Da Vinci's Workshop, Chaldea Security Organization
Da Vinci POV
She hummed as she took a good look at the various trinkets Gudao-kun and Mash had purchased from Artemis during their most recent adventure. They brought gold statues, phantasmal materials, and other useful loot, but the most peculiar item they received was the card seeped in mystery that she held in her hand.
The front looked like an artist had either taken a photograph of Artemis and the teddybear, or they made a hyperrealistic painting of the two.
Turning the card around, she saw that it had Chaldea's official logo printed on its center, its borders adorned with an intricate and symmetrical foliage design. The background was a dull color that contrasted well with the sheen of the golden chaldea symbol and foliage.
It still puzzled her how a card unaffiliated with Chaldea had this design, but she elected to ignore it and had to admit it was exquisite graphic design.
"It looks like the Goddess Artemis wasn't lying. This is a legitimate mystic code that does exactly what it says on the tin. It does increase your critical damage by 20%, but it's conditional. Although it looks like it could still be improved upon." She looked down at the other identical cards placed on her mahogany desk and came to a decision.
"I can see it. I can definitely boost that rate higher if I stack these into one. It should be nothing for a genius like myself. You can come back for them later, and I shall give you the finished result."
She loved that Gudao-kun kept bringing her a lot of neat trinkets to work on. From the items of the pokemon world to these mysterious mystic codes. Oh, she cannot wait to get started working on these.
"Um, thanks Da Vinci… but um… can I ask you something?"
Her eyes flickered up to meet Gudao-kun, who was sitting across from her, fidgeting in place while sporting a bright shade of red on his cheeks. He was trying so hard not to stare at her. How cute.
A sly smirk crossed her face, "Why yes you can. That's why I am here aren't I? So, what is this burning question that you are dying to ask of the lovely Da Vinci?"
"...Why are you naked?"
She furrowed her eyebrows at his question. Naked? She wasn't naked, she was wearing a towel. Why would he be so nervous?
She looked down at her attire and she was met with her mostly exposed breasts blocking her view.
…Oh right, female body.
She had just gotten out of the shower and in the after shower bliss, it completely slipped her mind that she had a different body type. Which meant Gudao-kun was getting a near complete view of her bare body. The only thing censoring his view was a white towel draped over her shoulders that covered her nipples.
She had been sitting in front of him for the past 10 minutes like this, and he didn't say anything. How naughty.
"Oh, silly me, I was more focused on examining the trinkets you bought from a Divine Spirit that I forgot to get dressed after my shower."
She noticed he was still struggling to look away and the edges of her lip curled deviously.
'Let's tease him a bit shall we?'
She pinched the edge of her towel and pulled it up slightly. The towel was only a small movement away from exposing what little skin remained.
"Do you want to see more?~"
She nearly burst out into a fit of laughter when she saw Gudao-kun's face turn a brighter shade of red. It's hard to believe that this boy has very wild sexual experiences with women, yet he is so bashful about seeing a bit of skin like this.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his tongue tripped and his words came out as a stutter, "I-um, not going to lie because Kiyohime would kill me but… I do. You actually have an amazing body."
Oh my, he actually admitted it, and so bluntly too. Now she was the one who was blushing; however, before she could indulge him and take off her towel, his next words made her pause.
"...But I shouldn't. As much as I am tempted, I think it's for the best if we don't. Chat hasn't popped up yet, and I have no idea when they will. I don't want you to accidentally expose yourself in front of their entire world if they just decided to pop up out of nowhere."
Good grief, that boy knows when to tug at the heartstrings even when he rejects you. Even so, she couldn't stop the pout from forming on her cheek, "No fair Gudao-kun. You're supposed to say: 'Yes Da Vinci, I want to witness the natural perfection that is your naked body up close with my own two eyes!' not whatever sweet thing you just told me!"
Gudao-kun blinked, before his face settled into something unsure, "I'm sorry?"
"Humph, you better be mister, but you make an excellent point. You don't want others to gawk at my body. You want me all to yourself. I can respect that. Not to mention that it would also incur the wrath of your ever growing harem of servants if they saw me flashing you."
Not that she would be defenseless if Kiyohime or Stheno tried to do something to her, but with her current resources it would be tricky to do her work without being slowed down if she escalated her advances beyond what she was doing now.
Gudao-kun wanted to protest her claim, the words:"I don't have a harem" were already primed and ready to be spoken but he bit his tongue and looked away.
It seems like he isn't denying it anymore. Good. While the oblivious sweetheart is nice, self awareness is much more appreciated.
She cleared her throat, "Very well, let's focus back on the task now shall we? But first things first, I need to get dressed."
That was the only warning she gave Gudao-kun before she stood up from her seat. She smirked when she saw his eyes fully locked onto her before she went to her emergency dresser. She kept it in her workshop in case she needed spare clothes. There have been too many times when one of her experiments has literally blown up in her face and ruined her clothes.
She turned her back to Gudao-kun before she loosened the towel at her waist and let it drop to the floor. The cool breeze that passed between her exposed thighs would have bothered a normal human, but to her, it was nice.
Gudao-kun's chair scraped the carpet as he shot up from his seat, "I-I'll come back-"
"No need, we are both busy people and I still have more things to talk about with you regarding the last incident. Don't mind me, just sit tight and just listen to what I have to tell you." She pulled out a pair of blue panties and bent down to put one of her feet through the openings, then the other, before she slowly lifted them up her legs and onto her hips.
"Now then, I looked over your and Mash's results. As it turns out, the reason everyone was acting so erratically during that excursion was because of the moonlight. The ancient Greeks believed that the full moon was capable of inducing madness, mood disturbances and even seizures."
She snapped the strap of her blue panties after she slipped them on, then she reached into the drawer again so she could fish out her matching blue bra and covered her breasts with it.
She could just use magecraft to have the bra hooks hook together, but she had a better idea.
"Ah, Gudao-kun, help me out over here will you? I can't reach.~"
With a bit of hesitation Gudao-kun got up from his chair and walked over to her. She felt his warm, shaking hands grab onto her bra. Then the shakiness vanished the moment he began to latch the hooks of her bra together without a fuss, like he had done it hundreds of times before.
"Ah, thank you Gudao-kun, you can sit back down now."
She saw him nodding from her peripheral vision before he did as instructed and sat back down. As for herself, she went to a wardrobe and pulled out one of her many, many fresh and clean outfits she had stored.
"Where was I? Oh yes, it was fitting that this incident involved a Greek goddess of the moon. The beliefs of the ancient Greeks fed into Artemis's legend and gave her the ability to induce madness into everyone's minds. As you saw, poor Mash had it really bad due to her lack of exposure to the outside world."
She adjusted her clothes until they fit properly in place. Looking at the mirror nearby, she pushed her hair back so it wouldn't be stuck inside her dress, then checked the mirror to make sure everything was in place. Fortunately for Gudao-kun, the show wasn't over, as she still had to put on her blue thigh highs and her long gloves.
"So, do you think she was doing it on purpose?"
"Highly unlikely. She stated herself that it was our offerings that slapped her awake, so it's very possible she just wasn't aware she was having that effect on others until after the fact. That or she was aware but could not stop herself because of the nature of her summoning."
Gudao-kun let out a sigh. "That's nice to hear at least, so are there any lingering effects after being exposed to that moonlight?"
She finished off her transformation by sliding her delicate feet into her shoes. She turned to face Gudao-kun again and saw he was a bit less red, but his cheeks were still tinged a noticeable dark pink
"No. Both you and Mash's scans came out clean. The madness only had an effect while you were directly bathed in that moonlight, so you have nothing to fear."
She felt one of her bounded fields get tripped, which forced her to abruptly stop the conversation.
"Ah, it seems our time is up. It seems one of your servants is coming over to check up on you."
To say she was disappointed was an understatement. Gudao-kun was very willing to indulge her when she teased him, but she couldn't really push her luck without having a good excuse. With every round of summoning after every mission, it's been getting harder to sit alone in a room with him without having one of his servants watching their interaction like a hawk. It was starting to grate her nerves, just a bit.
Hm, mayhaps it's time she should start making some adjustments to the summoning room. That way she could have an excuse to get closer to him.
Suddenly the door slammed open and just like her bound fields told her, there she was. The broken goddess Stheno was standing by the door frame, glaring and sneering at her the same way a lion does to a rival who entered their territory.
That wicked expression dissolved the moment it landed on Gudao-kun, instead settling into a neutral deadpan, "Sorry, but am I interrupting something?"
Stheno shamelessly asked, knowing full well that that was exactly what she did.
"No no, we are just about done talking anyways." She turned to the bewildered Gudao-kun and flashed him a smile.
"You can go now Gudao-kun, I have a lot of work left to do."
"Alright, thank you for the rundown Da Vinci, I'll see you later then."
Gudao got up to leave and Stheno immediately went to his side and dragged him to the door by the arm, while enveloping said arm in between her breasts. Stheno was clearly trying to establish dominance, but all it did was light a fire under her.
Screw it, what's life without a bit of fun?
Just as they were about to leave, she called out to Gudao-kun, "Ah one more thing, if you ever want to observe my naked body again, you know where to find me handsome~"
Both Gudao-kun and Stheno snapped their heads over to her in shock, and she just responded at them both with a wink.
Stheno clicked her tongue, "Come along Darling, or else you'll be late for breakfast."
However, before either of them went away, a familiar ding rang across the room. Gudao-kun was right. Had she tried to give him more of a show, she would have literally been caught with her pants down.
In any case, after the triple battle event, the stream had decided to give up hiding their identities and decided to just repeat their TTS messages using a replica of all three of the champions and Blaine's voices.
The voice currently speaking was the blonde haired beauty, Cynthia.
[Gible_Archeologist donated 100 bits]
["Sorry for the short notice Gudao, but your channel uploaded some new intel on the next singularity. You and da Vinci will want to talk to Romani about this. "]
Ah, it seems like she was going to have to set aside her side projects for a moment.
✦✧✦
Command Room
Ritsuka POV
Romani had started his morning jovially as he always did. The man saw him coming in and welcomed him with a warm smile and a promise of a cup of coffee.
Then he saw the ensemble of servants and Da Vinci following after him, and his mood dropped. One debrief later, and now he was standing there, his brows creased in deep concern by what they had just informed him about.
"So let me see if I got this right. The video giving a preview of the next singularity showed Euryale being hunted down by a perverted servant who wants to lick her armpits."
The grinding sound that Stheno's teeth made resembled that of steel on steel. He had seen her upset before, but this is the first time he's seen her be this upset. It makes sense since this is her sister they are talking about.
"Unfortunately, yes." He said.
Romani continued, "And this servant, whose identity was not revealed, is also serving as the pawn of Medea of Colchis, who wants to sacrifice Euryale so that Jason, the leader of the Argonauts could achieve ultimate power? Oh and that they apparently have Heracles as an attack dog?"
He nodded, "That's pretty much what chat is claiming, yes."
Romani didn't say anything after that, instead he brought his cup of coffee to his face and took a long, slow slurp. Once he had his fill, he exhaled a coffee scented sigh, then, Romani promptly decided to freak out.
"Damn it! What kind of bullshit is this!? It's supposed to be the year 1573, what the hell are the legendary heroes of the age of gods, the Argonaughts, doing there!?"
[MalasadaMayhem: You're still asking that? Romani, bro, you literally witnessed an actual swarm of dragons burn modern France to the ground. You saw a goddess descend upon Rome and attempt to make the world her own. Demigods roaming around in more recent history should be old news to you. ]
[GARcher: It can be hard for humans to accept the absurd sometimes, but, I do agree that we've reached past the point of questioning why people show up in different time periods. That is our enemies goal after all, and what better way to do that than send a legendary band of pirates to cause havoc in the age of man? ]
"Well, there's not really much we can do about that, so let's focus on the positives. We know who our enemies are, so we have time to prepare instead of rayshifting you and Mash in blind." Da Vinci decided not to elaborate since everyone here knew she was referring to what happened in Septem.
The woman turned to the distraught goddess and asked her, "I suppose that means you will want to tag along with Ritsuka, won't you?"
Stheno rolled her eyes, "Why must you ask questions you already know the answers to? Yes! I am going, and there's no way in Hell I'm letting my sister suffer the same fate I did just for the sake of that blonde haired, arrogant asshole!"
"I understand how you feel, Stheno. I have very few problems with you heading out, when you are a literal mobile artillery unit that can bombard enemies from long distances, which will come in handy since the next singularity takes place in the Atlantic Ocean."
Romani's eyes turned serious, "However, I am cautious about letting you go. While I know your presence will make first contact with the very panicked and trigger happy goddess easier, letting you go also carries risk of you becoming a target too."
To her credit, Stheno had the decorum to not lash out and calmly chose her next words carefully before she gave her response, "I understand your hesitance, but I must insist I go anyway. Yes, I am Eurayle's sister, but unlike me, she is still a pure, perfected Goddess. I am a shattered doll that was reassembled and is being held together by superglue. Whatever plan those chucklefucks in their wooden boat have, they are bound to prefer going for my gorgeous me instead of this grotesque me."
He frowned at the way she described herself, but made no comment about it. She was very stubborn about this particular subject and pressing her would only cause an argument to break out.
[Ho-Body Dysmorphia ZubatMan! ]
[GARcher: You know, for all the great things your world has, some of your sayings and quotes just don't feel or sound right. ]
[Inb4 Batman, I would have disagreed, but now we know about the glory of Adam West, I agree. ]
Romani considered her words before he gave a nod of approval, "Hm, that is very true. Very well, I will allow you to rayshift with them to Okeanos. Heracles might be a powerful adversary who has completed impossible labors, but even he cannot fly away into the stratosphere while in a pinch. Your flying ability should come in handy should the worst happen."
Stheno scoffed, "I was going to descend to that singularity regardless of your permission, human. Now that I have the power to fight on my own, no one can stop me from using it to protect my sister. Besides, Darling promised me that he would help me reunite with my sisters so we could be together again."
Stheno sent him a smile, and he didn't deny it, "That is true and I still mean it, and even if she wasn't necessary for resolving the singularity, I would have still helped save Eurayle no matter what. That I can promise to you, Stheno."
Stheno appreciated the comment and walked back to his side, planting a delicate kiss on his cheek.
"That is why I love you Darling." She went in for another kiss, but was interrupted by Da Vinci clearing her throat.
This caused Stheno to regard the caster with annoyance, who brought the attention back to the main topic, "Well, having her tag along is a boon, but there is still the issue of how we are going to handle Heracles, or rather, how we can avoid him while also trying to recover the grail from the Argonauts."
Da Vinci shifted her gaze towards Chiron, who had followed them to the command room when he initially read the message of what Cynthia saw in UTube. He had stayed quiet out of respect, but now the room had its attention on him, but before he could speak up, he was interrupted by the loud neigh of a horse.
Suddenly the door slid open, revealing Hippolyta dismounting from Kalion. She searched the room and her eyes locked in on Romani before she marched into the command room with confidence, "You can leave the matter of Heracles to me. Please, allow me to also accompany Master and Mash into the next singularity."
Romani took one look at her before he flat out rejected her with a flat, "No."
Hippolyta crossed her arms, her gaze locked onto Romani, "Why not? I am a fully capable warrior with divinity in her veins. I know how the warriors of ancient Greece fight, and I am confident that my own mobility will help keep the goddess Eurayle away from danger."
Romani put a finger under his chin and hummed, "Sorry but still no."
The fiery red head uncrossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the Doctor, "Why do you deny me?"
Romani did not hesitate to explain his reasoning, "Because, unlike Stheno, your relationship and history with Heracles is too volatile to be allowed. The last time we allowed someone to meet up with their past lover, it made our mission unnecessarily harder for your Master to resolve. I will not have it happen again."
Hippolyta closed her eyes while pondering Romani's words, "You are referring to Kriemhild's unexpected encounter with Siegfried. You're right, I do have a complicated history with Heracles, but like I told Chiron the other day, it is not to the extent that the stories depict. It's true that I do have a deep admiration and respect for Heracles as a warrior, but we were never lovers. "
She opened her eyes, "And I assure you, that unlike Kriemhild, my mental faculties are stable. As Queen of the Amazons, I vow to you that I will never blindly endanger my Master's safety, nor compromise his mission just for the opportunity to cross blades with Heracles once more. So please, allow me to accompany Master Ritsuka."
[Sumanai: I apologize for my rash actions everyone. I made it hard for you guys. ]
[Nugget_Digger: You have nothing to apologize for Siegfried. It was Kream who was at fault for driving you into a corner like that. ]
[If I was your wife, I would have done everything I could to stay by your side, not try to stab you. ]
[Oh, you made it hard for us alright. I just wish you'd stuck around to penetrate us too. ]
[Kream: I am deeply ashamed of my actions and I have already apologized. Stop using that incident as an excuse to make moves on my husband!! ]
Romani still seemed unconvinced, "I apologize for assuming your relationship with him and I admit that you make some great points, but there's still the issue of your conceptual weakness to Heracles himself. He killed you after all, so facing him in battle will certainly lead to your defeat."
"You could have said the same about Gareth fighting Lancelot, yet somehow, Gareth ended up landing the finishing blow on him when they fought in Orleans." Da Vinci pointed out, which made Romani grunt in annoyance.
"I mean, that was different." Romani tried to say but Mash added another feat to the pile.
"Then there's Zenobia, Boudica, and Cleopatra nearly conquering all of Rome. Something which would have become successful if not for us intervening."
Romani wanted to argue, but Stheno drove the final nail in the coffin.
"You know Romani, you are falling for the same mistake Pokemon newbs fall for. Don't you know that type advantages aren't the deciding factor in battles? What wins battles are team composition, stats, and skill."
Stheno lectured Romani while giving him a playful, shit eating grin, which proved too much for Romani as he hunched forward in defeat.
"Alright, alright, you've all made your point. Fine. Hippolyta can be a part of the initial team we send over to Okeanos."
Suddenly Romani looked like he had an epiphany, "Actually, in hindsight, it makes sense to have you go anyway, since you are a familiar face that could help keep Heracles distracted long enough to make an escape. Though I could say the same about Chiron… and speaking of Chiron, are you going to keep standing there, or are you going to give me a TED Talk on why you should go too?"
Chiron stepped forward when he heard Romani address him, "Well, I can't say I'm not interested in giving my old students a good remedial training session for old times sake… but honestly? Master's shadow version of me should be enough to put Jason and Heracles on the defensive. I am one of Heracles's greatest regrets, even as a berserker, it's bound to stir up some hesitance on him when we do meet."
Then, he turned an assessing gaze toward the crowd.
His eyes lingered on Stheno, Mash, and Hippolyta with a critical eye. His stare was so intense that it was making the girls a bit nervous. Chiron's eyes then landed on him and the centaur allowed himself to grin.
Despite being indoors with the room heated to a comfortable temperature, he still felt a cold chill run up his spine.
"If the Argonauts are truly Master's next opponents, then there's only one way I can best contribute to the mission's success. That is, by putting him and all of his servants into an anti-argonaut bootcamp. I am not saying that my training will put you on Heracles's level in such a short amount of time, but it should help increase everyone's survivability when they know what to expect."
Hippolyta's nervous face turned into a ecstatic smile, "I would be honored to become a pupil of yours, Chiron."
Mash perked up at Chiron's offer, "I feel the same way, Mister Chiron. Don't you think so too, Senpai?"
"Well, if the man who taught the Argonauts is willing to teach us how to defeat them, we might as well take advantage of it." Despite what he said, something at the back of his head was telling him that he had made a huge mistake.
✦✧✦
The Grand Temple of Time
Third Person POV
Demon god pillars do not sweat.
They do not need that disgusting body cooling system that humans need for their persistence hunting. Yet, all the same, Flauros's vessel still retained that ability, and it was currently expressing itself in full view of his king and his peers.
Flauros's king was sitting on the pristine and grand throne of white stone that he had taken from that wretched mage Solomon. The throne itself was not solely what he stole, rather it was the floor Flauros was kneeling on, the sky that hung above their heads, and this entire space in general, which was actually the reality marble workshop of King Solomon: Ars Paulina.
Flauros dared not look up, for he knew that he was being judged for his recent failure.
"You've been playing around too much, Flauros." Flauros's King finally said, and all the top hatted Demon God pillar could do was bow his head further in shame.
"I apologize for my failure my King,"
The King scoffed, "So you say, but this is the second time you have told us this. I sent you to Septem as a punishment for failing to keep Chaldea from resolving the singularity in France."
The King sitting on the throne gestured at Flauros, "Now here you kneel, seeking forgiveness for directly failing to stop Chaldea resolving the Roman singularity and for allowing that newly ascended divine spirit, that you cultivated, to create a lost belt!!"
The King's voice shook the throne room as he listed off his crimes, and again, he could not give a rebuttal.
"You know as well as I do that if your games had negatively impacted our plans by the slightest fraction of a fraction of a percent, I would have punished you to suffer for an eternity." Suddenly, the King's anger cooled, realizing he was committing the same error his subordinate had made, but his gaze remained intense.
"...but you are lucky the Septem singularity, as Chaldea categorizes it, is an inconsequential piece of our master plan. "
The king opened his hand with his palm facing up. A video projection created from magecraft appeared and showed a simulation of a world covered in a perpetual sandstorm, where its people had become extremely xenophobic of outsiders, and that could no longer expand beyond the borders of the ruling Goddess's Empire due to the wall of sand impeding their progress.
The simulation showed goddess Zenobia swirling a fine, vintage wine on her chalice while observing her sprawling city of Palmyra with a satisfied grin; Unfortunately for the goddess, that grin fell away to panic when she saw the world around her glow as The World began to prune her World Line.
The simulation shifted to show the world being engulfed in light, consuming every human soul that went underground and somehow survived her worldwide genocide.
Finally, the simulation showed the goddess crying and cursing the world before she and her Palmyra were also pruned from existence.
The simulation stopped and the room returned to its peaceful silence.
Flauros could only bow deeper in shame, "I apologize for my arrogance, My King. I will make sure it never happens again."
Flauros's king just sighed, "It's unusual for one of our kind to succumb to such paltry human emotions like blind rage, Flauros, but we shall overlook your failures. As of now, you will be relieved of any further involvement in our plan. We cannot risk you having you hamper the more important singularities with your emotions."
Flauros pursed his lips but accepted his punishment, "I will do as you say my King, so if I may ask, who will take my place as overseer of Okeanos?"
The King waved off Flauros's concern, "You need not worry, I have already given the grail to Medea of Colchis. She has found a useful fool that will unknowingly aid our plans. Forneus will take care of the rest."
Suddenly, several voices began to cry out through the mental links they all shared with each other.
"INQUIRY: WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT THE INTERLOPERS? THEY HAVE SHOWN THEIR HAND AND DEMONSTRATED THEIR ABILITY TO INTERACT WITH OUR WORLD." One of the demon gods said.
"SUGGESTION: ANNIHILATION OF CHALDEA. THEY CAN ONLY DO PALTRY TRICKS FOR NOW, BUT THE POSSIBILITY OF MORE DISRUPTIVE INTERVENTION POSES A THREAT TO OUR PLAN." Another said.
The demon pillars all gave their own suggestions for how to handle the interlopers clinging to Chaldea. Many of them were flavors of the same punishment, annihilation and death to Chaldea. A few wanted to track the interlopers and destroy them, while others wanted to incorporate the souls on the other side into their Grand RItual. The King listened to them all, and after the 72nd voice spoke their peace, the King finally spoke.
"I am aware of their meddling and how they follow the Last Master of Humanity, but their actions are futile. All of you know this is a fact. Their presence does nothing to impede our Human Incineration Ritual. All that viewing camera does is bring comfort and distraction to the last remnants of humanity.
They are nothing more but a warm blanket draped over the thin, cold body of a dying humanity. It will not keep them safe from the blizzard that will swallow them whole."
_______________________________________________________________
AN: Had a busy week and this is the best I could scrounge up. Da Vinci teasing hadn't happened in a bit, so I stepped it up here. It's a slow burn, but I am building up to eventual lewds for a select few servants. Who gets to be the first is still a mystery to me, but it will happen.
Anyways, just a bit of setup, next chapter is the last regular Chaldea chapter before I dive into the Pirate Singularity.
I hope you enjoyed this week's chapter, I will see you next week.