Valfredo advanced towards Hina accompanied by his Servant, ω Assassin. Ester blocked the man's way, looked him straight in the eye and exclaimed:
"She is not your enemy. Face me."
"Do you really think you're strong enough to defeat me, young lady? It's much better if you give up immediately—"
The Magic Circuits appeared on Ester's body and, after a battle cry, the woman struck a punch so powerful that the ground shook. Valfredo was not injured. Something, some kind of invisible shield, had stopped the woman's fist.
"Reinforcement Magecraft... the lowest rank of Low Magic," said Valfredo in disgust.
"Son of a—!"
Ester was hit by something invisible, ω Berserker saved the Master immediately and launched, from his hand, a powerful magical ray of the same color as blood. Once again Valfredo wasn't injured in any way.
"You're not protected by God. What is it that makes you immune to attacks?" asked Berserker doubtfully.
Valfredo smiled and gave way to his Servant: ω Assassin.
"It's you..." Berserker realized. "You made a mistake hitting my Master, now you'll face me... pagan!"
Two more powerful magical rays were launched from Berserker's hand, neither of them being able to penetrate the invisible shield protecting Assassin. Berserker sensed something at that moment, there was something that was approaching him and was about to hit him; Berserker jumped backwards and, as soon as he landed, made another jump, but this time he also fired a magic beam. Assassin wasn't injured.
"Tch! I see you like to play hard, ω Assassin. Whatever is protecting you, it won't do it for long. Sooner or later I will discover your weakness, pagan."
"Ahah!" Assassin's amused laugh unsettled Ester. "Do you really think you're strong enough to defeat me, Berserker? So far you have done nothing but launch ridiculous magical attacks, what makes you think you can break my weapon?"
"Your weapon, yes... an invisible artifice that you can move without even moving... really interesting, Assassin, but you can't do anything against my Salvator Mundi."
"Are you talking about that red energy...?"
"Exactly. The blood of Christ, this is the substance of my Salvator Mundi. There is no magic shield that can last long against my weapon. So get ready, you disgusting pagan, because I will kill you and let your soul rot in the deepest Hell."
Berserker was about to attack a second time when, without warning, ω Rider got in the way. He, with the attitude of a bully, pushed Berserker and advanced with his head held high towards the enemy.
"What do you think you're doing, idiot?!" Berserker exclaimed nervously.
"I want to have fun too. I'm an emperor, it's my right to smash the faces of those who have the features of a pig's ass," Rider explained with an arrogant smile.
"Well," Assassin said, "it means I'll kill an emperor."
"Mm? Oh, you won't kill anyone... at most you will cry like a Babylonian whore."
Rider summoned his weapon: a large stone club that had a very peculiar shape. Valfredo, observing the weapon, sighed and said:
"Are you kidding me?"
Hina, confused by Valfredo's words, looked at the Servant's weapon and was shocked to learn that the club had the shape of a human face; she recognized it and exclaimed:
"NO! Are you stupid, Rider?!"
"Mm...? Why?" he asked naively.
"Your stone club is shaped like your statue, you idiot! Now everyone will know your identity!"
"Better this way, I wasn't going to hide it for long. I'm an emperor, I cannot deprive these plebeians of the honor of knowing my sacred name."
Assassin, confused, asked: "And who are you, sorry?"
"You don't know me...?" He sighed. "Barbarians... all the same." He took a deep breath and exclaimed in a solemn voice: "I'm Flavius Valerius Aurelius Costantinus. Constantine the Great! I'm the founder of Constantinople as well as the greatest emperor of Rome! I am the one who unified the empire of Rome! Now that you know my identity, bow down and beg me to spare your life!"
"I don't think I will, Mr. Emperor..."
Assassin prepared to attack but, in an instant, he was overwhelmed by the powerful blow of Rider's club. Assassin's shield, however strong it was, was unable to absorb the impact of that very strong attack. Valfredo's Servant flew against the wall of a building.
"Well, I'd say I silenced the barbarian—"
"Bastard!" ω Assassin yelled.
Rider, with truly surprising agility, managed not to let himself be touched even once by Assassin's invisible weapon. Rider jumped and moved with the same agility as a rabbit, while Assassin, who remained motionless, became increasingly angry because his weapon was totally ineffective against the enemy.
Valfredo was noticing that his Servant was losing concentration quickly, he had to do something to recover the initial advantage.
"Alda, we have to..." Valfredo turned and saw that the girl was leaving. "Alda?! What are you doing?!"
"And what are you doing, Valfredo? That's not what we're here for, remember? We have to kill Wolff, not these third-rate magi. Order your Servant to retire, we're leaving—"
"No!" Valfredo shouted. "Here we have a battle to fight! I have no intention of giving up everything so that you can carry out your personal revenge! We have a mission, Alda—!"
"I won't let a mixedblood tell me what I should or shouldn't do. Know your place and follow orders, Valfredo."
"You can forget about it! I will not follow the will of a whore like you—!"
"What did you say?!" Alda was ready to kill Valfredo.
Suddenly, a blinding light, coming from the sky, illuminated the whole battlefield. Alda was forced to close her eyes and, after a few seconds, when she opened them again, she was shocked to learn that both Valfredo and Hina had disappeared along with their Servants. The girl left to avoid fighting Ester Arellano, who was still stunned.
Ester, when she regained consciousness, thought she was still in Hina's company; when she learned the truth, she immediately set out in search of the girl. She called her name several times and began to get seriously worried when she didn't even find Rider. The woman then turned to ω Berserker, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed; from his attitude it was clear that the disappearance of the two was indifferent to him.
"What happened?" Ester asked.
He looked at her. With his head he nodded upwards. The woman turned and saw that rhomboid object floating on the top of the obelisk.
"Explain," she said.
"That object lit up and those four disappeared. There's nothing more to say—"
"Haven't you thought about helping Rider?"
"I had no reason to do it. You're the one I have to protect, the lives of those two don't matter to me..."
"We have to look for them, Berserker."
"Why? For what reason? You know very well, Ester, that girl will become our enemy. Why pretend she isn't like that? Why pretend we're all good friends?"
"I'm not pretending—"
"Yes and you know it," he said gravely. "You don't know that girl, you've just met her and you behave with her as if she were your best friend... it's silly. You're silly. All this acting, all this pretending... it's all a waste of time that will get us nowhere. We have a war to win and we must win it, we cannot waste time making good 'friends' with strangers."
"You will do what I tell you, ω Berserker," Ester said seriously. "You will do what I tell you and you will not protest, right? You're the Servant and I'm the Master, this is our relationship. And then I don't think you're the best person to give certain advice. After all, if I'm not mistaken, you've never really been a 'good person'... or am I wrong? "
"What are you implying, Master?"
"I am implying that you have no right to judge me, Pope Boniface VIII. You've always been a man driven by pure ambition and the need to have all power in your hands. You've only made enemies in your entire life, and those few people who were loyal to you ultimately betrayed you. Don't pretend to be an expert on these things... you and the blond emperor have one thing in common: you are incapable of having friends."
"Tch! What do you know about it?" he asked gravely. "You women give too much importance to feelings and you trust your head too much. It was a woman who listened to the Snake and was the first to pick the apple, her naivety condemned all of humanity. Here the same story is repeating itself: your naivety will lead us to certain death."
"Well, my dear Boniface, it is better to listen to your feelings than to have ears only for what you have between your legs. Do you want some advice, Boniface? Keep your impulses in check and listen to your brain, maybe it has something interesting to tell you."
He sighed. "I'll do it your way, Master... but know that I'll keep an eye on that girl."
"Well, first of all we must find her."
"Do you really think you're strong enough to defeat me, young lady? It's much better if you give up immediately—"
The Magic Circuits appeared on Ester's body and, after a battle cry, the woman struck a punch so powerful that the ground shook. Valfredo was not injured. Something, some kind of invisible shield, had stopped the woman's fist.
"Reinforcement Magecraft... the lowest rank of Low Magic," said Valfredo in disgust.
"Son of a—!"
Ester was hit by something invisible, ω Berserker saved the Master immediately and launched, from his hand, a powerful magical ray of the same color as blood. Once again Valfredo wasn't injured in any way.
"You're not protected by God. What is it that makes you immune to attacks?" asked Berserker doubtfully.
Valfredo smiled and gave way to his Servant: ω Assassin.
"It's you..." Berserker realized. "You made a mistake hitting my Master, now you'll face me... pagan!"
Two more powerful magical rays were launched from Berserker's hand, neither of them being able to penetrate the invisible shield protecting Assassin. Berserker sensed something at that moment, there was something that was approaching him and was about to hit him; Berserker jumped backwards and, as soon as he landed, made another jump, but this time he also fired a magic beam. Assassin wasn't injured.
"Tch! I see you like to play hard, ω Assassin. Whatever is protecting you, it won't do it for long. Sooner or later I will discover your weakness, pagan."
"Ahah!" Assassin's amused laugh unsettled Ester. "Do you really think you're strong enough to defeat me, Berserker? So far you have done nothing but launch ridiculous magical attacks, what makes you think you can break my weapon?"
"Your weapon, yes... an invisible artifice that you can move without even moving... really interesting, Assassin, but you can't do anything against my Salvator Mundi."
"Are you talking about that red energy...?"
"Exactly. The blood of Christ, this is the substance of my Salvator Mundi. There is no magic shield that can last long against my weapon. So get ready, you disgusting pagan, because I will kill you and let your soul rot in the deepest Hell."
Berserker was about to attack a second time when, without warning, ω Rider got in the way. He, with the attitude of a bully, pushed Berserker and advanced with his head held high towards the enemy.
"What do you think you're doing, idiot?!" Berserker exclaimed nervously.
"I want to have fun too. I'm an emperor, it's my right to smash the faces of those who have the features of a pig's ass," Rider explained with an arrogant smile.
"Well," Assassin said, "it means I'll kill an emperor."
"Mm? Oh, you won't kill anyone... at most you will cry like a Babylonian whore."
Rider summoned his weapon: a large stone club that had a very peculiar shape. Valfredo, observing the weapon, sighed and said:
"Are you kidding me?"
Hina, confused by Valfredo's words, looked at the Servant's weapon and was shocked to learn that the club had the shape of a human face; she recognized it and exclaimed:
"NO! Are you stupid, Rider?!"
"Mm...? Why?" he asked naively.
"Your stone club is shaped like your statue, you idiot! Now everyone will know your identity!"
"Better this way, I wasn't going to hide it for long. I'm an emperor, I cannot deprive these plebeians of the honor of knowing my sacred name."
Assassin, confused, asked: "And who are you, sorry?"
"You don't know me...?" He sighed. "Barbarians... all the same." He took a deep breath and exclaimed in a solemn voice: "I'm Flavius Valerius Aurelius Costantinus. Constantine the Great! I'm the founder of Constantinople as well as the greatest emperor of Rome! I am the one who unified the empire of Rome! Now that you know my identity, bow down and beg me to spare your life!"
"I don't think I will, Mr. Emperor..."
Assassin prepared to attack but, in an instant, he was overwhelmed by the powerful blow of Rider's club. Assassin's shield, however strong it was, was unable to absorb the impact of that very strong attack. Valfredo's Servant flew against the wall of a building.
"Well, I'd say I silenced the barbarian—"
"Bastard!" ω Assassin yelled.
Rider, with truly surprising agility, managed not to let himself be touched even once by Assassin's invisible weapon. Rider jumped and moved with the same agility as a rabbit, while Assassin, who remained motionless, became increasingly angry because his weapon was totally ineffective against the enemy.
Valfredo was noticing that his Servant was losing concentration quickly, he had to do something to recover the initial advantage.
"Alda, we have to..." Valfredo turned and saw that the girl was leaving. "Alda?! What are you doing?!"
"And what are you doing, Valfredo? That's not what we're here for, remember? We have to kill Wolff, not these third-rate magi. Order your Servant to retire, we're leaving—"
"No!" Valfredo shouted. "Here we have a battle to fight! I have no intention of giving up everything so that you can carry out your personal revenge! We have a mission, Alda—!"
"I won't let a mixedblood tell me what I should or shouldn't do. Know your place and follow orders, Valfredo."
"You can forget about it! I will not follow the will of a whore like you—!"
"What did you say?!" Alda was ready to kill Valfredo.
Suddenly, a blinding light, coming from the sky, illuminated the whole battlefield. Alda was forced to close her eyes and, after a few seconds, when she opened them again, she was shocked to learn that both Valfredo and Hina had disappeared along with their Servants. The girl left to avoid fighting Ester Arellano, who was still stunned.
Ester, when she regained consciousness, thought she was still in Hina's company; when she learned the truth, she immediately set out in search of the girl. She called her name several times and began to get seriously worried when she didn't even find Rider. The woman then turned to ω Berserker, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed; from his attitude it was clear that the disappearance of the two was indifferent to him.
"What happened?" Ester asked.
He looked at her. With his head he nodded upwards. The woman turned and saw that rhomboid object floating on the top of the obelisk.
"Explain," she said.
"That object lit up and those four disappeared. There's nothing more to say—"
"Haven't you thought about helping Rider?"
"I had no reason to do it. You're the one I have to protect, the lives of those two don't matter to me..."
"We have to look for them, Berserker."
"Why? For what reason? You know very well, Ester, that girl will become our enemy. Why pretend she isn't like that? Why pretend we're all good friends?"
"I'm not pretending—"
"Yes and you know it," he said gravely. "You don't know that girl, you've just met her and you behave with her as if she were your best friend... it's silly. You're silly. All this acting, all this pretending... it's all a waste of time that will get us nowhere. We have a war to win and we must win it, we cannot waste time making good 'friends' with strangers."
"You will do what I tell you, ω Berserker," Ester said seriously. "You will do what I tell you and you will not protest, right? You're the Servant and I'm the Master, this is our relationship. And then I don't think you're the best person to give certain advice. After all, if I'm not mistaken, you've never really been a 'good person'... or am I wrong? "
"What are you implying, Master?"
"I am implying that you have no right to judge me, Pope Boniface VIII. You've always been a man driven by pure ambition and the need to have all power in your hands. You've only made enemies in your entire life, and those few people who were loyal to you ultimately betrayed you. Don't pretend to be an expert on these things... you and the blond emperor have one thing in common: you are incapable of having friends."
"Tch! What do you know about it?" he asked gravely. "You women give too much importance to feelings and you trust your head too much. It was a woman who listened to the Snake and was the first to pick the apple, her naivety condemned all of humanity. Here the same story is repeating itself: your naivety will lead us to certain death."
"Well, my dear Boniface, it is better to listen to your feelings than to have ears only for what you have between your legs. Do you want some advice, Boniface? Keep your impulses in check and listen to your brain, maybe it has something interesting to tell you."
He sighed. "I'll do it your way, Master... but know that I'll keep an eye on that girl."
"Well, first of all we must find her."
 |
| 'A step forward' by BikoWolf |
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