Sakura & Demon (2)

"Nobuuuuughhh" An exaggerated cry resounded in the forest they were in after Nobunaga's action. That little Nobu seemed to be the only one in the area, as no one else came running to attack them. Still, Seth thought it would have been better if either he or Okita killed it. It would have been less noisy.

"You don't trust me, I don't trust you. Simple enough, don't you agree?" Archer huffed but made no further comment. By the looks of things, she thought along those lines as well.

Now all they had to do was take care of the Servants and Nobus to be done with it. Though... "Why are there so many of them? Are they your anger manifested or something?"

Not mentioning the ones that were inside the forest. From the outer edge where they were currently in, he could see an army of a good hundred thousand Nobus surrounding a group of Servants in the distance. Squinting his eyes, he saw a man in brown attire wielding a Nagitana and other numerous weapons on his back. The other one was a... raccoon girl? No... that was just the guard of her sword. The petite Servant seemed to be the leader of the two, so despite her questionable appearance, she could be a powerful foe.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Nobunaga snorted while Saber just sighed in exasperation. It was like seeing two brothers bicker with each other over who was their mom's favorite.

"Can we focus on the matter at hand, please? Any idea about how we can go about this? Maybe I distract them while you flank them? Or do you have something else in mind?" She feared they would be here all day if she didn't step in.

""Burn the entire forest."" Nobunaga and Seth answered in synch, causing both of them to glare at each other lightly.

"You know, you are oddly similar in some aspects." Her words brought no joy to the other two. Still, she was right. They needed to think about how they were going to kill that enemy Servant in the most effective way possible-

"Who are you? Are you here to take my head by the orders of another Lord?"

-Or not.

The enemy Servant had approached them while they were distracted, and with him, came an army of Nobus. Safe to say, there were a lot of glances of criticism going around among the three.

"Well, what about retreating and thinking on how to tackle this another time?" The idea was sound, Saber had to give it to Nobunaga. The problem was... they were completely surrounded and the tone she used to say that meant that she didn't want to do that either.

"Before that, I have a question of my own. Does killing that Servant solve the problem with these stupid things?" Nobunaga and Okita looked at each other and then shook both their heads.

"They are controlling him, not the other way around." Seth frowned at that what Nobunaga said. A wave of distaste ran through his whole body as memories of a distant time resurfaced in his mind. Unconsciously, his gaze went to the necklace hanging on his chest; a big part of his fall into insanity.

"More importantly, I will cover for you while you two retrea—Kugh?!" Before she could finish her phrase, the pink-haired girl fell to the ground agonizing while coughing blood.

This caused her companions to look at her with flat stares as if questioning if there was a limit to how much useless she could become.

Barely resisting the urge to sigh, Seth grabbed her by the collar, same with Nobunaga, who didn't wait to make protests about it. The enemy Servant, an Archer, understood their motives to escape — not like they were very quiet about it — so he nocked an arrow on his bow and pointed it at them.

"As the best archer in the Orient, I, Matsudaira Arash, cannot let you get away scot-free!"

'Leaving aside his definitely-not-Japanese appearance... so he is that Arash, huh? It seems Servants are getting mixed with people of Nobunaga's era. A shame, truly, I would have liked to face him at full power. Not like I am one to talk. I better not show much in front of this brat. Something is telling me I will have to kill her at the end of this.' With thoughts like those, the black-haired man stomped his right foot on the ground, causing the earth to suddenly shake terribly.

The landscape shifted at an incredible speed. Some surfaces elevated while others descended. As for the rest, they swallowed the Nobus between its cracks. Falling trees were also one of the causes for their death. if they had blood, the resulting sight would be a bloody one.

Meanwhile, Arash jumped to avoid a block of rock heading in his direction. Unfortunately, when he recovered from his previous action, the others were already far in the distance.

As much as he wanted to pursue them, the tremblors continued for a long while before stopping, and by then, the others were nowhere to be seen. However, as an Archer, he still could pinpoint their general direction, and that was enough.

"No one can escape the Tokugawa's wrath, insolent invaders. My arrow will always find you!" With that declaration, his Magical Energy began to rise as the tip of the arrow now nocked on his bow glowed a bright yellow.

...

With the group, Okita, who was still being carried by the collar, turned around with sweat pouring down on her face. "We have moved way far, but don't you guys think something is wrong?"

"...If his legend is anything to go by, then his arrow can reach some thousands of kilometers..." Seth added as he suddenly stopped.

"How is that humanly possible?! Is he shooting missiles instead of arrows?!" Nobunaga quickly got off from his grip while screaming incredulously at that information.

"Technically it's not, which is why his body met its demise the moment he let go of that arrow." The Egyptian God frowned a bit as realization set in. Attacks like those were usually nothing to scoff at.

"Which means..." Saber trailed off as she also came to the same conclusion.

"He is doing a kamikaze attack, yes. I bet his Japanese side is messing him up. Honestly, I expected nothing, and I am still disappointed. If I knew this was going to happen, I would have battled him directly instead of retreating."

"That isn't our fault! What are you doing to do next? Scream "I will never forgive the Japanese!" at the sky?!" Nobunaga's indignant cries were royally ignored by the other two. Instead, their gazes were drawn at the streak of light that was descending on their position and fast.

Seth looked at the recovering Okita, and then at the huffing Nobunaga. Despite having a very dangerous attack coming their way, they seemed to be quite calm. The glint in their eyes when they looked at him a second after was enough to know the reason why.

He swore the next time this happened he would simply walk away and let them be killed. It would take longer to find the cause and possibly resolve it, but at least he wouldn't be having to carry dead weight with him all the time.

Seth's eyes briefly turned golden as he swiped his hand sideways, generating a spiraling current of wind that soon enveloped them from all directions with increasing speed. He could have used Poseidon's barrier-type Noble Phantasm, but he was keeping that a secret for now.

The spinning vortex quickly rose to the skies under the awed-gazes of Saber and Archer. Strangely enough, they weren't affected by any pulling force from the forming tornado.

That was when it happened. The sound of a massive explosion reached their unprepared ears, causing them to wince a bit. Even though they couldn't see perfectly, they knew that attack had decimated and was decimating everything in the area.

They were fortunate that they had managed to pull some distance from the moment Arash released his arrow to the moment where Seth erected his barrier. That way they managed to avoid the impact zone. The same couldn't be said about the Servants he spotted earlier as they were in the same general direction.

The earth shook at certain intervals, and some of the residual energy from the explosion entered through the gaps of his wind barrier. At least, at that time, Okita proved herself somewhat useful and was able to 'cut' them before they provoked any kind of harm to them.

Despite the simplicity of the action, the fact she did it with her own skill was nothing short of praiseworthy. Although... 'Is it me or her sickness is acting more often than it should? I have a feeling that should not be the case.'

Leaving aside his doubts, he continued to power his defense for a while more until the reverberations stopped altogether. Only when he was sure they were safe did he stop using his Wind Authority.

What was before a visage of greenery now was nothing more than barren lands. It was kind of expected from a suicide attack, but it still was able to marvel his fellow Archer.

"Damn, isn't that unfair? Why can't I generate that much firepower?" Nobunaga complained like a child while taking in the sight of mass destruction before her. If she could, in some way, replicate and mass produce that effect...

"Do a suicidal attack and you just might. Go ahead, we will be watching from here." Her world domination plans were interrupted by the Kingslayer's voice, who didn't miss the chance to throw a jab at her.

"Whahaha! Nice try, nice try. Anyway, we should get going, the enemy is at Honnoji!" With that proud declaration, Nobunaga happily pointed her gun at the sky and fired as if to make a point. A poor bird that was flying by got shot in the head and fell above her cap.

Okita suddenly started coughing, although if someone looked with more detail, they would notice she was trying to hold her laughter, albeit unsuccessfully.

"There is no 'Honnoji' here but whatever. I also want to get this over with, so let's move. We are lucky Archer took the other group of Servants with him without the need for us to do anything." Seth said, bringing the topic at hand once more. That didn't stop his mocking look, which only increased once he saw her twitching lips.

To avoid further embarrassment, Nobunaga decided to lead the charge, something the other two didn't complain about. For once that she was actively doing something, neither Seth nor Okita would intervene. Besides, it was not like Seth knew where to go... or what they were looking for.

He doubted simply killing the Servants would solve anything, and what better person to know what to do other than the one who caused the mess herself. That said, he would watch his back for any hidden knives.

Not to mention, he wasn't the only Divine presence here. He couldn't pinpoint a direction due to the distance, but the earth itself was telling him of these presences.

They were two in total, and Seth felt a certain sense of familiarity with them. One was in the true sense of the word, family. However, that person was not resonating with his Authorities, but with the ones he had stolen, Typhon's and Poseidon's. With that little information, it didn't take a genius to figure out who that person was.

'Give me a break...' It was one after the other with that matter, wasn't it? In case something went wrong, it was best to take this matter as secretly as possible from Chaldea. He had been keeping his communicator turned off in the meantime, and it will most likely be that way until he solved that particular problem.

As for the other... 'Damn it. Him again? Last time I fooled him to avoid a confrontation I knew I would lose. This time I don't know if it will be the same, but considering the pattern with Arash, he won't be 'him' exactly. Although, if I think about it, it can be a good way to test the powers Nobunaga isn't revealing. And to see if my Trickery Authority is enough to hide my Divine Trait from those damn chains.'

They continued walking for a good couple of hours, making small talk along the way. Nobody revealed crucial information, though. It was a sort of mind game to see who made a mistake first. Unfortunately for the poor Okita, she was caught in the middle of it.

Eventually, they arrived at an arid zone, where two Servants were waiting for them. One of them Seth recognized as Darius, the Servant Jeanne and Jalter fought in Rome, while the other...

'There is no mistake. Aside from the obvious physical differences, she is Medusa all right.' Seth thought while pinching the bridge of his nose. He could practically see the enormous headache incoming. But well, a promise is a promise. It was certainly easier than defending Humanity while being crippled, that was for sure.

It was going to be a tough situation to resolve, nonetheless...