~ Gilgamesh’s POV ~
‘I’ll kill him! This…this…FAKER!’ I growled internally.
The Grail will be ready soon and finally wipe out the weaker beings from the world, but this mongrel won’t get out of my way! Copying all of my weaponry and countering my attacks with them. It’s shameful, disgusting and undoubtedly hateful. For him to even cut my arm off is humiliating beyond what words can describe.
Holding the stump that remains of his missing arm, I kicked the lowlife back as I stopped the bleeding in my arm.
Falling to his knees in exhaustion, the Faker’s Reality Marble shatters and we were sent back to reality. Scowling with absolute rage at the pest, I drew a sword out from one of my portals and kicked the tired boy’s side.
Standing over the defeated teen I exclaimed, “It’s about time you died insect. Nothing can save you now.”
But before I could strike him down like the bug he was, A metallic hand burst out from my chest with a beating heart in hand.
Coughing out mouthfuls of blood I glared at the boy for an answer, only to be met with a face filled with shock. Confused, I turn my head slightly before my eyes widened significantly as I identified the bastard that attacked me.
“YOU! HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?!” I demanded.
The one behind me was the lowly Berserker that I had killed along with some other Servants and homunculus’. Not only that, but the others that I believed to have killed were standing by his side.
“You didn’t think it’d be that easy, did you?” He replied with… amusement? The nerve of him!
“That doesn’t expla- “, my voice quickly cut itself off as I stared at Caster with my eyes gaining a look of realisation. “An illusion? A mere illusion tricked me?!” ‘Ridiculous!’ I seethed.
“Such is the price for your arrogance O’ King of Heroes. Although, losing my arm was definitely not part of the plan. So, I’ll have make do with killing you as penance.” He growled towards the end.
Chuckling darkly as he pulled out his hand from my chest he said, “Karma’s a bitch.”
No longer having the ability to respond I simply faded out of existence, ‘I was so close! Damn you Berserker!’.
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~ Reyes’ POV ~
‘Ahhhh, nothing like the sweet taste of revenge to improve my mood.’ I thought in amusement before turning back to my little group.
“It’s over, time to move out.” I ordered them. Giving their respective nods, we prepared to move out just before a certain redhead cut in.
“Wait a minute! What’s going on, I thought you died.” He exclaimed before ending in a weak voice as he stared at Illya.
Sighing, Illya faced Shirou and started explaining, “We faked our deaths. We knew Gilgamesh was targeting us so we decided to launch a surprise attack on him when he least expected it and possibly weakest. Though we did end up running into some unexpected problems.” She grimaced as she glanced to my missing arm before looking away with a hint of sadness.
I just placed my right hand on her head in a comforting manner, after having the blood removed of course. I’m not an animal.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Shirou hardened his gaze at her and said in a serious tone, “I will save you from the Einzberns Illya, I promise as your big brother that I will. I don’t know why dad didn’t mention you before, but you’re my sister regardless.”
Illya had a look of annoyance before schooling her features, although it apparently went unnoticed by Shirou, “I don’t need saving. I don’t want saving. I never did.”
Looking confused he was about to speak before Illya beat him to it, “All I wanted was for my loneliness to end. Don’t you dare think that you’re in a position to save me or that I need saving. Unlike you, Berserker didn’t save me. He helped me, there’s a difference between the two. You want to save me for your own satisfaction that stems from your hero fetish. Berserker helped me escape my ‘family’ by making me stronger, you just want to do all the work yourself regardless of the consequence.”
“That’s not-“
“True? Tell me, what’s your plan in saving me?”
Pausing for a second to get the right words, Shirou began to speak, “I don’t know exactly, but I would get you away from those monsters that harmed you and protect you.”
Shaking her head, she replied, “That’s foolish. If you had taken me from the castle my grandfather would have activated a set of magic seals that would cause me to self-destruct. My body would eventually perish from the stress on my body if it wasn’t treated properly. And lastly, I don’t want to be helpless enough to need protection, I want to be strong enough so that it never happens again.”
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“What you would’ve done is damn me to death, and you would have failed to ‘save’ me” She finished with a hint of disdain.
Fortunately, she won’t have to worry about death anymore considering I killed the old fart and removed Illya’s self-destruct seals. I had also helped stabilise her body by training her since the problem was that it was too weak to contain the high amounts of mana she possess. Although, she still needs more training before she’s completely safe from her mana’s side effects.
With Shirou standing in shock, I simply leaned forward and said, “Wanting to be a hero means that there have to be people in need of a hero in the first place. But isn’t that what heroes try to prevent in the first place?”
When I was younger I also aspired to be a hero, but not the kind of hero Shirou wanted to be. He wanted to be acknowledged for his heroism, even if he denies it. I however, wanted to be the unsung hero, the kind that didn’t need acknowledgement and only pursued his goal.
I trained day and night to become a soldier, Shirou hardly trained in his life. I know he trained in magecraft but beside working on the basics, did he attempt to learn anything else? No, he didn’t. He kept cruising through life with no plan, no determined goal, and with no proper preparation. And being a hero means to go out and prevent people from needing to call for help.
Before he could reply I just turned around to face the others, “Get ready to move, the Grail will be destroyed soon enough.”
Everyone gave a nod in confirmation before dispersing, leaving me with the teen and Archer who came out from hiding to confront me. Though it appears that he’s not up for a fight.
“Hoo~? So, we meet face to face Berserker. I wasn’t expecting to see you again.” He spoke evenly.
Non-verbally I acknowledge his presence before he asks, “What now?”
Looking at the white-haired man I replied, “I’m leaving, I have no more business here.” Walking a few steps in the opposite direction I stop briefly to face the counter guardian, “Also, the next time you get stuck in a contract. Use Rule Breaker you fool.”
Blinking once. Twice. Archer just face palmed and began sulking on the ground. Uncharacteristic but not surprising, especially when one finds out they’re an absolute moron. Honestly, why couldn’t he use Rule Breaker, or even a Broken Rule Breaker, to free himself of his status as Counter Guardian. It literally has the ability to nullify magic contracts.
Archer’s stupidity aside, I moved towards the Einzbern Castle where we will be relaxing for the next couple of days until it’s time to change worlds.
Hopefully I’ll be able to find a solution to my missing limb there.
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~ A few days later ~
Lazing around with my companions on the couch, a blue text box appears in front of me.
[Congratulations! It’s time for you to move on to the next adventure! I can see that you got quite the group with you as well. I didn’t know you were a lady’s man.]
With my eyebrow twitching madly at the screen I mutter, “Damn ROB.” I then gathered everyone together as ROB transferred us all to an empty realm with a… mansion?
*DING*
[This realm is your own personal property, courtesy of me. Here, you will be able to store away anything of personal value that you don’t need to carry. This dimension will be accessible at any time; however, you will not be allowed to store anything, or allow anyone from your current universe in here until it is time to transfer to another world.]
“That’s nice, at least we have somewhere to call home.” I said to myself.
Entering the house along with everyone else, we took our time to explore the building and began to unpack our belongings and supplies before gathering in the lounge room to see we’ll be dealing with next.
[Ready for the next world? Great! Then just spin the wheel and prepare for some fun!]
Rolling my eyes at the overexcited ROB I just spun the roulette wheel that appeared out of thin air, which received various reactions out of everyone. Sella was cautious, Scáthach and Sella remained indifferent, whereas Caster and Illya expressed their interest. One more excitably than the other.
Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thuunk, thuuunk~
*DING*
[Your destination will be RWBY! Your goal is to participate in the war between Salem and the Hunters/Huntresses of the world and reach a conclusion before you can move on.]
‘Hmmm, well this’ll be interesting.’ I thought.
[Also, since you will have companions that will travel the multiverse with you. As of now, any universe your group enters, everyone, sans you, will be provided with limited information on the basic structure of the world and how it works. Note that only necessary information will be provided.]
After reading the panel, all the girls started to groan a little in discomfort before explaining what happened.
“Reyes, why do I have knowledge of a world called Remnant?” asked Medea, who recently began using my name along with Scáthach after the Grail War had concluded.
“It was ROB who gave you that information. It contains the basic knowledge needed to understand the world we’re about to enter.” I replied.
[Before I transfer you to the RWBY universe I need to know which of you will remain in the house and those who want to venture out into the new world. The ones that stay behind won’t be able to interact with that world and those that accept won’t be able to enter the house for extended periods of time. You may still use this dimension when on your journey but there is a limit.]
Surprised at the new turn of events I ask everyone for their opinions. Sella and Leysritt were the first to answer, “Reyes-sama, although I am thankful to you for bringing us with you, I would like to stay behind and look after the mansion while you are away.” Came Sella’s reply, shortly followed by Leysritt.
“I agree with Sella and also wish to remain here.”
Frowning a little bit, Illya pouted, “Aww, why don’t you want to come with us?”
Sella replied, “With all do respect Ojou-sama, I am merely a maid. Normally I would be concerned about your safety but I trust Reyes, Scáthach, and Medea-sama won’t allow any harm to come to you. It’s our job to take care of our master’s belongings anyway.”
Leysritt simply nodded at Sella’s explanation.
Accepting their reasoning for staying behind she walked back to my side and held onto my remaining arm as Medea spoke up, “It doesn’t matter where you go, I’ll always be by your side.”
Scáthach took a step forward before speaking, “As will I Reyes, you can count on me to be there for you.”
Illya just smiled as bright as ever and said, “Do you even need to ask?”
Looking at the screen I said aloud, “Well there’s your answer.”
[Understood, prepare to transfer in 3… 2… 1… 0…]
And just like the first time I entered the Fate universe, the four of us faded away out of existence with thousands of small blue lights flickering. The only ones left were the two maids who began cleaning the mansion while their masters were away.