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Knights (203)
🕑 Added 2023-02-19 02:00:00 +0000 UTC‘Mashu, talk to them later! Don't take your eyes off Tristan, one arrow certainly couldn't kill him!’ Galahad's stern warning caused her to shift her gaze from the two Archers continuing to examine from some distance the battlefield, back to her potential adversary.
Beside Tristan, who had fallen to his knees with a feathery long arrow sticking out of his back between his shoulder blades, Bedivere was also bent over the ground, large drops of sweat rolling down his pale face. He was taking deep gulps of air, trying to get his breath under control as if he had just run a long marathon, occasionally shuddering and breaking his breaths as if his muscles were cramping.
Mashu's first urge was to rush to the knight, to try to help him in any way she can, but Galahad managed to stop her mental impulse at the last second. A simple reminder both that Tristan was not yet defeated and that Bedivere, right now, could not be hampered not only from overexertion, but from magic or curse or any other effect. The Noble Phantasm he used, if memory serves Mashu and Galahad correctly, was Airgetlam – the silver hand of Nuada, king of the Celtic gods and lord of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the legendary Irish Sidhe tribe.
How to connect King Arthur's mythology and history with other legends of the British Isles, Mashu couldn’t find the connection between the king of the gods and the knight Bedivere, to explain the presence of such a Noble Phantasm. Asking Galahad only elicited the same response, he also doesn’t know.
‘Arthuria, too, is now drilling Bedivere with her curious gaze.’ Galahad noticed the way, with his King's usual mask of impenetrable equanimity once again restored, even she continued to stare intently at Bedivere. Or, more specifically, at his silver prosthetic arm, an object not conforming at all to his legend, seeming to stop paying attention even to Tristan.
‘I have a strange feeling that you should have told Bedivere about not hearing his story after all, perhaps it would have revealed his current cards to us… Okay, enough with the distractions Mashu, pay attention to Tristan!’
Mashu, momentarily distracted by outside thoughts, though Galahad didn’t help in that matter, shifted her gaze to Tristan again. She watched as the Archer slowly rose from the grounds, and a red-hot thought flashed inside Mashu's mind. That she should not have stopped when Tristan was attacked, but should have finished him the second he was stunned.
But, if there was anything Mashu had learned from all the previous Singularities, it was that regrets should have been left off of the battlefield. She'd already made a mistake, there was no need to fret over it, the debriefing would take place after the fight. Now she should concentrate on not making that mistake again.
“How… Sad," Tristan, whose right arm was cut off, a result of Bedivere’s attack, did not seem to let it bother the knight, even as the stump continued bleeding like a stream. Tristan instead turned his full attention to Bedivere, who continued to kneel, as if he was preparing to finish him off, but he made no move to do so. Either worrying that by doing so he would let himself open to an attack by Arthuria, Mashu, and their two new possible allies, or because the wound Bedivere inflicted was more significant than he was trying to show.
‘He reminds me of Arthuria with that attitude – his current attitude with our Arthuria, I mean. He might be a Knight of the Round, but he was not that collected that he could ignore such a grievous wound.’ In confirmation of Galahad's words, Arthuria, whose body was decorated by numerous arrow wounds, currently still bleeding like a fountain, also tried to pretend that the wounds she received were no more dangerous to her than a cat's scratches.
Though, from another perspective, they were. Thanks to Ainz's extensive mana reserves, Arthuria had probably already managed to recover most of the damage from Tristan's surprise attack.
“It is indeed sad to watch you suffer like this, Sir Bedivere," Tristan did not move, and his closed eyes made it extremely difficult to tell exactly where he was looking at the moment. From his words, however, his attention was still focused on Bedivere. “Such pain, all for the sake of trying to kill me. I’m saddened at the pointlessness of your attempt, by the suffering you endure for it – but most of all, to know that even if you succeed, it will only lead to the same sad pointless ending…”
The next moment proved to be the expected trigger, using his remaining hand, Tristan swept it through the air as the weapon under his arms resonated with the melodious tinkling of strings.
However, rather than being aimed towards Bedivere, the burst of the projectiles of light did not rush forward, but changed their trajectory into the few arrows moving toward Tristan by the other Archers.
Arthuria did not miss the opportunity. Rushing forward, though Tristan's previous attack had wounded her more than Arthuria would like to admit, the unstoppable deluge of Mana from Ainz meant that Arthuria was, if not fully recovered, at least ready to continue the battle.
Mashu thought for a moment about rushing toward Tristan as well, but it was difficult for her to match Saber's speed and destructive potential. And so, Mashu chose the right tactic for her, a moment later standing next to Bedivere, who after using his Noble Phantasm had only managed to rise slowly from the ground, staggering on shaky legs.
Mashu stood in front of Bedivere, her shield out, but since Tristan hadn't attacked her, she allowed herself to be distracted for a moment. “Bedivere? Are you all right?”
“I'm…” Bedivere paused for a moment, puffing his cheeks with air before he bowed, spitting out saliva, gastric juice, and black-red coagulated blood. “All right…”
Mashu, without even taking a closer look at the downed Servant, could tell by that action alone that he wasn’t, but Galahad prevented her from doing anything else. ‘Ok, he’s fine – so go help Arthuria, Mashu! Tristan may have lost an arm, but he still has a second one – with Berserker's power at that!’
Arthuria, overcoming a few shots that had tried to intercept her, rushed towards Tristan again, this time careful not to let herself be open from another counter-attack by the seemingly weak in a melee Archer. Instead of driving her blade into the Servant's body with a swift movement, Arthuria dodged his shot, then used a mana blast to move to the side, then again, and again. Like a wolf hunting a wary prey, Arthuria tried her best to get to Tristan's back and to distract him by her rapid movements.
Mashu joined the fray a moment later. Not possessing Arthuria’s blade, Mashu used the best tactic she could think of – Tristan barely had time to notice the large shield-covered shadow darting toward him.
‘I never thought I'd perform a body slam when in a teenage girl's body!’ Galahad's words sank in as Tristan, assessing the threat in front of him, tried to dash to the side, firing several more glittering arrows in Mashu's direction – all useless, given that Mashu was completely shielded as she moved.
Tristan failed to evade, hemmed in as he was by Arthuria and pressured by Mashu, he missed the moment when Arthuria decided to join in to the attack. This time, instead of trying to end the fight with one blow, she chose to hobble Tristan instead. Aiming for his leg, Arthuria pierced his leg, nailing him to the spot with her sword.
The attack slowed Tristan for a moment, but the small orb of destruction with a Shielder's class wouldn't have needed much more.
With a deafening sound, Mashu's shield slammed into the Archer. The attack would have punted Tristan like a thrown ball if not for Arthuria’s sword forcing him in place. The force of impact instead caused Tristan to fold his upper body, almost bouncing off of the ground, with the crunch of bones informing Mashu that her strike had achieved its purpose.
Tristan's leg, pierced by Arthuria’s blade, bent at an inhuman angle due to the tension before cracking, twisting with a loud sound, robbing Tristan of his second limb in the fight.
Arthuria, not to cause problems to Mashu, let go of her blade a moment later, letting Tristan's body fly backwards, dragging her sword with him. Before Tristan could fly far, however, she caught hold of the sword as Tristan's body flew, pulling it out, damaging the knight's already shattered leg even further.
Mashu momentarily became unbalanced from the impact, before she forced herself to stop to avoid falling down. She finally gained her balance in time to see Tristan quickly summoning his bow again, ignoring his increasingly scarred body, when Arthuria quickly leaped next to him.
This time her blade was aimed at the knight's head, leaving him no chance of surviving the blow, and Arthuria wasted no time disposing of her loyal knight.
Using her Mana Blast abilities to the full, Arthuria drove the black blade of her cursed Excalibur into Tristan's forehead, then even further. All until her sword entered the ground a few tens of centimeters and the sword's guard rested against the already stabbed knight's head.
It had pierced so completely that Arthuria had to kneel to keep her hand on her blade, and even then, Tristan hadn’t died, but it was only a matter of time.
At the last moment, Tristan opened his eyes, a piercingly bright golden color, not much different from those of Arthuria herself, the alter version of King Arthur. He opened his eyes wide, looking straight into his king’s eyes, his last expression one that is quite hard to figure out. But, if he wanted to say anything, it was far too late – he opened his mouth impotently, unable to utter his last words.
Arthuria saw the moment in which the spark of life vanished from Tristan's eyes, and he finally collapsed, hanging on the blade that had gone through his head.
Arthuria, in turn, stared into his eyes for a moment before she rose, pulling the blade from her knight's head, and shaking it off, spattering blood, shards of bone, and some brain matter left on the blade.
Mashu, after waiting a moment, and making sure that Tristan wasn't going to suddenly rise and continue the fight like a zombie, turned to Bedivere. He still looked pale, but could at least now stand on his feet with confidence, relatively speaking. And, while keeping her gaze on the two approaching Archers, Mashu approached the staggering knight. "I think you should sit down…”
“I'm all right, Mashu.” Bedivere smiled faintly and weakly, shaking his head as he wiped away the dried blood on his lips. "I know you're worried about me after what I told you… but I can handle it. I can't help it.”
‘Now it's starting to piss me off that we never found out exactly what he told us…’ Galahad exhaled, then suddenly continued as a sudden thought entered his mind. ‘Hmm, that fight, that was too easy. Tristan… Why did Tristan suddenly lose so easily?’
‘What?’ Mashu, seeing that there wouldn’t be another fight, relaxed her shoulder a bit, letting her shield down, as she kneaded her numb hands, the aftereffects of her attack.
‘What I'm saying is that for a Servant with a Berserker level of strength, he crumbled unexpectedly easily from your shield strike.’ Galahad shook his head internally in Mashu's mind.
‘I'm not saying that he survived, there are very few Servants in the world capable of surviving a blade through the head, But your attack… If he had been able to withstand Arthuria's before, amplified even by her Mana Blast, how could he not withstand yours? I'm not saying that you’re weak or anything, or that a shield strike is not an effective tactic, but for a Berserker? Most of them would at most have wobbled from your strike. Still not a bad result, but he was knocked down and thrown like a doll, like… an Archer.’
Mashu pondered the question hanging in the air for a moment. An Archer possessing the physical characteristics of an Archer was the norm, if not insultingly obvious. It was like being surprised that an Archer uses bows, it was that obvious. And yet, how could Tristan put up a physical fight against Arthuria? It was rather odd that Archer had acquired the power of a Berserker a little earlier, but to demonstrate that kind of power and then lose it a minute later was even stranger.
‘Maybe he only got Strength, but not a Berserker's stamina and fortitude?’ Mashu tried to give an explanation for the weirdness that had just unfolded. ‘Or maybe was he bluffing, and this ability only works when the conditions are met? Or only for a short time?’
‘Perhaps…’ Galahad spoke out in a way that allowed Mashu to understand that he actually disagreed with her assumption. Before she felt a strange sensation, as if someone had sought to direct her gaze away, to be more specific, toward a panting Bedivere, moving gingerly as if his limbs had fallen asleep.
‘Don't do that!’ Mashu wasn't sure exactly what Galahad had done, but she assumed that somehow or other, he was the one responsible for the strange sensation. And, just as soon as she gave Galahad a warning, the strange feeling from inside her mind was gone, confirming her conclusion.
‘I was just trying it!’ Galahad tried to justify himself before employing a distraction tactic, when it seems Mashu was still going to ask.
‘Speaking of which, we have two Archers approaching!’
Galahad's tactic worked and Mashu was distracted for a moment, shifting her gaze to the two approaching men, who, noticing her gaze, raised their hands to show that they’re not going to attack.
“Excuse us for appearing here uninvited.” The first speaker was a guy in his late third decade, dressed in such unremarkable equipment. It was so stereotypical Archer-y, he could serve as a plug in an advertisement, taking the place in the comparison between an outstanding Archer and an ordinary Archer. In the place of the ordinary Archer, that is. “It was not our fault…”
“The monk panicked again in the sandstorm, ran ahead, then immediately got lost, we're trying to find her.” The second man, towering over the first by a good two heads, with a huge packed bale on his shoulders, looked around at the Servants present. He seemed to be not paying Tristan’s dead body any mind, who continued to lie on the ground, but focusing on Bedivere instead, explaining briefly.
“To tell the truth, we did not plan to help you fight either, but I got bored, and I decided to shoot at random. I hit this guy.” The giant Archer holding what looks like a bale of rice answered brusquely.
“My friend would like to say that we were glad to make our own little contribution to your victory.” Unlike the tall, muscular man with green hair, his friend, who, by the looks of him, should have been named ‘Background Archer One’, smiled awkwardly.
“Not really, but eh, let’s leave it at that," The other Archer clearly could have objected to his comrade, but chose not to at the moment.
"I'm too lazy to argue. To be honest, I'm also too lazy to look for the monk. Do you have a place where I could sleep? I'll settle for a stable, too…”
The giant Archer glanced around at the nearly empty village and its ramshackle buildings, then corrected his sentence. "If you have one here, of course. If not, I can just sleep in the yard.”
Mashu glanced once more at the two Archers, neither of them looked like a bad guy or a potential adversary… And, they did help deal with Tristan, so they deserved at least a little credit for that.
“There's no place to sleep, and there's not much food or water, either.” Arthuria answered before Mashu could, making clear her position and the situation the Servants had found themselves in.
“Well, supplies are not a problem for me.” For the first time in their conversation, the tall muscled man, holding a huge bow in one of his hands, dropped the large bale he’s carrying. And judging by the soft murmur such an action caused, the bale was filled with some numerous small things inside. The bale, Mashu would note, was as tall as her.
“I suppose I shouldn’t even bother asking about if there’s any alcohol?”
Arthuria, hearing the man's question, only replied with a cold stare before glancing at Background Archer One, as if trying to decide inwardly whether or not he was a threat. Then with a nod, she turned around without raising her blade, instead now looking at Tristan's body, which never began to turn into a cloud of Mana as other destroyed Servants usually did. “It’s taking longer than usual…”
Mashu glanced at Tristan's body, then squinted slightly, hiding her eyes from the bright sunlight streaming in from the sky…
‘Sunlight?’ Galahad's voice suddenly made Mashu tense inwardly. ‘How long has there been bright sunlight over Assassin territory?’
Mashu instantly realized what Galahad was talking about and for her to feel goosebumps at the strange happening. The wastelands, which included the Assassin’s territory, differed from Camelot and Ozymandias territory in that there was virtually no open sky, with it being filled only with heavy black, stuffy clouds overhanging the black charcoal earth. The clouds hung so low, giving the impression that you could grasp it with your hand.
Raising her gaze to the sky, however, Mashu was forced to squeeze her eyes shut against the bright sunlight streaming from the now clear sky to the ground.
Moreover, this sunlight was not the usual glint of the midday sun, instead it was as if the sun had dropped below the level of the clouds, or a multitude of bright spotlights pointing down were spread across the sky. Which, instead of caressing their surroundings, just burned unmercifully in all directions. Instead of the pleasant feeling of the sun on her skin, Mashu could feel only discomfort from the light beaming haphazardly in all directions, blinding her eyes. Not enough to cause problems for the Servant – especially for her, a Shielder, specialized to withstand as much damage as possible – but it was still enough to be uncomfortable.
‘This is not good…’ Galahad's nervous comment didn't bring Mashu any new concrete information, but it did a pretty good job of piecing together her thoughts, causing Mashu to glance at Arthuria in mute question. Arthuria, catching her gaze, cocked her head after a moment, checking out the unexpected natural phenomenon herself, before lowering her gaze to the two Archers. “Do you know anything about this sunlight?”
The two Archers, pausing for a moment before looking around, only shook their heads and shrugged, causing Arthuria to turn again, and freeze as her gaze stumbled over a moving dot over the horizon.
Mashu, following Arthuria’s lead, shifted her gaze, but could only see a horse approaching at the full speed of a magical being, carrying a rather large figure on its back.
There was no point in even speculating about the figure's identity and nature. In addition to the outstanding height and physical form, even at this distance Mashu could easily make out the armor shining in the sunlight, and the heavy fur cloak in gold and purple, completely unfit for either the shining sun or the warm weather around her.
‘Oh, don't tell me… Shit.’ Mashu blinked, for the first time he had known him, a note of panic slipped into Galahad's voice as he cursed. Something he hadn't shown even when fighting Poseidon or half a step from being killed by the Demon King. ‘No… No. Oh shit, and in the full sunlight at that?! What the fuck… just our shitty luck.’
Galahad didn't normally use the flowery speech that a prominent Arthurian knight is supposed to, preferring instead to use polite but to the point verbiage. But for the first time ever, Mashu felt emotion disrupt his speech construction, causing Galahad to switch to incoherent isolated thoughts.
‘Galahad?!’ Mashu tried to call out to the Servant occupying her head, and finding that he had regressed to panic mumbling, Mashu turned to Arthuria for advice. “Arthuria?!”
Arthuria, however, did not respond to Mashu's words, continuing to watch the approaching figure closely, her gaze sharp and cold and her blade readied.
The slight sound of a bowstring being drawn alerted Mashu that the two Archers had not left the appearance of the unknown Servant unnoticed either. But, Arthuria instantly raised her hand with an open palm, signaling to the Servants that they should not engage in hostile actions yet.
‘It's him… Ha ha, great, it's him. It's him…’ Galahad continued drifting off into incomprehensible mumbling, like a demented ghost repeating fragmented scraps of phrases from his past. ‘And in the sunlight… Ha-ha, what time is it? Ha-ha, three hours after sunrise, three hours before sunset… Midday, Ha-ha…’
“I was afraid to see him here.” Mashu shuddered as she heard Bedivere's high-pitched voice again, remembering both that he had been near the other Servants all this time and that he had an unknown ability to drop out of Mashu's field of vision and attention.
“Who the hell is that?” Mashu could identify from the appearance of the approaching Servant that he was a Knight, so he was most likely another of the Knights of the Round Table. But trying to identify one solely on a hunch was doomed to failure, all the more so given Galahad's reaction, as if he had just looked into the eyes of Death himself.
‘Knight of the Sun, Saint of the Numerals, King Arthur's Second Side, First on the Throne of Camelot and many other titles.’ Galahad suddenly came back, interrupting the flow of his incomprehensible phrases with a stream of titles and a name.
‘Sir Gawain.’
Mashu thought about it for a moment, trying to remember where in the past she had heard that name, before, as the memory did pop into her head, she exclaimed softly. "Oh…"
Gawain, another legendary Arthurian knight. Bearer of a sword equal to Excalibur, King Arthur's closest associate, and his body double. Though, more accurately, given the truth of King Arthur's gender, more like the one used for official portrayal. Lancelot's rival, first in the line of succession to the throne of Camelot, and potentially the strongest Knight of the Round Table. In normal circumstances, many considered him equal to Lancelot, and Lancelot in turn was considered the greatest knight of Arthur’s.
And even Lancelot would not find fighting Gawain an easy feat, especially on a clear, sunny day.
Under the light of the sun, it was said that Gawain became a hundred times stronger, so much so that under the shining midday sun many considered him unbeatable altogether. And so, for six hours a day, three at dawn and three before the sunset – Gawain was an invincible knight.
In other words, depending on the conditions, Gawain could be considered the strongest knight in history, surpassing Lancelot or King Arthur himself. Maybe even the two put together at once.
With an outstanding Master, possessing large reserves of mana, and, as Mashu herself believed, thanks to King Arthur's magic, the one currently ruling in Camelot, Galahad could literally be called ‘an enemy worthy of legends’. To put it even more simply…
“Oh…” Mashu once again uttered, quietly and internally, a ration which Galahad did not fail to support. ‘Yup, oh.’
A tall man with a proper charismatic face, with his short, slightly ruffled blond hair, when he’s fully clothed in armor, with a heavy purple fur cloak over his shoulders, padded with gold, Gawain looked the stereotypical Knight. In whose hands rested a prominent blade with a guard similar to a jousting spear or rapier, though far more massive. The sword, which seemed like a massive bastard sword to the tall Gawain, but would probably have been too big for Mashu even as a two-handed sword, approached on his steel-clad horse.
Moving unhurried and unafraid of the presence of the Servants in front of him, either not planning to start a battle – or, on the flip side, quite confident in his victory.
Mashu froze, unsure of how she should respond to the appearance of this new adversary, one even more dangerous than Tristan.
But Mashu need not worry, as Arthuria took the first step.
As soon as Gawain had come within striking distance, both to Arthuria and himself, she raised her hand in a commanding gesture, making a clenched fist. “Halt.”
Gawain, however, despite all logic, obeyed Arthuria's order, pulling on the reins, stopping his horse, after which he glanced at Tristan's dead body with an inscrutable expression on his face as he looked at his missing arm. He then started looking around the battlefield trying to find the cut arm, though he wouldn’t find it as it was literally atomized by Bedivere’s attack.
“Sir Gawain,” Arthuria took a half step forward before she gave a brief, shallow bow, acknowledging her supposed knight.
Gawain hurried to mimic her gesture a moment later, then nodded briefly at Arthuria’s greeting.
“My King… Indeed, I should have expected you to appear again, especially in this form.”
After these subtly threatening words, Mashu tried to position herself a little better in case she needed to intercept the knight, or for a surprise attack if needed, a move that wasn’t unnoticed by the knight. Rather than any adverse reaction, Gawain simply glanced at Mashu, before turning back to his conversation with Arthuria, showing his back without any fear of attack from his opponents.
“I'll tell you the truth, I was originally sent here to deal with you.”
After that, as if he hadn't uttered the threat out loud, Gawain only took a few steps toward Tristan's body, kneeling to take a closer look at the fallen knight. It only lasted a few moments before he raised himself back and turned around, revealing a deep wrinkle of contemplation between his two eyebrows. “Hmm, that’s… Unusual.”
When he lifted Tristan’s body, Mashu had to force herself to stop before she could attack Gawain for his abrupt action.
No one responded to Gawain's words and action, so after a few seconds of reflection, he only nodded briefly before taking a step towards his magical stallion and throwing Tristan's body over it before climbing into the saddle.
“My King, I was on my way to you in full readiness to fight.” Gawain said again, with a touch of sadness in his voice, as he looked into Arthuria's cold eyes.
“But there is a situation brewing that needs my attention more. The Hanging Gardens is on the move… But not to worry, after Semiramis, your turn will come, My King. Please wait for me.”
After that, without waiting to listen to any answers that didn't follow anyway, Gawain drew on the reins of his horse, causing the horse to turn on the spot and return to where he had come from.
Mashu endured a few dozen tense seconds, as she watched the Servant's receding figure in the distance, before exhaling, leaning on her shield.
“The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, at this moment?” Bedivere, whose voice once again made Mashu, who had forgotten he existed, look thoughtfully at the knight and then at Arthuria.
“A surprisingly fortunate coincidence, just when we were in no condition to fight Gawain… Amazing luck indeed.”
‘Do you think we should tell him that this luck has a name, and its name is 'Ainz's plan'?’ Mashu asked Galahad the question, causing him only to shake his head, mentally, in response.
‘No, he wouldn't believe it anyway…’
After that, Galahad was deep in thought for a moment, before coming to a conclusion. ‘But I think we should ask Bedivere his backstory now. I just wish we could do it more politely…’
“Bedivere.” Arthuria’s voice, however, distracted Galahad from his thoughts. “Why do you have Nuada's hand, and why does it shine like my Excalibur?”
There was silence among the frozen Servants for a moment, before Galahad sighed. ‘Or well, you can just do that, too.’
Comments
alassandro
hmmm, considering his body didn't de-materialized I'm guessing that tristan may have been given some form of battle continuation or something similar along with his inversion.
