-"Eno."-Jeanne walked into the main room of my tower.
-"I found our target."-I quickly explained what I saw to her.
After hearing everything, she was silent. Then she looked at me with renewed conviction.
-"We can't let him continue. I'll go and stop him."
-"Wait a moment. Rushing without thinking would make us an easy target. First, we need to understand what his plan is, or at least what his backing is. I doubt he is simply a Master of Red Caster."
-"But we can't just watch him destroy rules like that!"
-"And we won't. I'll try to locate Red Masters, while you go to the battlefield and make a scene to attract his attention. I might be able to reduce his hidden cards by pushing him out of the Red faction. But before I can get a better understanding of his capabilities and preparations, try not to engage him in direct combat."
-"I will listen to you, but if he commits even greater Taboo, I'll still act."
-"Thank you."
-"No need, I understand that you always think about how to help me while doing your tasks, and I'm thankful for your care."-She smiled at me and grabbed my hand.
I didn't know how to answer.
-"Eno, after this War, would you mind spending a few days with me?"
-"Sure..?"
-"Nice!"-She jumped lightly after I agreed.-"I'm off then."
I watched her back disappear in the doorway, feeling like something was wrong. But there was no time, so I stopped thinking about it and focused on matters at hand. With Tower's assistance, I started to seek traces of Red Masters, and quickly narrowed their location to inside the flying fortress. Only two other Red Masters were outside, the Rouge Ruler and Master of Red Saber.
I began to consider my options and quickly formulated a plan of action. Jeanne would most likely join Black Servants and assault the flying fortress, so I just needed to worry about how to secure the Red Masters in the chaos. I turned my gaze to two battles that were currently taking place. First was the duel between Sabers, but after some thought, I decided against contacting them now, as the Black Saber's loyalty to his master was, while strange, quite high, so any communication would reveal my actions to the Black faction.
And so, I chose to use the Red Archer as the breakthrough point. Using a Druidic spell to summon a bird, I manifested a white dove and made it fly to the Red Archer to establish a connection while I ordered a few Ashes to move into the forest, to prepare for any situation that may occur. A minute later, I heard the Red Archer's voice.
-"Ruler?!"-She asked while avoiding a swing from a crazed Red Berserker.
-"No, her companion. I wanted to ask you a few questions and gain your cooperation."
-"What!? Are you kidding me?! I'm rather busy right now!"-She roared.
-"I know, but I'll assist you in exchange."
-"Tsk. Ask."-She agreed quickly.
-"Have you, at any point, seen your master?"-I started asking while enchanting her strength with my spells.
-"No."-She responded instantly.-"Only that Priest and other Servants."
-"Then have you tried to communicate with them through your connection?"
-"I did, but was unable to. The Priest said it was to prevent them from being found by the enemy. As magicians, they were afraid to come to the battlefield."
-"Then we might have a problem."-I confirmed my theory.
-"What do you mean?"-She asked, now much more relaxed after receiving my assistance.
-"That Priest either controls or plans on eliminating them soon."
-"Any proof?"-She furrowed her eyebrows, worried by that possibility.
-"He is a Servant from the previous War, and I located your masters on the flying fortress. Tell me what magicians afraid of battle, who couldn't even contact you, would do there."-I stated plainly.
-"Are you implying he is holding our Masters hostage?"
-"Yes."
-"So what of it? I don't care about any Master?"-She tried to act nonchalant.
-"But do you still plan to win this War?"
-"I see."-Atalanta quickly understood what I was trying to tell.-"So what do you want from me?"
-"I want to take Red Masters out of that Priest's reach."-I started the second part of our talk.
-"Sure, but don't expect me to fight others from my side."-She agreed, but tried not to create enmity from her faction at this point.
-"Don't worry, I only need you to place a small crystal as close to the marked location as you can."
-"I can do this."-She nodded.-"But I need something in exchange."
-"State your terms."
-"If something happened to my master, I want you to ensure my independence from that Priest."
-"I can do that, but to what extent?"
-"If push comes to shove, I demand you to become my new Master."
-"You know that I'm bound by rules not to influence the War."
-"Heh, even the Ruler can disregard this, I don't believe you also can't do so."
-"My task is to ensure that War precedes as it should, so technically I can get involved, but are you sure?"
-"Is there a better master?"
-"I'll shamelessly accept this compliment. We have a deal, but remember that no matter what, I'm a neutral faction in this War."
-"But no one said that a neutral person can't win."-Atalanta smiled.-"Now, mind lending me a hand with this?"
-"Jeanne will be there shortly. I believe you can use that to your advantage."
-"You sold out your ally like that?"-She teased.-"How am I to contact you later?"
-"There will be no need. When everything is chaotic enough, I'll act."
-"You do you."
-"Good luck."-With that, I made the dove disappear, leaving a small crystal that Atalanta collected.
With cooperation achieved, I started to prepare insurance in case my plan failed. First, I needed an alternative way into the fortress. Flying into it should be possible, but just in case, I sent out a few Stormhawks to scout its defences and test its detection capabilities. The Night Sorcery should keep me from being found out, but if this fortress is a Noble Plantasm, then something unexpected might happen; thus, it's better to be careful.
Next, I needed more allies. Even if I were not to count Atalanta as part of the Red faction, there were still five Servants on their side. Black faction was out of the question, at least right now, so I could only turn to Red Saber. She was still in the middle of her duel, but while she was slowly overpowering Black Saber, she was alone, and Black Saber could receive reinforcements at any point.
And that was exactly what happened. Black Rider, seeing that he would be unable to get into the fortress alone, changed his target and rushed to assist Black Saber in the fight. When the fight changed to 2vs1, Red Saber was instantly pushed back into a much more unfavourable position, but still managed to hold on against them.
After a minute of observing, I realized that while this fight was not in her favour, Red Saber still had some leeway, and with her pride, any offer of cooperation or alliance would be rejected unless she was truly in a pinch. Thus, I decided to let her be for a little while longer, turning my attention to Jeanne.
Jeanne just entered the battlefield, but was instantly pushed into the vortex of the battle. Atalanta lured Berserker toward her, ensuring the two clashed before disappearing. And to make the bad situation worse, the other, Black, Berserker also appeared on the battlefield, and while she was not fully without reason, she also joined their fight, making it a three-way battle.
At first, Jeanne tried to disengage, but neither of her opponents allowed her to do so, and so she was locked in combat. I noticed that the Black Berserker state was wrong, and after checking it, I confirmed that she was under the influence of some mind control. Most likely, it was caused by Red Caster, so I put preparing some tools that could prevent it on my agenda.
So as I worked on those, I continued to observe how the battles continued. Currently, the most intense fight is between the lancers, who have decimated more than half of the battlefield. Two of them single-handedly eliminated almost all remaining cannon fodder on the field, leaving it full of burning bodies and stakes. But they were quite evenly matched; as such, neither was able to gain an upper hand.
After observing their battle, I came to an understanding of their capabilities, and I must admit that I underestimated them before. While an average Heroic Spirit was capable of destroying a town, two of them left this category far behind, slowly approaching a level where they alone could defend or destroy a small nation.
Comparing them to all other people I have seen to this day, their strength was about that of an Ancient Dragon from the Lands Between. They were still short of the demigods, such as my Princess or Her Highness Malenia; even my Mentor would be able to defeat them quite quickly, but they still stood atop the power scales.
In comparison, my strength was a little greater, but only due to my magic having imbued higher powers of the Stars, Moon, and such. Without those, I would struggle to defeat them in one-on-one combat. If push comes to shove, the biggest difference between us would be my Originium Glintstone, as it gave me a degree of immortality few in this world could overcome.
Even Scáthach admitted that while she could defeat me, she had no easy way to kill me, with my spirit and soul being fused with my Originum Glintstone. She could shatter that crystal, even seal it, but it would still reform and regrow, slowly breaking the seal and making me return again. Back in the Lands Between, I never noticed this due to undyingness being the norm, but after arriving here, this abnormality quickly became apparent.
In Scáthach's words: "To kill you, one would need to destroy the whole Originum Glintstion without leaving even a minute spec for it to regrow form. While this didn't sound that hard, the combination of how hard that crystal is, along with its ability to absorb even greater powers, makes it uniquely troublesome. From the top of my head, I would say that only some conceptual abilities could outright delete you from existence, can kill you."
But returning to the present, I continued to watch the fight, while learning their moves in case I needed to confront them one day. Time continued to pass until, finally, a change occurred on one of the battlefields. Atalanta returned and resumed her attacks against Berserkers and Jeanne, focusing on the Red Berserker.
Her almost traitorous behavior in this fight made me focus more on the Red Berserker's state and ability. He was out of control due to the Black faction's actions, but this state was becoming increasingly strange as he received more damage. At first, I thought that it was some kind of strange healing ability, but now I noticed that he turned his wounds into power.
With that theory in mind, I believe that Atalanta was most likely following Rogue Ruler's orders, leveraging Red Berserker's ability to use him as a weapon of mass destruction. I started to act, trying to disrupt their plan, but before I could do anything, Red Berserker seemed to pass some kind of threshold, his body expanding, unable to contain all the energy inside him anymore.
Knowing that it was well past the point of no return, I contacted Jeanne to work with her on salvaging the situation.
-"Eno!"-She responded with urgency in her voice.
-"Jeanne, can you block that?"-I asked without missing a beat.
-"Yes, but it will leave me somewhat exhausted."-She nodded and took a position to use her Noble Phantasm.
-"I'm rushing there. Focus on defending."
-"Yes!"
While we were speaking, I had already rushed on Arion toward the battlefield. In a few seconds, I passed hundreds of meters of forest, emerging from the treeline at the perfect moment to see Red Berserker unleashing his attack. From the corner of my eyes, I saw how other Servants tried to avoid the attack's range, and while Atalanta, Sabers, and Black Rider were successful, Black Berserker could only hide behind Jeanne.
Jeanne, meanwhile, unfurled her standard and met the attack head-on. Surrounded by the holy light, she looked like the saint she was, standing against evil without backing out. But I had no time to admire her now, so I remained focused on tasks at hand.
I flew up from Arion's back, moving right above Red Berserker with the Royal Scepter in my hands. Soon, a purple glow surrounded me as everything around started to sink into the ground. I continued to increase gravity, making Red Berserker change his target from Jeanne to me.
-"Oppressor!"-He bellowed.-"You are the greatest oppressor! My enemy!"
I looked at his twisted form, and I couldn't help but feel disgusted. But before I could continue, I felt the air around me change. Everything slowly disappeared from my view, and soon only a blank white space remained.
-"Greetings, Lord."-A voice sounded around me.
-"Caster of Red?"
-"T'is I indeed."-He responded, appearing before me.
-"You came to block me?"
-"My Master left his orders."-He admitted, taking out a book and opening its pages.-"But as a great writer, I'm more than happy to uncover a great story of your life."
-"I see. So you plan to use my past against me?"
-"I apologize if I offended you, but I know great tragedy when I see one."-He smiled and bowed.-"Please allow me to show a fantastic performance to you and our little gallery."
With that, he was gone. I instantly tried to break the illusion, but I failed, as there was no magic involved in this, only Caster's Noble Phantasm. As I was thinking about what to do, the environment shifted, transforming into the familiar corridors of Raya Lucaria Academy. I looked around and, having nothing better to do, started walking forward, heading deeper into the Academy.
I passed by students busy with their own matters, receiving bows and respectful nods from them on the way. I was silent, but the people around were not. From their hushed voices, I quickly understood at what point in time we were. I passed through the Debate Parlor, the Red Wolf of Radagon lying quietly in the corner, watching for any invader.
I passed by it and continued forward, arriving before the Grand Library from where I could hear the muffled cries of despair. I looked at the closed doors, thinking about what I felt that day. I could feel that my emotions were manipulated, artificially elevated, and more chaotic, and yet, I didn't suppress them. Something deep inside me was slowly stirring.
I put my hands on the gates in front, pushing them open. I could hear Caster's narration, but I ignored his words. To him, this was nothing but a play, a story to be told and dramatized, maybe even an attack to harm my spirit. But to me, it was something different; a rare chance for a retrospection. With that thought, I walked in.