Strange, I don’t recall you being my student.” Archer flashed a little smile, an obvious joking tone in his voice.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You know, that really just revealed your identity.”

Archer just laughed. “You focused solely on us Servants when you had opportunities to kill a Master. It’s clear where you stand in this fight, I don’t regret giving my identity, young warrior.” He pushed his fist against his chest. “I am Chiron.” He said without any fanfare. “Can I know the name of the one who was able to teach you?”

Surprisingly the other Servants didn’t raise a fuss, even though they were on the same ‘team’. Though, the Masters looked annoyed at him. Different mindsets beget different ideals and priorities I suppose.

Yeah, his identity made a lot of sense now. He had a little Horse Tail as well, no idea on his situation there since he’s supposed to be a Centaur, but whatever. “Clearly Greek with those kind of Bow Skills and a tail like that, I probably would have guessed it eventually.”

The Trainer of Heroes, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised he wanted to know about my teacher. Maybe his own pride as a teacher was poking through.

He shrugged good-naturedly. “It’s as you say.”

“The Immortal Witch of Dun Scaith.” I answered, and it wasn’t much of a secret. Besides, he appealed to my pride like that, how could I not answer in kind?

There was a look of understanding that flashed across his face, accepting my answer. “I’ll look forward to seeing how well she taught you.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t look forward to those predictive arrows of yours.” I grumbled.

He laughed happily, and it was becoming difficult to dislike these Servants.

{Master, are you planning to fight?} Raikou asked.

{No. I proposed the Ceasefire, and I will honor it for the night.} I shook my head.

{Then perhaps we should withdraw?} Raikou questioned.

{We’ll see how this plays out.} I wanted to see how this went and perhaps the smart thing to do would be to have my spell still going……..except I was at my limit with it. I chose to dissipate it willingly instead of it fading by itself.

Made my position stronger.

And it wasn’t fully as fleshed out as I had thought. Many things I need to tweak here and there like I initially thought. Truthfully, I was a bit exhausted after casting that thing, I wanted nothing more than to lay my head on her thighs and go to sleep.

There was a woman holding a whip to the side of Darnic, she looked pensive, her eyes roaming all around me. “Eastern Onmyoji and even Runecraft.” She spoke up, clutching her whip tightly. “You combined them somehow to form the basis of that Spell……..along with those ‘Primordial Runes’.” She bit her lip.

“Interesting, does the Yggdmillennia family study such things?” That was a bit of a surprise. Both arts are looked down upon by the greater Magus community.

“I’ve never seen someone utilize Runes like you did.” She added, sidestepping my question.

“It was an impressive display.” Darnic stepped forward, hushing his companion. “Truly you are the Kaleidoscopes Grandson.” He praised.

Ah, brownnosing, how annoyingly familiar. “Is this the part where you invite me to join you?” I raised an eyebrow, earning a snicker from Mordred. Amusingly, Lancer – Vlad, looked annoyed at the thought.

“There’s no need to fight we don’t wish to –“

I cut him off. “Let’s stop right there and clear up some misconceptions.” I held my hand up. “First, I’m not here on behest of the Association to ‘crush you’ or any other nonsense. I don’t actually disapprove of your faction or your ideals on paper, and I can say with some certainty, neither does my Grandfather.”

“Then why are you – “

“The Grail, obviously.” I rolled my eyes. “Why else would tubby over there still be alive when I literally had him in the palms of my hands.” I jerked my thumbs towards Saber’s master. I simply did not like killing If I had no reason to do so. I’ll fight their Servants all day though.

“Tubby!?” Saber’s master shouted indignantly.

“Enough, this is getting nowhere.” Vlad interjected, sighing and closing his eyes. “I agreed to your terms before, and my word still stands.” He didn’t appear as though he was going to initiate a fight. “Unless you want to extend them further?”

Well, he has a better temperament than his master. “Siege the Fortress?” I asked, earning a node from him but I merely shook my head. “There’s no point.” I turned around to look at the sun peaking over the horizon.

Vlad scowled but said nothing. He knew the rules and the abilities that Ruler had to enforce them. “Return, we’re done for the night.” He threw his hand to the side, commanding everyone.

“Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.” Rider held their hands behind their head, casually strolling by, not even concerned about what was going on.

What a casual person.

Still can’t tell if they’re a boy or girl. It’s not that I cared either way, even if they wanted to identify as a neither or some other variation. I just was annoyed I couldn’t figure it out!

“We’re leaving.” I looked towards Mordred and Raikou.

Raikou was quiet, but she didn’t speak to others unless she was forced to, her attention was almost always on me. Mordred though…..she was oddly quiet. She wouldn’t hesitate to throw words at anyone here if she felt like it, but she instead opted to stand by me, menacingly, and deter the others.

Well, it would be rude to stay here any longer now that the Sun was coming up.

With a wave of my hand, I opened a portal and they followed me through.

***

“Master~” Raikou immediately grabbed onto me, pushing me between her breasts. “I was so worried. And you were so dashing, momma is proud.”

“You stupid cow, stop it.” Mordred spat out.

“Fufufu.” Raikou ignored Mordred. “Master is going to be spoiled.”

“Raikou.” I pat on the head.

“Mou.” She pouted, but accepted me leaving her embrace.

And my heart stringers are constantly tugged around her. That’s seriously not fair.

“You going back to your master?” I asked Mordred.

“That Necromancer is fine…….but I should go make sure.” Mordred looked away, towards the direction I assume he was hiding in. “That was impressive…..” She muttered.

“Pardon?” I blinked in confusion.

She scowled, crossing her arms. “Your spell was cool.” She huffed. “Taking down that Noble Phantasm and everything.”

“Is my son praising me?” I couldn’t help but grin.

“Fuck you.” She spat out.

“Someone’s testy.” I pursed my lips. “What’s got you all twisted up? You’re usually less……contained than you are now. And you didn’t even speak when we were at the castle.”

“What’s it to you?” She frowned.

“Fine, fine.” I raised my free hand up. I wouldn't push her if she had something on her mind. “But you were great out there.”

“What?” She looked confused.

“You did good.” I praised her. “Taking on multiple Servants and even removing that Berserker, you did an amazing job.”

“O-of course I did, who the hell do you think I am.” She clearly preened under my words, even if she tried to appear nonchalant. “And don’t you dare forget what I said.” She raised her sword up, pointing at me. “I want some answer later, and you’re going to give them to me.” She declared before Astralizing and disappearing.

“Haaah.” I let out a long breath. “What a handful she is.” I wonder how Artoria will react. I’ll be sure to contact her in a few hours and get her opinion.

In the mean time, I was exhausted and there was an empty lap for me to lay down on.

I could think about the important bits after a couple hours of sleep. Definitely going to have a chat with Raikou later as well.

***

Author's Note.

Not super happy with the chapter, which seems to happen once or twice each arc. I'm going to give it another look through in the morning when i'm in a fresher mindset. This day just mirrored this week in general, and i'm exhausted. My intention was for a POV from bother sides, but i wanted to do that next chapter when i'm in a better mindset, to get reactions properly after the initial shock wore off. I'm dividing this arc up into three parts, and this chapter should mark the ending to the second part, so we're heading into the end game now.