There was a stark difference to seeing a battle between servants on a television screen or in a game, and seeing it play out before your very eyes.
From the first clash, Dio could immediately tell- they were both trying to kill each other. It was expected, but the realisation of it still ft him caught off guard.
Nobu wielded her sword in one hand and a musket in the other, while Drake held onto both of her pistols as the two of them clashed in a battle for supremacy.
As soon as the flash had begun, a timer appeared in the air and began counting down as the word 'WARNING' flashed all over the area.
Neither of them cared.
Nobu grinned as she slashed straight at Drake's throat, the Rider pulling back and aiming her pistol straight at Nobu's forehead- pulling the trigger with no hesitation.
Nobu shifted the trajectory of her swing, slicing Drake's attack in twain before she aimed her musket at Drake's guts and pulled the trigger.
Drake slammed her foot onto the ground and jumped to the side, grinning widely as she spun her flintlocks and bombarded the enemy Servant with a barrage of bullets.
"Tch, take some support!" Shinji told her, holding out a hand as he madly typed on a virtual Keyboard. "Code Cast: Loss_Luck!"
Sickly green light appeared around Nobu, and Dio saw that Nobu's Luck Stat dropped from B to C.
"Did you think I'd allow that?" Dio manifested a virtual keyboard himself and began to type. "Code Cast: Inverse_Buff."
Light manifested around Nobu's body- not removing the debuff but instead Inversing it, instead boosting her luck from C to A. Taking Shinji's attempt to hinder them and instead using it to support them instead.
"You-!" Shinji's eyes widened, clearly not expecting such skill from Dio.
Nobu grinned. "Oi, Master!" She laughed as she danced around, slashing and shooting. "You can do more support than that!"
"What a selfish Servant I have," he murmured fondly. "Then take this. Code Cast: Gain_Omni."
Rainbow light shone around Nobu, covering her in prismatic light as all of her stats were buffed by a single rank.
"Thank you!" Nobu laughed. "Then I'll get serious!"
She grinned and slashed her sword once, the shockwave alone knocking Drake back as she skid to a stop. "Attention!"
Muskets formed in the air behind her, all of them aimed at Drake.
Drake, not one to fall behind, summoned forth a group of Culverin Cannons- aimed squarely at Nobu.
Both of them shared a wild grin. "FIRE!"
Cannon blasts met gunfire- meeting in the middle and causing the entire Labyrinth to shake from the force- even causing the walls to fracture slightly.
The timer above counted down to zero, a red barrier forming between the two sides in order to prevent them from fighting and causing even more damage to the Labyrinth.
"Impossible, how could your Servant match mine?" Shinji looked incredulous, even a little afraid. "How are you this skilled of a Hacker...? You barely made it into the war!"
"This fight is over," Dio responded instead of answering. "Get out of here, Matou. You're no longer wanted here."
"You...!" He glared hatefully. "I'll get you for this!" He pulled something out of his pocket and crushed it, causing both him and Drake to vanish into particles of light.
"Heh, that was fun," Nobu grinned. "A shame it was only three minutes, I guess I'll have to wait until the battle in the Arena before El Draque and I can tear each other a part."
"You worked hard," he pat her shoulder. "What did you think?"
She just smirked. "Not my match. Strong, but just not my match- especially with your support."
"Might not last. Francis Drake gets stronger the more treasure she accumulates, thanks to her legend as a Pirate."
Nobunaga merely laughed. "Then it just means I'll have a fun fight on the 7th Day!"
Dio nodded in acknowledgement, before he used his hacking to spawn a Staff on the floor. "Come on, I just hacked the arena for a Staff that I want."
She tilted her head. "And why is that?"
"Because if you can't get a good fight out of the monsters in the Labyrinth, I do want one and use it as a chance to train."
A nod was Dio's answer, no longer questioning him further.
Finding the Staff was easy- it was nothing special. A single metal pole, fitting snugly in his hands. He took a deep breath, but this time he didn't just swing the staff like he did with his fist.
First, he entered his state of Enlightenment- immediately becoming a Buddha. Nobu perked up as she watched him curiously, able to feel the shift within him.
He took a deep breath as he dropped into stance, serene and fluid. Within his mind's eye, he envisioned the form of another Buddha from another world- the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. If any person was use as a reference for their Polearm fighting style, it was the Victorious Fighting Buddha.
Normally, envisioning such a thing would be difficult- but in his state as a Buddha, he was at one with the Universe and could easily grasp the image of the Monkey King within his mind and began to move.
Dio imitated him within his mind, following along as he swung his staff as though he were completely immersed within a trance.
[Polearm and Spear Arts detected. Billionfold Return Activated.]
He shuddered as he felt warmth spreading through his body, memories flooding his mind of countless hours- months, years- spent learning, meditating, and studying the fighting style of the Victorious Fighting Buddha until he had mastered it himself.
Taking a deep breath, he dropped out of his Enlightenment as he once again embraced his earthly attachments.
"Did you get what it was you wanted?" Nobu asked him.
A nod was his response. "Maybe even more than I expected."
She grinned. "Perfect~ Then let me see you put that power to use. Show me what you can do, my Buddha."
Her Buddha...? How possessive, but he didn't hate that.
The monsters in the first layer of the Labyrinth weren't particularly difficult- however he tore them apart with the greatest of ease. His staff ripped through their digital bodies; he weaved between their attacks as if they were moving in slow motion. Having obtained Sun Wukong's fighting ability with a staff, he was probably already a match for an average Heroic Spirit purely in terms of ability. If he ever obtained a Noble Phantasm or, god forbid, a Divine Construct...
Dio exhaled as they reached the exit of the Labyrinth, twirling his staff and storing it in the System's inventory rather than his terminal. "That was more fun than I expected... Though I think I understand your boredom, they're so weak."
"Yep," Nobu nodded. "I hope they'll be a worthwhile fight by the fourth round."
Nobu astralised as the two left the Arena once again, finding no further purpose in staying.
As they ate dinner together in Dio's room, he brought up the chatroom once again to see how his upgraded polearm skill had developed.
Monkey King's Bo Hou Quan - 100,000,000,000
Bo Hou Quan... Hou Quan was the fighting style of the Monkey King, so Bo Hou Quan likely referred to specifically his fighting style used together with his staff given that his style with a Staff was merely an extension of his own martial arts.
It was five times the price of his own fighting style, which just went to show how far the gap was between him and the Victorious Fighting Buddha.
[Dio has uploaded Monkey King's Bo Hou Quan, earning 100,000,000,000 Points!]
[Julie: The big spender is back! 100 Billion Points is so much! :O]
[Seekvaira: The Monkey King... Dio, are you possibly your world's version of the Victorious Fighting Buddha himself?]
[Dio: Nothing so fancy. By using Buddha's Enlightenment, I was able to envision the Monkey King within my mind and learn his fighting style. That is all.]
[Seekvaira: You call learning the fighting style of a man who waged war against Gods as nothing fancy...? In a single day as well.]
[Dio: I learn fast.]
[Yumeko: Give it up, Seek-chan~ It's very clear that Dio-kun is simply on another level compared to us~ He likely has some sort of skill that accelerates his learning speed that he isn't sharing with us.]
Dio blinked... Well, he supposed he wasn't exactly trying very hard to hide it after all.
[Julie: Ehhh!? No fair! Share!]
[Shadowheart: You can't expect him to share it, Julie. And besides, I wouldn't share such a powerful skill either if I had it- I doubt any of us has shared absolutely every skill we have, after all. I've got a few personal skills I've not uploaded.]
[Seekvaira: Indeed, I haven't uploaded my family's Clan Trait either- some things should be kept personal.]
[Dio: I'm glad for the understanding. Yes, I do have a skill that allows my massive growth- however I'm not comfortable sharing it on the off-chance someone with more foul intentions obtains this chatroom and somehow earns enough points to purchase it. This power is terrifying in the wrong hands.]
[Dio: Though I'll also admit, I don't want to share it. This skill is mine, and only mine. Something so special to me- I don't want to share it with other people.]
Billionfold Return was his skill; he didn't care if it gave him infinite points. It was going to stay only with him, and nobody else. That was the choice he'd made, and he was sticking with it.
[Dio: I will say, not to jinx anyone or anything, but I do hope something, or someone appears with a quest we can take soon.]
[Julie: Tell me about it! Visiting the other's worlds are nice and all, but I want a quest! They're supposed to not only give points but can also give other rewards too!]
[Shadowheart: I suppose I wouldn't mind a break from my enclave either... I've spent almost my entire life here, and I'm tired of only training- I want to test my skills on a proper assignment.]
[Yumeko: Hm? But doesn't this feel like a trope setup? You know, talking about wanting something to happen and then it miraculously does?]
[Dio: ... Well, now that you've said it, it won't happen.]
[Yumeko: Tee-hee, my bad~]
The Buddha rolled his eyes at Yumeko's tee-hee... He could practically picture her playfully bonking herself on the head too, the cheeky minx.
[Dio: Speaking of, is it us who have to generate the quests, or does the Chatroom just assign us a quest at random?]
[Julie: I really have no idea. I know that it has more features that are locked, but those require more members. And besides a member occasionally showing up, there's no set pattern... Supposedly the best way to recruit members is meant to be from quests.]
[Dio: And we have none of those, wonderful... On that cheerful note, I'm going to finish my dinner and play some games together with Nobu.]
[Yumeko: Nobu? A pet name? How interesting~]
[Dio: Down, girl. Nobu and I are simply friends. See you all later.]
Dio closed the Chatroom, finishing off his meal before he dismantled the bowls as though they'd never existed at all.
His attention focused on Nobu, who was focused on watching something on the TV in the corner... It looked like it was an anime... The Ambition of Oda Nobuna, was it? Where a modern day human returned to her time period and ended up becoming the 'Saru' that was Nobunaga's cherished second hand in life and would ultimately succeed her after Mitsuhide betrayed her.
He decided to strip down out of his clothes and climbed into bed. "I'm going to get some sleep first, Nobu," he told her. "Just join me when you're done watching, alright?"
"Oh, I'll just join you," she paused the TV without hesitation and began to strip as well, climbing into bed with him and pressing up against him. "You're incredibly warm, you know..."
She traced on his chest slowly with her index finger, making a shudder run down his spine.
"Careful, Nobu," he looked down at her as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her more firmly against him as his hand lifted to run through her black locks. "I might start thinking you want to be more than Master and Servant."
She smirked at him. "Maybe I do," she purred out. "Trust me, Dio... You'll know when it's time for that," she whispered in his ear. "Remember... When I see something that I want... I take it... Your compliance isn't a factor~"
Another shudder, far more pleasant, as he felt his loins burn before he forcibly suppressed the urge. Not yet, like Nobu said. They'd only known each other for two days at this point... He wouldn't deny he wanted Nobu, but he wanted to get to know her on a more personal level before they did anything.
"Goodnight, my Buddha," Nobu pecked his cheek and snuggled against him.
He closed his eyes, stroking her hair slowly. "... Goodnight, my Demon King..."
***
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