145 The Confrontation Draws Near

After Seth's little stunt, the black-haired man had to hear complaints from both Archer and Caster due to his recklessness. Of course, they were royally ignored without a second thought. The Egyptian God even used his trump card to make EMIYA forget all about the incident. As for Zhuge Liang, well, a bit of information about his dream got him smiling like he won the lottery. That smile was creepy, though.

Regarding the last person, a bit of memory manipulation regarding the events was all it took. Seth knew with almost certainty that Fujimaru wouldn't complain or anything like that, but it was best to make him forget what happened. Just thinking about a clingy kid with stars in his eyes asking for him to teach the technique he performed to him was enough motivation to make Seth erase his memory partially. Needless to say, he never mentioned doing so to the two Servants.

Fortunately, Fujimaru was not wounded. It was more of some scratches here and there, so Zhuge Liang could use a healing spell to bring him back to normal, aside from his clothes that were a bit tattered. Nothing that a good lie about how he got them that way couldn't resolve, though.

...And as he predicted, the next day, hell almost broke loose when the Chaldeans — mainly Mash — saw the state of the two Servants plus Fujimaru. Archer and Caster managed to placate her by saying their Master had fallen into a hole hidden by some bushes before being rescued by them. Their appearance was because they encountered a group of monsters and managed to defeat them after a long battle. EMIYA sucked at lying, so Seth, who was aware of this, had to quickly kill some random monsters he found along the way with his new pet's help to give them to Archer to make his lie more credible. Fortunately, Fujimaru didn't deny any of this, despite being embarrassed at how he was portrayed as someone clumsy. Seth naturally came way later than them to where they were camping, and from another direction at that. It wouldn't do to screw the lie they spent so much time working on. Lucky for them, the Chaldeans believed everything easily... or the ones that even cared, to begin with.

As soon as Seth returned, the first thing he did was check on Asterios. The Minotaur was now adorning both of his arms, just like Medea said he would when she asked him to gather the ingredients. He had to say it; he was slightly impressed with the results. Coming from a mortal, no matter the era they were from, creating a potion able to regenerate limbs was something worth praising.

Naturally, that wasn't the end of her work. She did request a great number of materials. It was why it took him two whole days to get them while they relaxed like they were in some resort and whatnot. Medea created potions for almost everyone here. She gave one to each Servant that was to fight in the frontlines. Their main use was to give the user a temporary boost in strength, although it was to be used as a last resort, given that the body would feel stiff after the effects have ended.

To Fujimaru, she gave him a potion that would make him near immortal. She didn't mention how, just that it would be tough to kill him unless they really went for it. It was probably a regeneration-type potion that was not pleasant to the eye, and that's why she didn't disclose more information. She did say that he was not to abuse it, as the potion used his own cells to work. Seth was not versed in the field of medicine, so he had no idea how that worked.

As for the others, they seemed to be in perfect condition as well. Drake, who was the only human in the group, excluding Fujimaru and her crew, was also ready to go, proven by the smirk on her face while looking at the vast ocean. As she only used guns to fight, the pink-haired woman only suffered from some minor wounds, courtesy of Theseus' marine beasts. Safe to say, if she had opted to use her cutlass to fight face to face with someone like Herakles, she wouldn't be here right now.

'Any time now, we should be departing. Since I cursed Herakles, he wouldn't come to an island under any circumstances, or he would die. That means they will be waiting for us, most likely at the same location.' Seth thought, while observing the rest of the people around him from the corner of his eyes.

Everyone seemed ready to go. It also seemed that Atalanta had completely overcome her shock and gained enlightenment while he was away. She still maintained a considerable distance with Artemis, though. The Goddess' explanation about how she only wanted to protect her huntresses' pure love from bad men, instead of men entirely, did little to placate the green-haired woman. Atalanta considered it an excuse to mess around with the plushie in her arms.

Seth preferred to stay away from them. It wouldn't be wise to stick his nose into a matter that would, for sure, bring bothersome consequences. He did warn the Huntress the Artemis she thought was nothing like the real person, so he had done more than enough.

"Fou. Foooou, Fofo. Kyu?" As he was lost in thought, the white squirrel landed on his shoulder. The little animal liked to wander around, so he never saw much of him, almost to the point of forgetting it was even here with them. They also didn't get along very much due to a conflict in their methodology. That's why it was kind of surprising when it decided to start a conversation with him.

If he had to translate what it said roughly, it would be something like, "You are not as fine as you make it seem. Are you sure you are ready to fight?" Yeah, it was surprising the weird squirrel was worrying about him. Though perhaps that worry was not directed at him as much as it was at the others.

"...If you are speaking about my fall into Beastdom, I got that covered already. Evil of Humanity or not, I'm not too fond of the idea of becoming one unless it is absolutely necessary. Yet, I bet there some entities out there that wish for that to happen, so that they can have the excuse to kill me for good." Seth responded in a low voice enough for only Fou to hear. It wouldn't do any good for this talk to be heard by others.

"Fo, Fou..." The white squirrel gave him an unsure look. Seth translated what it said as, "It doesn't look that way to me..."

It wasn't like he didn't understand where Fou was coming from. His situation was a bit...special, to say the least. That was because, aside from him, another two Beast candidates slept within him. If he didn't have enough with his own troubles, keeping the other two at bay was not making things easier. "...I can't do much with one of them. As for the other, I will soon put him to rest. I just wish that can happen after we eradicate our current enemies and not before. Knowing my luck, however, things are not going to go as planned."

Sighing, Fou repeatedly hit Seth's cheek with its paw to emphasize his next point. "Fo, Kyu, Fou. Fooou." ...Which Seth translated as "Just make sure not to get the others involved."

Seriously, if it was a Beast, then it should really start acting like one and stop pestering him about the others' safety. He knew how to do things; he didn't need someone to tell him what to do.

Setting his inner complaints aside, he decided to make his way to Drake's ship. While he was speaking with Fou, the others had already started making their way over, so only he and a few more were left.

"Are ya ready, scallywags? It's time to get revenge on those guys for the beating we took!" What greeted him was Francis' shout of encouragement to her crewmates, although it came out weird, somehow. Despite that, every pirate responded enthusiastically. That wasn't to say they weren't scared, but it went to show just how much influence she had on their minds. In other words, a natural-born leader in her own way.

Their enthusiasm might not have been transmitted to the Servants, but it surely lightened their worried, if only slightly. It was something Seth watched with approval. He was of the mind that if you went to battle worried or with your mind thinking you might not come back alive, then you already lost. Bad outcomes can occur, but they won't be because he was scared of the opponent's strength, that was for sure.

"I just hope we will not have to search everywhere to find them..." Seth heard a voice coming from behind him, prompting him to look back. Turning around, he saw Stheno, Euryale, and Asterios.

"It won't be necessary. If anything, I can at least know where the Leviathan is. They shouldn't be that far from it." The Egyptian God responded to his surrogate daughter.

Stheno raised her eyebrow in half amazement and half confusion. "Oh? Do tell how it is that you know? Did you put a tracker in it before sending it to our rescue?"

"You have a strange sense of humor, but no, I did not. Behemot controls the earth, Leviathan the seas, and Ziz the skies. Although I am not the Ziz from legend, my Griffin form has a striking resemblance to it. As long as I transform, I can know the general location of the other two." He had tried to so before with Behemot with the intent to recruit him. Sadly, much to his misfortune, he was not anywhere in this world, unlike their marine counterpart. The vague possibility of it being on an island somewhere instantly went down the drain the moment he tried. Its power to create landmass would have been handy, such a shame.

"You are weirdly versatile, aren't you? Anyway, I have to thank you for taking the trouble of gathering everything Medea needed to heal Asterios." It was Euryale's turn to speak now. She offered him a pure yet kind smile that conveyed all her feelings. Seth had to admit it felt weird to be on the receiving end of someone's gratitude, but it was not something unpleasant. Maybe everything he had to do was worth it in the end...

"Yes... Thank... you. I... grateful." Asterios, as the direct party involved, also gave him his thanks. Now that he was whole again, he could protect Euryale better. This time he wouldn't be holding back if it meant preserving her safety.

"Don't worry, big guy. I quite sympathize with you, so I couldn't let you feeling all down. By the way, how is the new arm doing? Any trouble moving it?" Seth asked, receiving a nod from the Minotaur in response. Although it hard at first, he quickly got used to it and could now move it as he did before with the previous one.

"We should board for now. This place is giving me bad vibes. A few days here were more than enough." Stheno said while climbing nimbly on top of Seth's shoulders.

'If you are complaining and you only spent a few days here, imagine me who had to recover inside a dungeon.' Seth thought in exasperation. It was a nightmare for him, as well. Still, Stheno was right. The faster they departed, the faster they would get everything done. And there was much, MUCH to be done.

With that in mind, Seth silently boarded the ship together with the other three. Not long after they did so, Drake finally gave the order to depart. It was time for round two now.

Depending on who they fought first, the Egyptian God would have to fight as a Rider Hero or as an Assassin Villain. Be that as it may, one thing was clear. Gaia was going to cry.