C246: Beginning of the End Pt4
Alt title Teaser: Ruler's Return
Date published: 8/6/2025.
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With the situation still going on, Medea is forced away to the corner of the temple's wall to chat by Caenis.
At first Medea had been hesitant to talk to Caenis at all but her familiar spunky attitude that could freely insult anyone she thinks of is truly awe inspiring.
After some time Medea breaks down, the alcohol being stuffed down her gullet surely doesnt help. Medea describes her final moments as clarity finally returns to her as she burns herself and Jason to death.
She hated him with a passion but strangely, in those last moments, she had been at peace as this had been her true final desire for years.
Her original conscious mind had simply been sent to the backfoot of her own body.
Any strategic ideas she had to help the argonaut party had become twisted with Jason's image in mind.
Her original self had actually been far more selfless as she had wanted to help a variety of people. But the mental corruption inflicted by Aphrodite had ensured that she would only follow Jason's will or to improve his own reputation.
This had all sapped her spirit and thus for years building up to the betrayal of Jason to marry another. Her own sole goal was Jason's death…and even her own to be free of the divine curse placed upon her.
Caenis' mood had sharply fallen as a result of the whole retelling of Medea's life story.
She was at a loss for what she could even say in this situation as she had primarily been along for the ride: fighting, drinking and gradually forging her own legend, even more so after Poseidon came along.
Any and all tragedy that she had faced was only when she became a king and had to defend her share of land from invaders, exhibiting her might and the power of the ocean which she commanded.
Situations like what Medea had gone through were far out of her range. She hesitantly speaks, "Medea, I…"
"Shh, it's alright ,after all these years, I know what you are like. You wouldn't have been able to help me even if you knew earlier. The gods simply treat us like toys and I've already paid the price for it. This is why I desire the grail to reverse my fate."
Caenis has no proper rebuttal but one image that flows into her mind is their connection as the group, Argonauts.
Thinking of this connection, she speaks up,
"Then if you reverse your fate, would we have never met? Would you have simply remained in your home kingdom as their magical queen or perhaps some other twist of fate would have shown itself and you would end up exiled and proclaimed as an accursed witch?"
Her line of questioning sends Medea down a dark spiral of 'what ifs' that she can't properly answer as any multitude of scenarios are possible for someone like her with many blessings in life as well as the existence of gods which could ruin her at any time.
Such was the situation for Caenis, she had been a simple independent woman but under the prying eye of Poseidon, she had lost her virginity, enduring humiliation that this was what her life ended up being. Yet later, she had lived an epic life as his apostle.
Medea hugs Caenis who didn't expect it as tears begin to flow the casters cheeks.
Due to the Lancer's words, Medea understands that while she had lost all control of her own body, she had not been physically taken advantage of by Jason. She will not forgive him or Aphrodite for their actions in having her orchestrate her own fathers death.
"Caenis, do you think Jason became a heroic spirit too?"
"Umm.. probably, he does have many legends, the primary one being the acquisition of the Golden Fleece. Your own part in his tale would have only raised his renown."
"That good, that's good." Medea suddenly utters after a few brief moments as she listens to her friend. Her mood seems to shift as a blush.
Caenis was originally worried her friend fell under the 'forced love' curse once more but a moment later she notices the caster's clenched teeth along with her eyes growing darker which all together makes her expression quite evil.
Rising up with her arms above her head, as if praying to some dark god, she proclaims. "Then I shall use the grail to bring forth his heroic spirit as my servant. I shall endow upon him a blazing flame that shall never end. One that shall rend his flesh and mind until only my mercy exists for him"
"me…Medea, I think you should calm down a bit. From what i heard, the grail has been corrupted, which is that other tattoo guy who took over your assassin. Let's handle him first before we properly…"
Her words are interrupted by the sudden gut wrenching feeling of her chest being stabbed by a certain jagged dagger.
"Yes, WE shall take care of him before the rest." As the Rule Breaker once again shatters the servant seal with Washio. Her own bracelet completely turns to zero blips.
Caenis feels a sense of weakness spread throughout her body before something she has never felt before.
A kiss
Medea's lips act as the conduit to provide the Lancer with mana but also to rebrand the new servant seal. Due to Lancer having already fought a fierce fight thus far. Her accumulated draconic mana would take longer to cleanse but the seal itself has no problem.
The reason Caster does this is because she has long grown fond of her old friend. Even if possessed by a curse that only made her body think only of Jason, her mind held all the members of the Argonauts.
The current set of conversations she held with Caenis only ensured that Medea's mind was freed of her mental oppression. As such, she made a choice, one that she full heartedly embraced of her own violation.
In truth, neither side declines this situation as both hold no proper respect for the other gender due to their similar situations. One was violated by a god simply for being a capable sea-faring woman while the other was no more than a toy, controlled by a goddess on behalf of a failure of a man who could not handle anything by himself.
While the two are locked in coitus, Washio and Rin are still in a standstill against Ruler when Washio falls to his knees as a familiar sensation falls over him. He looks around hoping to find where Caenis' last location was yet his senses are blocked by Caster's barriers.
Yet he is not the only one to feel this sense of loss. Martha falls to her knees as well since her mana connection was abruptly cut. Rin rushes over to support Washio but both are confused regarding Ruler's situation.
"Ummo, I think I'm a free spirit once more. If possible, I'd like to return to the young masters side once more. Please hurry, I am struggling to keep my mana inside me as it is all being drained out and returning to Caster."
Her words elicit a shock to both masters', but Washio quickly throws off the sudden cut contract as he happily welcomes back Ruler.
This whole war against Caster had been to reclaim Ruler in the first place. The grail was his primary objective but the shame he felt from losing Ruler was what kept him up at night.
With his higher proficiency of spellcrafting, Washio recreates the solomon seal and rebonds with Ruler. She puts her hands together in prayer.
"Blessings of the Lord, that I should return to my rightful place beside the young master and ensure he acquires his righteous wish." She speaks out with zeal.
With the current situation taken care off and Rin showing off her meagre healing spells which help both Washio and Ruler, the group soon reunites with Sheba.
"What happened to Lancer?" Washio cant help but remain curious as he speaks out but he doesnt get an answer as a powerful shockwave bursts out in front of Sheba who summons giant waves of clouds to hold back the ravenous strength that the corrupted berserker lich unleashes.
Sheba's mind is multitasking how to handle the situation as her golems face off against the multitude of smaller scale but very deadly spirit creatures, the nemean lion, the hydra and countless more along with the spirits of a few divine servants like Chiron.
Instead of asking questions, Rin rushes forward with her own magic being properly utilized.
She controls the weather now to create storms that rain lightning upon the spirits which is slightly more effective as they take more mana from Heracles (alter) to reform.
Their assault is barely repressed due to the sheer number of spirits as well as the ghost host amongst the minions punching out at the encroaching clouds, sending the smoke flying and taking notably longer to reform itself with each strike.
While the lightning is effective against the spirits, it lacks the divine energy that Heracles now possesses, at least a regressed version since he is only a pseudo-divine spirit in his current form.
If Heracles was given a proper body like Ishtar possessing Rin, Senji Muramasa possessing Shirou or Angra Mainyu who is currently doing so, or Zhuge Liang possessing Waver Velvet. Such a situation is necessary for Heracles to regain his divine might where he could properly overturn the whole war by his lonesome.
Not only is his divinity weakened, his spirits too lack the necessary underworld energy or at least the connection formed out of life to give themselves their true soul state.
The current spirits, while appearing like the mythical beasts, are truthfully empty shells, only harboring the long dead spirits of fuyuki residents.
They are spirit but with the total lacking number of magical residents, only a few lackluster monsters possess even a smidge more strength as the current era of magicians are not compatible with Heracles soul skill, [Millenium House], and [Great Pillager of Souls].
One skill gathers the souls and the other releases them back out to fight for Heracles.
Washio chooses to not be on the sidelines as he stands beside Rin, ensuring he can take a blow for her in the uncertain situation that Sheba's walls fail. He casts his draconic spells to blast out fire which due to his unique essence is much more effective against the roaming ghosts of the [House].
"RAAAHHH" "WATCH OUT" Heracles suddenly roars out as he exhibits the speed that allowed him to capture Hermes, the messenger of the gods as he simply goes around the smoke wall, of course Sheba had attempted to stop him but when she failed, she yelled out to be careful.
Yet it is Sheba who faces the onslaught as with his newfound position, he can resummon his spirits much closer to overwhelm the half-djinn while he too attacks her.
"Couldn't you have bought me more time?" A distant voice yells out as a radiant beam shoots just in front of Sheba, the light forms a wall to completely block the attack but also traps and damages the captured spirits.
Heracles huffs as he has to retreat to prevent being caged by the unknown light.
All look up to spot Luna floating above the temple. She has been accumulating light within the [Lunar Shadow], one of the first large scale spells that Axel had learned from his wife Gorgon.
The problem that Luna experiences due to her bond with Axel is that she accumulates too many random abilities from her lord and thus has no time to properly train in more nuance abilities.
Her own training regiment typically focused on two aspects, elemental versatility as well as support spells. She never considered that she would be on the front lines like this.
Which is precisely why it took her so long to join the battlefield as she had to essentially scroll through the entire list of her abilities to find whatever could be useful against spirits like Heracles (alter) and his own army of undead shades.
She eventually settled on two or three aspects. The first being light and her chosen spell is [Lunar Shadow] an earth based spell that can take in light and convert it into darkness or simply act as a storage for light itself. The second was a holy element which purified the [Lunar Shadow] spell and finally it was her utilizing the light element to send out the beams of light she just used.
If she could have gotten more time to accumulate then her work would have only been easier as she could have directly unleashed a large scale solar flare that directly destroyed the corrupted servant. Now though, her presence is revealed and she could never return to simply accumulating as she is now considered the greatest threat to the Berserker.
Nevertheless, the current situation is still quite ideal as the last puzzle piece makes their move.
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Word count: 2224
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