Otherworldly White Whale Lye Batenkaitos
The world seems to slow down as he finally reveals his disgusting face.
Lye Batenkaitos. The Witch Cult's Archbishop of Gluttony, the self-proclaimed 'Gourmet'. Unlike Roy Alphard, who devoured whatever he met without hesitation, or the bodiless Louis Arneb, who had to make do with whatever her brothers shared with her, Batenkaitos had standards. He went after unique people - collecting those with strange abilities, or strange lives, and devouring their memories and names. He ate Crusch Karsten's memories, and she forgot who she was. He ate Emilia's name, and everyone except me forgot who she was. Rem lost both of those, and fell into a coma that we couldn't wake her from.
All he needed to do was touch the target with his left hand, lick it, and recite their name.. In a nation like Lugnica, where introducing yourself before a fight was the custom, the last condition was trivial. For someone with Lye's agility, the first was just as easy.
And in exchange, he got the ability to use their techniques with [Lunar Eclipse], and the ability to take their forms with [Solar Eclipse]. He wasn't that good with the second one, I think - Louis mentioned he was scared of losing himself to it. It wasn't just his preference for hit-and-run attacks - his limit in Fafnir's form probably isn't much more than thirty seconds.
In hand-to-hand combat… he's probably the strongest of the Archbishops, discounting Regulus. He ate hundreds of different people, most of whom had some degree of combat ability. I can't say if he ever actually properly trained in fighting, but if one of the Archbishops was going to do it, it would have been him.
He could pull out anything, and I wouldn't be surprised - but not every technique he acquired was created equally. The ice magic he picked up from Rem isn't any use to him now that he's got Emilia's. That one hard-skinned fat form of his is useless now that he's got Fafnir.
In the same sense, the main thing to watch out for up close, apart from that left hand of his that he needs to touch people with to eat them, is the [Palm of the Fist King]. It killed me in one hit during those twenty loops in the tower; I've got no doubt it would tear me in half now that he's become a Servant. I'm pretty sure it bypasses magical defenses too, is that how he was able to injure Siegfried with it?
As far as movement goes, he's already crazy fast, and the speed boost from becoming a servant has doubtless made him even faster - but the worst of all is the [Leaper's Talent]. I don't really know all the details of it, but it seems like as long as he jumps into the air, he can freely control his movement, up to and including teleportation. I'm not sure how far he can move with it, but it's a good bet that as long as he gets into the air, there's no way we'll find him again unless he wants us to.
Lastly for range - I'd say he could use Emilia-tan's [Ice Brand Arts], but… probably, he ate Berserk Archer, too. It lines up with her appearances so far - disappearing, only to show up in the [Grand Illusion] fighting Lancelot, and then chasing 'something Mordred didn't see'. I'd bet Mordred saw it, she just forgot. That's the most likely time for him to have gotten Fafnir, after all.
But there's more to consider. Lye Batenkaitos is a Servant now. He has skills, and Noble Phantasms. Reid summoned the Black Serpent, back in loop one; can Lye summon the Whale?
(Could Louis summon the fucking rabbit?)
I'm pretty sure, from those loops at the Watchtower, that he couldn't use [Lunar Eclipse] and [Solar Eclipse] at the same time. But he was using the [Leaper's Talent] as Fafnir… it might be because he's a servant, or it might be something he figured out at the very end while fighting Nee-sama, but the fact remains that he's less restricted than he was before.
Unless he's not. Unless he's lost a large portion of his library from becoming a Servant. [Palm of the Fist King] and the [Leaper's Talent] were by far the most used of his tricks. I think, of his whole arsenal, they were probably the techniques that most belonged to Lye Batenkaitos. I could definitely see something like 'those two became personal skills, and the rest were lost' being true.
And then there's the circumstances. An all out brawl between legendary heroes where each Servant gets knowledge from the grail about almost anyone who could be summoned. And he gets to endlessly torture me, the guy who killed the sister he doted on so much? Batenkaitos has got to be having the time of his life.
But that was until now. Now I know about him.
We can't wait. The vengeance, experience, dish we missed before-
Rem's smiling face flashes through my mind. My gums are bleeding again.
Lye Batenkaitos. I can't wait to send you straight back to hell where you belong.
***
As my adrenaline-fueled scheming dies down, the sky finally breaks, like a geyser emerging from the ocean. The horror emerges - an abomination, both of the deepest abyss and of the stars themselves. The [Evil God of the Abyss], an accursed spiral seared into my brain on the first loop provides.
But not in whole - the color is all wrong, and among the squamous yellow-white folds of its flesh I can see red, translucent octahedrons quivering, diamond shaped pupils within flailing about in madness. And somehow, some way, even though the eyes are shaped wrong, I know that this creature is also the Demon God Bael.
It uncurls from the sky, like an insect emerging from its chrysalis, and as the tentacled head finally emerges, I can see the white horn jutting out from its brow, and the purple halo-like construct floating above it, and the full horror of this abomination is finally clear.
"Ha. Ha. Hahahahack!" Francis Prelati's monotone laugh breaks down into a cough. "Sorry. As I said, this body is really no good. Anyway, die for my amusement, ok?"
The creature that is neither god nor demon nor whale lets out a horrid cry, and white fog floods everything.
An instant later, the first clash of metal against metal resounds as Lye's wrist blades are deflected by Mash's shield.
"Finally, at last, in the end, *sluuurp*!" Batenkaitos shouts, rapidly unleashing a flurry of blows beating Mash backwards. "At long last, we get to eat! We've been famished, starving, how unbearable! Surrounded by this, the greatest, absolutely best possible gourmet feast!"
He concludes his attack with a [Palm of the Fist King], and through the [Cor Leonis] still connecting me with Mash, I can feel the bones of my arm groan. Something shifts horribly in my wrist. But still, I retain enough awareness to deliver my warning.
"Don't let his left hand touch you!" I shout. "The palm strike is bad too, but you're as good as dead if he gets you with that hand!"
He flickers out of sight again, and I hear a *wumph* from behind me as Jeanne stops that same left hand from reaching me, striking him with - is that the sword left behind by the fake?
That's right. I get it now - their win condition is to erase my memories. If I die, and go back in time with all this information, Lye and Prelati's defeat is all but guaranteed. I could die now. If I die, I probably win. [Invisible Providence]-
"[Lunar Eclipse]!" Batenkaitos shouts. And as Jeanne delivers a rapid series of follow-ups from her flag, he expertly dodges each of them as if he already knew where they were coming from. "Ah, Atalanta, Atalanta, Atalanta! We love you, adore you, worship you, savor you, munch, crunch, devour you, *sluuuuuurp*! But it's not enough, how can it be enough with this feast-!" He bounces off the ground, tagging her with his left hand. "Thanks for the meal, Jea-" He starts to say.
Then he screams as my [Invisible Providence] tears his cheek open. He flickers away in another use of [Leaper's Talent].
"-Aah! Onii-san, how mean, cruel-" He starts to complain from deeper in the fog. But I don't feel any guilt. Just annoyance that I missed that disgusting tongue of his.
"[Minya]!" I shout, burning another charge of my mystic code to launch an attack at his voice.
"Ah!" He shouts, and for an instant I dare to hope that I hit him. "That's scary, Subaru-kun!" He follows up from a different location, in a terrible imitation of Rem's voice that only makes my vision go even more red.
Of course I won't kill myself now. Not with him here. Even though it's the worst decision, I can't help but stay, if only to see him just die already!
"Thanks for the meal!" He shouts, further away. "Jeanne-"
"[Frankreich Über Alles Fleur de Lys]!"Merry shouts - but it's the wrong call. The only option that would have possibly helped here was perhaps Jeanne's flag.
"-d'Arc!" Batenkaitos concludes, and the girl drops like a stone.
Berserk Saber's Noble Phantasm won't have any effect on Ley Batenkaitos. It's obvious why - something so reliant on beauty could never dazzle him. He's not even looking at the real world after all. His whole being is devoted to consuming meals and getting excited for his next meal.
But speaking of that next meal - "[Lunar Eclipse Phoebus Catastrophe]!" I hear Batenkaitos scream from within the fog.
"[Lord… Chaldeas]! Mash shouts between heavy breaths. A rain of gold and green arrows cascades against her shield, to no effect. But she's exhausted, and the barrier drops the moment the arrows end.
A faint whistle - but the arrow launched from within the fog meets Mash's shield. And then another, and another, growing faster and faster until Lye bursts into view, his wrist blades once more meeting shield in a crashing staccato.
"Fantastic, wonderful, amazing, spectacular, *slurp*!" He babbles. "Is that shield unbreakable!? Jeanne thought so! You really are gourmet-!"
His blows grow faster and faster, impossible to track. Merry and I, with our still human reflexes, don't dare to intervene. But Mash Kyrielight's shield is truly unbreakable. There is no possible way an enemy attacking from the front can overwhelm her at this stage, so long as she believes in herself.
Which is why the attack that defeats Mash Kyrielight comes from above. From the second foe, the source of the fog, ever so slightly forgotten under the fury of Lye's assault. A geyser of fog, the second type spewed by Lugnica's White Whale, engulfs Mash Kyrielight, and she ceases to exist.
"Aaaahhhh!!!" The one to wail in despair isn't me. Nor is it Merry, who probably doesn't even remember Mash, thanks to that wretched fog. The one who screams is Lye Batenkaitos. "AAAAHHH! Master! Master, how could you! That meal was ours!" He leaps into the air and vanishes again, and I turn to Merry, to say what I should have said from the start.
"You should run. I'll deal with this guy somehow." I say.
"I'll hold off the sea monster somehow, so you should run." She says.
A brief pause follows as we stare at each other in shock.
"Y-you think you can fight him, Subaru?" She asks.
"...It's not so much that I think I can kill him as it is that I need to kill him." I say. "If it was anyone else, I'd be running away. But this is Lye Batenkaitos. This is personal for me."
"...I see." She says, and through the fog, I can make out a small, sad smile on her face. "Then… I'll buy you time, okay? I'm your dedicated backwatcher, after all."
"...Yeah." I answer. "Thank you, Merry." I don't know what fate follows this for her. I promise… next time, I'll figure out a way that you can just live normally.
She closes her eyes. "Blood calls blood. Ocean calls tide. Seed calls root." A warm wind, tinged with the scent of salt whirls around us, and the fog is pushed back. A single shaft of light shines down. Finally, Merry's open and she stares at me, that same sad smile still on her face. "This whole ordeal… has been truly terrible. But I'm truly grateful for you helping me through, Subaru."
"Finish the chant." A booming voice that smells like the sea calls. "Merovech, my Merovech. Speak thy father into being."
"Yes. -The great father returns. Let all else be as shadows in the night. [Schatten Über Frankreich]." She concludes, and Merry d'Lyon vanishes like seafoam as a vast form materializes.
"I return! See me, you people! A god walks among you!" He calls - a great, bronze-skinned man with a crown on his head, with the lower body of a fish. His fist meets the rubbery claw of the sea monster, and the two begin to clash as my view slowly grows more obscured by fog. "Do you see!? Do you understand!? I am no monster! I am a god, the same as any other! Just this once, this majesty is mine once more! Dagon lives again!"
And then the sounds of clashing monsters fade into the fog. A few moments later, Batenkaitos emerges into view.
"...Did you get that sorted out?" I ask, eyeing the blood dripping from his wrist blades.
"Master won't be causing any more trouble for us." He replies. "Don't get your hopes up, Onii-san. He's just hopped to a new body. We won't run out of mana any time soon."
"Good." I answer, grinning. My stomach is almost inside out with hunger. "We're not going to be satiated until we kill you ourselves after all."
He laughs. "That's right, you're gluttonous too, Onii-san! Every day, watching anime and playing videogames, eating, consuming lives that are never yours, you understand us most of-!"
"Do you want to know what Louis's final words were?" We ask, and there's a flicker of movement.
"Thanks for the meal…" He says, behind us, and we almost choke from the tar bleeding from our gums.
We already know his next words, so we start to turn. That's how authorities are. We understand them before we even know it. And this one is called-
"-Ahab." Batenkaitos says, and licks his hand.
[Solar Flare].
He retches, doubling over from the penalty of speaking the wrong name, the name I substituted for my own at the last moment.
Lye got the wrong name, so he's crippled with nausea and vomiting - for just an instant. But that will be enough. It will have to be. My stomach feels like I just swallowed acid. I tackle him.
"[Minya]" I burble through my blood-filled mouth, and Lye's left arm snaps off as we hit the ground. My hands find his throat. The first charge of my Mystic Code finally returns, and I cast [Vita] to increase my weight.
He struggles. [Invisible Providence] pins his right arm. His Strength isn't high enough to lift me without his Noble Phantasm. I manifest my second [Unseen Hand].
"[Solar-" He shouts, but he won't finish it. My hand doesn't miss his tongue this time, and I tear the disgusting appendage from his mouth.
I tighten my grip. Tighter. Tighter. Please tell me a Servant can die from suffocation. Just die. Just die. Just die. How dare you come back to life and appear in front of me. How dare you take Rem-!
My conscience screams.
My grip loosens, ever so slightly. His right hand slips free and knocks me away. Batenkaitos jumps to his feet, and he dives at me-
"[Unreturning Formation]!" A familiar red structure catches him, and a moment later, a beam of energy removes Lye Batenkaitos's head. "And that's the second move done."
"The tactician used some manner of trick, sloughing off the saint graph of the living human to use him as a decoy while preserving his own life." Ahab had said, last time.
"This time too, huh…" I mutter. "Kongming."
"Sorry to disappoint you, but it's me, this time around." Professor Velvet says, smirking a bit as he lights a cigar and discards his empty cigar case. "That guy finally told me what was going on and then bailed on me before I could complain."
"...Eh?" I mutter. In the distance I can hear the thuds of Dagon's clash with the sea monster fading.
"[Chu Shi Biao] is a letter." He starts, taking a drag. "It is many other things, but first and foremost it is a letter. Being a letter, it may be carried by a messenger. Being a letter, it may be dictated to be written in the hand of another. And being a letter, it may contain a coded message."
The penny drops. "You've got to be kidding!"
"When all this fails, return once more. Recall this truth, that Natsuki Subaru returns to the past when he dies, and secure total victory." He recites, and the world stops. Purple command spells flare to life on my hand.
Not now. Not like this. Please, Satella, I understand - but let me share it just this once-!
"It would be a shame for hope to be snuffed out at this point." Says a familiar voice, and then the world moves, and the Professor and I are standing on a hillside some distance away, watching a growing puddle of shadow below.
"Now all we need is a convenient Avenger to make use of." The Professor concludes.
"Kuhahahahaha!" The Count of Monte Cristo laughs. "Fine! Fine! The madness is all but clear now. It's you who freed me from deepening my sins, so I'll lend you my aid, this once!"
***
Class: Foreigner
Alternate Classes: Rider, Assassin
True Name: Lye Batenkaitos
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Armament: Knives
Manifestation Cost: Medium
Bio:
The second oldest Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, from another world. Embodying the concept of [Gourmet Eating], he hunted throughout that other world, devouring the [Name] and [Memories] of those whose lives or abilities interested him.
Natsuki Subaru bears a particular grudge against him due to his attack on Rem, but the way events unfolded at the Pleiades Watchtower forced Subaru to leave vengeance to Ram. Now, encountering him for the second time…
Parameters
Strength: E+
Endurance: D
Agility: B++
Mana: E
Luck: E
NP: EX
Class Skills:
Existence Outside the Domain: B
Riding (Mabeast): A
Regarding magical beasts not created by the Witch of Gluttony, Ley's riding skill is only E-Rank.
Personal Skills:
Affection of the Witch: C
Ley is tainted by the Witch of Envy's Miasma. Most animals and people with good senses will find him repulsive, and some may even attack on sight.
Leaper's Technique: B
The talent of the 'Leaper', Dorekell, acquired through the Authority of Gluttony. Of course, it has manifested as a skill here, a testament to just how much Ley and Roy made this ability their own. Even if a certain Hero of Earth were to steal his Noble Phantasm, Ley would still have access to this skill, albeit at diminished rank.
Allows the user to boost his speed to a ridiculous degree, to the point that he seems to be teleporting around the battlefield. Fundamentally, it's a similar, but not identical, technique to the [Reduced Earth] skill held by Okita Souji. Use requires Lye to be airborne.
Palm of the Fist King: B
The technique of the gladiator Neiji Rockheart, acquired through the Authority of Gluttony. As with the [Leaper's Technique], frequent use has allowed this to manifest as a skill.
Greatly increases unarmed combat skills, culminating in Neiji's crowning achievement, a palm strike that bypasses mana-based defenses entirely. A blow that he was only able to use once, in his clash with Lye Batenkaitos, one minute and twelve seconds before he was devoured by Louis Arneb.
It was but a single step. A mere glimpse of a divine martial art, a technique that would require [No Second Strike]. But such a dream will probably be forever beyond Neiji's grasp…
Noble Phantasms:
White Whale of Gluttony: Daphne Cetus
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Army
Range: 1-200
Maximum number of targets: 300
The second of the Great Witchbeasts created by the Witch of Gluttony, Daphne. A phenomenally dangerous Phantasmal Beast that spewed existence-devouring fog as it rampaged across the other world.
Since Lye had ties to the thing, metaphysically speaking, it has manifested as a Noble Phantasm that qualifies him for the Rider class. Unlike Roy's [Black Serpent] and Louis's [Great Rabbit], Ley is capable of controlling the Whale completely - incidentally, if his siblings were present, they could also exhibit control over it.
In the French singularity, the whale was used as supplemental material to assist Francois Prelati in the summoning of the [Evil God of the Abyss].
Gluttonous Existence-Devouring Whale: Gluttony
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 1
Maximum number of targets: 1 Person
The Authority of Gluttony, as wielded by Lye Batenkaitos. By touching the target with his left hand and reciting their full name given at birth (or, in the case of a Servant, their True Name), Ley can devour their [Name], [Memories], or both. Giving an incorrect name will instead cause violent illness that, against any serious opponent, will probably prove fatal.
Those who have their Memories eaten will obviously become amnesiacs, and those who have their names devoured will be forgotten by the world around them. Those who have both consumed will fall into a coma and become impossible to rouse.
Names and memories devoured by [Gluttony] can be used in a variety of ways by Foreigner. Technically, all of these uses are the same Noble Phantasm as [Gluttony], similar to [Gae Bolg]'s two uses, or [God Force]'s five forms. - but Ley thinks of them as separate Noble Phantasms, so they've been listed as such for the sake of convenience.
***
Compendium Update: Watcher of the Depths
True Name Revealed: Dagon
A bronze-age Divine Spirit originating in the Middle East, considered the 'father of gods' among those living in the upper Euphrates. His name may have been associated with grain or weather, and he was sometimes syncretized with the Mesopotamian god Enlil.
Of course, those origins are all but forgotten now. His presence among the Philistine pantheon led to him being regarded as a demon, and the similarity of his name to the Hebrew word for fish led him to be regarded as a sea monster. Further corrupted by the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, he appears in this work as a confused mess, part demon, part god, part monster, part alien - a perfect candidate for the irregular class of irregular classes, Watcher.
A small idol, looted by the Romans during the sack of Ctesiphon, was later acquired by raiding Germanic barbarians, and passed through the hands of various tribes until it found its way into the possession of the Frankish King Chlodio. In a final act of desperation, when the stars were right, Dagon manifested through this idol and assaulted Chlodio's wife, siring Merovech.
This was the start of a thousand year scheme - a desperate hope that someday, somehow, his descendant would be drawn into a ritual like the Holy Grail War, and allow him to manifest once more. And then…
Skill Update:
Coronation of Merovech: A
A skill which allows the imposition of trials upon his master. This skill does not allow the direct manipulation of destiny, but does allow him to manipulate the Luck stat of all those who carry his blood in their veins.
Regarding Siegfried, it is his association with the Merovingian King Sigebert of Austrasia that allows him to be affected by this skill. As for d'Eon, by the time of the French Revolution the descendants of Merovech more or less encompassed all of western Europe (via Charlemagne).
Of course, the phrase 'trials' is an exaggeration. Rather, the effective result is to transform his master into something akin to the Lesser Holy Grail of the Fuyuki ritual, absorbing the spirit origins of Fallen Servants. His master becomes a living Heroic Spirit, the reincarnation of the Frankish King Merovech - for but a moment. And after that…
Noble Phantasm Revealed:
Frankreich Über Alles: France Over All
Rank: Varies
Range: 100
Maximum number of targets: 1 person
Not properly Watcher's Noble Phantasm, but rather a Noble Phantasm granted to his master. The user confiscates a Noble PHantasm within Watcher's [Universal Bird's Eye] that rightly belongs to the French throne. Chevalier d'Eon's [Fleur de Lys], an invocation the glory of the French throne; Marie Antoinette's [Guillotine Breaker], which has the same origin - both are candidates to be seized.
Schatten Über Frankreich: Shadow Over France
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Unit (Self)
Range: -
Maximum number of targets: 1 person
A ritual of incarnation. By expending those spirit origins collected by his Master, Dagon grants his own wish, that he might be restored to his full glory once more, erasing his fallen nature. Of course, this comes at the expense of his master's life.
It will only last for around five minutes. In that time, Dagon will revel in his restoration, and seek destruction at the hands of a foe that outmatches him. This is his true wish. The sole goal of his thousand year scheme, that he might die as himself, rather than as a monster.
Incidentally, he can invoke this Noble Phantasm on his own. However, as the name of the Noble Phantasm evokes one of Lovecraft's stories, he forces Merry to do it so he doesn't have to.