Micheal started to move after Jeanne as she ran out but felt a hand on his shoulder holding him in place. He turned to look at Vivian who seemed to be studying him closely before turning to face her and tilting his head,
"Yes? You're giving me a weird look, Vivian. Whats wrong."
The faerie motioned for him to lie back down in a way that seemed eerily familiar but for the life of him he couldn't place where he had seen someone else do it. He laid back down and quickly golden circles began to flit around him as she pursed her lips and glanced at him,
"Do you feel anything? Anything at all?"
"Just… the weirdest sense of deva vu is all. What are you even scanning for?"
She hummed a bit and poked him below his ribs making him jerk away and glare at her,
"You've lost your faerie core but instead-"
"Truly an interesting decision Micheal Lafaire. You managed to perform another miracle albeit with Jeanne Alters and a… few others help."
Micheal and Vivian both looked towards the door where Merlin stood smirking at them and leaning against the doorframe. He walked further into the room and summoned his staff only for Vivian to stand between them,
"I have tests to run and he just came back. We-"
Merlin leaned past Vivian and grinned at him,
"Wanna see how your new powers fair in a match against me?"
Micheal grinned and slid off the bed to stand up. He blinked and looked down at himself frowning,
"...Did I get taller?"
Merlin's grin widened,
"Oh you've done more than just that Micheal. Come on. I wanna see what you can do."
Merlin dissolved into Flowers leaving them standing alone in the room. Brushing some petals off her shoulder with an annoyed huff Vivian turned to look at him with a frown,
"I want to examine you more but…"
She shook her head and then smiled slyly,
"Come on. Lets go have you beat up Merlin."
A few minutes later they were standing in one of the fields outside the town. Micheal was wearing a t-shirt alongside some new jeans and he passed the time by going into some stretches as he waited for Merlin's flower clone to appear only to blink as he heard humming coming from behind him. He turned around to see Merlin walking towards them and he narrowed his eyes as something seemed different before he looked over at Vivian who was glaring and clearly displeased. The Mage of Flowers came to a stop a bit away from both of them and twirled his staff as he bowed,
"Merlin, Mage of Flowers and Arch Wizard of King Arthurs Court. Truly nice to finally meet you in person Micheal Lafaire."
Micheal blinked as it hit him that this wasn't a flower clone and looked at the faerie beside him to see she was just saw her massaging her temple before she caught his gaze. She smiled helplessly and moved to the side to stand inbetween them to serve as referee as Merlin spun his staff a bit more clearly enjoying his temporary freedom before looking at him critically,
"Alrighty! So~! Let me explain a bit of your current condition now that I can see you with my own eyes. You don't have a Faerie core anymore, obviously as it was dissolved within you by a certain someone who shall go unnamed for now. However it was also fully activated prior to being dissolved which meant that your body, since it was no longer human, had to latch onto something similar to that of a Faerie or Nature Spirit. Any idea what that could have been?"
Micheal frowned and scanned himself seeing that it was true, His faerie core was gone. In its place was what he saw in his minds eye as a fragment of something that was a mix of holy and hell energies. He summoned Blessed Hellfire into his hand and looked at it carefully before looking back at Merlin who smiled at him,
"I'm not a Faerie anymore. I'm… divinity? I think?"
"Close! Very Close! To be more accurate you are what would be considered 'Mortal Divinity' in that you have a shard of divinity within you that functions in place of your faerie core while letting you remain human. You will not age normally though as much like a faerie your lifespan is now measured in thousands of years. I advise taking up knitting as a hobby. Anyway,"
Merlin's smile widened, "Yet since it is not anything more than a shard it can't generate mana within you on its own and yet depending on what you do and the choices you make from here on out it may grow enough to start doing so. I'm sure, however, you've noticed that your mana capacity has shrunk slightly from before. I'd say it's about 80% of what you could previously hold when you had your circuits and since you can't generate mana on your own you should make the habit of pulling in mana externally. Imagine the mana around you as… a cloud and then imagine a point on your body that is a 'fan' that you then turn on to pull in the mana around you. Go ahead, give it a shot."
Micheal nodded at Merlins explanation and imagined the fan between his shoulder blades before he turned 'on' the fan and felt mana start to move through the spot and into his body. What surprised him though was the rate he could pull in mana as within three seconds he had filled up his tank to about 80% of what he would have had before he and Jeanne had won the 4th war. He looked at Merlin who nodded clearly pleased,
"You can now draw in mana from your current environment to power your magecraft alongside..." the Mages grin turned a bit evil, "Anything else you might have retained. However I wouldn't advise doing anything more complex or intricate than the basics outside of Avalon and one or two other locations for… a few reasons."
Micheal narrowed his eyes as Merlin explained why he wouldn't want to summon mana, namely that taking in mana from a corrupted or altered source or area would potentially affect him in more ways than just physically ranging from debilitating nausea to outright corrupting his own body and soul. Merlin then twirled his staff, summoned a sword into his other hand, and settled into a fighting stance clearly waiting for Micheal to do the same.
He mentally went over the magecraft he knew and blinked when he found that he had easily sixty new spells he didn't know about before. Curious he activated one of them and watched as golden lines appeared on his arms where his circuits would have appeared before. He bounced in place on the ball of his foot as he felt the spell created golden lines on his legs as well and briefly wondered what the spell he had activated was before swapping Blessed Hellfire into La rose d'Argent Noirci. He settled into a fighting stance himself while he felt his heartrate speed up with prefight anticipation.
They stood there looking at each other, waiting for the other to move, when Micheal attacked first. He loaded and fired a crystal dart from d'Argent Noirci while at the same time he activated the spell in the golden lines immediately feeling energy surge across his entire body. Merlin dashed forward to stab him with his sword, dodging under the crystal dart while Micheal sidestepped around Merlins blade with enough ease that it gave him pause as he noticed that Merlin seemed to be moving in slow motion. Experimentally he swung d'Argent Noirci at Merlin only for Merlin to suddenly speed up and move out of the way as the feeling of the first spell faded. The Mage of Flowers spun in place and deflected his blade with ease as he spun his staff and swung the sharpened tip for Micheals torso.
He dodged out of the way and pulled in more mana as he reached for those new spells again. He found one, saw what it did, and quickly activated it causing a small puddle of shadows to appear below Merlins lead foot as he moved to chase him making the Mage of Flowers stumble for a split second. Micheal blinked in surprise at the ease he had done that with and canceled the spell after Merlin pulled his foot out. The incubus seemed to be studying him as they circled each other,
"Interesting… She must have done something or given something to you to let you have this much natural skill… I have a good guess as to what but let me make sure of something first. Micheal!"
Micheal pulled his focus away from the spells and focused back in on Merlin his eyes widening upon seeing the concentrated ball of mana gathering at the head of his staff. He quickly went back to those new spells to try and find something to counter it but instead he felt something tug on his attention in the microseconds before the mana gathered around Merlins staff lanced forward to run him through.
What-
He paused as he looked at the spell that had seemed to draw his attention to itself. He stared at it, unsure of what it did but he somehow knew on instinct that it was singularly different from the spells he had woken up with and the ones he had been taught by Amelia. He also knew that this spell affected Blessed Hellfire somehow. He flicked his eyes back to the growing ball of pink mana and decided to go for it,
...Fuck it.
Not like I can die in Avalon anyway.
He activated the spell and felt several sensations in rapid succession as La rose d'Argent Noirci warmed in his hand while beginning to glow with blue-black mana as the world around him darkened slightly and slowed down to a crawl. He watched as the blade went from edged silver-steel metal to a jet black alloy while the tip seemed to grow into what he thought at first was an ornate battle axe head. The hilt extended itself, conforming to the shape of his hand, while the pommel grew as well before expanding into a spiked tip until he was holding what he thought at first was an oversized double-headed war axe. Yet as he held it in his hand he stiffened as he felt a third energy come out of his divine core that seemed to override his holy and hell energy to become something almost primal in its nature.
Frowning he glanced up and down the weapon in his hand before he looked at that third energy again and then something in his brain clicked into place as spun what he knew was actually a casting staff in his hand noting that while it didn't feel anything like Blessed Hellfire it felt just as familiar in his hand. He glanced up and noticed that both Vivian and Merlin were moving so slowly that they might as be frozen when he felt his attention being drawn back to his new spells. He blinked in surprise as he sensed that all of them had changed or been augmented somehow as he felt whatever this new construct was drag his mental attention to spell he hadn't noticed before.
Or, as it hit him like a splash of cold water, it would be more accurate to say it hadn't been there before Blessed Hellfire had changed into whatever this weapon was.
He frowned, spreading his feet apart and getting into a similar stance to what he did for d'Argent Noirci, and activated this new spell only for nothing to happen. He glanced again at Merlin and Vivian noticing that they were still moving in slow motion and frowned before he had an idea deciding to try something he remembered Jeanne saying about her Draconic Witchcraft.
In that it was moving mana with intent rather than formulating magecraft.
Narrowing his eyes he reexamined the spell noticing that it seemed to manipulate shadows so not really knowing how best to do this he imagined his own shadow growing under him to encompass every shadow around him in a three meter radius bending those shadows to his will. He felt the spell activate as this new mana moved with his intent right as whatever was making the world move in slow motion cut out causing everything to go back to its normal speed. He pushed his intent further as he heard Vivian gasp which drew his attention as he saw her staring at the ground under him.
He looked down and his mouth fell open as he saw that his own shadow had darkened to an almost midnight black and had spread out under him to engulf all the shadows nearby, even shadows as as small as the ones cast by the nearby flowers had turned blacker than night as they submitted to his will. He looked around noticing that Vivian had gone from staring at his shadow to openly staring at him and then he looked at Merlin who, for the first time in knowing the man, looked nervous as he stared at whatever Blessed Hellfire had turned into,
"Should I stop?"
Merlin licked his lips, shook his head, and seemed to be flicking his purple eyes between himself, the new construct, and the pool of shadows he was in the center of,
"Its… Similar. Eerily so but…. It doesn't harbor the same innate malice."
He heard Merlin mutter,
"Merlin what the hell are you talking about?"
The incubus refocused fully on Micheal who felt a chill run down his spine at the look he was being given,
"Micheal. I want you to imagine lifting and braiding the shadows you've taken control of into sharpened lances. Then I want you to launch them at me. Even assuming you hit me I won't die here."
"I'll… try…."
He said unsure if he even could but closed his eyes to focus on the feeling of the shadows he had taken control of and imagined them lifting off the ground forming into strands that he then braided into conical lances. He heard Merlin whistle appreciatively causing him to open his eyes and look around as his mouth went dry,
"Not bad for your first try… Although the fact you could do it at all is… Concerning…."
Extending out of the pool of shadows around him were easily a hundred small towers of braided shadows that ended in points that sharp enough to pierce clean through steel. On instinct more than anything else he gestured with his hand and one of the braided shadows moved closer so he could wrap his hand around it and pull it free of the pool expecting a noise or a snap of some kind. Slightly disappointed that there wasn't any noise he looked at it in his hand and turned it over to look at the braid itself as he noticed his mana levels,
They were being drained almost as fast as Avalon was refilling them.
"What… How did-" Vivian finally stammered.
"That all but confirms it," Merlin said neutrally causing Micheal to look back at him as he dispelled the ball of mana that had gathered at the top of his staff and instead pointed the head of it at him. Merlin settled into a stance himself as his face broke into a grin, "but to make sure… I need to see how much and what else she gave you. Point the end of your… staff at me and imagine shooting mana from it as a beam."
He raised his eyebrows,
"Are we really about to have a beamstruggle? Like from Dragonball?"
Merlins grin grew wider and he just moved his staff a little in a 'come on' motion. Micheal rolled his eyes and dispelled the shadowpool under him causing him to immediately feel his mana stores replenish to full. He breathed in and angled the top of his staff at Merlin deciding to use the small curve between edge of the blade like part of the top and the central haft to aim with. He breathed out and drew on those shadows again causing the head of the staff to glow as blue-black mana began to form around it.
"I knew it…" Merlin said gleefully as the end of his own staff began to glow pink.
Stowing his questions for later Micheal focused on gathering the shadows and this new eerily familiar mana around the head of his weapon and then on pure instinct more than anything else, pulled the head of the staff down to his hip. He felt the staff change with the movement into a blade, he firmed his grip on the transformed hilt, and swung diagonally up and to the right launching a crackling arc of shadows made of that same blue-black mana.
Merlin responded by firing the mana he had gathered which stopped the arc in its tracks but didn't destroy it outright as the two attacks struggled to overcome the other. Micheal firmed his jaw and swung the blade two more times along the adjacent angle and then horizontally sending out two more arcs of that mana which combined with the original arc and quickly shredded through Merlins beam. Micheal was about to dispell the attacks in a panic when he heard Merlin speak a vocal incantation for the first time,
From the stars of the inner sea
and the tower of insight...
From the four corners of paradise, let them know:
Their story is filled with blessings.
Only those free of sin may pass...
Garden of Avalon!
A wall of flower petals erupted from the ground, intercepting the combined arcs entirely and turning them into similar petals which then condensed down before exploding outwards with a sonic boom leaving a crater in the field and gouging troughs through the ground. The remaining petals slowly vanished into mana leaving a dumbstruck Vivian, a grinning Merlin, and a stunned Micheal standing in the ruins of the field,
"What- What just happened…"
He asked as he looked at the staff-turned-sword in his hand, turning it over to look at it more closely before he imagined it turning back into Blessed Hellfires pistol form causing the sword to glow a rich blue-black that transitioned to a golden-white as it shrank back into the handgun. He heard footsteps and looked up to see Merlin who clapped him on the shoulder,
"I knew she had to have given you something but I was not expecting anything close to that at all. She must have really taken a liking to you Lafaire!"
Micheal looked perplexed from Merlin to Vivian who had walked over with a strained and worried expression,
"It seems my sister has given you something I never thought possible. Her own personalized Rhongomyniad as a form of magecraft along with at least one of her forms of Faerie Witchcraft…. As well as some part of her that allows you to turn mana you've taken into yourself into a version of her own mana that you then use instead of your own…. You've effectively come back from wherever you went as a miniature version of Morgan le Fay."
#####
-Several hours later-
Micheal sat down on a crate and iced his shoulder taking a moment to thank whoever the hell made Avalon update to its current occupants needs. Right after Vivian had dropped the bombshell that, at some point while he was in a coma, Morgan le Fay had given him a Rhongomyniad alongside some of her own Faerie Witchcraft he had about 100 different questions pop up in his head right before a wave of fatigue washed over his entire body. He had staggered a bit only for Merlin to catch him before he fell and in that moment of contact he sensed Merlin do a flash scan of every spell Micheal knew already as well as the ones he had woken up with.
He had immediately swung for the Mage upon feeling the intrusion and, after massaging his swollen cheek, the incubus had explained to a very angry Micheal that he wanted to make sure that none of the spells Morgan had given him would put him or anyone around him at harm outright saying,
"I'm surprised with the level of restraint in what she gave you honestly. Everything is only a potential net benefit to you and any allies you might have. I would still caution restraint on using any of it as she is a full Blooded Faerie and, despite you having some divinity, I'm not sure your eager to see what Faerie Witchcraft does when a human mage attempts to use it."
Based on what Vivian had noticed, it wasn't that Blessed Hellfire had somehow gotten Rhongomyniad as a form, but more that a spell containing Rhongomyniad as spellcraft forcibly changed Blessed Hellfire into the Divine Construct. She admitted that it was a truly brilliant way to cheat the contracting limit that Divine Constructs normally put on their wielders.
He groaned, taking the ice off of his shoulder, and briefly moved it to test its range of motion,
"And Jeanne was sparring that guy this entire time… I don't even know when or with what he hit my shoulder with in that fourth sparring match."
He muttered to himself as he stood up and began to walk back to his original house only to sense a teleport exit behind him. He immediately whirled on the spot, Blessed Hellfire in hand, pausing when Vivian held up her hands,
"Wow that was…. Instant. I'm curious as to how you sensed my arrival but we are running out of time. You need to follow me. Merlin's sent a flower clone to get Jeanne Alter. You need to be on your way sooner rather than later."
Micheal tilted his head to the side as Vivian turned around and began to walk away,
"Wait, whats the rush on us having to leave? I know its been about a year but surely you don't have to kick us out just yet right?"
Vivian paused still facing away from him,
"Right. I… Still need to tell you about that."
He felt a chill run down his spine,
"Tell me about... what. ...Vivian?"
She continued walking not answering him. He frowned and eventually stopped trying to get her to answer his questions which left him to glower in silence for several minutes before they started climbing a particularly tall hill. As they came over the crest his eyes immediately locked onto Jeanne Alter who was standing there in her usual robes and armor with her arms folded and looking bored while Merlin was poking the ground with his staff. She noticed him arriving and he watched as her face quickly flashed through several emotions before settling on one that she likely hoped was neutral. He nodded to her and then they both went to watch Merlin continue to poke the ground,
"So Merlin," Jeanne called out lazily after a few minutes, "Any chance you're going to tell us why you dragged us all out here?"
The mage merely hummed and glanced up noticing that Micheal and Vivian had arrived. He sighed and straightened up,
"Alright so. Jeanne already knows this so apologies in advance for the info dump but we are quite literally running down to the second here. Avalon exists as an alternate dimension from your world. As such it has particular tendencies one of which is a form of light time dilation. Usually its not more than a few days however the exact minute you and Jalter here-"
"Say that name again and I'll put a hole through your chest like the last time."
Merlin winced and smiled apologetically,
"At the exact minute you and Jeanne Alter here entered Avalon that dilation expanded. Before you ask the question I'll just give you the answer: nine years, seven months, twenty-four days, thirteen hours, 22 minutes, and…. 47 seconds. It is now February of 2004 and you both need to go help someone."
Jeanne quickly fixed the incubus with a glare that made Micheal proud,
"Wait a god damn minute. I thought you were sending us back to our old lives. Whats this shit about helping someone."
Merlin hummed and made an 'aha' sound as he poked a specific spot on the hill,
"I am indeed sending you back to your lives however they are going to be a bit more chaotic from now on, so apologies in advance. Micheal and Jeanne if you two would be so kind as to stand about a meter apart and right…. There."
He tapped his staff on the ground and a ring of blue light appeared to float over where he had tapped. Jeanne frowned but moved into the circle and then looked at Micheal who moved to join her in it. Merlin nodded and made a happy sound, clapping his hands together a single time to get their attention,
"Now before I send you on your way I figured I should give you some advice: When you meet the Doctor he won't believe you are who you say you are or that you're on the side of humanity. So what you'll need to do is tell him this: 'The Mage of Flowers sends his regards and has sent us to help. Also tell the beauty standing behind you and to your right that her meal is burning in the microwave.' Got it? Great!"
"Wait," Micheal said about to take a step forward, "What the hell are you talking abou-SHIIIITTTTTTTT!!!"
Micheal found himself falling as the blue ring opened up beneath them and they fell through into an equally blue tunnel that never seemed to end. He twisted in midair to look behind him only to see the hole they had fallen through closing behind them. He looked around and saw Jeanne quickly adjusting herself in midair spreading her arms and legs causing her to slow down slightly,
"Spread your arms and legs! Wherever we're going the last thing we need is you splattering yourself on the ground!"
Micheal grit his teeth and spun himself in the air eventually getting himself into a similar position to the servant as he fell just to her right. They fell in silence for a bit before Micheal opened his mouth only for Jeanne to cut him off,
"I know about the bond. I… got part of your message that you sent. A lot of it was garbled."
He blinked,
"So- wait. I sent a message? I don't remember sending a message."
She looked at him and narrowed her eyes,
"….Nevermind. The Master-Servant bond is still active but I still don't want you in my head at all, got it?"
Micheal nodded and decided to not ask why given the glare she was giving him. She seemed to relax a bit at his acceptance. They fell in silence for a bit longer before she frowned,
"...Is it just me or is it getting hotter?"
He looked over at her as he felt himself begin to sweat. Right as he was about to answer red light came from below them. He looked back down and firmed his jaw as the light expanded and they fell out of the sky and into Hell.
-Jeannes PoV-
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUC-"
CRASH.
........
It was dark but not so dark that Jeanne couldn't see her hand in front of her face when she finally opened her eyes sometime later with the last thing she remembered was hearing Micheals yell. She groaned and tried to sit up only to bump her head against stone. She blinked in the darkness and conjured some hellfire in her palm to be able to see only to frown as she realized she was in a basement of some kind and the ceiling, or rather the floor above her that she had crashed through, was covering her and laying across her legs effectively immobilizing her. She fell back onto the concrete floor and closed her eyes,
...Everything fucking hurts… Which means I'm still alive or in a very convincing dream….
She extinguished the fire in her palm with a flick of her wrist and got her hands under the debris pinning her to the floor. She inhaled a few deep breaths and began to push on it causing it to slowly but surely move off her legs. She knew they were probably broken or at least heavily injured which meant she wouldn't be walking for a while.
She grit her teeth and swore as the debris caught on something and stopped moving. She had gotten it mostly off of her left leg and given what she could see of just that leg all but confirmed that she wouldn't be walking anytime soon. She closed her eyes and reached for her Dragon witchcraft focusing on creating lances under the slab to lift it up. She felt her face twist into a mad grin as the lances impacted the underside of the debris with a rapidfire thunking sound.
She focused on her lances slowly but surely lifting the piece of the building that had landed on her enough that she could turn onto her stomach and use her arms to crawl out from under it. After she managed to do that she released her control on the lances causing them to dissipate into dark mana letting the concrete slab slam down onto the basement floor with a thunderous crash.
"Well… if no one knew where I was before… They sure as fuck do now…"
She continued to crawl over to a wall that she managed to dig her fingers into to haul herself up and into a sitting position so she could lean back against it. Even that made her vision flash white around the edges as she grit her teeth and put the majority of her mana towards healing herself. She knew she had to keep enough in her to maintain her form as she didn't have a grail core anymore but even the process of directing her mana was taxing. She felt her mana begin to course through her legs and then leaned her head back onto the wall as she felt the slow embrace of unconsciousness pulling at her. She shook her head to fight it off and took some deep breaths.
Okay coming into wherever the hell Merlin dropped us I was topped off on mana. I'll need to keep an eye on my levels just so I can still move after my legs are healed enough to stand on.
As for something to aid my movement…
She quickly spawned six lances, activated her Self-modification skill, and applied it to the lances she had just made. The lances quickly had their darkness and curses removed leaving only blackened matte metal that she quickly broke and twisted into a pair of crutches. That however was too much for her and she felt herself fall further into unconsciousness as she remembered too late that someone else had fallen in with her,
"Micheal… Wherever you are… Don't you fucking die on me a third time you asshole…"
She managed to bite out as she fell into the black void...
~~~~~
Jeanne groaned and blearily opened her eyes as she twisted her head to look around to see she was still in that basement she had crashed into,
"Fuck, okay… not a dream then."
She muttered under her breath as she tested her legs. They were mostly healed but her idea for crutches might have been more inspired than she thought. She experimentally moved her legs and winced as she felt pain lance up her right one.
"Still fractured then at least. My mana levels are…" She closed her eyes and hummed a bit, "hovering around 60% and I'm not drawing in mana naturally wherever I am. Now all I have to do is stand up…."
Gingerly pulling in her left leg she felt it immediately complain as she got it partially under her and reached out her hand letting one of the crutches fly into it. She breathed in and out a few times to brace herself before she quickly stood up on her somewhat good leg which made her almost cry out in pain. She physically bit her lip to silence herself, drawing a bit of blood, and she stood there just getting used to the feeling of standing for a few minutes before she heard something moving up above her making her freeze as all her senses kicked into overdrive so she could pinpoint who or what was coming. She tried to check the mana around her but immediately cut her mana sense as soon as she activated it.
"What the hell happened here for the ambient mana to be this fucked…." She whispered to herself as more movement was heard overhead.
She firmed her jaw and extended her other hand causing the other crutch to fly into it with a metallic smack. She quickly sharpened the end of it by funneling her mana through it and then limped her way away from the hole in the ceiling right as some papers fell over the edge and slowly floated to the ground. She froze, not daring to even breathe as she sensed a familiar presence that filled her gut with dread at the implication.
A grail corrupted Servant!? Where the fuck am I and-
For the briefest of moments she sensed the Master-Servant bond activate. Not enough to send any thoughts through or even sense where the other was but enough that she noticed. She frowned as the bond kept activating and deactivating in a series of long and short feelings of connection. She knew what Micheal was trying to do but she couldn't remember the name of it. She closed her eyes and scrolled through the knowledge the Grail had supplied her with back before the Fourth Grail War.
Morse Code. So he's trying to send me a message without actually using the bond. Clever…
and technically not in violation of what I asked him to do.
She furrowed her brow, doing her best to ignore the servant standing on the floor above, as she listened to the message he was repeating to her. She mentally translated the dots and dashes into letters and felt herself smile at what he had sent her
[R U OK? EYES ON ENEMY. RESPOND WHEN ABLE.]
She knew that even activating her end of the bond would use enough mana to alert the servant so she did the best thing she could given her circumstances and briefly opened her end of the bond just long enough to respond,
(S.O.S.)
Immediately she felt mana flare from the servant above her only to be followed by the Servant yelling in surprise as she heard Blessed Hellfire: Fusil firing on full auto followed by a chain of explosions that shook dust from the ceiling overhead as she felt the Servant quickly retreat. She breathed out and stayed upright in that spot not daring to do more than breathe until she sensed Micheals mana nearby,
"Jeanne?"
She could kiss him for the worry in his voice and then she immediately felt guilt for being the cause of that worry. She shook her head clear,
"In the basement! Be Careful! The floor's not stable."
A minute or two later she heard a door open and then the sound of boots on stairs as she turned around to see Micheal in what she could only describe as an outfit fit for one of the human protagonists in the Predator movie. He was wearing Cargo pants, combat boots, and what looked like a mash up of fish netting, pockets, and a pocketed belt-turned-bandolier going across a t-shirt that was more holes than shirt. Her mouth fell open,
"What…. The hell are you wearing?"
He grimaced and offered her a lopsided smile,
"I'll fill you in once we get you someplace safe," She saw his blue eyes flick down to her right leg and heard him click his tongue, "We've been here for two days now and…. And you're not going to believe where we are."
"Two days?"
Jeanne spluttered as he moved to try and help her. She tried her best to wave him off only for him to give her a flat look which she returned with a glare,
"I can move on my own. I'm not- Okay I'm injured yes but not completely crippled. Where have you been? How did you survive that fall?"
"Answer to your first question: I've been playing a game of cat and mouse with at least two servants since the minute I got here. I managed to lose one around Kurama street a couple hours ago and the other one was the one standing above you when you responded to my message. Which reminds me, sorry for usi-"
She waved away his apology,
"It was an emergency and I'm glad you did it. We can hammer out what qualifies as an emergency later but for right now you're right in that we need to move."
She began to hop and made it past Micheal only to stop at the foot of the stairs. She could sense his smug grin behind her and was determined to not let him have the satisfaction of being correct. She got her one good leg somewhat under her centrally and angled herself as Micheal began to speak to warn her right as she shot a hellfire plume out from the heel of her armored shoe launching her up the stairs, through the doorway, and then out of the building as she crashed into the street. She rolled for a bit and then stopped to lay there gasping a bit from the renewed pain as she saw a set of combat boots quickly enter her flashing white vision.
She grinned madly as Micheal picked her up and slung her arm across his shoulder while he wrapped an arm around her corset,
"Fhuckin- Fucking told you I could do it." She managed to get out as Micheal ran while holding her to his side.
"Your stupid pride is going to get you or someone else hurt one day…."
They moved in silence for a bit,
"I'm glad you're okay."
She turned her head enough to give him a look out of the corner of her eye,
"My right leg is broken and I can barely put weight on my left leg. What part of my condition says I'm okay?"
He winced a bit and muttered an apology as she looked away trying to ignore how good she felt about the fact that he was worried about her. As they moved through the collapsed and broken streets she couldn't shake this nagging feeling that she'd been here before which caused her to frown. She turned to Micheal who suddenly dodged off the street and into a building on the side of the road. He held a finger up to his lips and she stowed her question seeing his expression,
"Enemies up ahead. A few hundred risen dead loitering outside that partially collapsed car park. I can't deal with them and protect you at the same time so-"
"Go. Take care of them. Trust me I'm not going anywhere."
He flashed a smile at her, causing her to ignore the immediate butterflies as best as she could, and then watched she sensed him activate Blessed Hellfire only for golden dust to form three concentric rings around his wrist and arm before he moved out of the store and out of her line of sight. She listened as the sound of undead responding to mana came from too many sources to count followed by a thunking sound that she recognized instantly which quickly cut off the sounds of the undead.
She whipped her head to look where Micheal had gone and waited for him to come back as sweat trickled down her back while that thunking sound continued like a machine gun. Barely three minutes later he had come back and her eyes locked onto the dust encircling his arm. He noticed her gaze and flicked his wrist causing the dust to glow gold and then vanish,
"Guess I'll have to explain that as well as best I can..." He said before bending down and picking her up like he did before. This time they left out of the back of the store which is when her eyes locked onto something on nearby wall that made her gut twist with dread.
It was a poster ad for apartment rentals within a nearby neighborhood while the city listed on it…
was Fuyuki.
~~~~~
"What…. Happened here…."
She asked more to herself than anyone else as she rested on a partially burnt mattress and looked around the room that Micheal had brought her to so she could rest and focus on healing herself. The room itself was on the 6th floor of a mostly intact office building and had been Micheals current base of operations since they had fallen into Fuyuki over forty-eight hours prior. She gingerly massaged her right thigh as another wave of prickling sensations ran through it making her grit her teeth right as she heard knocking on the door to the room,
"You can come in. What did you manage to get?"
She asked as the door opened and Micheal came in with three paper bags. He glanced at her and saw the unspoken question,
"Still healing… Sorry."
"Don't be. You need to take the time to heal yourself and for right now at least we seem to be safe."
She watched him set the bags down nearby and start pulling items out of it noticing that a lot of it was canned food. She found herself staring at him and watching as sweat dripped off of what muscles she could see through the shirt to then land on the floor. She shook her head, ignored her blush, and quickly looked somewhere else to clear her head before she spoke,
"So you never did answer how you survived that fall."
She saw him pause for a few seconds before he answered,
"I… Had to use some of the mana I had pulled in from Avalon. There's something wrong with the mana in whatever version of Fuyuki this is so I wouldn't advise taking any in if you can help it. Honestly the feeling reminds me of…"
"The Cursed Grail Miasma but less concentrated."
Jeanne finished for him as he hummed an agreement. She heard him huff and glanced over to see he had arranged a small pile of debris into a unkindled fire which he quickly lit with some matches. She narrowed her eyes as she sensed him use something other than magecraft and drag his finger around the metal lid of one of the cans before placing his finger on it and pulling it off.
"Okay. No. Stop."
He paused and looked at her confused,
"What did you just do. That wasn't magecraft."
She narrowed her eyes at him as he glanced to the side nervously,
"Its a specializ-"
"Don't bullshit me. Just tell me the truth."
He fell silent and after a bit she worried that he wouldn't tell her as she opened her mouth to speak angrily at him when he stood up and looked at her with a look that made her words freeze in her throat,
"This… Might take a bit to explain. Can I think of… how to explain while I make us some food? That should help both of our mana levels."
She nodded and he visibly relaxed as he set about making them food.
Why did he look so pained….
Because you're being a nag.
She shook her head as the Other left and laid back onto the bed to rest while her Master cooked some food.
A bit later she had finished eating her food and Micheal had pulled over a chair to sit by the bed she was laying on. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and watched as he mentally worked his way through how he was, hopefully, going to tell her. After a few minutes of silence he blew out his cheeks,
"So. Lets start off with this fact: I don't have a faerie core anymore but I'm also not entirely human either."
Jeanne turned her head to look at him fully and sat up on her elbows as she narrowed her eyes,
"Then what are you. I was under the impression that-"
"That by losing my faerie core I'd turn back into a normal human or at least a normal Magus? Yeah I thought that too until I sparred Merlin and…. Did something a human magus shouldn't be able to do. When I came back I felt something was off about me and it turns out I was correct: My faerie core was activated fully but right before it turned me into a full blown faerie, something or someone dissolved it which meant that my body latched onto the next thing… which is a shard of divinity that I also somehow have."
She blinked and stared at him as he hung his head,
"Please tell me your joking."
He looked up at her and her stomach clenched at the look he was giving her,
"I wish I was. While I was in that coma my connection with Blessed Hellfire grew exponentially and turns out communing or refining your connection with some specific Divine Constructs imbues the wielder with a certain level of Divinity. Rhongomyniad is one for example. As for me…. My divinity is a side effect of Blessed Hellfire but it is also entirely separate from it. So if for whatever reason I lose Blessed Hellfire I still have that shard of Divinity in my soul."
Jeanne's mind raced at this and she briefly wondered if the same would happen to her the more she used the divine construct before she discarded the idea immediately,
"Okay so…. You're a god now."
Micheals shoulders fell and she watched him turn his head to look at his gloved right hand,
"If anything I just feel more tired," He chuckled, "You'd think becoming a god would mean boundless energy or something. Sorry for the lackluster meal by the way. I did the best I could."
Jeanne recognized the topic change for what it was and let it happen as she nodded,
"It was good for what it was so thanks."
"How are your mana levels?"
"Hovering in the low 70s. Why?"
"Because I'm worried we're being followed… or I'm being followed. You asked how I survived the landing and the following two days before I found you right?"
She nodded and stowed her questions for now as he blew out his cheeks,
"In addition to my partial divinity I also got, for some fucking reason, faerie witchcraft as well as Blessed Hellfires 4th form. I have about sixty spells of which I can really only use twenty based on my current mana cap. One of those spells is what helped me survive the landing. In laymans terms its teleportation. In magecraft terms its severely complex… but in Witchcraft terms its remarkably simple."
Jeanne tilted her head,
"Is it similar to my Dragon Witchcraft then? Vivan said that my own witchcraft functioned similarly to her own faerie spells in that it was directing mana with intent as opposed to formulating a spell."
Micheal nodded and looked at her,
"What the spell does is that it creates a portal between two space time coordinates, then it conjures a shadow that you go through to then come out of the other side. So not realizing the risks involved as I was falling I panicked, activated the spell setting the coordinates to directly below me and the first random ending coordinate set that popped into my head, which spawned a shadow portal to open below me which I fell through… and then directly into the lobster tank at the bait and tackle shop off of Shinjo street. Its where I rigged together my current outfit."
She groaned and swore in Old French as she fell back onto the mattress,
"So this really is Fuyuki then." She groaned as Micheal sighed,
"Yep. Fuyuki circa February 2004 or just about."
They fell silent for a bit,
"So… the house?"
"I don't know. I'd rather not lead enemies to a potential safe spot but given the how the rest of Fuyuki looks…."
"I hope Herodotus got out…."
She looked up and saw Micheal look away. They both knew the odds of the bird surviving were basically zero. She let her head fall back down and tried to stifle her guilt at leaving the bird behind to be engulfed in all of this,
"There's a snowballs chance in hell he survived. He's resourceful. I'm willing to bet he got out before any of this even happened. Animals are more sensitive to disasters anyway and what else would you call this?"
He said while Jeanne was briefly tempted to check her bond with the bird that she had established when she had first met him but decided against it due to the mana cost. She levered herself upright and sat up to test her legs.
Left one is almost normal again but the right one is still injured based on the feeling. We can't stay in one place for too long since Micheal said he's being follo-
She blinked and looked at the man sitting beside her,
"..Micheal… You said you were being followed correct? How did you know they were servants?"
He stiffened in place as he immediately understood the rest of the unspoken question. He looked up at her his jaw firmed,
"The servant I got away from you is Archer. Right bastard too. We've been taking potshots at each other every chance we can. As for the second Servant… I couldn't get a good scan of them when they tried to attack me."
"Did you ever see them?"
"Not…. Exactly." He said hesitantly as he glanced at her clearly worried. She gestured for him to continue at which point he grimaced and began to take off his right glove. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open as she saw the three ruby red lines on the back of his hand. She looked from his hand to his face and saw him grimace,
"How… Wait back up. Vivian said there was going to be a Grail war in 2004… Are we-"
He nodded and pulled his glove back on,
"We're likely in another Grail War… although it looks like this one went off the rails. As for how I know its a servant and not some fucked human or monster, I threw out a random scan the last time they tried to attack me and it was garbled to hell and back in the same way Berserker's stats were obfuscated during the 4th Grail War. After I had gotten away I took the time to analyze what the scan and I'm thinking its a very agile Berserker or a very tough, very angry Assassin based off what I could make out."
As he said this they heard a thundering crash as a building collapsed nearby which shook the room they were in. Everything stopped shaking after a few seconds after which Micheal stood up and looked at her,
"Given that the Master-servant bond is still… active. Did you want me to try using a command seal to restore you full health?"
She hesitated but eventually nodded,
"I need to be able to fight and it would be a good test to see how much of the bond is still there."
She watched as Micheal held up his right hand and she felt mana start to roll off of him,
"By my Command Seal: Restore my servant, Jeanne D'Arc Alter, to full pristine health."
A brief flash of red light came from under the glove on his hand as Jeanne was quickly enveloped in an identical glow and gasped feeling right her leg heal itself immediately while all the various bruises and cuts where healed as well. Even her mana was restored. She quickly stood up and summoned her sword. She curled her fingers around the hilt, feeling the familiar curves and shape of the metal under her hand, and laughed a bit before settling down to look at Micheal with a grin,
"Back to full strength."
He grinned back at her about to say something when they both heard a bestial roar from nearby making them both pause. Micheal summoned Blessed Hellfire: Fusil and nodded to her. She firmed her lips and ran out of the room and towards the stairwell with Micheal right behind her. She summoned lances and tore the door to shreds as they both entered the stairwell.
"Where do you want me? I can't fight a servant outright even with my new skillset at the level of mana I'm at."
She paused and turned to look at him,
"...Assuming this is a servant then I want you sniping it whenever you can and supporting me as best you can. If this is some monster then I'd like you to be more active in your help."
He nodded to her and they had just started to move down the stairwell when they heard the roar again except it was much closer. They looked at each other and Micheal looked at her before they sprinted down the stairs right as an explosion came from below them and the entire building shook causing them to lose their footing.
"Shit- JEANNE!"
She was falling.
The shaking had knocked her through an open spot in the railing and she was falling down the stairwell shaft. Right as she was about to activate her hellfire jets to slow her fall she saw a swirling black puddle form in the air under her. She barely had time to yell before she fell through it and immediately felt a sensation of pressure being placed on her entire body while she was immersed in complete darkness. A second later light appeared from under her and she fell out of the shadows onto the roof of a building. She rolled out of her fall and turned around to see the building she had just been in collapse onto itself. Right as she was about to scream for him she sensed an identical shadow portal open below her in the building itself followed by a crash.
Not wanting to waste anymore time she summoned her third form of Blessed Hellfire, loaded a hellfire slug, and punched down blowing a hole through the roof that she then fell through into the room below. It was a konbini but had been ransacked by the state of everything she saw in the store,
"Micheal!?"
"Over here… ow…"
She ran towards his voice and found him gingerly sitting up from where he had landed which was in a yakisoba bin. She walked over to him and flicked his shoulder with a finger as she glared at him,
"Don't do that again without warning or telling me first."
He nodded, picked himself out of the bin, and frowned seeing he was covered in yakisoba guts,
"Well at least when I'm eaten by whatever that was I'll taste good hopefully."
He grumbled to himself as he plucked a piece of lettuce off his shirt. Jeanne huffed a single laugh as her worries about him faded slightly.
"You're not getting eaten on my watch so don't worry. Did you see what it was that took out the building?"
He nodded,
"A servant. My guess is Berserker. Odds are he was already nearby and sensed me using the command seal. Think you can fight him?"
He glanced down at her gauntlets and his brow furrowed,
"….Those… look familiar."
He reached out to touch one and she dispelled them making him give her a look,
"You can look at them later. We're maybe a few blocks away from Berserker which means that we need to either kill him or get away from him. I'm voting on killing him myself."
Micheal nodded at her and summoned Blessed Hellfire: Fusil again. He briefly pulsed with energy and a scope materialized onto the top rail.
"I'll go find a place to post up then. You meanwhile…"
"Do what I do best." She said with a feral grin as they nodded to each other and ran off to their respective spots.
~~~~~~~~~
"Alright then tough guy," Jeanne said under her breath as she strode out into the middle of the street, "Lets see how tough you really are shall we~?"
She looked in the direction of the massive dust cloud around where the building they had previously been in and tried to peer through it, even enhancing her vision and activating her mana sense, but quickly shut down her mana sense due to ambient mana in the air. She shook her head clear of the sudden headache and frowned, summoning her sword and flagspear into either hand as she waited for Micheal to get into position. As she stood there she noticed something slowly walking through the dust and gaining more definition by the second.
It was, she assumed, a person that eventually came out of the lingering dust before coming to a stop. She narrowed her eyes and flexed her fingers on her sword as they stood there facing each other. The issue with her thinking it would be a person was that they were easily over 250cm tall and nothing but rippling muscles under slate grey skin. His eyes seemed to be clouded over while his hair was a literal mane that fell to just past his shoulders. His only clothing was an armored skirt but it was his weapon that made her pause.
At first glance it looked to be a slab of stone that was held loosely in his right hand until she noticed the jagged edge that curved along one side. She stared at the makeshift sword before she flicked her gaze back up to the mans eyes,
"I'm assuming you're Berserker?" She called out only for the man to stiffen and look at her as though seeing her for the first time. She watched as he shifted in place and settled down into a fighting stance,
"A bit too calm and collected to be a Berserker. Didn't he just collapse an entire building…?"
She muttered to herself as she got into her own stance and they stood there facing each other for several seconds. As they stared at each other something in the ambient mana shifted as Jeanne sensed something that made her snap her head towards the residential district,
A summoning!? Is there a Master alive here other than Micheal!?
Sudden movement came from down the street and she looked back just in time to dodge under a thrown car right as Berserker roared and began to charge her. She settled into a defensive stance only for her eyes to widen as Berserker stabbed his sword into the ground and swung it forward carving into the street and launching chunks of it at her. She quickly dodged the debris and her combat instinct screamed at her to block an incoming strike. She crossed her sword and flagspear in front of her to intercept a kick from Berserker that sent her through an entire building.
She landed in the alleyway between the buildings and tasted blood in her mouth as she rolled backwards and jumped away just in time to dodge a downward slash from that sword as Berserker crashed through the building to try and kill her,
Fuck… That was with a single kick… Who the hell is this guy!?
She landed on top of a nearby building and summoned lances which she launched at Berserker who had jumped up but managed to deflect most of them in midair as he landed on the roof and began to charge her again. She swore and rolled out of the charge swinging her flagspear in an attempt to counter only for him to plant one of his feet mid charge, adjust his angle of movement, and push off towards her as he punched her.
She felt three of her ribs break instantly, tasting blood as it flooded her mouth, as she was launched off the rooftop like a rocket and sent careening through several buildings until finally she crashed through the front of a building and landed onto something soft and springy. Her head felt like it was spinning as she tried to stand up only to immediately feel her broken ribs as well as her armored corset that had taken the brunt of the blow and was now partially caved into her stomach. She felt the jagged metal inside her torso and knew that if she hadn't been wearing it that punch alone would have blown a hole through her.
Hide… I have to hide… No. I need to protect Micheal. He's still out there…
She used her flagspear to hold herself up as her vision flashed white again from pain. She looked out into the building and bit her lip as her instinctual need for self preservation fought her with her desire to protect her Master. Another roar echoed off the buildings making her grit her teeth and stagger towards the back of the building. She knew if she used her bond to contact Micheal, Berserker would immediately locate her but she needed someway to let him know she was still alive.
Because if she didn't then she knew he'd try to do something which would draw Berserker to him. As she got into the back of the store she noticed an exit sign at the other end of the hall. She grit her teeth and hobbled down the hall as that roar echoed again but closer this time. She turned the corner and saw the exit door causing her to speed up as much as she could, using her shoulder to force the door open so she could stagger out behind the building. As she exited the building she sensed Micheal's mana nearby,
(DON'T. HE TRACKS YOU VIA MANA. MICHEAL DON'T.)
She screamed into the bond as she sucked in a breath to flare her own mana to focus Berserkers attention on her. Right as she was about to flare her mana she sensed someone appear behind her causing her to turn around on the spot, swinging her sword, as she fell over with the last thing she saw being golden armor followed by one sentence as she slipped into unconsciousness,
"And you call yourself an Avenger? Pathetic…."
~~~~~~~~
Jeanne held up her hand to cover her eyes as the mid-day sun shone overhead. She heard Micheal calling for her and she looked out to see him walking up the sand waving her to come join him on the beach. She smiled softly and stood up from her beach chair, adjusting her bikini as she walked away from the bar she had been lounging at.
It was the middle of summer and yet for some reason the mid-day heat didn't bother her. She walked forward towards Micheal as she openly stared at his muscles feeling comfort in that she wasn't the only one staring. She came up beside him, interlaced their fingers, and pulled him down slightly, uncaring as to who might see them, as she closed her eyes waiting for the feeling of his lips on her own.
Except it never came.
She scrunched her eyes a bit and then snapped them open with a gasp as she attempted to sit up only to hiss in pain as her hand went to the side of her chest where she felt bandages. She felt her fight or flight kick in as she frantically looked around wherever she was. She was on a red sofa in an underground room of some kind and she looked around only for her face to fall into a deathglare as her gaze locked onto the crucifix hanging behind an oak desk.
She immediately felt bile in her throat and closed her eyes as she focused on suppressing the memories that were threatening to resurface. As she did this she heard a door open causing her gaze to snap to a hallway as she heard humming that she didn't recognize. She checked her mana levels and mentally winced seeing that she was hovering just over 30%.
Which means I can't fight without risking vanishing.
She grit her teeth and finally looked down at her chest to see that her armor and robes had been taken off and her torso from her hips up to her neck were wrapped in bandages. She noticed that whoever had wrapped her had done an impeccable job and for a brief moment she wondered if Micheal had been the one to do it right as a man came out of the hallway. He was clearly a priest of some kind given the robes and cross hanging in front of his chest but what really drew her attention were his eyes.
They were entirely and utterly devoid of human emotion.
She felt a chill run down her spine as he looked at her, nodded, and went to sit behind his desk. She opened her mouth to speak only for him to hold up a finger as he reached into his desk to pull out a phone. He quickly dialed a number,
"She's awake. Yes she seems fine. Five minutes? Understood."
He hung up and then fixed her with a smile that she could only describe as veiled evil. She glared at him,
"Well my dear, Your master is quite the worrywart. It also seems that, inspite of your current status as a half dead and functionally useless servant, he cares about you enough to put aside an almost 1500 year old conflict."
"...Who are you and what did you do to Micheal. He would never go to the Church for anything."
The man chuckled and shook his head a bit,
"Yes. I was quite surprised when he showed up on my front steps carrying you in his arms but he is quite intelligent and quick thinking because, despite it going off the rails in a truly spectacular fashion, I am still the overseer of this Grail War and he is a Master within it. Which means I am forced by the rules to provide him sanctuary and safety as he has given up his claim on the grail."
Jeanne blinked,
"...I thought you had to lose your servant in order to claim that."
The Priest grinned,
"Yes well… I don't mind bending a few rules when Saints are involved. ….Even Fallen ones such as yourself."
Jeanne flared her mana on instinct intent on taking out this priest only for the same door from earlier to slam open as Micheal came running in. She stifled her mana as she could have sworn she saw his eyes begin to water,
"Thank the gods…."
"God, Singular, young Lafaire. I trust I don't need to remind you where you are."
She watched him stiffen and take a shaky breath before he turned to look at the priest,
"Out. I have things to discuss with my Servant and I don't want you listening in. Also, tell Gilgamesh I need to ask him…. For a favor."
The priest nodded and stood up, leaving the room silently. As soon as the door closed Jeanne felt mana from Micheal as multiple bounded fields enveloped them before he came over and sat down next to her on the sofa. He held his face in his hands and let out a slow breath as Jeanne summoned her robes over herself. The bandages covered her breasts thankfully but she still didn't want him seeing her like that.
Not yet anyway.
Not ever since he'd never be interested to begin with.
...Right.
She shook her head and nudged him with her shin making him look at her. She stared into his eyes,
"I'm fine. See? All in one piece."
She tried to grin at him but he just looked at her with a haunted gaze,
"There was… so much blood. On you, coming out of you, I just- I panicked and went to the first place that came to mind. I didn't even consider your feelings on it but I just-"
He seemed to hesitate on what he was going to say next and swallowed a few times before taking a few more breaths and shaking his head,
"We can leave as soon as you want to."