BXBX NOVEL Chapter 91 - The Third Day.
The area was foggy, which didn\'t provide any clear vision. The platinum color was the only thing that was clear while everything seemed to be scattered around without any reason. It was a completely chaotic world with no rules at all.
"Hm? Where am I?" Ritsuka opened her eyes at this platinum space as she couldn\'t remember how she arrived at this place.
"Is this a dream?" Looking around, Ritsuka couldn\'t find another explanation, except this and she\'s now crazy.
After the talk with Leo, she went back to her room to sleep. And why didn\'t she go to Nero? She doesn\'t remember what happened and her instinct tells her that\'s a bad idea.
Suddenly, a bright light flashed as it cleared all the fog and the platinum was replaced with a golden color before a person appeared.
His face or shape wasn\'t clear, except he had six white wings on his back and a golden halo.
The person with wings didn\'t move, even if his wings were cracked and started to fall down.
That seemed for Ritsuka like a star falling from the sky as a golden meteor fell from the sky and landed somewhere in a dark pit of mud without any light shining around.
The person didn\'t move even in these conditions, however, his wings started to turn black and his halo became faint before two horns appeared on his head.
At that moment, green lines appeared from the black mud as they reached the person before he flinched. More and more lines and threads arrived at him until the person stood up and shook open his pure black wings.
However, his faint halo recovered as it seemed more different than the previous one, even if Ritsuka couldn\'t see it clearly, but somehow, she felt the person was more… Alive?.
The mud was trying to circle around the person, but the light around burned this mud as it revealed a clear world, which had a blue sky and green forests.
Ritsuka couldn\'t help but think this is the normal human world, but it was so old into the ancient era.
"An angel?" Ritsuka wasn\'t completely sure, however, she didn\'t have that much time to think as the angel started walking.
His clothes changed into a black and red robe and his wings were hidden, however, Ritsuka wasn\'t able to see his face, even if she had an idea about his identity.
For Ritsuka, that action was very casual like the person experienced them a lot of times and he\'s just doing something regular.
The scene started to change like the fast forward button was pushed. Clouds were passing around quickly with every step the angel took as in the surprised eyes of Ritsuka, some trace of civilization appeared.
Ritsuka knew this was a very ancient era, which was in the B.C. era. Green lines and threads appeared from the civilization as they crossed the sky, but the angel didn\'t care about them.
Then the scene kept changing. Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, civilization after another passed in front of Ritsuka\'s eyes as the green lines filled the sky and started to ooze a black mud.
More and more black mud oozed from the lines as it started to fill the surrounding before it became a flood drowning everything. Ritsuka tried to back away, but she found that the black mud didn\'t touch her, which increased the idea that this is just a dream.
The whole world with everything that Ritsuka saw, was drowned in the black mud as it became a large ocean extending to the horizon. The angel was standing on top of it as a red drawing with ten spots appeared behind him. Ritsuka felt her eyes hurt just from staring at it.
The angel finally stopped walking as it seemed for Ritsuka that he crossed a journey around all this world. His wings had some extra colors, but they were very faint.
Raising his hand, the countless green threads gathered around the angel before his lips moved slightly.
"7 knots in 7 ropes… what comes and goes… Eh?" These words came to Ritsuka\'s mind suddenly before she widened her eyes because the green threads ignited on fire.
The whole ocean of black mud started to burn as it became a blazing inferno extending to the horizon. God knows where this burning hell reached, but Ritsuka couldn\'t care more because she wasn\'t in a good condition.
At this moment, Ritsuka held her head in pain because of the amount of things that appeared in her mind.
Greed, desires, sins, maliciousness, hatred, killing, killing, killing, killing. These thoughts rushed into Ritsuka\'s head as they were burning under the green lines and becoming an eternal hell.
After a few seconds, the flames turned blue as everything vanished in front of Ritsuka, except an angel standing there.
Meanwhile, at mount Endou where Leo\'s mansion is hidden. The sun rose as the third day of the Holy Grail War arrived.
In one of the rooms, Ritsuka woke up suddenly as she was sweating and pale. She put her hand on her chest while breathing heavily and couldn\'t stop for a while.
Lying down on the bed, Ritsuka put her hand on her forehead as she closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, but she couldn\'t because everything was so real.
"Were those Lucifer\'s memories?" Ritsuka opened her eyes as she took more deep breaths before remembering something about Servants and Masters.
Masters and Servants share a deep mental connection, so it has been observed that both can see visions of each other\'s pasts in the form of dreams. It is a known phenomenon said to have widely occurred in the Holy Grail wars. However, Ritsuka couldn\'t understand why this happened to her.
Although she doesn\'t want to say it, she can\'t provide Leo with any mana because of his huge consummation and he didn\'t even need it with his independent manifestation skill. So, her link with Leo isn\'t all that strong to view his memories or something like that, except…
"Is it because of this... " Ritsuka looked at her command seals that showed some information and a card.
The information was saying \'Bond-level\' while showing some information about Leo. The card was very confusing for Ritsuka because it said (1/3) and it\'s split into three parts in the image place. The other two were black and the only visible side was a destroyed place ignited on blue flames with faint seven dragons in the background.
"Empty Future, huh… Is this why Lucifer was talking about the edge a lot?" Ritsuka smiled wryly when she remembered that Leo diagnosed his state as a severe case of edginess.
"Anyway…" Ritsuka closed the interface of her command seals before she tapped her face. She needed to wake up and prepare for another day in this war, even if she couldn\'t do anything.
Jumping from the bed, Ritsuka went to wash before trying to find her way out in this mansion of pranks. However, she didn\'t notice that when she closed her command seals, her magic circuits glowed dark blue for an instant before returning to normal.
After finishing, Ritsuka went into the only place she could feel Leo\'s mana in. She tried to avoid all the beasts in this mansion because they will try to prank her, especially Diochu and SCP-999.
"Hm?" Suddenly, Ritsuka reached the place, which was the kitchen as she heard some voices inside before opening the door, but what she saw was… A battlefield.
Nero was leaning her head on her arms while her face had a clear unhappy expression, even if her eyes betrayed her with their sparkling when she looked at the battle in the kitchen.
Ritsuka saw the other master beside her here, Rin, lying her head on the table. She seemed to have given up on something.
Fou was moving around as he seemed to wait for something.
However, the biggest problem was…
ゴゴゴゴ
Leo was crossing his arms with a serious face as some purple text was floating around him, which made him somehow scarier in Ritsuka\'s eyes.
"...." Leo\'s face was so serious, more serious than fighting with Solomon while looking at the two fighters in the kitchen.
Ritsuka followed his gaze to see something weird. Archer was cooking against an octopus in a chef outfit, but how did this look like a real battle between life and death?.
"Hm? It\'s a pleasure to have you here" Leo said seriously and formally that made Ritsuka more uneasy.
"Um… What is happening here" Ritsuka asked before she saw Nero looking at her with a displeased look.
"A battle to determine everything… " Leo said as he looked at the two chefs cooking.
It was in the morning, Archer was walking with his master, who wanted to talk to Ritsuka, but then he saw the octopus chef cooking and tasted it. Even if servants don\'t need to eat or sleep, Archer felt something in his soul hurt after feeling that this octopus surpassed him, so this battle started in the eyes of the helpless Rin.
Leo and Nero came after a while to join the judging table. Nero was complaining about everyone leaving her singing show as Leo ignored as he was sighing about if this or hearing her singing is worse.
Thankfully, Nero was distracted easily by this competition as she decided to be the judge and Leo entered a menacing mode before joining her.
Rin was giving up on everything as her servant was fighting a cartoonish looking octopus in cooking.
"There you are!!" Suddenly, Rin raised her head when she heard Ritsuka before jumping towards her.
"Eh?" Ritsuka backed away a little because of Rin\'s flaming eyes.
"You\'re also a master, then face me seriously!" Rin said while pointing at Ritsuka, which made her more confused.
Leo glanced at this scene before looking at the cooking battle. Nero was also focused on the cooking battle because she wanted to be the judge on this.
"Now, tell me your motives for taking me as a hostage" Rin, who woke up in the mansion of Satan, didn\'t know what\'ll happen to her, even if Archer told her it was pointless to worry because their power simply isn\'t enough.
She knows that Archer and her can\'t beat three servants alone, especially with the so-called Satan there. She still can\'t believe that the Holy Grail can summon Satan, but that doesn\'t stop her from being wary of 7 giant dragons that covered the sky.
"Eh? Isn\'t this a war?" Ritsuka showed a confused expression before she said " You, as a master, is a target for other participants, so we have all the reasons to kidnap you. It\'s not like you want to fight fairly in a war, right?"
"Ugh!" Rin didn\'t know how to come back from that.
"Not to mention that your servant is the only way to connect Alaya now, so he\'s very important" Ritsuka looked at Rin getting more and more dejected as she didn\'t know what was wrong with her. She was only saying the truth.
"Strength is a very important thing in these situations and… It was him who kidnapped you, talk to him" Ritsuka said as Rin looked behind her to see Leo.
ゴゴゴゴ
Leo was surrounded by the menacing text as he glanced at Rin for a moment, which made her turn away immediately because of his scary aura.
"I know…" Rin took a deep breath before she looked at Ritsuka and said " I can understand that you want an alliance"
"Alliance? That needs mutual benefits to happen and we both want the Holy Grail, right?" Ritsuka knows that most of the masters came here for the holy grail and no one will just choose to give up on it.
"No, I just want to win. If you want that grail, you can have it" Rin shook her head because the wish and holy grail wasn\'t the reason for her joining this war.
"I see… " Ritsuka took a moment to see if Rin was lying or not before she said " Then the command will be in our hand"
"Hah?!" Rin snapped at that declaration, but Ristuka didn\'t give her the chance as she said " We\'ve more power than you and in cooperation, you need two equal sides. To be honest, you lack that a lot"
"Ugh…" Rin felt attacked again, but she couldn\'t retort against this clearly weak magi because she has three servants! This isn\'t the work of a weak magi! She\'s cheating!!.
"I know that I may sound harsh, but I had to make it clear. This war isn\'t simple and I think besides winning, you also want something else" Ritsuka stared at Rin seriously as she walked and sat on the table.
"..." Rin looked at Ritsuka for a moment before she sighed and sat on the table while saying " As the owner of the city and one of the three families that made the Holy Grail, I want to make sure this town don\'t get blown up to oblivion and I\'ve a person that I want to protect" Rin said her request in a helpless tone as Ritsuka smiled before she said " I see. Our work was about fixing this timeline, so welcome"
Ritsuka extended her hand as Rin sighed again before taking it, which means the alliance had happened. Even if Rin wanted a contract, that\'s too luxury for these unbalanced sides.
Leo looked at this exchange before he said " No bad. A little inexperienced, but it\'s okay"
"Umu, she needs more training" Nero said as she was still dissatisfied with Ritsuka leaving her alone in the theater.
"You\'re still angry?" Leo didn\'t want more complaints this morning.
"Of course! Everyone would spend all their fortune to watch me sing, even in Rome they were so pleased with my singing they would sleep peacefully!" Nero said instantly with excitement when remembering Rome.
"I think they were unconscious" Leo said with a blank face, but Nero was immersed in her story rather than listening to him.
However, she suddenly flinched before returning to normal, but Leo sighed as she extended his hand and tapped her forehead.
"Don\'t work yourself too much, those headaches will only get worse" Leo said as he used his mana to ease Nero\'s headache from her skill, Migraine.
Migraine is a curse inherited from one\'s previous life. Due to suffering from chronic headaches, it is hard for Nero to perfectly demonstrate her valuable talent for fine arts, which include her other skills.
"Umu, but don\'t I have you?" Nero tilted her head, which made Leo tap her head again before saying " I don\'t want to waste my time curing others. It\'s too precious to waste like this"
"Hmm… I see, I see, I\'m very precious than your time, you say" Nero said with a smile as Leo\'s eyebrow was twitching before he said " No, you\'re overthinking it"
"No! I understand clearly and your feelings ha- ouch!" Nero wanted to start another speech, but Leo chopped her to the head with his hand.
Ritsuka and Rin glanced to this side to see this interaction, which further destroyed Satan\'s name in Rin\'s head and Ritsuka didn\'t know what to say.
Leo saw that Nero didn\'t stop even if he did that, which made him sigh before returning to what he was doing.
"Hm? What are you doing?" Nero felt the mana around Leo moving as she asked.
"Process of elimination, that\'s what I\'m doing" Leo said as he was manipulating his mana in different directions.
"Elimination of what?" Ritsuka listened to them as she asked before Leo waved with his hand and showed a map of Fuyuki made by mana.
"My Clairvoyance is blocked by a lot of things in this world" Leo said as he showed shadowy places on the map.
"And those things in this city are the most likely to be enemies or goals, so by eliminating everything that I can see, I can just go and check what I can\'t see" Leo said this simple and casual, but effective plan.
In this world, Leo\'s clairvoyance weakened a lot because of the numerous guys that can block and nullify it. However, if he ignores the vast world and focuses on Fuyuki, he can mark the thing he can see or not, which allows him to pick the places to check. This is a loophole in the system of clairvoyance, but even so, there\'s some risk because you won\'t know what awaits you like a trap.
However, this is better than not knowing what to do for Leo, so he\'s ready to invite himself to some parties.
"Just how strong is that clairvoyance?" Rin was startled by the range and the amount of power to do such a feat.
For her, clairvoyance users need to focus on something before looking at it, but Leo can scan the whole planet while focusing on other things because of his huge calculation power and his mind that left the human categories a long time ago.
"I see, then are we going to check them" Ritsuka looked at the places on the map as she focused on the Ryuudou Temple, which was the closest to this place.
"Yeah… No" Leo said with a lone tone before he rejected the idea.
"Why?!" This was Ritsuka\'s turn to be surprised by this decision.
"Because I\'m waiting for Merlin to get in trouble. That\'s more effective than using my way" Leo said with a straight face as it made Ritsuka sigh. Nero nodded at this while Rin didn\'t understand the principle behind that thinking.
"Oh? Here he is" After waiting for a while, Leo received a call from Merlin. The call was a small message {How to say this...In your words, he didn\'t die when he was killed}
"PFFFF!! WHAT!!!" Leo stood up from the table in the shocked eyes of everyone before he said " He broke his own rules!!"
"Hey, Archer, this can wait, we need to go now!!" Leo said to Archer as he grabbed Rhongomyniad.
"What happened?" Archer was focusing on the battle with the octopus chef as he said without turning his eyes away.
"He\'s still alive after being killed!!" Leo said as the knife dropped from Archer\'s hand before he screamed "WHAT?! How can he not die after being killed?!"
Then Nero, Rin, and Ritsuka watched Leo and Archer\'s shocked expressions while there was a very simple question in their heads… Who didn\'t die when he was killed?.