Trust And A Saint's Requiem

(I apologize for the lack of chapters for this week, as my work has become short-handed over the past month. So, I have had to work longer shifts, and usually, I'm working 7 or 6 hours a day. Now, I'm working consistent 8-hour shifts. I will try to get out a chapter a day at least, but I apologize if I'm unwilling to keep that promise.)

Entry 147:

Linus Ozias POV:

I believe I may have broken our resident dragon slayer as well. He did agree to join our little Mary band. He hasn't spoken a word and has just been staring at me while Jeanne is giving him a knowing look. Siegfried breaks the silence and asks, "What are you? I have felled many beasts of great power, yet compared to them, they seem little  more than newborn babes."

I shake my head and say, "You already know who I am. I am Linus Ozias, and I am a bit more than the average magus." I hear Tamamo snicker as I continue walking. Currently, we are on our way to Orleans since we have pretty much all we need to take care of our resident witch.

Unlike in the original timeline, where they would have had to search for Saint George in order to heal Siegfried of the curse, I am here, so that curse was easily ridable. While this may cause some confusion later down the line, I'm pretty sure we'll meet that Saint eventually if we don't summon him ourselves eventually.

However, there is one being in this Singularity I do not want to meet: yandere dragon Kiyohime. Because while I myself am a fan of the yandere, when I read about it in real life, it sounds terrifying, and I would rather not have my loved ones under threat by a woman attempting to monopolize me.

Although from what I remember, that dragon girl is only like that because of the monk who originally broke the promise to her; I am not a fan of being burned alive even if the flames would not even be able to harm me at this point.

The sun then begins to set, and we make camp as I ask Siegfried, "Siegfried, may I be able to ask for a light spar to test myself?" The dragon slayer nods as he looks rather interested, and as I direct him towards my residence, his eyes go wide as my house, while looking normal on the outside, is literally a small world on the inside.

As I direct us to the training field, which is lined with vibranium and proto-adimantium, I take out my own version of Balmung as I ready myself. Soon enough, as the coin I had flipped into the air landed on the ground, we both rushed toward each other, our swords drawn.

While the sword's general make is the same, I decided to learn from the person who has wielded it nearly all his life. As our blades clash, causing minor tremors as we feel each other out, I can feel myself progressing little by little, and while my growth in power is small, my skills grow by the second.

With all of my essences stacking upon each other, my potential is limitless. My ability to learn due to my empowering charges is higher than that of a multiversal-level champion. While he has wielded a sword for a long time, eventually, a mistake is made.

*Clang*

*Slash*

*Discombobulate*

*Whoosh*

*Crash*

"AHHHHHH!" Siegfried yells as my blade strikes him across the chest and his sword falls as I pick it up in a scissor-like fashion, I hold both swords to his neck, and Siegfried smiles as he says, "I yield."

I then healed him. Standing up and taking his sword, he asks, "If I may ask, master what was the reason for this spar?" I shrug and say, "There was really no deeper meaning behind this as I simply just wish to test your skills, but there was an inkling of a fact that you do not trust me, and while I understand one spar, I may not do much I simply wish to help you understand that even though I may not be candid about what I truly am, know that it is not a threat to humanity."

It seems to give the dragon slayer pause, but he nods as he says, "I can understand the need for secrecy, especially in the times we live in now, but do know that from what I've seen of your companions, even if you have not been together for a decent amount of time they do trust you, and it would be a disservice to keep them in the dark."

Ah yes, such duty is why I did like this guy in the original Fate Apocrypha anime series, as this man was honorable until the end. I Smile as I heal the rest of his wounds, and I say, "I do not plan to keep them in the dark for much longer, but do feel free to ask if you wish to spar again."

The dragon slayer then smiles as we leave the training field and find our resident eggplant and best saint sitting by the fire with the queen and Mozart, regaling them of their stories when alive, although the queen is trying to simultaneously learn modern slang.

"So they refer to friends as homies in the future? Okay… Well then, wassup my homies! It's time to get this bread!" I cannot shrink further into the ground as the others look at the former queen of France in almost pity.

"Well? How did I do?" Marie says while I smile and immediately respond, "It was a valiant attempt, your Majesty, but your normal way of speech is perfectly okay, very elegant, I might add." This then causes the queen, who, by the way, is barely taller than five foot two, to stand and say, "Of course, my normal way of speech is elegant, for I am the exemplification of elegance."

We all nod to avoid her trying to speak in modern slang again in order to not die of cringe. But before anything else can happen, I feel a presence entering the bounded field I have set up along with the others as they prepare for battle.

Soon enough, a figure exits the tree line, and it's Saint Martha, the berserk rider belonging to Jalter, but before we can attack, She states, "Hold! I come in peace for the moment."

We stop as I ask, "And what does the rider that works with Jalter seek from us?" The woman then says, "The witch has not sent me here for any specific reason other than to follow you, but I have been refusing her orders as best I can. I am about to lose myself to the madness enhancement, and I do not want to lose myself to a false saint."

The woman then asks, "I ask you all to end me in honorable combat as I will also seek to test all of you. Well, you may be powerful. The witch rides upon one of the strongest dragons, and without surpassing me, you cannot defeat her. Now arrive the beast of Levithan, Iron Dragon Tarasque!" 

A large turtle-like dragon appears with a large shell of dark red adamantium (magic kind, not MCU kind), a sword-like tail, and two horns upon its head as it walks on six legs. It gives a loud roar as I disable all of our capsule homes and place them back in our inventory.

The queen then says, "This is perfect. Let me show all of you my elegance in combat. Mozart, back me up!" Mozart then sighs as he activates his Noble Phantasm, which leads to a version of "Requiem" being played on multiple instruments that disorient both Martha and her dragon as I take the opportunity to separate Martha from the dragon.

I dragged the woman through the forest as I simply asked, "You do know I can separate the contract, right?" The woman's eyes go wide as she looks almost sad as she says, "While in a heartbeat I would take that deal, I cannot as before you had arrived, the witch had made us commit many atrocities, and as a saint, I deserve my punishment, and while I'm simply a copy of the original you deserve much better than me honor me with a glorious death."

The madness enhancement then takes hold of the woman as her eyes go feral, and she rushes at me using a lesser version of Jacob Limbs, a martial art created to fight on par with angels. But in her berserk state, her moves hold no value, nor do they hold no weight, for they are only directed by madness.

Punches and kicks are thrown as entire trees are uprooted as I dodge and weave through her strikes, which seems to rather upset her, and in all honesty, I am simply distracting her long enough for the others to deal with the dragon, and with Siegfried there, the dragon should be going down pretty soon.

She then attempts to punch me in the gut, but I dodge and kick her across the face. Using the momentum of my kick, I jump into the air and slam her into the ground. I then tossed the woman away, and when she was in the sky, I grabbed her by the face and dragged her along the ground.

As she attempts to fight back, they weaken as I repeatedly disable each part of her body as painlessly as possible, and then in a couple of minutes, she lies there, unable to move but still willing to fight.

I simply sigh as I state, "May we meet again, Saint Martha, and may the light guide you." I then blast her with Holy Light after throwing her into the air, and as she disappears into golden particles, her dragon is felled by Siegfried as I hear the beast roar its final breath.

Before she disappears, I see a faint smile as I hear her whisper, "It would be my honor to join you. May we meet again." In all honesty, I will be able to keep that promise since I have defeated her. My Throne of Heroes had unlocked her door, and now I could summon all of her versions, even the one I had just defeated.

Mozart's song ends as the fight concludes I hope the music puts Martha to rest as I look through the new abilities I have just gained.

To put it more simply, once I defeat or hold a decent relationship with a servant, I am able to access nearly every version of themselves unless another version of them is so different from the original. Specifically, if a servant has an alter ego, I will be unable to use that Alter Ego until I defeat them or hold a relationship with them.

Yes, it is rather overpowered as right now, I can call upon every servant I have defeated to install them upon myself, similarly to class cards, which allow a person to take on the abilities of that servant. So, currently, I can access a decent number of servants' abilities.

Regarding alter servants, they have their own set rooms in the Throne of Heroes, so when I defeat an alter version, I gain the ability to use each individual alter class.

To give an example, since I have defeated Artoria Alter in her saber form, I can access her abilities in her saber form but not her lancer form. As it seems for alter servants, I have to defeat them individually. This does make some sense as they are from different points in a servant's history and are possibilities rather than genuine versions of the heroic spirit.

Although it feels like a cop-out to keep me from accessing a version of the Spear of the End, I have a feeling I will meet a lancer version of the King of Knights soon enough.

For now, I return to camp and see the dragon disappearing into golden particles similar to his master. I see the queen standing on top of the beast as it disappears and falls onto the ground.

Currently, in terms of servants, we have defeated the assassin and rider servants. Jalter still has her saber,beserker, lancer, archer, and caster. But I still have a bad feeling that I'm going to meet someone who's going to be a rather annoying presence.

General POV:

As our Intrepid main character returns to camp and thinks these thoughts, a green-haired girl traveling alongside a pink-haired Gothic loli sneezes as she thinks, "Someone is thinking of Kiyohime. I wonder who? Oh, it must be my Anshin! Yes, we will meet again, my love! And nothing will stop Kiyohime from taking you away from here!"

The pink-haired girl says as they walk towards Orleans, "Dragon girl, do you sense that?" The green-haired girl then says, "Yes, annoying pink hair. I sense the faint traces of a battle not far from here. We should go investigate."

Both girls do not agree with one another, and they don't get along, but they do agree on some points.