I admit I wasn't expecting to actually hit 300.
-
I don't want to run.
Those were the sole words running through my head. The trees around, reduced to blurs by the speed, seemed to dance and reach out to stop me. Their branches were tendrils, and the knee-high grass felt like muck trying to stop me.
I didn't want to run. I didn't want to abandon my mentor to the fate I knew awaited him. I didn't want to run from a man that thought of this life of mine as nothing more than entertainment.
I didn't want to die... but, I didn't want to survive this way either.
Bazett's negligible weight became overbearing the moment my determination faltered and my sprint slowed to a brisk jog. Then, my legs gave out. I stumbled to the ground, twisting just in time to cover Bazett with my arms and chest.
"I'm sorry, Bazett."
Gently as I could, I put the woman I was coming to cherish against a tree before reaching into my sleeve and pulling out a white rabbit. The creature twitched, tilting its head in curiosity.
"Watch over her."
Oh, how I hoped it was John Rabbit... but even if it wasn't, I would know when the little one was damaged.
I placed him on her shoulder.
Gritting my teeth to steel myself, I turned on my heel. A hand gripped mine. A barebones grip I could easily shake off.
"Don't... You'll die."
To make my way back, disregarding the conviction of those heroes who'd resolved to give their lives to save mine... was the very height of madness. It was illogical and stupid, I was just some idiot playing at superpowers on some shitty high when I'd done nothing to deserve them.
Seriously, where did I get off doing what I was about to do?
It was madness, really. Something that stupid person who founded our clan would do.
"Just this once-" I shook off Bazett's hand, "-I'll embrace it."
Though I was certain I would pay dearly for my selfishness here, I took off running as fast as my legs could carry me. The forest did not impede me this time. The trees and their shadowy tendrils shied away, and the grass seemed to part. The chill wintery wind pushed me along.
The clouds that plunged the world into darkness began to recede, revealing a black sky filled with uncountable stars. They all watched in withdrawn silence, and the moon shone brighter than ever.
For the briefest of moments, the moon looked a living thing, breathing and... proud.
'The adoration of the Gods is unlike the fleeting hearts of men.'
I had heard those words in a dream, one of many.
'Time is but man's delusion. But, we shall watch, we shall draw, and we shall aid, and we shall be joyous, forevermore.'
My ancestor really was an amazing person.
'Rejoice, you mortal who have won our affection.'
I trampled the forest and shook the earth beneath my feet with the weight of a great guardian beast. What came in my path was ruined and cast aside. Then, I heard them. The sounds of a battle no short of myth. The sheer mana around made it feel like I'd stepped into a different world entirely, and when I finally broke through the treeline, I understood why.
Ornate swords and spears dotted the emptied ground. A part of the forest beyond was simply gone, erased. King Gilgamesh who had not deigned to move was forced to the ground by the Hound of Ulster. Where swords rained down, a thorned spear met them in full, tossing aside those noble phantasms like arrows to a shield.
Blood flowed down the forehead of the enraged King of Heroes. He shouted and blustered, but Cu only grinned and laughed in answer for he too, was the son of the Great God Lugh. He laughed in the face of a noble phantasm that drowned out the night sky with its golden splendour, a spear buried in his chest and a sword piercing his gut.
I heard a howl, and turned my head in time to spot an aged man, frail and small, strike a black giant with an open palm. One of his arms hung limp. Heracles' flesh cracked under the blow. Then, that same crack was struck by a sudden yet precise flurry. The giant lashed out with his sword just as his flesh exploded and tossed the old man through the air.
Shuwen intercepted the blow the same Kirei had before, his arm snapped under the strike much the same way as well.
Coming to my senses, I ran to catch the body of my mentor.
"Stupid Berserker! Why are you getting beat up by an old man?! Just kill him already!" Illyasviel shouted over the battle, flailing about her small arms. "You big blockhead!"
I hadn't known Shuwen was so light.
"You-... Idiot disciple... Didn't I tell you to run?"
"Sorry-"
"No damn time for any of that shit!"
The soil behind me cracked as Cu slid across it. He spun his spear at a blinding speed, deflecting a hail of swords that would've surely turned me into a pincushion.
"Right... you're right." I inhaled deeply, "Look after my teacher."
"What? Lad, have you lost it... Where the hell's my master at?!"
Instead of answering, I locked eyes with the King of Heroes right across from me. Surprise flashed through his inhuman gaze, then a grin split his lips. He threw his head back and laughed joyfully.
"I didn't expect you to truly return, mongrel."
Behind us, Berserker's flesh knit itself together as the mad servant howled and howled and roared to the sky. The sheer noise made great bursts of wind drag across the empty space.
I didn't have long.
"Lancer-"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I'm just wonderin' what's the damn point?"
For him, someone who had tied himself to a rock with his own entrails and kept fighting against an army of legend, even this current situation was not such a big deal. No, he seemed right at home here, trapped between these two.
Instead of giving him an answer, I raised both my fists. This time, I made certain to pull everyone around into the ritual.
"With this treasure, I summon-"
Heracles leapt for us.
"-Eight-handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General... Mahoraga."
The world came to a still. The turbulent winds became calm, and the sounds of battle became a distant memory. The Shikigami I'd tamed heralded the coming of the Divine General.
Wolves howled to the moon.
Others bowed.
Heracles broke his leap and backed away, alarmed by the massive cocoon that had formed behind me. It cracked. A muscled white arm, white as the moon in the sky, tore through.
"What the...?"
Then, the cocoon began to fall off entirely.
My memory of the last and first time I'd summoned him was fleeting and fragmented. I did not remember him to be taller than Heracles, nor that his muscled arms were thicker than the trunk of a tree.
Each inch of his immense flesh looked painstakingly carved by a great artist, rippling with raw power.
The white sash tied around his waist fluttered to his side, and the bangles around his ankles and wrists chimed in a distinctly familiar way. The four wings where there were to be eyes bent.
His mouth split in a manic grin.
He slammed down a foot. The earth burst. Cracks spread all around. The forest began to shake like some sudden earthquake had hit it. The Divine General's grin stretched further.
"W-What the-? Berserker, get him! Get that monster!"
Where Gilgamesh studied the being in silence, crossing his arms, Heracles obeyed his master. He shot forth and punched out. Mahoraga arm's bulged. He punched out in the same manner.
Somehow, it felt like he'd avoided using the Sword of Extermination on purpose.
When their two fists collided, the ground beneath was torn asunder and I would've been sent flying had I not sunk into my shadows with Cu and Shuwen. As proof, the trees behind us were ripped out of the soil. A shield appeared in front of Gilgamesh, blocking the damage entirely.
I left the shadows a moment later.
Cu put a hand on my shoulder.
"What the hell is that thing?"
"The Divine General."
-
Hope u enjoyed.
You can find 7 chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap