175 The Start Of Another Misadventure...

"All right, kid. While Ruler prepares some Mystic Code for your use during Singularities, my job will be to rough you up." Seth stated to the other Master while folding his arms. They were currently in the Simulation Room to try and see if it was possible to make Fujimaru not be a sitting duck. A plain was the chosen terrain for now. Later, they would use harsher areas that required quick thinking to take advantage of them.

"Don't you mean 'train'?" Ritsuka sweatdropped a bit at this wording. He didn't expect him to be subtle, but he didn't have to put it like that either.

"Did I stutter?" They didn't have time, so they had to go for the quickest method: suffer and learn. Results would depend on the youth's adaptability. If he couldn't demonstrate rapid growth, then everything would have been a waste of effort.

"Okay, but what is that thing doing here, and why isn't it trying to make you his dinner?" Fujimaru pointed at the Chimera behind Seth, who was quietly resting with her eyes closed.

"I tamed it. Anyway, let's begin. The sooner we start, the sooner we will find out if this is worth our time." Done saying so, the black-haired man threw a wooden katana he had carved before for this practice session.

The youth quickly caught it, albeit a little clumsily. It was pretty simple and with no defined details, just an ordinary sword to practice.

"Before we begin, let us make things clear. This is by no means something you would learn to charge headfirst against a Servant. If I find out you actively tried to fight one, we will never do this again, are we clear?" The Japanese Master scratched his cheek a bit, indicating that he had thought of doing just that. However, he also understood that it was probably suicidal, so he ended up nodding.

"Next. In case you are attacked by an enemy Servant, and for some reason, there is no one to protect you nearby, you will only defend yourself and keep the exchanges to a minimum while retreating to somewhere safe at all times. Also, if the enemy doesn't actively want to attack you, don't show any hostile intentions for no reason, and just try to talk your way out. The other situations mean death to you, so we won't even talk about those." Fujimaru continued nodding his head, keeping everything he was saying to mind. It sounded reasonable, so he had no complaints. Although the last part left him crying anime tears.

"Finally, who can you use what you learned here against? The answer is simple: monsters. Skeletons, beast warriors, zombies, and humanoid monsters in general. Those are the first step. If you can safely beat those enemies, then we can consider going up the ladder." Needless to say, the rule of not actively attacking also applied here unless there were only a few enemies.

"I understand. But aren't you going to pick up one?" Seth smirked a bit at his question, something that slightly unnerved Fujimaru.

"I am not going to be your opponent, she will. After all, what better way to learn to fight monsters than practicing against one?" The Egyptian God, amidst the youngster's widening gaze, motioned for the Chimera to stand up, which she did.

"W-Wait a minute. You can also transform, right? That would be the same, right? There is no need to make me fight against that, right?" Seth rolled his eyes at the nervousness of his fellow Master. It seemed they would have to work on his courage first.

"Relax, will you? She won't attack you for now; you will be the one doing so. She will be dodging only while keeping her speed slow enough for you to have a chance at hitting her." Fujimaru visibly relaxed at that, but a new concern surged inside his mind.

"What about the form, though? It's embarrassing to say, but I will most likely be swinging my sword wildly without any precision at all." The fact that he didn't charge blindly and stopped to think of that was worthy of praise. Still, Seth had a counterargument.

"If you don't even know how to hold a sword, forms will become meaningless. Your body will naturally learn the hard way. Now, less talk and more action. After you finish, it will be my turn to attack you." The youth had the sudden urge to keep things between him and the Chimera for a little longer after hearing the last part.

The Chimera jumped from Seth's position and landed in front of Ritsuka as the said youth sighed in resignation. He held the handle of his sword with both hands while adopting a middle-level posture. The katana was pointing at the two-headed monster with firmness.

"Haaaah!!!" Fujimaru shouted and dashed forward with his sword raised. Despite the distance being a couple of meters, his slow speed made it seem like it took forever to reach the monster. With a roar, the Chimera sidestepped, causing Ritsuka to keep going forward and almost stumble.

Seth had the urge to facepalm really hard. "Don't shout! You are alerting your enemy needlessly! And why do you raise your sword prematurely?! You are practically telling your opponent how you will strike! Go and do it again!"

"Right! Thanks for the pointers!" Instead of getting angry or feeling shame from his shouts, Ritsuka took them for what they were, instructions to better himself.

Meanwhile, Seth was staring wide-eyed and with an open mouth at nothingness itself. He then observed his hands as if they held the answer to something. 'What the hell did I just do? What I just saw was so depressing to look at that for a moment, I forgot I shouldn't teach him anything and let him figure things out by himself.'

In the end, the black-haired man shook his head and began to focus on his own matters. 'Kid's got a knack for making people cringe with his performance, I will give him that.'

Giving one last look at the youngster, who was already chasing the Chimera again, Seth closed his eyes in contemplation. The fight against Typhon had caused some concerns to appear within him. The only reason Baal was able to match him was that Gaia was helping to reduce the influence of the World on them. However, that caused the reset of that timeline.

Normally, that would be a good thing. It would be as if the Singularity never existed in the first place. But, it was then that the problem arose. In the case that Beasts made an appearance in the future Singularities, the process would repeat itself. The end result would be the World simply erasing the timeline instead of constantly having to reset it, which meant game over for them.

That brought him to the solution he thought of. That was, create a Reality Marble like Archer or his student. If he could pull his enemy there, then he wouldn't have to worry about outside interferences from the World. Additionally, he could fight without worrying about anything. Ruler was right in her guess; he often has to limit himself while fighting in fear of harming his allies. Until now, doing that hadn't shown any adverse effects, and yet, he knew the future wouldn't be so kind as to keep it like that.

'I have always fought alone, and when I teamed up with the old bird or with Thor, they were never affected by the collateral damage I caused. The thing is, how do I go about creating one? EMIYA needs an Aria, but Thutmose did not, so I can exclude it. Next is... a distorted perception of reality. Yes, I have that covered. Lastly, an inner world, which I have had since I arrived here.' Sitting in the quietly swaying green grass, the black-haired man folded his eyes with furrowed brows as he looked downward in consternation.

Everything sounded simple, and it was for him. The problem was that every time he tried to call a Reality Marble into existence he ended up doing so with his Domain instead. Unfortunately, he couldn't practice it now since Fujimaru was near since a single mistake could outright kill him. It was a type of Bounded Field that didn't discriminate between allies or enemies.

That left him with nothing to do other than observe the youth as he went about his attempt at hitting the double-headed monster. He was panting slightly from all the chase but otherwise kept his pace. All of a sudden, though, his steps became slower as if the exhaustion that was breathing on his neck had finally caught hold of him. In consequence, the Chimera also lowered her speed. However, the moment she did so, Fujimaru quietly reinforced his legs before dashing in an explosion of speed.

Although slightly startled, she jumped back just as fast. The wooden katana brushed her white hair but ultimately found no target. Suppressing a sigh of frustration, the Japanese Master stopped his reinforcement and continued his assault as if nothing had happened.

'Oy, oy, oy. Since when does the kid know how to trick his opponents like that? His fighting ability aside, that mentality can be very useful for the future.' Such were his thoughts, oblivious about the influence he had caused on him.

Speaking about the future, he had maintained a short talk with Stargazer not too long ago. He had been wondering why he didn't receive a prediction for the next Singularity like he had been doing up until now. Despite it not lasting very long, mainly a few exchanges due to that stupid demon not wanting to disturb Baal, he had said something that put him on edge.

"No prediction. Just prepare to lose everything." Certainly not the most comforting of words, that's for sure.

Still observing the struggling Fujimaru, who had won at this point since the Chimera resorted to using more of her abilities than he had ordered her to, Seth released an almost inaudible sigh. 'Lose everything, huh? But... What do I have? I guess the only answer to that would be... myself.'

Another sigh followed quickly after. 'AAAAaaaahhhh... I wonder if I should hypnotize myself to enter a semi-dead state in case my sanity dwindles...'

With thoughts that would fit a mentally unstable person, the black-haired man decided to make the chase come to a halt. "Stop, Fujimaru. Rest for a bit before continuing. If you weren't able to hit her when you were refreshed, you won't do so now that you are panting."

The Japanese Master stopped, albeit with a little reluctance. His rear quickly dropped to meet the green grass beneath him. It seemed his body was happier than his mind about the momentary pause.

"You did better than I expected from you. If you want to learn something, you must keep that motivation you are showing in mind." The Chimera came to his side as he spoke, gently coiling her snake tail around him before placing him in her back.

Fujimaru observed the occurrence with weirded-out eyes, yet he still found time to furrow his brows. "It is a bit frustrating, though. Especially when I know I can't hit it even when it's obvious that it's not taking me seriously."

"The fact that you aren't pissing your pants while in front of her is impressive enough. I told her to keep a constant low speed, but you were able to make her ignore that just to not get hit. In a certain sense, you won. Nice deception, by the way." The youth was a little embarrassed at the praise. He accepted it with an appreciative nod nonetheless.

"Thanks, I learned it from you."

"Good to know." Seth adopted a rigid smile. The corner of his lips was twitching almost imperceptibly. He had to be careful with the things the kid adopted from him. One Seth was enough, the world didn't need two.

"So what now? Do I continue chasing it...her?" He corrected himself, remembering how it is that Kuro called her... although how the man was able to distinguish that; frankly, he did not know or wanted to either.

"Originally it would be like that, but after you showed me that little display, I came with a better alternative. We are going to work on your stamina while Reinforcement is active. You are going to strain your Magic Circuits as much as possible to the point of collapse, in which case you will stop." The orders caused a wave of concern within him, one that he did not hesitate to make itself known.

"Wouldn't that be bad, though? I am not an expert in these types of things, but overexertion never sounds good."

"Don't worry about it, I will knock you out before that happens." Seth waved his concerns off swiftly and concisely. As for the adolescent in question, he was pretty much resigned to his fate.

"That's reassuring..." His dry chuckle conveyed a different answer than his mouth did.

"Also..." The Egyptian God pointed at the grass below, and it quickly transformed into sand, causing Fujimaru to sink a little. "We will be shifting the terrain to make it more difficult for you."

"Woah! Since when can you do this?" Ritsuka asked while getting up and dusting himself from the yellow particles on his bum.

"I found out recently that I could alter some things to my will similar to how I use my Authorities. As for the inner workings, no idea. Anyway, that will not be the only thing we will be focusing on. It's not a secret that your reserves are not the greatest, and such can only allow yourself to let two of your Servants use their Noble Phantasms in quick succession before being left drained. That is why I have come with an alternative." His words certainly hurt the pride of the novice Master, but the world 'alternative' did sound enticing. Anything that could let himself be of more use.

"What is it?" He asked again, maybe more eagerly than he would have liked. Then, a thought came to his mind. "You are not going to transform me into something weird, are you?"

Immediately after those words left his mouth, an oppressive aura began to surround the space they were in. The Chimera threw herself onto the ground whimpering in fear. As for Fujimaru himself, he didn't feel that aura. To be more exact, he didn't feel that aura ON him. He was sure that if that crushing sensation were to target him, his heart would instantly stop. It had been an innocent question, with no negative connotations, but it seemed the other party didn't take it that way.

"Listen well, brat. The moment you decide it's fun to become something other than human, you can forget about my help forever. Not only that, I will personally see to that you don't become a threat to what you originally were meant to protect. Are we clear?" A whisper, a mutter, a voice so low that it reached the realm of the inaudible. Yet... yet he still heard that warning. He FELT that... that threat.

Yes!

His voice didn't come out.

Yes!

It still didn't.

YES!

Answer!

All of a sudden, the malevolent aura disappeared as if it was never there. Only then was he able to answer. His eyes, though. His eyes couldn't meet his. "I... Yes... I understand."

"Good. Even if your memories fade away, you should always remember that." Seth's voice was now more relaxed, without the previous age. It still did nothing to calm Ritsuka's pounding heart.

"...You... You are scary, you know that?" His mouth moved before his brain. However, his mind was too tired to try and find for a solution to make up for his blunder.

The Egyptian God dropped the theater and adopted an expression that if Fujimaru were to see it, he would label it as that of someone who had lived more years than they would have liked. "I know. And even if you don't believe it, what I do is for your own good. I chased for the impossible once and lost what mattered the most as a result. Who you are is a million times more important than what you want to become, never forget that."

Ritsuka's heart—no. His soul shook at his words. Images flashed through his eyes so quickly that he couldn't pinpoint any detail on them. Still, he knew what he said was not empty. Those words... they carried a power he could not comprehend. That he was not meant to comprehend.

While the youth was having a mystic moment, Seth gently tapped the talisman on his chest, causing it to glow momentarily before dropping five gems of various colors, gems that he threw in front of the dazed kid.

This sudden action brought Fujimaru out of his state. He observed the gems resting on the sand before him asking the first question that came to his mind. "What is this...?"

The Deity smirked slightly, no traces of the previous expression present on his face. "This, kiddo, is the alternative solution to your problem. Now, have you heard about Jewel Magecraft?"

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Seth quietly exited the Simulation Room with slow and steady steps. Fujimaru was being carried under his arm unconscious after his repeated use of Magical Energy and the physical training with the Chimera.

The youngster had fought with more motivation and unyielding will than previously if that was even possible. It was perfect for him since he abhorred people who did nothing to get what they wanted and simply expected for it to fall into their lap. He had clearly explained this to Fujimaru when he gave him those gems. If he wanted more, he would have to work for them.

"Nobu nobuu!" A strange sound interrupted his thoughts just as he turned a corner in the hallway. Looking down, he was met with the bizarre visage of a caricaturesque figure with big and round white eyes.

The weird creature also noticed him, and when it did, it could only shiver at his narrowing eyes why uttering a shaky cry. "Yabeee?!"

"This foul stench... The hell are you?"