202 Old Friends Reunite

"Everything is ready. Please use it whenever you like. I will be leaving now to check on Senpai. Just tell me when you are done and I will come to retrieve it." Mash said as she took several steps back from her shield—one that she had set up to allow reinforcements from Chaldea to come through the Leyline as they had done previously some days ago, and eventually leaving the room.

Seth simply nodded at her as she was passing by and got closer to the cross-shaped object with his open hand possessing the Command Spells raised in front of his face. The only thing he had to do was infuse his Mana into them and make use of the shield nearby to find the connection across space and time. Although it sounded complicated and convoluted, it was in reality something fairly simple.

It took a few moments, but the Kingslayer succeeded in finding who he was looking for. The only thing he had to do was to pull the distant feeling toward him, and that way, bring his desired Servant to this Singularity.

"As per your request, I have arrived and I am ready to receive your instructions, Master." Ruler, Charles Darwin gently bowed her head slightly once she appeared above the circle before directing her gaze to a blue-haired child who seemed to be going through a severe case of PTSD.

"And this is...?" When she took a step forward, he took a step back, adding more to her confusion.

"What's up with you now, Caster?" Knowing this would turn into a situation he did not want to take part in, Seth decided to go straight for the root of the problem.

Andersen regained his bearings as he coughed into his hand. His actions had been out of reflex, so there wasn't much to talk about. "I have some bad experiences when it comes to women with cow tits."

"C-cow tits?! And what's with that beautiful deep voice?"

"You base your judgment going by appearance alone?" The outburst in the background was royally ignored in favor of the next question.

"If only it was just that..." His muttering was low enough for even a Servant to hear, yet the small twitch of Seth's ears told that he at least did, though chose not to comment on it for the sake of avoiding a new source of headache.

"Anyhow. Darwin, this is Caster; Hans Christian Andersen. I picked him up on the streets and now he is my temporary Servant." The black-haired man wanted to do a simple introduction, yet before he knew it, hell broke loose.

""You?!"" The two pointed at each other with evident shock in their faces, before Hans looked at her up and down in a weird mix of smug superiority and disgust.

"I should have known a Heretic God wouldn't attract decent people. One just has to look at this absurd and insignificant crank."

"Excuse me?! Who is the sad human being that could not even separate their miserable life from the content of their books?! And are you not his Servant as well?!"

"I am aware of my shortcomings. Are you?"

'Why... What did I do?—Actually; never mind.' As Seth was silently lamenting the kind of situations he had to put up with on a constant basis, Ruler crept up behind him and started poking his cheek with her fingers and a pouty expression.

"Can you get rid of him, pretty please, Master? Instead of a useless writer who can only insult us, it is better to have someone useful like me who can help with our current problems, isn't it?"

"My qualities are there. You are just a bimbo if you fail to see them."

"Enough. Just stop it before my headache gets worse." He was beginning to regret his decision of putting these two together in the same room... with him in it.

"You, Ruler, I thought you were more serious than this. And you, Caster, I told you not to antagonize your allies or things would get unpleasant down the line." He had to bear witness to two adults harrumphing like little kids in obvious dissatisfaction.

"It is fine to unwind every once in a while..."

"We are all going to die in the end anyway, so what's the harm?"

Seth facepalmed. This was going to be harder than he thought at first.

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It took next to ten minutes for them to exit the room to where most of the others were. However, their expressions looked way too unnatural. Hans' was a combination of frustration and acceptance; Darwin's was of shock and a bit of sadness mixed within while Seth's was just helpless and tired.

In addition, the black-haired man possessed two Command Spells less, but it was such an insignificant detail that no one paid attention to it.

"We are done, little girl. You can pick up your belongings now." Seth said to Mash, who had been rechecking for supplies they might need in the future.

"Yes! Thanks for your trouble, missy. Your shield made it truly easier for me to come to help Mr. Grumpy." Ruler took advantage of the situation to find a way to escape from the things that had happened in that room, and she happily did so by patting Mash on the head numerous times like a dotting elder sister.

"A-ah... N-no. I was nothing..." Unused to such direct praise, the only thing the lilac-haired girl could do was blush in embarrassment while trying to form coherent sentences that didn't look broken at the very least.

"Stop teasing her already and let her get her things." Despite sounding irritated, this time Hans didn't insult her at least. Half the reason was that he got an earful just moments ago, and the other one was because she was apparently some fan of his.

Having someone who appreciated his works among Heroic Spirits was enough for him to at least not be a complete ass in their presence. That was also the reason why he decided to lend her a hand and save her from being teased to death by that cow demoness.

"R-Right. Thanks, Mr. Anderesen." With a quick nod of appreciation — even if she didn't necessarily consider Ruler's actions a bad thing — she strode off to recover her shield as the others got in a more serious mood.

"So." Vlad began. "I take it we are ready to depart?"

The Egyptian God hummed in affirmation. "Asterios, Darwin, and I are already prepared. As we previously discussed, we will form different groups to tackle the incoming crisis."

"While some of us will stay behind to ensure no funny things occur to our little base of operations, isn't that right?" Carmilla sarcastically asked for confirmation. When the idea had been proposed, she had been the first to offer herself the job. As her Class suggested, she was not suited for open combat. Not suited did not mean she wasn't able to, but having to get close to absurd beings that could cause great damage just with their residual attacks was not ideal. Saber and Lancers would have more luck with that since their base defenses were already high thanks to their Class.

"Certainly. We cannot let others have a go at us while we are away. Losing our footing here would be quite disastrous, after all." Khronos replied with a gentleman smile while getting up and approaching Seth before placing a hand on his back and tapping it lightly. "Us two, together with the Beast of the Labyrinth will tackle one of the Gods, while Lancer, our newly arrived Ruler, Berserker, and Shielder will go for the other. Caster and Assassin, meanwhile, will ensure nothing happens to Sir Mordred or this place in general."

Darwin narrowed her eyes at his declaration as her previous 'goofy' attitude vanished without a trace, clearly suspicious of the arrangements. 'This man... He is doing it on purpose, is he not? By separating me from Master, he can prevent a potential threat.'

If there was something she did not believe in, then that would be coincidences. She did not doubt that his objectives were the same as them, but that was not to say his means aligned with theirs. Naturally, she could not voice her suspicion in front of others. However, she did not have to. One look at the gaze her Master was directing at him was enough to reassure her that he was aware of his fellow God's intentions.

Since he himself did not object to the arrangement, she wouldn't say anything. Still, she would at least warn him to be careful around the white-haired man—even if that might seem like something unnecessary.

"There you have it." Seth moved his eyes from the obnoxious God to the rest of the people present. "This goes without saying, but you should all be extremely careful. As you are aware, Authorities are known for breaking the Laws of the World. Something simple might have a variety of uses depending on the creativity of the one wielding them."

"I agree. Do not also forget that they aren't the only ones we have to be wary about. More rogue Servants are present in this Singularity, so the possibility of them also making an appearance can't be ruled out." The watch on Fujimaru's wrist, who had been silently listening to the conversation until now, suddenly showed the hologram of Romani before proceeding to give them a necessary warning. The Doctor's serious face was enough to show that this was a matter that couldn't be taken lightly.

"Speaking of other Servants... you met one before, didn't you? Could you tell us what he looked like?" This time, the Japanese youth did speak; focusing on identifying their potential enemy, something Seth approved of, and he was sure Zhuge Liang would do as well.

The Egyptian God gave a nod before he picked up a notebook and pencil from the sitting Jekyll, earning a 'Hey!' from the Doctor himself. Ignoring him, Seth shifted to a blank page and quickly began to move his hand in a seemingly erratic manner. Ten seconds later, he turned it for everyone to see. "This is Ikarus, or at least my attempt at drawing him. Kill the bastard at sight, but be aware he as some means of escape like instant teleportation or something along those lines, so don't think he is dead until you see particles of light coming out of his body."

"Attempt, you say. This... how do I explain it...?" Romani had trouble describing what he was seeing. It wasn't a matter of it being good or bad. It was just...

"Holy hell. The realism is so life-like that I feel the bastard is going to come out of that thing. I think I can even see the pores in his face. What the hell." It was Andersen the one who best described it, though not so much with good words.

"I pay attention to details." Was all that he said, unwilling to elaborate further than that.

"What are the cow woman's measurements?" Andersen could feel not only Ruler's piercing gaze on the back of his head but also several others. 'Come to think of it, I didn't specify who. They might have taken it as if I was talking about any of them.'

"...I pay attention to the important details." His correction brought bipolar reactions from each one of the affected parties. Relief and discontent.

"Cough. Anyways." Trying to disperse the tense atmosphere, Romani coughed fakely. "I take it you guys are ready to depart? Not to put pressure on your shoulders or anything, but our scanners — who hadn't been able to pick much until now mind you — are going crazy right now. You might want to hurry."

"You just accomplished the opposite to your intentions, Doctor." Mash, who had just returned from getting her shield back, faux glared at him.

"Whichever his intentions were, the little man is right. We cannot waste any more time." Lancer gave a firm look to the white-haired man to prevent any undesirable puns. "The sooner we defeat them, the sooner we can return our focus to restoring this Singularity."

"Little man..." Dr. Roman seemed to have deflated at the comment, muttering depressingly about how it wasn't fair that it was always him. It got to a point that Da Vinci had to take the reigns to move things forward.

"Hey, hey~ It's your resident genius Da Vinci-chan! We have managed to isolate two different locations where the readings picked up the highest spike of Magical Energy. We will now send the coordinates to your communication devices, so be sure to look it up!" Just as she said this, her hologram shifted to give way to a map of London that showed two blinking red dots in different zones.

"So who picks who?" Arched asked while stroking his beardless chin. To him, it was all the same, but maybe not so for others.

"Which one has the wildest feel?" The Kingslayer asked Da Vinci, still not taking his eyes off the map.

"Well, I wouldn't describe it as 'feel' since we use machines to detect those things, but the more erratic one is the dot on the north." She didn't know if that's what he was asking, hence her words sounded a little unsure.

"Then we will take that one." He instantly said, and no one put up any objections, since it didn't really matter as long as they got things done.

"In the meantime, I will set up some defenses in case someone decides to take advantage and attack us." Once Medea confirmed everyone was ready to depart, she set out to make sure the house was a figurative fortress.

"We will be going first, then. Since our objective seems the farthest, we should head there early." Fujimaru also wanted to get things done as quickly as possible. He hadn't spoken to anyone about this, but around two nights ago, he started having weird dreams every time he went to bed, and a gut feeling told him it was related to this whole situation.

"All right. Be careful, and use what I gave you if you need to." The human Master acknowledged Seth's words with a nod. They didn't dilly-dally too much after that, exiting the house one by one.

'Good luck in your battle, and remember to be careful. Gods cannot be trusted.' Just as she was about to get out, Ruler spoke to the black-haired man through their Master-Servant Link, though her choice of words left much to be desired.

'I am still one, remember?' The tone, while not reflecting joy, still showed that he didn't take the trust part to heart.

'That maybe be so, but as someone who knows the intricacies of those holding Divinity thanks to my nature, I can tell. About that Authority which you don't have, yet still display qualities of. That is why I can trust Seth the individual, not Seth the God.' Someone like her was troublesome; more so because they both shared similar 'hobbies' when it came to seeing the truth behind something.

'Enough. That is a subject I prefer not to dwell in. Try not to get yourself killed.' He decided to end the conversation there with a mental sigh, but he didn't fail to see the smile of amusement Ruler carried when she finally exited the building.

"I suppose you should get going as well. We don't want to keep our little intruders waiting." Andersen gestured with his hands as if to throw them out.

"Aren't you going to help as well?" Jekyll asked while retrieving his notebook and pencil back from Seth.

"Idiot. I already told you when we first met that I was a simple writer. The things I can do, anyone can do better. If you want to see me die just say so." The bespectacled man didn't know if his irritation came from his own nature or because he didn't like to be powerless.

"Leaving his rude mannerisms aside, it's true we have to hurry. I pretty much doubt they will just wait for us while calmly drinking tea in the middle of the street." Khronos provided a sound argument, which was why he moved to the door after saying so, leaving behind an 'I'll wait outside' before disappearing.

"Now that we don't have that meddlesome guy around. What do you plan to do with that little girl?" Caster asked Seth was a more leveled tone than before while folding his arms.

"She hasn't left Mordred's side since she saw her condition, so it's best we leave her here. Besides, she is not a Servant, so while yes, she can be a good combatant, it's still not enough." The black-haired man could only offer an unhelpful shrug at his question.

"Don't worry. I will make sure nothing happens. I am also going to try to stop Saber in case she suddenly wakes up and decides it's a good idea to go and join the fight." Although Mordred could be considered to be a wild person; she still listened to him... sometimes.

"If you run into trouble, just ask the other Servants to slap her into unconsciousness. Assassin is good at handling females, so she will be a great help." That earned a cough from Jekyll, who was already aware of her background, and an eye roll from Carmilla herself.

"I prefer my girls being more... girly, thank you very much." She retorted, not even bothering to look at him, being more focused on treating her nails than to discuss with someone that was possibly — and hopefully — about to die.

Seth hummed a bit drily before stretching his limbs. He suddenly felt all the desire to go and fight, leave his body as if it was never there. However, he knew there was no running from this, whether he liked it or not.

"Well, we better get moving. Come on, Asterios. I fear that idiot will go by himself if we take too long." With a long-drawn-out sigh, the black-haired man addressed the 'invisible' Berserker to start their march.

'Wait. You still haven't answered my question properly.' Just then, Caster used their Link to speak privately to him, causing Seth to almost groan.

'98-63-95. There, are you happy now?' He didn't even wait for a response as he quickly went out to avoid having to suffer through these shenanigans. He didn't find it so weird that he preferred to go and have this battle than to stay there now.

"A demoness indeed..." His silent muttering was thankfully not heard by anyone.

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They could hear it.

The clouds spoke of it.

There was an unmistakable sound, a rumbling.

It was not only the thunder in the lightning-packed clouds that was causing it.

No.

It was the galloping of horses that rode the clouds.

It was the ghostly wails of the hunters atop their backs.

And it was... the Warcry of the Gods themselves.

They weren't here to sightsee. They were here to kidnap and plunder.

And yet, the Hunt had an order.

The ones that lead it, get to savor the action first. And this time, there were two.

One descended onto the ground in front of a group of five people in a carriage pulled by two stallions. Tall, regal, imposing, and with a singular gaze so deep and powerful that told stories of war and devastation. Two crows were perched on his shoulders. One with the color of snow, and the other with the color of night.

The other one crashed before a three-person group. Instead of horses, his carriage was being pulled by two muscular goats. He looked younger than his companion, with a mane of long, red hair, black sclera, and glowing yellow eyes and lines going through his face of the same color. His almost bare upper body was sufficiently muscular to look imposing, but the detail that shined the most about him was the lightning surrounding his form.

Two Gods were on his vision, and that couldn't make him happier, despite his face not showing it. As for the other one, he didn't even register him.

A blink.

It took only a blink for him to be in front of the physically weaker looking of the two. The only warning he left was the sound of thunder in his wake.

His fist shot forward, ready to punch a hole through him with the might of a mountain.

Yet, it was another fist that met his, halting his momentum and stopping his original idea in its track.

The sound produced by their collision resembled the clap of thunder, and the destruction below them compared itself to the result of a lightning strike.

A slightly surprised face met a furrowed one. That only lasted until their strikes lost all of their intent behind them, though.

Now, only two Gods remained staring at themselves with narrowed eyes as their auras began to increase to outmatch the opposite party.

Their Magical Energy surged so much that it began to take physical form. One was colored blue and it swelled erratically. The other was red with tints of black, and while more controlled, still gave a tempestuous feeling.

There was no doubt about it in the leading hunter's mind.

This was the greatest start to the Wild Hunt he could have hoped for.