FGO Singularity [7]

Third POV:

"Athena! As in the goddess of war and wisdom?" Roman asked.

"She's also the same goddess who is said to have been killed by Zeke," Da Vinci stated as she narrowed her eyes. "Now I understand. The reason many of those here are connected to Zack is because Athena wanted to lure him out."

"Where are you? Where are you?! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

The figure on the throne yelled in rage. "Archtype Earth! I've gathered those close to you! I've hurt the humans you love so dearly! Why!? WHY DO YOU REFUSE TO APPEAR!?"

"So that army back there was your attempt at getting ready to fight Zack?" Medusa's face turned sour. "Did you really think that would work?"

Athena stopped her rambling and glared at the group, specifically the youngest Gorgon. "Medusa... curse you! Curse your sisters and your beauty! Curse you for unleashing Archtype Earth on us!"

Medusa raised an eyebrow. "I 'unleashed' Zack on you? Is that what you tell yourself?"

Svend immediately jumped in front of Medusa, raising both halves of his shield and blocked the spear that was thrown at her, sending the spear flying away.

"Guess she's not willing to talk?" Svend joked.

"Of course not. She never did," Scathach summoned her own spear and took a battle stance. "Gods may acknowledge they did something 'wrong', but they never acknowledge they themselves were in the wrong. It's one of the reasons they could never stay with humanity."

"Mash, prepare for battle," Ritsuka said and Mash raised her shield.

The black smoke around Athena changed shape and formed and armour and helmet with a shield on one hand. Raising her empty one, the spear she threw previously flew to her grasp.

Shooting forward with great speed, Scathach almost pierced Athena with her spear if the goddess didn't raise her shield to block. Medusa jumped over Scathach, leg raised high, and kicked down. Athena jumped back, avoiding the strike from Medusa. Looking at her opponent seemed to be a mistake because Medusa immediately opened her eyes widely as they began glowing.

The goddess was frozen in place and couldn't defend against Svend coming in from the left and smacking her in the head with the edge of one of his shields, sending her rolling away.

Jumping to her feet quickly, Athena immediately jumped away to avoid Mash, who came in swinging her own shield down. She dashed towards the Shielder as her shield struck the ground, the goddess raised her spear and was ready to stab the girl.

Only for Zaraka to suddenly appear in a flurry of leaves between them and block the strike with his own spear. The hunter struggled as the goddess pushed forward, only for her to be blasted away with a wave of green energy from Drasil.

The goddess jumped back to her feet and saw Scathach jump in the air. With a wave of her hand, several red spears shot towards Athena, who struggled to dodge but was still cut in a few places.

"You- Are you a god-slayer?!" Athena asked, noticing the wounds she received from Scathach hurt more than they should.

She didn't get an answer and had to immediately raise her shield to block the kick from Medusa. That, however, left her open for Svend coming in with his shields raised. Raising her spear, Athena blocked the strike only for Scathach to suddenly appear and stab her spear through Athena's chest.

Athena cried out as Scathach kicked her away while ripping her spear out, dealing even more damage from how harsh the action was. Athena rolled on the ground before she ended laying on the ground. After some struggle, she managed to raise herself to her hands and knees.

"Not yet... I'm not done yet!" She cried out before raising her hand and punching the ground.

Shadows raised from the ground before Ghouls began emerging. However, before they even managed to fully appear, a beam of light came in from the sky and erased them completely.

Drasil landed on the ground in front of the fallen Athena and gave her an emotionless look. "You're pathetic."

"Wha-How dare you, brat!? Do you know who you're speaking to?!" Athena cried out in rage.

"Do YOU know who you're speaking to?" Drasil did not give any reaction to the goddess' rage. "Well, let me tell you who I am. I an the Wold Tree, Yggdrasil. I am an entity the held the whole of the Nine Real within my branches. Do you think you, a mere goddess, have the right to speak to me in such a way?"

The shock was evident on everyone's - except Svend - face, especially Scathach. "The World Tree?"

"Impossible! There's no way you are the Tree of the Nine Realms!" Athena cried out.

Yggdrasil, however, did not react to her accusation. "I was there when Ymir took his first steps. I was there when Tiamat gave birth to her children. I was there when Chaos turned its gaze to this world and sent your kind here. I was ALWAYS there, and I saw it all. You gods have a problem of believing you can never be in the wrong, but when reality came in knocking in the form of Zack's beating, you threw a tamper tantrum and left this pile of lingering regret. All this because you couldn't accept that you'll get away with whatever you want anymore."

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Athena cried out covering her ears.

"Do you want to know why Zack didn't show up?" Yggdrasil asked while tilting her head. "Because you're simply... not worth his time. You're just a pile or regret and resentment. Even if you were the real Athena, you would still not be worth his time. Zack is a being who achieved what no being on this Heavenly Body managed to before. He became the apex entity. A true mirror of the planet. Calling him 'Archtype' isn't even accurate anymore. A mere goddess attempting to challenge him is equivalent to an ant challenging a Primordial Dragon."

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Athena raged before reaching inside her armour and pulling something out.

"That's a Holy Grail!" Mash cried out.

"If he won't show up! I'll force him!" Athena smacked the Grail on the ground and magical energy filled the entire area. Energy travelled all the way across the mountain, which began to shake.

"Roman! What's going on?" Ritsuka cried out while trying to keep his balance.

"T-The geography is changing! The mountain looks like it's tilting and-"

"She's planing to drop the whole mounting on the land!" Da Vinci cut through Roman's explanation. "That'll wipe out all life in this entire area! If that happens, it won't matter if you get the Grail! The damage will be too severe!"

"Hahaha! What now?! Are you still not gonna show up!? Arch-" Athena's calls were silenced as a red spear pierced her head.

"Annoying," Scathach commented as she pulled out her spear from the vanishing corpse. "Everyone, get back!" Yggdrasil yelled as she held up her staff. "The mountain is still doing as Athena intended. We have no choice. I'll use all my power to destroy it!"

"But that's still bad!" Roman cried out.

"Compared to the alternative, its at least repairable!" Yggdrasil said as her eyes glowed.

"Wait!" Zaraka cried out, making the girl halt. "It... It stopped."

The shaking had ceased, and the mountain stopped tilting. Everyone looked up... only to saw a giant hand made of clouds holding back the entire mountain by the tip.

"What's going on!? We're not getting anything on the readings!" Roman cried out.

"There is... a hand made of clouds... holding back the mountain," Mash mumbled, not quite sure how to react to what she was seeing.

The finger the hand was using bent slightly before flicking the mountain back. The mountain and the rocks that fell from it suddenly began floating back in place before they returned to their original look. The hand vanished as soon as it did.

"What just... what just happened?" Ritsuka asked, trying to make sense on what he just saw.

"He could have at least said hello," Svend mumbled while scratching the back of his head.

"Well, you know how he is. But, I agree he should have at least had the decency to say something," Yggdrasil shook her head with a smile.

"Shouldn't you be getting the Grail?" Scathach asked and that seemed to snap Ritsuka and Mash from their shock.

"A-Ah, right!" Mash went to pick up the Grail and placed it in the storage on her shield. "The Grail has been retrieved. Everything should start going back to normal."

"I'm still not sure what that was, though," Ritsuka scratched the back of his head before turning to Yggdrasil. "So... Yggdrasil, huh?"

"The World Tree of Norse Myth," Roman couldn't hide the bewilderment in his voice. "We met some big names in the past, but this one easily ranks amongst the top."

Drasil however simply turned to Scathach with a smug look. "So... still believe you're older, little girl?" She asked, emphasising on the last two words.

Scathach's eyebrow twitched but she refused to reply and simply huffed while looking away.

That was more than enough to make the smile on Yggdrasil's face widen before she turned to Ritsuka. "I apologise, but I'm sure you understand why I didn't reveal who I was before."

"Honestly, I don't think we would have believed you," Da Vinci stated, crossing her arms. "Meeting someone like you is... one in a billion chance."

"To be honest, I myself was surprised to see I was summoned," Yggdrasil commented before tilting her head. "So, do you have anything to ask before we vanish and you get sent back to your time? This singularity is going to disappear soon."

"Uhmm... why do you look like a little girl?" Ritsuka asked and Yggdrasil gave him a deadpan look. "Sorry. I'm just a bit overwhelmed and this is the first thing I can think of at the moment."

"I suppose that's fair," Yggdrasil shrugged. "To answer your question, Zack once told me that I sound like a little girl by human standards, so I simply picked a form that would suit that."

"Well, I have something important to ask," Roman's face looked both serious and reluctant. "Yggdrasil, World Tree that holds the wisdom of the Nine Realms. You said you are aware of our situation, so I want to ask... can we win?"

"You never spoke to me like that, Roman," Da Vinci complained with a childish look. The doctor looked at her with a deadpan loon.

"Leonardo, boast about your intelligence all you want, but even YOU aren't egotistical enough to claim you can rival someone like Yggdrasil," the genius just shrugged as a reply.

"Hmmm... your situation is very dire indeed," Yggdrasil started before smiling slightly. "However... your chances of victory are not zero."

"Not zero, huh," Roman smiled. "Honestly, that's some of the best news we heard since this whole mess began. I'll take it. Thank you."

Golden light began covering Svend, Zaraka, and Yggdrasil. "It looks like we'll be going now," Zaraka stated before smiling at the Chaldea group. "If it's not much to ask, can you try summoning me to this Chaldea place? I would really like to see his majesty again."

"Don't forget about me," Svend threw an arm around Zaraka's shoulder. "I definitely want to share stories about Meistari with you."

"Childish, the whole lot of you," Yggdrasil sighed with a smile before they all vanished.

The Chaldea group themselves were covered in bright light before finding themselves in the Coffins of the Rayshift centre.

"Welcome back, everyone," Roman's voice greeted them as they exited the coffins. "Another successful mission. Congratulations."

"If you excuse me, I seem to remember that Setanta is in need of punishment," Scathach stated before she walked out and began looking for her student.

"Medusa, can you stay?" Da Vinci asked as she came into the room. "I'd actually like to ask you a few questions about Zack. I'm quite interested to see how much of our history and mythology is actually related to him."

"I just know that every historian and mythology expert is probably gonna die of shock if they ever read our records," Roman sighed with a tired look as Medusa nodded and walked besides them.

"Zack seemed like someone really important," Mash commented before smiling at Ritsuka. "Do you think we'll get to meet him someday, Senpai?"

Ritsuka retuning her smile. "Honestly, I don't even question who we'll meet at this point."

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