Might Of The Sword Of Promised Victory

(Before I begin this chapter, I would like to ask anyone who reads this chapter what they think of a jump chain type of story. Feel free to answer this in the comments or by commenting on this part of the chapter.)

Entry 168:

Linus Ozias POV:

As I sat by the command tent and contemplated other means to use my magecraft, I heard Mash writing in a journal while muttering to herself.

"The true Roman Empire Army has started its attack. The United Empire is being invaded. Jing Ke already came back with intel. A city resembling Rome indeed exists in the specified location. This is the place Stheno was talking about. This is the real blessing from the goddess. Boudica and Spartacus of Gaul, along with Lu Bu and Jing Ke. An army commanding five Servants, including me. That is the true Roman Imperial Army led by Emperor Nero. It's a force that no standard army can match. Yet the United Empire force won't send in their Servants. There is no sign of any demon gods either. Every day, we advance further. We certainly have the upper hand now. The Imperial Army is marching toward the enemy capital with unbelievable momentum. In the meantime, I know we will do this."

"That is a beautiful passage, Mash," I say as I sit down next to her, to which she smiles and says, "Thank you, Ozias Senpai, but it is just something Romani told me I should do when I feel nervous or excited." I nod as Fou jumps onto my lap and lays down, to which I pet the good beast of humanity.

"Yes, writing one's thoughts is very therapeutic. I even do it myself when I feel like writing my journey down as I traveled across the stars." I say as Mash asks curiously, "What is it like in space, senpai?" I chuckle as she looks at me with bright and glowing curiosity.

"Space is quiet yet so loud at the same time as while sound cannot travel through space, I can hear the burning of elements within stars and can feel the formation of new planets as well as hear the lives of other nonhuman beings living their lives." 

Mash writes what I said down as I continue, "There was at one point where I'm at a race of aliens that were composed entirely of dirt mud and natural elements, yet the world was dying, and when they saw me, they asked if I could help to which I obliged and after they began to worship me. Yet I stopped them because what I did I had done with science and not magic."

Mash then asks, "Did they stop worshiping you after you asked them not to?" I shake my head and say, "They were rather stubborn when it came to that, so I did not force them to stop. While I can say that I never truly enjoyed enforcing my will upon others, even now, I can hear their prayers of thanks and excitement. It is a beautiful thing, faith."

Mash nods as she says, "Yes, it is as I have seen many times throughout history, thanks to Chaldea, how belief can change history, and I have the doctor to thank for that." Romani then comes on the comms and says, 

[ Mash, you are gonna make me cry, but do make sure to save the journal as I can make some good money off it. I am thinking of the title "Novus Commentarii de Bello Gallico. Huh, what do you guys think?]

Mash and I only sigh as I say, "Romani, wouldn't that be a breach of confidentiality? In addition to the fact that we will run into issues with copyright." Romani deflates on the hologram and says. 

[I suppose you're right. Well then, let's talk about something serious! Let's assume you guys could save the world. I thought about what would come after that. Even if the world is saved, the tragedy of Chaldea will never be reversed. In other words, there's no guarantee for our salary. You understand the rest, right?]

Mash nods as she says, "I understand its purpose now. In that case, I will keep this journal to myself. Regarding the war record, I will deliver it to Da Vinci later." Romani nods and signs off as Mash asks me, "So when you were traveling the stars, was it as amazing as you thought it would be?"

I nod as I answer, "As I said before, space is both the absence of sound and the overwhelming scale of noise, but in the middle, there was simply existence. It was something even I found amazing: a true balance of creation and destruction. It reminds me of the time I saw a meteor strike a dead planet, and within a couple of years, that planet regrew all of its life."

Mash then looks up to the sky with a smile as I say, "I could take you there if you want." Mash then shakes her head and says, "As much as I appreciate the offer, senpai, we have a mission to complete, and maybe once this is over, we can have lunch in space." The thought causes me to laugh as Mash pets Fou.

After that, we sit discussing various things like our views on magic and various ways Mash can use her shield, but the conversation ends as Nero approaches us and asks, "I see you two are enjoying yourselves. This is good. It is nice to hear that my officers can feel safe in my presence." 

Mash and I nod, but before Nero can say anything else, Boudica, who had arrived earlier, says, "Enemies approaching! To the walls, men!"

Nero growls in frustration and says, "And we were just about to have a nice conversation. *Sigh* Let all who surrender be taken under my glorious Rome! To battle!" Mash forms her armor and large shield as I take up my spear, Telesto, and we head to the walls.

But as we looked out onto the battlefield, I felt magic energy approaching rapidly, and the army fought less like a directed force and more like soldiers running from a beast, and yet they fought hard nonetheless, and with one look to each of the servants, they jumped into action, and I form my armor along with Ritsuka's. I gave Ritsuka the same sniper rifle she had earlier, and she took up a position with the archers.

Karna, Artoria, Nobu, Nero, and I headed into battle, and as we entered the fray, I immediately used this chance to practice my bending abilities from Avatar. With chi being so simple to use, I use Earth bending to launch waves of gravel and dirt at the enemies, crushing them under hundreds of pounds of Earth.

Then, with fire bending, I produced blue fire and sent a concentrated blast toward another group of enemies that soon exploded into a fiery blue light, and all that remained were dust and some molten metal. 

Then, using metal bending, I crushed the armor the enemies were wearing, and a group of them were sent into the air with their own chest plates crushing them. The force then liquified their internals, and they fell lifeless.

The display causes the enemies to quake in fear, with Nero taking advantage of their momentary pause to slice her way through the enemies as Artoria and Nobu fought back to back, with Karna remaining by Nero on my orders with Mash and Ritsuka keeping any approaching soldiers off the walls. 

The battle is rather short as their forces were rather thin in comparison, yet Olga comes over the comms and says [Enemy servant incoming and based on the magic levels, it's a berserker! Linus, Ritsuka, Mash, be careful.] I smile slightly at the concern as I see a large throne appear in the distance.

To be honest, the throne looks like Mad Max had a baby with a sci-fi fantasy movie, as the chariot was huge and bellowed green and black flames with spikes almost everywhere. The man riding it yelled in rage with his skin a darkened black color with white lines across his body and golden ornaments and swords being worn.

The mobile throne itself was pulled by a large elephant that looked like it was covered in purple paint and covered with white eyes yet glowing with the same green and black energy. 

I look to everyone and say, "Have the men retreat into the camp. Karna, I may need your assistance with this. Artoria, can you sue your noble phantasm?"

Artoria nods but says, "I'm going to need a couple of minutes to charge it, but only a few. Master, I need you to use a command seal." Ritsuka, from the wall, nods and says, "By the will as a master of humanity, I order you, Artoria Pendragon, to eliminate the Army in front of us and bring light to the darkness."

Artoria smiles as her sword begins to glow in a golden light. She lifts the sword above her head and begins to charge the blast. With one look, Karna and I rush the large charging beast, with Karna saying, "Master, target the legs at the heel, and it will cause the beast to stumble."

I nod, and as I fly left, Karna goes right, and with a few cuts to the elephant's legs, it stumbles as Darius yells in frustration, with the glowing yellow lights beginning to coalesce into a single glowing blade. 

The army that Darius can summoned began to focus on trying to get past us, but with metal bending, I held them all in place, with Karna keeping the elephant in place with continued strikes to its legs.

Darius begins to hop down and tries to strike me, but I summon a holy construct to defend myself. As Darius slams his axes and blades into the shield, it remains strong, but I then hear Artoria say, "I gather here the breath of the stars, a radiant stream of life. Take this! EXCALIBUR!"

I then teleport with a smile on my face with Karna behind baber and we watch as the blast envelops the army, the elephant, and Darius himself. The blast continues to fly across the land but then disappears onto the horizon, and in its place, a large Chasm is formed where the blast landed with me patting the king of knights on the back and saying, "That was amazing. Great work, everyone."

Artoria, with slightly heavier breathing, says, "It was nothing. I am simply doing my duty." Nobu then slaps the girl on the back and says, "Take the compliment, knight, as even I wish I could do that." I look to Ritsuka as she gives me a thumbs up, with Nero standing next to her with her eyes wide at the beauty of Excalibur.

Karna simply continues to look into the distance as Romani says rather fervently [ I would say a job well done, everyone, but now there is a giant chasm going across the land.] I simply chuckle as I walk toward the chasm, and I say, "Watch and learn, my friends."

I then extend my divinity of creation, and where there was once, nothing is filled with vibrant land in under a couple of seconds. I feel the Earth calm from the prior battle as it sends me a mental thumbs up. 

It's funny as I imagine Gaia looking like Kana from Dragon Maid. But as I turned around, I saw everyone, and even Karna looked surprised as Ritsuka said in my earpiece, "Oz, you are bullshit. I call hacks!"

While laughing, I say, "My friend, I can't be hacking if I'm one of the people who makes the rules." Ritsuka was about to say something, but she stopped as Nero rubbed her forehead, and Olga said over the comms [Linus, I do hope you keep such displays to a minimum for our sanity.]

All I can say is, "Sanity is overrated. Let insanity reign." Artoria looks ready to say something, but then another army can be heard approaching. As many chariots and horses appear over the horizon, I smile and see both Alexander and Lord El Melloi as if I were a fan of Fate Zero. I find the irony quite heartwarming as in Fate Zero, Alexander, in his older form, was the one that tutored the young Lord, but now the rules have been reversed. It's nice.