Dante's POV
In the vast expanse where heroes wait to be summoned by the world to save it, the horizon stretched out before me, offering little else to do.
I hadn't been back from my fight against Artoria and Solomon for long. In fact, the guy wasn't far from where he was looking at me.
"I can't believe that was your plan," the white-haired man commented, staring.
"I never imagined you'd do something like that, half-breed," another voice chimed in.
I glanced to the side and saw Gilgamesh shaking his head at my actions, like a king looking at an irresponsible subject.
Not far away, another white-haired man was present, but only a blurry silhouette was visible, since, not being dead, he could only be there by cheating.
"If I had known that having clairvoyance would put me by your side, I might never have acquired it in the first place," I grumbled.
This wasn't always the case, but after what I did to the world, especially with Solomon and Gilgamesh, the former came to see what was going through my head to complain about everything that happened—something very unlike him, but knowing what happened, it's understandable.
As for the latter, with the world almost destroyed, the doll containing his soul was destroyed, freeing him and giving him the opportunity to return to the throne of heroes. And since I defeated him, you could say he has an interest in me now. Luckily, as gay as Gilgamesh is, he doesn't have that interest in me.
"I'm not much of a planner; I just improvise, it doesn't bother me much," I said, but in reality, I had everything planned.
I wasn't entirely sure if this world was the one from Grand Order or not, but if it was, with my intervention, the Goetia issue shouldn't arise. And if it does, it will be very different, since Solomon won't be able to intervene and everyone will die, as they are ultimately saved by him and his Noble Phantasm.
"The truth is, I'm surprised that Goetia has been re-formed, but in another world," Solomon said, making me strain to hear.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I had already helped in a world where Goetia had incinerated humanity, but this was different; I knew of her involvement, but I wasn't sure. What you told me a while ago confirmed it, but besides that, it had something to do with true ancestors and the two Ultimate Ones of Ort and the moon," he explained, leaving me stunned.
"Did Marisbury know?" I asked, somewhat worried.
"Somewhat," he commented, gesturing. "My visions are like that, and with all the changes they made, everything in the future was constantly shifting, so what I saw was never fixed. Sometimes only Brunestud appeared, sometimes only Ort, sometimes only the end of humanity, which meant Goetia had to be involved; sometimes all were together. Nothing was ever precise, and with the end of everything, I could never see beyond it."
He couldn't help but bite his fingernail, lost in thought.
There are Kaori, Artoria, Altrouge, Helena, and Arcueid; with Marisbury's information, they could do something, especially since Solomon left the ritual for summoning a Grand Servant practically intact.
I don't know if they can defeat those three, but with all the information they have, they should avoid it.
"Wait a minute, did you say you've done something like this before?" I asked, to which Solomon nodded.
"You mean when I had to fight that Sumerian sea goddess?" Merlin finally spoke, echoing his great feats.
"I should kick you when I hear you say that," Gilgamesh said, trying to do exactly that, but his body passed through Merlin's image, since he wasn't actually there.
I can only sigh, realizing that this wasn't actually the world of Fate/Grand Order, and I think it makes a little sense, because if it were, Arcueid in her awakened form could have faced Goetia, not defeating her alone, given all the traps that always get in the way, but with enough help, she could have.
In fact, these three speak as if the first part of the story has already happened; that can only mean one thing.
But at the same time, it makes a little sense, since Solomon spoke as if he had already gone through something similar. That means that events similar to Grand Order couldn't happen in that world, since Solomon shouldn't have made the same mistakes a second time, or else he would have left behind the infinite wisdom he possesses upon dying.
So, can Solomon be summoned again to the Throne of Heroes, or, since that's already been fixed or since it's an alternate history, can he no longer be summoned in that world? I can imagine that if he can be removed from the throne of heroes, he can somehow be reinstated.
Honestly, so many questions, but since I don't really want to talk to these three, I prefer to keep them to myself forever and be happy; I'll just accept the answer that a wizard did it, period.
...
After putting up with those three, they finally got a little bored and went off to do something—God only knows what, since there's nothing in this place. The four of us could only communicate through clairvoyance, but that was it.
"System," I thought to myself.
[What's going on, host?]
"How much PL do I have left?" I asked.
[Your balance is 5,877,929,890,000 PL], the system informed me.
I just nodded unconsciously.
"What are you planning to buy?" I heard Kiss-shot's voice in my mind.
"I didn't have the money before, but now I do," I said, moving to a specific spot where there was a weapon that caught my eye.
There in the shop is Enkidu, the Chains of the Gods, at half price, bringing the price down to around 3,500,000,000,000 LP.
Thanks to my performance in the previous Holy Grail War, when I defeated Solomon and Arjuna, I received 2,000,000,000,000 LP and 1,500,000,000,000 LP each, respectively, for beating them for the first time—exactly what the weapon is worth on sale.
Thanks to my battle with Gilgamesh and taking the Chains of Heaven from him by absorbing him, they didn't disappear from my body; they're still there, contained. If I were to release them from the Yami Yami no Mi's storage, they would vanish into pure mana.
Thanks to the technician for having it, or rather, for handling it in this case. The system gave me a 50% discount on the original price, which now allows me to buy it without much trouble and own it, enabling me to unlock the Noble Phantasm version.
[Item purchased, thank you very much for your purchase]; the system confirmation sounded.
I could have saved up for Ea, but having a weapon that can bind divine beings according to their divinity level was more appealing, since I didn't know which world I'd end up going to, maybe one where the weapon would be useful; I don't know, I prefer to be cautious than to end up regretting it.
Besides, after having faced Ea before, it made me lose some of its value; at least in my mind, I used to see it as the ultimate weapon, but not anymore.
"You weren't going to save up to buy that god-level donut machine in the shop?" I could hear Kiss-shot complaining after I finished buying Enkidu.
I couldn't help but glance at the item Kiss-shot had mentioned in the shop—a machine that supposedly makes the most divine and delicious desserts in existence, something fit for galactic beings. Something that, for some reason, costs 5,000,000,000,000 PL.
"It slipped my mind," I managed to say, apologizing to her.
"Hmm, if the next thing you buy in that system isn't that, I'm going to be really angry with you." With that, she disconnected, already quite annoyed.
I just sighed and stared into space again.
At that moment, I felt a tug. A summoning, but this one was strange; I felt it calling specifically to me but searching for something specific.
This was my third summoning, therefore the last, thus fulfilling the deal with the Throne of Heroes, freeing me and allowing me to continue my journey through the multiverse.
At this point, I didn't care if they summoned me for a diabolical sacrifice, or if it was to babysit for a night, or to go to a magical world where I'd be the hero alongside other teenage girls, even if my abilities were worthless and I'd be discarded only to return as the most powerful and, incidentally, sleep with the demon king who turned out to be a woman.
(Note: This could be any average isekai).
I just let myself be drawn in by the summoning.
...
When I opened my eyes, all the information I needed to know was already in my mind.
"I see," I said, looking ahead. "Here, your Servant, Dante, Avenger class. Tell me, Master, who am I to destroy?"
With a smile on my face, I looked at my Master, a tall, blond man, clearly an aristocratic mage. But the place caught my attention; it was incredibly technological.
"I see you responded, former messenger of the gods," my new Master said, tapping his staff. "My name is Kirschtaria Wodime, your Master, and I need you to do something for me."
Hearing that name, I immediately remembered who this guy was and possibly where I was.
"Oh, let's get straight to the point," I said, summoning my Buster Sword in my hand, twirling it, and plunging it into the ground. "Who must be defeated?"
"No, it's nothing like that," I said, walking toward his computer. It was a gadget I recognized, but I couldn't quite place.
"I need you to find this and bring it to me so I can summon the Titan Atlas from Panhuman history," he explained.
"Atlas, Panhuman, errand boy," I said listlessly, dropping the weapon and looking Kirschtaria in the eye. "You summoned me like this just to be a scapegoat again?"
Yes, I could have easily been summoned as a Saber or an Assassin; I don't think so since the Saint Graph was destroyed by what I did, but this guy specifically summoned me as an Avenger, and there had to be a reason.
Wodine just looked away from his computer.
"No, I actually summoned you for something else," I said, sitting down at the computer and starting to search for files.
I stared at the information about the master, Chaldea, the restoration of human order, the whitening of the world, the alien god, and fantasy trees, and the last thing that appeared was Zeus, but not the Zeus I knew, but rather his machine-god version.
"This is the current situation: three days ago, an alien god revived me and my companions to oversee certain nodes of the world that had been purged, which are currently sustained by a fantasy tree called the Lostbelt, specifically the Greek Lostbelt," Kirshtaria explained, moving so I could see all the information presented.
I only glanced at him out of the corner of my eye to focus on the computer. Many of the things he said were things I already knew, but others were new; you could say I knew the general, not the specifics.
"I'm currently cooperating with the Alien God, but I'm not sure what this being said is entirely true," I said, Wodine getting up to look out the window.
"Are you referring to this whole thing about remaking humanity?" he asked.
"Exactly. My vision of how things should go might contradict the Alien God and, above all, the king of this Lostbelt, the king of the gods, Zeus," he replied.
Hearing that, I stopped looking at the computer and turned my gaze to Kirschtaria.
"Hmm, so that's why you summoned me, with this class and, above all, this ability," I concluded, having heard and seen the information I had already obtained.
"Exactly. With your ability, Godslayer, you can face these beings. That's why I summoned you so you could be my shield if things don't go as planned," he explained.
"Heh, I thought you were one of those magicians who think all their plans work out and nothing bad will happen," I said mockingly.
"I may be confident in myself and my abilities, but I'm not blind," he replied, turning to face me again. "My goal is to help humanity and elevate it to a higher plane, which is why I need Atlas to plant them in the fantasy tree."
"I see, it'll be complicated to obtain these relics you seek to summon the titan Atlas, but why not summon him using something from this very Lostbelt?" I questioned.
"Who said I wouldn't do that?" he responded with another question; I simply looked at him, unsure of his plan. "Currently, the world is bleached, so the only way to obtain a catalyst to summon Atlas manually here would be through the titan's grandson, the machine god Hermes, but getting anything from him is complicated, so that's plan B."
"So what is this?" I asked, pointing to the relic on the screen.
"It's a fragment of the Mayan Pleiades bow. The idea is to summon it and use it as a catalyst to summon Atlas," he explained. "But that fragment must be in Chaldea right now, hidden in all the devices they have for summoning Servants."
Anet, only one question crossed my mind.
"Are you sure it's there?" I asked.
"This," Wodine stated, "was, after all, one of the relics I acquired with my master, Marisbury."
I just scratched my head at the implications.
"Well, it sounds like a plan," I said jokingly, more to have something to say than anything else.
"Now I want to ask you, now that you know all this, will you be on my side or not?" he asked, pointing his staff at me.
Seeing this, I could only smile knowingly.
"If I have the chance to slap Zeus in the face with all this, I don't mind being on your side; this business of human order or humanity's ascension doesn't interest me. I'm just a man of simple tastes, but on this occasion we will be cooperating, my master," I said.
At my response, Kirschtaria smiled and lowered his staff, tapping it on the ground.
"Good, let's prepare, because now, to maintain goodwill with Zeus, we'll have to make our presence known, since you can't stay hidden all the time if we want you to do certain things."
...
I walked through the cities of Olympus with a hunger and thirst to destroy this entire place like never before, but my mindset, along with my self-control, allowed me to walk through it without wanting to tear it to pieces.
I had donned a cloak that concealed my appearance as I followed Kirschtaria to where the other machine gods were supposed to be.
"So this is what the world would be like if Olympus had never fallen," Kiss-shot said in my mind.
"More or less," I replied, looking at the people of this place with mixed feelings. "It's like a zoo."
"What do you mean?" I couldn't help but ask Kiss-shot.
"Humans here are stagnant and stored like a painting in a house, or in this case, a zoo for the machine gods. Having eternal life and depending on the gods caused humanity to stagnate, leading to its fall; that's why this reality was pruned and never happened in panhuman history," I explained as we reached a tower.
"Hmm, I think I still remember something you told me, that conflict and chaos are what make humans progress and move toward the future; in that sense, this world is stagnant and stuck in the past," Kiss-shot mused.
"That's a philosophical way of looking at it," I said as we started to climb the tower.
Once we were standing in the elevator, it began to ascend; meanwhile, from the translucent window, we could see all of Olympus more clearly.
"You seem quite calm for an Avenger," Wodine said, looking at me.
"My hatred and anger are deep inside me. Just because I don't show it doesn't mean it isn't there," I explained.
"I see. Now that we're here, I forgot to ask you where your hatred is directed," Wodine asked me.
I remained lost in thought, analyzing my feelings about all of this.
"My hatred and fury are quite broad; it encompasses everything Olympus represents, what the gods care about, the gods themselves, and above all Apollo and Hephaestus, followed by Zeus and Dionysus, since it was those four who caused my death and the subsequent death of my daughter," I replied. "But because this feeling is so varied and scattered across several things, it's not as strong as other avengers'; that could also be due to my personality, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't like to bring down Olympus with my own hands."
If I could describe it, it would be more of a fury, a cold and calm rage. You don't have to be explosive to be an avenger. You could say it follows the line that revenge is a dish best served cold.
"I see," Wodine said, turning his gaze forward. "We're almost there."
At the warning, I simply nodded, and, suddenly, I transformed.
My humble clothes transformed into Gothic-Victorian armor. My skin darkened, and my face vanished; my eyes changed from red to blue, and my hair from blond to white, two black wings sprouted from my back, and a head of horned hair grew on my face.
At the same time, an aura of death filled the elevator.
I saw Kirschtaria shudder at the moment of my transformation as she glanced at me sideways. I immediately knew what she was going to ask.
"For dramatic effect," I declared, to which Wodine shook his head and opened the door where there must be at least the twelve machine gods of Greece.