(A/n: Psst, feel free to comment even if it's to shit on me. P.S. I know, the fight scenes are kinda shit, but I know there's at least one person hyped for all this shit I'm writing]
"Is she…..?" Irenaeus thought, his eyes widening in realization as he realized his dream wasn't a dream, but a premonition of something much, much greater.
That unspoken notion would be solidified when the mysterious lass turned to him and uttered with a smile and a soft voice, "You found me!"
Olga, once again utterly gobsmacked by another turn of events, asked with indignation and confusion, "You know her?! Is this a friend of yours?!"
Irenaeus looked sheepish and embarrassed by the question, "I dunno, I've mostly had dreams of her… mostly cryptic ones. She never explained much from what I can recall."
The mysterious newcomer simply said, the same smile on her face, "He probably doesn't remember all that well. I had to 'meet him halfway' as it were."
"But who are you?" Olga squawked out
The young lady responded, "Alter Ego class Servant, Keziah, at your service."
Irenaeus all but balked at the proclamation and began to clamor confusedly to Olga with his own preconceived notions of what being a "Servant" entailed. "So, wait, wait, wait. She's a SLAVE?! Look, I get that I don't know squat, but this BDSM or field sister non–"
Olga said "calmly" after pinching the bridge of her nose and getting the confused man to quiet down "Yes, she said 'Servant', no, she's not some sort of forced labor or… harlot or the like. The long and short is that she's basically like a famous hero who was summoned to the modern time. Your intended purpose for being brought here was to team up with one of them and work as a team to restore humanity. Or at least it was until… Calm down, calm down…" She muttered before turning to "Keziah" "Do you know anything about a curse, or toxin, that could incapacitate people, mages specifically?"
Keziah simply replied "I don't," her face falling with slight embarrassment, her warm demeanor towards Irenaeus fading into a cooler one. "The most I can tell you is that it's not their fault."
Olga began to interrogate her, noticing that she was being snubbed "Alright, completely useless on that front…. Why did you choose to call for an ordinary human as opposed to a mage, or anyone who would have been more qualified? Especially THIS GUY?"
Irenaeus became rather sheepish at this query, while Keziah retained her own cool demeanor "It's… not something for me to disclose."
Olga furiously inhaled through her nose before shaking her head, and muttering, "Alright then, I don't want to make any drastic decisions, especially since I've already lost a lot, then again if I choose not to take her, I'd likely lose a helpful ally…. She's too damn suspect all across the board too with her refusal to say, well, anything…"
Meanwhile, the Fujimarus looked on in both wonder… and realization, their faces as if they forgot to turn off the stove before leaving, as if the gears had finally clicked into place, and they developed an understanding of not who she was… but rather what kind of entity she was, causing the director to look back in annoyance.
"Is there something you want to share with the rest of the class?!" she groaned out, diplomatically saying 'Please don't make my life harder' without outright saying such.
The two shook their heads and then looked at her with the same sheepish look they had carried since the start of the whole mess. "We'll… we'll explain later… probably not the time now." Rika said, her voice quieter, still processing her revelation.
Irenaeus spoke up in turn, "Director, madam, if it's not too much trouble, I'll take her as my partner or whatever she's meant to be if necessary. She did call for me anyway."
"No. I refuse to let that happen. I'd rather not lose you, not because you're valuable, but because-"
"Look, I'm more than likely not too high a priority and if Keziah was an enemy, or God forbid, the one who sicced that… thing on those other guys, she could've likely gotten rid of us too. We're probably the weakest link of the bunch here, honestly. And given that I'm the only one most familiar with her… Please. I understand that I've helped trouble you enough."
"Fine, Alter Ego, or whatever you said you were, do you want to contract with him?"
"Of course!" Keziah beamed. "I know you're really new to this, so we don't need to go through the whole process now. But I'll ask: Do you wish to be my Master?"
Irenaeus responded with a "Yes, it would be an honor." while wearing a straight face, hiding his own trepidation at the idea. 'This can ONLY end well, can it…'
At that, a set of red tattoos appeared on his hand, in the rough shape of a caduceus.
"What is that on his hand?" The bewildered Fujimarus asked.
"Those are Command Seals. They allow you to deliver three absolute orders to your Servant & in some instances, they can be used as a normal source of energy, which isn't typically advisable." Mash explained, the whole statement sounding academic, dry, and textbook-like, as if she were reciting it from memory
"There's gotta be some sort of catch…" Irenaeus said, while Keziah immediately darted, rushing to Mash's backside.
Too late. A torrent of blood stained the grass red.
While they were being debriefed on the topic of Command Seals and their uses, the animalistic beast that shredded through Team A returned and clawed into Mash's body, before setting its sights on the Director causing her to stumble and nearly suffer a similar fate, Keziah having been in time to at least save her.
"...Whoa." Irenaeus gasped, astounded by her speed, compartmentalizing to focus on the fight. "Please. Protect us. I don't know how you do it, but.. Do it."
Keziah stepped in, and gave their foe a heavy punch, forcing it back a little bit, the beast seeming to stagger a little as well, the horrible monster like entity started to launch attack at Keziah trying to injure her or to kill her, Keziah managed to dodged by jumping between the giant claw of the beast before proceeding to punch the beast on the face.
…. only for the punch to have done little to no damage to the beast and it continued to attack Keziah, who proceeded to prolong the match.
The breath that Olga Marie held only seemed to get tighter as she realized.
She wasn't doing shit.
For all the trouble she was putting herself through having lost actual professional Mages, she was compensated with one single Servant… who was only strong enough not to die, and in the hands of a civilian. And for all the effort this… Alter Ego was putting in, the fight was utter trife to the opponent, every uppercut seeming to be useless, the only true strength she had being the sheer physical momentum she picked up while throwing herself at it with speed… and even that was seeming to wane. It was like watching a young adult fight a trained fighter.
…Shit.
'Must I do EVERYTHING myself?'
As it all seemed lost… several pinpricks of light descended like a localized meteor shower. In a flash, roughly one dozen javelins of light careened through the blue sky and descended onto the monster; Keziah having the good sense to glide away as the beams of light came down, leaving the enemy to suffer the brunt of it
Even with that, the two original combatants fought more and more, the frenzy beginning to get even more heated, the conflict only seeming to marginally favor Keziah now.
Meanwhile in the midst of all this, Rika had held Mash in her arms, feeling sympathy and even some guilt for what had happened. It was bad enough that several people were now probably on the verge of death, now another victim was added to the count. All because of curiosity over what was a perceived injustice….
Ritsuka could only look at her with tears in his eyes, the horror very much evident on his face, and her blood surrounding them all
"Mash, I'm so sorry…" Rika said, the sorrow and horror palpable in her voice
"It's alright. This wasn't your fault." Mash began to cough up blood. "I just wished…" She couldn't get through her sentence before coughing up more blood
"Director, she'll be fine, right? She and everyone else will be alright, right?!" Rika shouted, actively trying to deny the reality right in front of her. Their impromptu chaperones were one thing, but given that they couldn't leave…
"It's fine, there's no need to worry about me. It was going to happen anyway…"
At that, her body began to be enveloped in a bright light, Ritsuka and Rika shielding their eyes from it and then immediately casting his sight to Mash, now in a dark colored leotard that revealed her navel, and with a giant cross shaped shield
"What the hell…." Rika muttered in absolute confusion and awe
"So you're a Servant too, I assume? I haven't heard of your name in the history books!" Ritsuka shouted in amazement, as he looked to his own arm to see a set of Command Seals on Rika's arm. "Why- How- When-"
The jubilation was cut short by the attack of the creature, which had been growing more relentless, beginning to make its way directly onto the group, Keziah beginning to lose her ground as she pushed it back.
"Not yet…!" She muttered, semi-consciously, strain very much evident in her voice
On that note, Mash began to step up and fight alongside Keziah, this time with a clumsy, but still effective bashing of her shield into the being.
"Please, give me orders, Master!" Mash turned to Rika, a resolute look on both their faces. Rika nodded and said, "Help her out, please! Do what you can!"
Mash nodded and made her own charge towards the entity, charging in with her shield, and struck it upside the head with the broader portion of it, then proceeded to twirl it to bash the circular portion of the shield through its jaw. Fist and steel met flesh, and the two Servants started to drive back their enemy, the shaky coordination starting to slowly turn the tables.
Keziah smiled at her for her contribution, while wrestling the being, gripping its forearms as it stood on its hind legs "Thanks, and I'm sorry you got hurt."
Irenaeus looked at Keziah, "We can high-five each other later, now, we've gotta live first!"
Keziah nodded and against the claw that was headed her way, she punched it to try and maintain a distance from it and kicked the limb that the claw was attached to, while Mash attempted to something similar, but with her shield, in all between the two's efforts, it was just an upwards battle, albeit with the assistance of Mash pushing back with her shield.
Between the combination of the two, each kick, bash, shove, and punch that was thrown, things seemed to be looking up, even in spite of their clumsiness…. If not for the entity's seemingly increasing agitation. As a result, the beast decided to retreat yet again…