Siegfried POV
The man who he could hardly believe was Julius Caesar himself, had thrown himself at Nero with a speed that betrayed his true size.
His sword was blinding in the same way that Boudica's sword and even the false Excalibur was. And that sword was now mere moments away from bisecting Nero in half.
"Crocea Mors!!"
Ceasar swung his sword and for the briefest of moments, he thought he had failed. That their efforts had been in vain because they had gotten Nero killed.
By the miracle of whatever gods were stalking them, that didn't come to pass. Because he refused to allow that to happen.
At the last moment, he stepped in front of Nero and intercepted Crocea Mors with his Balmung.
Ceasar was taken aback by the sudden intervention, but he did not let that stop his charge as he fully activated what appeared to be his noble phantasm.
The stout emperor swung his blade with unbelievable speed a multitude of times that it looked like he was attacking with multiple swords.
He managed to deflect and parry most of the attacks, but he was simply too slow to avoid them all.
A cut near his jugular, a slice on his thigh, and a slash on his shoulder. If it were anyone else taking the attack head on, like Charlemagne or Elizabeth, that would have been enough to end the fight, but his Armor of Fafnir would not allow him to suffer that fate.
These normally fatal blows only earned a twitch of the eye every time the blade struck him. Yes, he could feel some irritation from the strikes.
Whatever buffs Caesar received from being a Roman being summoned in Rome were enough to be somewhat noticeable, but it still lacked the rank to actually hurt him.
Ceasar looked in disbelief at the lack of blood and screaming, but it quickly turned to realization.
Caesar knew exactly who he was, but only through battle did the man realize who he was dealing with.
[Ho-shit I keep forgetting Siegfried has Wonder Guard armor that has almost no weaknesses. ]
[Now use counter Siegfried!! Hurry before he has a chance to recover!! ]
[Hah! The fatman thinks he can fight against pure muscle, pathetic show him what the power of muscles can do Siegfried!! ]
[Chuckin'Boulderz: Hey! If you're going to shame the man, shame him for being an unfaithful cheating bastard, not his body type!! ]
Caesar stopped trying to cut him and raised his arm. His gauntleted hand formed a fist and brought it down in an attempt to crush him.
He met the attack with a steady and firm swing of his sword.
He instantly regretted that decision, as the strike actually managed to cut through his armor's protection and rattle his bones.
The ground crumpled under him, even after his armor weakened the blow.
Caesar's strength was somehow a higher rank than his noble phantasm, how unexpected.
[Wow, the fatman has muscles… I am surprised. ]
[Chuckin'Boulderz: See?What did I tell you?Don't judge a person's strength based on the size of their belly. Dadbod is a look, not a disability!! ]
[KicksYouIntheFace193 : Indeed, Caesar might have the body of a Haruyama, but that doesn't mean Haruyama are weaker than a Machamp. ]
He looked at the man's enormous fist and pondered what the heck that gauntlet was made of that could handle Balmung without being cut by its edge.
He didn't dwell on it for long and decided to up the ante.
He channeled his blade with a bit of true ether, not much, just enough to blow back the man before he could make another combo of strikes.
Ceasar was not dumb and he disengaged from the clash and jumped back just in time to avoid the sword from hitting him, but not far enough to avoid the weak sword beam.
Caesar let out a grunt and snuffed the attack with a swipe of his Crocea Mors. That action nearly caused him to slip and fall due to the loose rocks under his feet but he managed to keep himself upright.
Caesar's guard remained raised high despite the awkward landing he made.
"Hm, quite an excellent defense you have there friend…. too excellent in fact. There's only one man that I know of that boasts such defenses, you are Siegfried, the man who slayed the dragon Fafnir, are you not?"
"Who knows? For all you know, I could be Cu Chullain." He lied, and while most servants didn't bother hiding their identities during this time of crisis, he was not going to freely give out information to his master's enemies.
[CasCu: I am flattered you used me as a disguise bud, but you are far too meek to be me, even as a jest. ]
Caesar didn't believe him in the slightest and wagged his finger, "now now, there's no need to lie. While I didn't recognize you at first, once I saw you use that beam of light, it became obvious.
After all, it would be difficult to not know of the man who has been spamming light beams from his sword for the past month."
[Don'tTouchMyBuns!: Yeah, that's Siegfried alright, I am actually surprised how versatile sword beams were while observing him during his campaign. It's given me quite a few ideas to implement in my training for my Samurott ]
Caesar's face hardened, "you've quite the thorn on our side you know? Many of the reports I've read cited you as one of the major contributors in halting our plans to destroy Rome.
You came up so often, I was curious to see what kind of warrior you were, and I have to say, you did not disappoint me. You really live up to your legend.
I cut you in a lot of vital areas that would have felled any other man. Seriously, I am a roman servant with a homefield advantage and I swung at you at full strength, yet you remain unharmed.
I know I am overweight, but I am not weak. Your armor is bullshit." Caesar's compliments turning to frustration against his Armor of Fafnir is nothing new.
Many of his enemies and even some allies shared the same sentiment as Caesar. It truly was bullshit,
"Yes, it is."
[CaptainDrakeE4: It's not bullshit, you just didn't hit him hard enough to meet the damage conditions. Also, you're a pansy. ]
[The Armor of Fafnir is bullshit, but it's not unbeatable. ]
[Bugsy_Buzz: Bro might have a wonder armor, but his back is unprotected and is permanently stuck at 1 hp.Just like Shedinja. ]
Caesar laughed, "a straightforward man of few words, I can respect that. However, respect does not mean I will grant mercy. You gave my beloved a lot of headaches when you crippled her naval fleet and gave her ships to Rome so they could use them to plunder our goddess's empire."
"Which means that means I am now obligated to kill you, and anything short of agonizing will not be enough for either my love or myself. It will be a difficult task to complete given your bullshit armor, but for the sake of my Cleo, I will still follow through or die trying. I'm sure you would agree eh, Siegfried?"
"As a fellow married man, I agree with you."
Caesar seemed to receive his words well before he readied his battle stance once more.
"Well, now that we have our pleasantries out of the way, it's time to get to business. While I am known as Julius Caesar by history, I will give you the honor of calling me Paris of Troy. Because I fully intend to exploit that heel of yours, Achilles."
Siegfried pressed his lips together, but didn't speak further. He brought his sword up and resumed his fight with the fat emperor.
✦✧✦
Ritsuka POV
Seeing that Siegfried was keeping Caesar occupied, the other servants all set their sights on Cleopatra.
[BattleMANIAC: Well, Siegfried is keeping Caesar occupied and we still have tons of servants to spare. Time to go beat the shit out of a woman! ]
[AYO!! Chill!! ]
[Nah man fuck that, she deserves getting jumped!! ]
The queen didn't seem bothered by the scrutiny of the many servants staring her down. She seemed rather amused by it in fact, which was a red flag if he ever saw one.
"I know what you are all thinking, 'now that Caesar is occupied, we can dogpile her defenseless wife.' Am I wrong? Well, too bad for you, I am neither that stupid or defenseless."
[BattleMANIAC: Is someone stream sniping us? How did she know we were going to jump her? ]
[It's kinda obvious she would think that dude. ]
She clapped her hands, and through some unknown means, the sound was amplified and reverberated across the battlefield.
"Oh boys, do be good little soldiers and do your best to kill Nero Claudius oh, but be sure to bring me Ritsuka Fujimaru alive. I am confident my cute little descendant would just LOVE to play with him before she takes his life."
The thousands of wraiths that had been standing by observing all came to life and roared as one. He gulped as he felt thousands of eyes fixate on him, and he realized that he had just become a valuable target in the world's most dangerous game of tag.
[Oof… I spoke too soon. She uno reverse carded us. Now Gudao is gonna be the one getting gangbanged. ]
[Ew gross… poor Gudao, I will pray he makes it out of this alive. ]
[PerfectlySaneHex: Please be safe, please be safe, please be safe. ]
The soldiers rushed them, their bodies glowing with magical energy and were driven by fierce determination to follow their queen's order.
Their eyes focused solely on their prize. Unfortunately for them, that prize would not be easy to claim.
"Aaaahh!!!" A cacophony of screams cried out as hellfire fell upon them, melting their armor and burning their bodies to ash.
Both Biscione and Jalter used their fire attacks to kill most of the wraiths before they even got close to him. Normal humans would have been scattered by this absolute death and destruction, but these soldiers were unnaturally resilient.
Soldiers ran around the burned corpses of the fallen like they were just pebbles on the trail.
"Senpai!! NERO Stay behind us, we'll protect you!!" Mash said as she held her shield in front of the incoming army.
[Lusamine_Aether: How heartless, these things are treating their fallen as unimportant fodder!! ]
[( ◺˰◿ ) ]x 432
The moment the army got too close for comfort, they ran into another wall of defense. A large, scaly dragon with razor sharp teeth.
Tarasque sliced the wraiths into ribbons with his razor sharp claws, their armor useless against the mystery of a dragon.
Those who managed to evade the dragon tjen had to contend against Astolfo, Tamamo, Elizabeth, Charlemagne, Martha as they made a living wall of defenses to protect him and Nero.
Many wraiths were burned, stabbed, bashed, and cut down with relative ease, but this was only to be expected.
They were servants, and they were above the strength of the wraiths before them, but they were barely a dozen of them compared to the thousands of soldiers who had beyond human strength were still a hassle to deal with when you are trying to protect a master.
[The-Undefeatable: It's like watching a horde of sunkerns forced to fight a fully grown Charizard. They stand no chance! ]
[Quite an understatement I'd say. ]
A man in greek armor gurgled some words as Charlemagne sunk his blade through his throat.
The wraith turned into motes of light as it vanished.
A slow clap from Cleopatra earned the servants ire.
"Wow, I am impressed. You got through all of the nameless heroes Zenobia summoned in record time." Cleopatra made a damsel in distress pose by putting the back of her hand on her forehead.
"Oh woe is me, now I have been reduced to a defenseless maiden once again… NOT!!"
To their dismay, those thousands of soldiers that they had dispatched were merely the first wave.
Thousands more manifested into reality, all of them itching to take their fallen brothers' space.
[The-Undefeatable: I take it back, these aren't sunkerns, they are zubat. ]
"She's aiming to tire us by making us fight an unending tide of enemies." The annoyance in Jalter's voice was evident, a reaction which Cleopatra seemed to relish.
"Ding ding ding, we got a winner~! A queen does not fight, a queen sends out her lessers to fight for her. And with an endless supply of them, you'll never get a chance to fight me."
Unfortunately for Cleopatra, the army in front of him was not enough to deter a certain catgirl from proving her wrong.
The cat/fox girl threw herself over the crowd of wraiths, and with the grace of her namesake, hopped over their heads like they were stepping stones.
Tamamo leaped from one of the heads, high enough that the sun blocked her body from view.
Based on Cleopatra's squinting eyes, she was struggling to see the cat/fox girl insight as well.
"NYAH SLASH!" Tamamo Cat fell down with her claws fully extended and ready to scratch the arrogant pharaoh's face.
Cleopatra let out a squeak before she jumped out of the way. Tamamo's claws cut through the throne where Cleopatra was sitting like it was made of cake.
Cleopatra saw this display and sneered at Tamamo, who had already gotten into an aggressive cat pose aimed at the pharaoh.
"I see, I suppose it's only fitting that a symbol of divinity could be the very thing that could dispose of a goddess such as myself."
Cleopatra got into a fighting stance, one of her legs raised and poised to strike.
"Come at me Cat."
Tamamo hissed then pounced on the Queen, which earned her a kick to the face.
"Gueh!!"
✦✧✦
Siegfried POV
"Well, it looks like my love has gotten herself into a scrap." Caesar sighs then looks at Siegfried in pity.
"It's been fun fighting you Siegfried, but I must wrap up our battle soon, my beloved Cleopatra is in danger and I cannot bear to live with myself if I allow us to separate again."
He narrowed his eyes, wondering what the man had planned that would let him end their even fight. It did not take long for the answer to come to him.
"A new servant signature is coming your way!!"
His back turned cold as a presence fell from the sky and landed behind his back. He heard the sound of dirt grinding under heavy metal boots.
He heeded the warning and threw himself to the side.
A spear that had aimed to stab his back missed and struck empty air instead of flesh.
He turned and faced both his opponents at once. The man who had nearly killed him wore a rather greek like helmet with plumes of fire serving as decoration.
His helmet obscured his face and turned his eyes into white, inhuman dots.
He had a flowing red cape that had a long, pointed collar.
He had a round metal shield and hand braces to protect his lower arms.
[No way, is that a human Falinks?!! ]
[Fyre&Flamez: That guy is on fire!! Oh my Arxeus he is so badass!! ]
[Surf'sUp_Brah : If he is a Falinks, where are his buddies? ]
"Trespassers, you have chosen to invade the stronghold I chose to defend."
The new servant slammed his spear rhythmically on the ground and hundreds of new enemies emerged from nothing. All of them were wearing similar armor as the servant who called himself Leonidas.
"My true name is Leonidas, I and my army of three hundred spartans shall defend it!!"
[Surf'sUp_Brah: Oh, nevermind. There they are, and man these guys are no joke. Look at all those muscles and abs!!! ]
[DownBad_Cowgirl: Oh I'm looking alright, and recording. Those are some S-tier cheese graters. (♡﹃♡) ]
"Leonidas?!! The legendary king of Sparta and the guardian of the Hot Gates who fought off the Persian army?!! Zenobia got him too?!!" Nero's envy bled through the admiration she had for the man standing before him.
Hearing his name, the throne gave him some basic information, and what he got only made him see the man as a bigger threat.
[I thought pokemon weren't native to Earth? How did this king and his soldiers fight off Persians? ]
[Blood_Countess: Persia was a middle eastern empire, not whatever creature you are envisioning you imbeciles. ]
[No need to be such a bitch about it, we don't know. ]
Leonidas did not deign Nero as worthy of a response and leveled his spear at him, "prepare yourself intruder, for you are about to experience the valiant force of the Spartans, and be crushed by its weight."
He dared not look away from his adversaries, for they could easily encircle him and strike him in the back.
He solidified his stance and mentally prepared himself, because this battle was going to be a bigger challenge than he expected.
✦✧✦
Ritsuka POV
The sudden introduction of Leonidas only increased the intensity of the siege. The wraiths grew emboldened by reinforcements and became more ferocious.
There were times where they resembled rage filled zombies more than soldiers, which made his servant's work even more difficult, especially since their numbers were now being instantly replenished, whereas before their recovery had some lag before they returned.
Yet, his servants persevered.
The duo pairs of servants Martha and Tarsque with Jalter and Biscione were doing a lot of the heavy lifting to keep most of the horde at bay.
The rest of his servants stayed at their usual positions, but they were starting to get overwhelmed.
Which is why he had to swap out EMIYA for another shadow to take his place.
"Kazikli Bey!!!" A forest of stakes sprung up and impaled the wraiths that somehow managed to get past all their defenses.
Vlad was proving to be an indispensable servant during this match. He could easily stop any ground based troop before they got too close.
There was only one downside, and that was the extremely brutal and messy way he dispatched his enemies.
The forest of twitching bodies and agonized screaming of wraiths said it all.
He probably should have kept EMIYA around, but frankly, while he could obliterate enemies from far away easily, he was limited when dealing with crowds at close range.
That was why he had no choice but to choose Vlad, as he was the only one who could handle so many enemies at once.
[Lord_Impaler: Oh, how I wish I was in my shadow self's place. Such an abundance of heretics to slaughter… oh well, I suppose observing will be enough. ]
[: vomit emoji : ]
[I guess committing war crimes should be fine if its for the good of humanity… ]
The brutality did not go unnoticed, as the enemy servants saw the forest of impaled wraiths and were horrified by the sight.
It was enough of a display that it allowed his servants to land a few lucky hits from their moment of distraction.
Caesar had received a cut on the cheek, while his Cleopatra received a haymaker for her troubles.
"Dammmit!!! My face!! How dare you mar my face you overgrown housecat!!!"
Cleopatra stuck out her hand and a king cobra lunged at Tanamo Cat.
The berserker responded by lifting her paw, and slapping the snake on the head.
The snake hissed and tried to bite Tamamo again, but three more cat slaps and the cobra crashed on the ground, unmoving.
Cleopatra had no time to curse Tanamo as she doubled over and fell to her knees as Tamamo Cat landed another punch, this time to her gut.
Tamamo looked down at the gagging Cleopatra like she was a worm rather than the snake that she associated with herself.
"Pathetic Nyan. Your dirty NTR Snake attacks are no match for my Pure Love Paw strikes." Tamamo sticks out her hand and a miniature sun ignites in the middle of her open palm.
"Now hold still, I don't have any oil on me, so I will have to settle for grilling you over an open fire."
Cleopatra's teeth clenched as she stared down the sun aimed at her, "you want to cook me over an open fire? I'll show you an open fire alright!!"
Her cobra suddenly jerked away and struck at Tamamo, but the cat was nimble enough to recover from the hit and stare down the snake as it coiled around Cleopatra's body.
A malevolent energy swirled around Cleopatra, her gaze now intense and full of sadistic malice.
She pointed her finger to the sky, and the snake coiled into the sky and ignited into a serpent of fire.
Tamamo Cat's bravado vanished into smoke as she stared at the noble phantasm with worry.
Cleopatra saw this reaction and smirked, before she pointed her finger in his direction.
"Uraeus Astrape!!!" The snake roared and flew at them.
The sheer heat intensified the closer it got. It was a small mercy that the wraiths were all incinerated by the attack, but that did not alleviate the feeling of dread as it got closer to them.
[Fire&FlameZ: That is so much fire!!! They can't dodge this!!! ]
The fire snake opened its massive maw, its intent to devour them clear as the sky above them.
A blur of white and black crashed in front of them, mere moments before the snake reached them.
Jalter was holding her banner at full height, magical energy poured from her body.
"Le Grondement Du Haine!!!" Jalter slammed her flag into the ground, creating a wall that stopped the flaming snake in its tracks.
The snake erupted in a fiery explosion, killing swathes of enemies in one fell swoop.
None of that fire reached them, as Jalter was taking the fire attack head on. Much like a regular explosion, once the initial bang happened, the attack abated, leaving only the smoke and scorched earth as a reminder of its existence.
Cleopatra gaped as she saw her Jalter continue to stand completely unscathed by her noble phantasm.
"Heh weak! Is that the best you got? Pathetic!!"
"Wah, buh, how?!!"
"Simple, your weak flames of regret are no match for my flames of hatred. That is why it got snuffed out." Jalter's flag suddenly catches fire and begins to glow bright enough that it rivalled the sun above them.
"You don't believe me? How about I show you? Here, catch!!!"
Jalter points her flag at Cleopatra, and Tamamo, the smarty cat that she is, immediately bolted out of the blast zone.
Jalter returned the previous attack with a hot vengeance.
Cleopatra could only stare at the incoming wall of heat with resignation on her face.
She tried to cry, but the tears dried up the moment they emerged from her eyes.
Normally, this would have been the end of the line, the moment when a servant would die after being bested in a clash of noble phantasm.
Cleopatra did not suffer that fate.
"This is... Spartaaa!! Thermopylae Enomotia!!"
Leonidas unleashed his own noble phantasm and his army of 300 men morphed into a wall of 300 shields.
The fire slammed into the shields, like a sledgehammer into a wall.
One hundred shields shattered in an instant, but the defence persisted. Cleopatra could not move, he could only stare at the back of the servant who was protecting him in awe.
The awe turned to concern as another hundred shields broke, leaving only a hundred left.
Then fifty, twenty…
One shield remained and luckily for Leonidas the attack ended.
The strain was immediate and visible, while he was not incinerated, Leonidas walked like his muscles burned from having endured the massive attack from Jalter.
The man took his spear and aimed it straight at Jalter.
Before he even got a chance to speak an order, Mash had already rushed to Jalter's side, much to the shock of the avenger.
"Lord Chaldeas!!!!"
Mash slammed her shield down, and a transparent shield appeared in front of her, protecting Jalter and everyone who stood in the path of the incoming attack, which had already crossed the distance in the blink of an eye.
The spear crashed into the shield with a loud crack, which fractured Lord Chaldeas into a million pieces, before it shattered through it and slammed into Mash's shield.
The gong produced by the spear being blocked by the shield drowned out Mash's cry of agony.
But it could not hide the shape of her dislocated bone from her shoulder.
Mash dropped her shield and held her arm in pain.
"Martha!!"
"On it Master!!" Martha rushed to Mash's side and began to inspect her injury. Then, after she was satisfied, she gently placed her hands on Mash's shoulder.
He winced as Mash let out a gasp as Martha brutally shoved the dislocated shoulder back in place, but the treatment worked and Mash's shoulder had been fixed.
Shlick.
He turned and saw that the man who had dislocated Mash's shoulder, was now on the floor, bisected in half by Siegfried's blade.
Blood dripped from Siegfried's sword as he looked down at the servant he just killed with pity.
The man coldly turned to Cleopatra, who flinched back in fear.
"Don't you dare lay a hand on her!!" Caesar tried to defend his love, but fate was cruel.
His romantic intervention was ruthlessly stopped by a miniature sun to the face, courtesy of Tamamo.
With Caesar being occupied, Siegfried took a step forward, ready to end this battle, but stopped when something grabbed his foot.
The dragon slayer looked down and saw that the bisected servant had still not given up.
"Battle continuation huh?" Siegfried mused, to which the fallen man merely responded by coughing up blood.
"I will… protect my stronghold…. Until my dying breath…. Molon… Labe…"
Siegfried looks at the man and nods, "I see. Sorry, but I cannot allow you to fulfill your duty, but fear not, your suffering will not last long."
Siegfried raised his sword and stabbed the man in the head, ending his life.
Leonidas gurgled a last breath before he fell limp and started to vanish into motes of light.
His gaze is once again drawn to Cleopatra, who was staring at the spartan with tears in her eyes.
Siegfried sighs,"I will make it quick-"
The somber moment doesn't last as Siegfried feels a sense of impending doom.
A loud bang hit his ears, and he barely managed to turn in place and avoid having a crossbow bolt pierce back.
Siegfried caught a glimpse of Zenobia, and immediately flooded his sword with true ether.
She may have been floating far away, but if he timed it right, the beam would hit.
"BAL-"
However, he never got the chance.
Siegfried gasped as a crossbow bolt struck him in the back with a wet thunk.
The dragonslayer stilled, horror etched on his face as he realized what had just happened.
Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.
The momentary disbelief had been enough for Zenobia to land nearly a dozen more crossbow bolts into Siegfried's back.
By the time it ended, Siegfried resembled a porcupine from how many arrows were sticking out his back.
The attack had been so sudden, they could only look on in disbelief as the man fell face first into the ground.
A pool of blood poured out of his wounds and turned the dirt below his body into mud.
[Kream donated 100 bits]
["SIEGFRIED!!!! YOU IDIOT!! "] Kriemhild's voice spoke through the TTS exactly like she would in real life, but his musings did not distract him from Kriemhild's mournful cries.
Siegfried responded to his wife's anguish by coughing up blood one last time before he exploded into motes of light and returned to Chaldea's systems, defeated.
✦✧✦
Shit, Zenonia killing Siegfried just made this battle a lot more difficult.
He had been relying on the dragonslayer too much this whole time.
It's exactly the sort of thing EMIYA warned him about. He should have had someone else tag along with Siegfried to protect his back, even if it exposed them to a bit more danger.
And Siegfried paid the price for his careless mistake.
A whistle rang near his ear, followed by a sharp crack.
Debris fell from the sky as one of Vlad's stakes intercepted a crossbow bolt aimed straight at him.
Right, Zenobia was still trying to kill him. He had no time to mourn or lament his mistake.
He centered himself and took a breath to calm himself. Siegfried is fine and only died temporarily, he can still be resummoned.
But that won't happen if he allows himself to get distracted brooding and die.
He looked up and his eyes saw Zenobia high in the sky. Even from this far away, he could feel her intense gaze on him.
If there was only saving grace in this moment, it was that Zenobia was not willing to use her destructive noble phantasm while her allies were in the field.
That means they have an advantage to exploit if they manage to drag her to the ground rather than allow her to have air superiority.
If only there was a way to reach her, but how can they?
A breeze passes through the now barren battlefield, which causes Zenobia's purple hair to flow like a river.
Come to think of it, Zenobia is a composite servant isn't she? A mixture of two servants that form one whole? Unlike a compound, a mixture can be separated.
Which means…
He looks down at his command seals then looks back at Zenobia's distant body and wonders.
Could it be that simple?
He looked at Mash and his other servants, and came to a decision. He can't do this without their consent, or else he is going to get a lengthy lecture.
He did the equivalent of a "@ everyone" in his head and sent a message to all of them. His servants perked up at the connection.
'I can't go into full detail while everyone is fighting, so I'm going to be brief. I'm going to try something using a command seal. Stay alert in case it goes wrong. Understood?'
A multitude of understoods echoed in his skull.
Perfect, time to see if this works.
One of the command seals in his hand burns as he activates it.
He grips his arm and points it at Zenobia.
By now, everyone knew what his intentions were, but even so, his servants did a double take when he issued his command.
"Stheno. By this command seal, I order you to come to my side."
The air shimmered around Zenobia and for a moment, he thought his theory would work.
A theory that assumed he could rip out Zenobia's divine core by calling Stheno to his side using a command seal.
Unfortunately, he overlooked one key detail about experiments… they often had unintended results.
Instead of painfully ripping Stheno out from Zenobia, Zenobia appeared in front of him, as if he were his servant.
The palmyran queen was equally surprised by the results, but her demeanour quickly turned into a flirtatious grin.
"Oh my, how forward you Ritsuka. To think you missed us so much that you were willing to use up a valuable command seal to nring us to your side."
"Um… sorry, but I was calling for someone else."
Zenobia tilted her head, "what? Did you think your command seal alone would be enough to take our divine core away from us? How cute. Stheno and Zenobia are now one in the same silly, it's going to take a lot more than that to separate us~."
Her smile turned cruel, like a child who had found a bug to torment, "not that you'll ever get the chance."
[Kream redeemed Sand Attack.]
[Servants voting…. Result:
[Sand attack: 71.43%
Swift: 28.57% ]
[Servants used Sand Attack.]
Zenobia's smirk fell into shock as Chat's camera got in her face and unleashed a load of sand directly into her eyes.
Seeing that chat used sand attack to give him a chance to run away from his fuck up, hee pressed the buttons inside his running shoes and made a break towards his closest servant.
He gagged when his hoodie stayed in place, which pressed the rim of his hood on his throat like a rope.
"And just where do you think you're going little boy? Don't you know it's rude to run away from a goddess after begging her for her attention?"
Zenobia had grabbed him by the hood before he had a chance to escape. Chat's sand attack had no effect on Zenobia at all.
[Kream: Huh? Why didn't it work!? ]
[VioletZephyr_Falk: I see, so the potshot registered Zenobia as a flying type. Of course ground type attacks have no effect on her. ]
[ :Facepalm Emote: ]
"I think I've had enough of that annoying trick." Zenobia seethed as one of her floating futuristic ballistas pointed at the camera that had attacked her and fired a bolt at the camera, point blank.
The bolt sunk into the camera, causing it to flash red.
"Gah!!!" Kriemhild let out a different cry from the communications, a cry of pain. Zenobia's arrows had actually hurt Kriemhild through the potshot's penalty system.
He didn't have time to ask if his servants were okay as he tried to slip away, but her grip was strong.
"Now then, where were we?"
Shit. She was dragging him back. His feet are sliding, if she gets a proper grip on his body it's all over!!
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM!!" Jalter's voice cut through his panic.
He felt his body fall forward when Zenobia let go of his hood.
Behind him, a dark slash of burning energy slashed where Zenobia's hand was.
The queen evaded the attack and flew back into the air, and stared down the attacker with a raised brow.
"Quite the hot temper on you."
Jalter rolled her eyes, "lame fire pun aside, what else did you expect? You had your grubby hands on my Master, any dumbass could tell you that it's a stupid thing to do in front of his servants."
Zenobia was about to respond, but she flew up into the sky just before a flash of holy light struck her.
Martha and Mash arrived, both of them aiming their weapons at the queen.
Zenobia just looked down on all of them with cold calculation.
"Don't you lot know you should never step between a goddess and the source of her ire? It never ends well for the interlopers."
Jalter sniffs, "a goddess? What are you talking about? I only see a hypocritical exhibitionist who is too weak to embrace her true hatred for Rome and parades around like some grand saviour of humanity."
Zenobia raised a brow at Jalter, "what do you know of hate? I despise Rome for all that it took away from me, for humiliating me, and for leading my home to eventually become a museum of ruins!"
Zenobia clenched her fists, "you claim I do not embrace 'true hatred' of Rome, yet the proof of my actions says otherwise.
I humiliated their proud army by decimating them, I murdered all the senators and politicians who would be the forefathers of my enemies, and if not for you, I would have already eradicated the empire by now and Palmyra would have become the empire that succeeded Rome.
How can our actions be anything but hatred? "
Jalter scoffed, "pathetic. That's not hate, that's just you being a salty bitch. You want to make your tiny backwater oasis of a town into an empire but it failed because you were fighting a superior general."
Zenobia's mask of diplomacy cracked to reveal a frown.
Jalter didn't care, she kept talking.
"You wanna know what I would have done in your place? First, I'd have gone straight to Rome and publicly tortured Nero and her senators in front of all her pathetic subjects, then I would have leveled Rome to the ground."
Zenobia blinked as she stared at Jalter in disbelief, and it slowly slipped to discomfort as Jalter continued.
"After doing that, I would have used that noble phantasm of yours and I would have flown to each and every settlement in the roman terriroties and blown them all the fuck up, down to the last fucking village!!"
Jalter narrowed her eyes, "then I would have hunted the survivors, playing with them and laughing at their cries of mercy, of hatred, and fear as I murdered each and every last one of them."
The heat in Jalter's words dried up, "but that isn't what you did, you want to make yourself Rome, not destroy it. Because like I said, you are an envious bitch with insecurities."
[So basically she would just do what she did in Orleans, but on a larger scale. How unoriginal.]
[Jalter is criticizing Zenobia for playing empire builder rather than Genocidemaxxing. Why am I not surprised? -_- ]
Zenobia stared at Jalter with incredulity before she schooled her features.
"I am surprised Ritsuka would keep such an evil woman such as yourself in his retinue, but given his charms are potent enough to rival ours, it's no surprise he attracted someone like you to his side."
"Well, I did give him my heart after all, and unlike you he actually accepted mine. So I suppose we did attract each other." Jalter said, which just drew everyone's attention to her.
Zenobia narrowed her eyes, then a lance appeared in her hands, "be that as it may, I cannot afford to sit here and yap with people like you. I am here to end Rome and replace it with something new, if my motives come across as me being 'salty' or 'envious' then so be it."
She vanished from her spot and thrust her lance forward, aiming for his heart, but Mash intercepted the blow before it could land.
The air exploded in a boom as Zenobia flew away before shadow Vlad's stakes could impale her.
She reappeared next to Martha and struck at her face, which forced the saint to block.
Jalter's flag blocked an arrow bolt before it pierced his head.
A bolt rammed into Mash's shield with a loud plunk, but Zenobia was gone in a sonic boom before a claw swipe from Tarasque gored her face.
Another sonic boom slammed his head down, he felt the heat from the blast of fire Biscione had spewed where Zenobia once was.
Crap, she was fast, and it was hard for any of his servants to pin her down before she ran away.
His eyes looked over the battlefield and he saw that Charlemagne and Tamamo Cat were still keeping Caesar and Cleopatra from joining the battle.
But unlike them, they still had to deal with a platoon of wraiths aiding the two lover servants so they could get the upper hand.
They weren't the only ones, as more wraiths were harassing Astolfo and Elizabeth, which meant their hands were full trying to protect Nero.
His current roster of Jalter, Mash, Biscione, Martha with Tarasque, and shadow Vlad were all he had to defeat Zenobia.
But Zenobia was too fast for them, and they needed to land a hit on her, fast.
Luckily for him, he didn't have to improvise his next plan.
The group had already discussed it earlier during their earlier spelunking days.
He just hopes it would work, or else he was going to have to take another stupid gamble.
✦✧✦
Zenobia POV
She watched as the dragon swooped down from the sky and took the emperor with her.
Were they hoping to take Nero away to safety while she was busy trying to kill Ritsuka?
'Laughable.'
She was not blind enough to allow such a thing.
She disengaged from attempting to murder her beloves and charged at the dragon who thought they could fly freely under HER sky.
The air boomed as she accelerated towards her prey, her lance already primed to pierce the beast before she managed to execute another wingbeat.
'This time, I am going to rip that lizard's wings off permanently!'
So focused on her target she was, that she reacted too slow to the trap that had been laid out for her.
"Vulcano Caligorante!!"
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as the sound of chains trailed behind her.
A primal fear deep in her gut told her to run, but it was too late.
Something sharp and powerful coiled around her leg before she even had a chance to dodge.
The momentum and speed of hers should have been enough to drag the owner across the dirt, rocks, and brush of the hispanian wilderness.
However, the hold was firm. Her body violently halted midair. She could feel her thigh bone groan from the sudden stop.
She looked down at her leg and her eyes widened in horror as she confirmed the identity of what restrained her.
A chain, an ugly chain that carried a weight of mystery powerful enough to ignore her passive divine aura that would destroy any normal chain.
Inconceivable!! How could these shackles bind her when she rejected the very idea of being confined in chains!!?
"Woo, gottem!!!" The voice of a young girl caught her attention and she turned to look at the direction of the noise, and to her horror, she was met with the visage of a degenerate wearing an outfit that resembled a rabbit.
This girl, she's showing way too much skin!!
And the accursed chain that was holding her, it was a sword?
Was this the bunny girl noble phantasm, how vile!!
She did not have the chance to ponder the absurdity of the bunny girl who held her captive as the girl jerked the accursed chain.
Her body lost its autonomy as she was pulled back with enough force to lose her wits.
Her ribs screamed in pain when the ground forcefully pushed the air from her lungs.
The merciless chains refused to let her even catch her breath as they brutally yanked her by the leg like she was some doll and flung her back into the air.
She unleashed her divine energy and pushed her body to fly, but that desperate move was a poor decision on her part, as it only made the fall to the ground even more painful and explosive.
Her back cracked the dirt beneath her body, the force violently compressing the dirt into stone.
Suddenly, the chains warmed up as they were saturated with magical energy.
Her heart jumped to her throat as she was consumed in a pink explosion of magical energy.
She was grateful the pain wasn't debilitating, but the violent attack still blinded her vision for a brief moment.
But just because she was blind, did not mean she was deaf or that her senses were numb.
The ground shook under her feet, and a familiar, amplified voice spoke loud enough that she could feel the vibrations in her bones and her soft organs.
"Hello everyone, Today I am going to dedicate this song to my good friend Stheno. A beautiful goddess that was kidnapped, murdered, and stuffed inside an ugly hag with an unladylike six pack!!"
Her eyes snapped open and she glared at the girl who badmouthed her. The silhouette was bright and blurry, but her vision managed to recover fast enough she was able to make out details.
Her words died in her throat at the castle of exotic architecture in front of her, and floating in front of it was a bat-winged girl that was glaring down at her.
'Elizabeth…'
"Báthory Erzsébet"
That was the only coherent thought she was able to muster before her head was filled with pain and lyrics about a girl being too beautiful to make a relationship work and driving the man of their affections suicidal.
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AN: I barely managed to make it, this week's chapter is here. There might be some phone misspellings in this chapter that I missed, but I will go over them tomorrow.
Also, I couldn't really come up with many chat conversations in this chappie, so apologies for that. I will, as always, make it up during the PHO chapters.
Drop a comment or a like to let me know if you like my chapter or wish to provide feedback on how I can improve. Anyways, hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next week.