Chapter 155: A Revelation And Grand Order
(I can understand a lot of you may be annoyed or even angry with my choice to tone down my character's power for the moment, but understand he has not lost nor been locked out of any of his abilities. He only needs a bit of time to regain them. Think of it like when Hulk went through the wormhole in the Planet Hulk storyline and was weakened by it, but he got his powers back relatively quickly. It's the same with my character.)
Entry 134:
Linus Ozias POV:
"You are one ugly mother fucker." I say to the beserk Heracles, who roars in defiance as I simply sigh and teleport both of us to the top of the mountain.
The berserk Heracles then takes his giant slab of a sword and rushes at me, swinging wildly with no technique nor finesse, just utter and pure physical might as I pull out my own Crucible blade and meat the giant slab of a sword head-on.
As our blades cross, there are sparks flying everywhere as the slab of a sword begins to heat up, and Heracles roars again and pushes harder. I then use this opportunity to blast Heracles with a large amount of light to the face as he stumbles backward, his face burning.
As his grip loosens on his sword, I grab it and put it in my inventory as I rush him, blasting with light again, blinding him. I take advantage of his disoriented state.
I then begin to launch a barrage of punches towards the Berserker as each one makes holes in various parts of his body thanks to my usage of reinforcement magic that really has no limit to how strong one can become; the only limit is one's body and magic control.
And my disguise only makes me look human. I am far from one, and while the punches may not be planet-shattering, they are enough. And with one final strike, I punched through the Beast's chest and pulled out his heart like Raiden in Metal Gear Revengeance when he killed Senator Armstrong.
"Take heart, Heracles, and may we meet again." I crush his heart in my hands as he falls over and disappears, as without his Godhand Noble Phantasm, he was significantly easier to deal with.
The worst part about that Berserker Noble Phantasm is the fact every time you killed him, you would have to kill him a different way. Similar to Doomsday from the DC Universe, you can't kill him the same way.
Thankfully, the corruption robbed him of the rest of his intelligence and battle instincts while also weakening him significantly, as this fight would have been decently more difficult.
I should return to the others and see how they are faring against the king of knights as I think why she is called the king of knights as I teleport back to the room with the greater grail.
Before I can blink, I find that Cu and Mash are barely holding on as Caster sees me and yells, "Took your time, huh, Master!"
Artoria then looks at me and stops as she points Excalibur Morgan at me as she says, "I am surprised you were able to deal with Berserker, so quickly. You are an anomaly, and I shall deal with you first."
I smile and say, "Oh, such is the woes of being too popular. Show me your skills, fallen king of knights." I then take out the crucible as we charge at each other as her speed is able to keep up with me due to being connected to the Holy Grail.
*Crash*
*Swipe*
*Clang*
*Clang*
Strike after strike is thrown with our blades meeting again and again as I hear Caster in my mind due to our connection. "Master, I need you to keep her preoccupied so I can prepare my Noble Phantasm. I should be able to trap her and put an end to this."
I give him a mental nod as he prepares his chant, to which Artoria takes this as an opportunity as she pulls a feint on me and attempts to strike at my arm, to which I form a piece of my armor onto the arm she was attempting to strike and in that split second the blade bounced off.
She growls in annoyance, and she jumps back and says, "Your blade is a strong one anomaly as even with Excalibur dull as it may be in this form, it is quite impressive you're able to keep up with me so I'm going to honor you with its Noble Phantasm."
Excalibur Morgan then proceeds to charge itself with an immense amount of energy as I Retreat to the others and ask Caster, "How is your Phantasm coming along?"
He looks at me and says, "I need a couple more seconds, young demi servant. It's your time to shine."
Mash's eyes widen as I hear her mutter, "I need to do this." I place my hand on her shoulder along with Ritsuka as I say, "Breathe and let it flow, Mash simply do." As Ritsuka then says, "If you don't, we die, so no pressure."
The Director looks on with an empty look in her eyes as she says, "Short as it may have been, I actually had a decent time, but Oz, you can die." I gasped and said, "I had no idea you felt so much for me, Director, but this is not where our story ends."
The Director chuckles as she says, "You are gonna make me have gray hairs, Oz." I respond, "But, director, you already have gray hairs." She then sighs and says, "I hate you all."
She loves us.
Artoria then speaks her chant as her sword gloves in black and red light as she finishes by saying, "Vortigern, Hammer of the Vile King, reverse the rising sun, Swallow the Light, Excalibur Morgan!."
Mash then focuses on her shield as she yells with her shield, forming a large magic circle, "Release the Noble Phantasm, AHHHHH!"
I reinforce the shield with my own power, as Mash needs this for her development. As the shield and blast meet, all of us grasp one another to remain standing as the energy collides and causes tremors across the city.
But after a couple of seconds, the struggle concludes as Artoria says, "I remember that shield vaguely such weakness as it seems my memory remains I stayed that strike at the very last moment my tenacity has wavered so I lost. Such is my fate. In the end, I will always meet failure alone."
"Well done, girl! Now! Timber giant, eaten away by fire. Become a cage of flames, Wicker Man!"
As he finishes his chant, a giant wicker man appears and grabs the altar servant, and before she can react, she's thrown into the cage of the Wicker man's body and begins to burn, yet she does not scream in pain but only says.
"I pity all of you fools. You have no idea what is coming. All of you will realize eventually, this is only the beginning. The grand to order has only just begun. I will meet you all again. I hope you can keep the resolve that you have shown."
Artoria then looks at them. "In all honesty, anomaly, I wished to keep battling you as I could sense you held much power in reserve. I know not why you do not use all of it, but when we meet again, I expect a proper duel."
I say nothing as we look on, and the Wicker man dissolves along with the servant as the Director simply says, shocked "How does she know that? How can a servant know that name?"
Ritsuka then asks, worried "Director, what did she mean by Grand Order?" Marie shakily says, "Several points are unclear, but the mission is complete. Let us retrieve the grail as it seems like it's why the saber became abnormal and why the city became such a singularity."
Our curiosity remains, but as we go to retrieve the grail, slow clapping can be heard.
"Well, it seems that I have failed in my observations as I did not expect any of you to make it this far, Master Candidates #48 and # 49. It was a mistake on my part to overlook the two of you.
Lev Lainur had survived the explosion as he walked towards the grail from the shadows. Romani can then be heard over the intercom, "Professor Lev, he's alive?!"
Lev then almost irritatedly says, "Is that Romani I hear? So you survived as well. I told you to go to the command room immediately, but you just don't like to listen, do you? Honestly, all of you are simply trash and can't follow orders, and the mere sight of you here makes me want to throw up. Why do you all struggle against the inevitable?"
I then hold them back as I say, "Is that not the beauty of mortality to struggle against the inevitable to never simply just accept the end and you're not Lev, are you? I knew something was wrong with you the second I met you."
Lev continued to smile as he said, "Ah, yes, the inventor. From what I've seen here, you are definitely an anomaly, and that feels fitting for you as I don't even think any of them would have survived if you weren't here."
I shake my head as I say, "You could not be more wrong. Even without me here, your plan would not have succeeded." Lev then cackles maniacally, "You speak of struggling against destiny, and yet you utter how I still would have failed impossible!"
Marie then runs up to the man, still believing he is her friend. She then says, relieved, "Lev! You're alive! Thank goodness! It's good to see you, as I was going insane with these people!"
"You know we are right here, Director and we're not that bad!" Ritsuka says as Mash simply remains stoic and ready as I prepare to take out the Blade Encarmine.
Lev then says in an almost faux sympathy, "Ah, Olga, you survived. Looks like you had a bit of a rough time."
Marie then says almost brokenly, "A rough time is an understatement! Lev, the city is in ruins, and we can't return to Chaldea. I'm going crazy from all these unforeseen problems, but it's okay now. We'll be fine, right? That's how it's always been. You'll help me again, right?"
I frown at her almost desperate tone as the man then begins to laugh. "Complications! Yes! Honestly, all of these problems are irritating me, and the biggest complications are all of you! Especially you, Olga."
The man then places a finger on his chin as he continues, "How are you even alive, Olga? I have placed the bombs right under your feet. Unless…"
Lev smiled widely as he opened his eyes, showing a more demonic visage. "You aren't even alive. You're already dead. Well, your body is at least, and it seems because the ray shift was able to save your mind and spirit, you're still here."
The laughter echoes across the room as he says excitedly, "You have no aptitude for ray shifting,. Now you can't teleport without a physical body, and that's why you can't return; the moment you do, your consciousness will vanish!"
(If any of you are confused, the Director isn't truly there in physical form as it's only her spirit and mind given form in the singularity, and because ray shifting affects the spirit and the body, she could shift into the singularity, but she has nothing, to shift back to in the normal timeline.)
Marie then begins to shake uncontrollably as she says, "I'll vanish? Wait, I can't return to Chaldea!"
Lev then shows the Chaldea lens using the power of the grail to connect the singularity to the normal timeline. It was glowing in a bright orange and red coloring similar to the Sun. The lens is that color is not a good thing as it shows Humanity being incinerated across history.
Olga, seeing this, is shocked as she says, "It's bright red! It can't be! I can't have failed, and I'm Not Dead! I'm right here! I'm right here..."
Lev laughs at her pain as he says, "Why do you deny what you already understand, Olga, as your incompetence has yet again proven to be your downfall."
Lev then creates a physical portal between times as he says, "But I'm not going to kill you myself. No, I'm going to grant you your wish as you can become one with your greatest creation." Think of it as benevolence on my part to you as my greatest tool!"
Olga is then attracted toward the pseudo-Sun as she yells out, "No, wait! A high-density body of data will disintegrate me at a subatomic level for eternity!"
Lev then adds, "Yes, no different from a black hole or perhaps a sun. Well, either way, anyone touching it would feel a hellish disintegration, but by all means, have a taste of dying an infinite number of times! My gift to you!"
She then screams out in desperation while crying as she yells, "No! No, someone, please help me! I don't want to die here! Because I've never been praised! I've never been thanked or praised by anyone! Why does this always have to happen to me?! No one ever valued me! Everyone hates me, please. I haven't even accomplished anything yet and never got accepted by anyone! Please, NO!"
She is then absorbed by the Sun and then disintegrated, and the room remains silent in shock.
...…
...
.....
(It's rewind time.)
At least that's what would have happened, but before she even touched the Sun, she stopped and felt a force pulling her towards our group.
This shall not stand.
A bright light forms around me as my disguise fades away, revealing my archangel form as I absorb the Director's soul into a container. Hey, the Necrons and Humans in Warhammer did this on a daily basis.
Even without my technology, preserving our soul would have been simple as I placed the container in my hammerspace, and I then shattered the singularity with my own Reality Marble.
Luckily, thanks to the essence of the reality marble, I don't need to say the chant anytime I need to do it. Soon enough, our entire group including the impostor, finds ourselves in my world.
As the group looks around for me, they notice The Golden Throne as I sit upon it and say, "Reveal yourself, impostor of man!"
Lev's disguise fades away as he takes his true form which looks like a hentai monster covered in red eyes.
"What, this is impossible!" What are you?!" I simply take out the blade Encarmine as I send one single slash, and as he disintegrates, I simply say, "You do not deserve to know Flauros Demon Pillar."
But what I did not hear was the screams of the other seventy-one demon god pillars as they felt the pain their brother felt at his demise but could not see what led to his death.
The reality marble and my archangel form fade away as we return to the room with the greater grail as the group I am with stares at me in complete shock. Ritsuka is having a nosebleed as she mutters incoherently on the ground.
Mash, meanwhile, seems almost reverent as her expression wavers between various emotions.
I simply chuckle as I say, "I'm going to have a lot to explain when we get back, aren't I?" Mash just nods as Cu takes out a gourd and drinks from it as he says, "I do not envy you, temporary master, but I do hope we meet again as it's definitely an interesting time around this group of ours."
He then hands me his staff as he disappears into golden particles as with the greater grail fading from The Singularity, the servants shall also fade away.
I give him a nod as I feel two of the doors in my own Throne of Heroes open, showing all the different versions of the Child of Light and Artoria Alter for each one of their available classes.
Now, I understand I must meet and have a relationship of some kind with each servant to understand them on a deeper level so that I may summon them. Or simply meet them in an uncorrupted form.
It's slower than I would have liked, but the journey matters and not the destination in this case.
I am going to have to explain a lot when we get back.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone