Chapter 357: The War (3)
—
The Holy City of Camelot was entirely surrounded by the worn and torn city of Jerusalem. This war that was about to start, would reach the people there for sure, and that'd cause thousands of lives.
"Sisty, deploy."
So Neji ordered Sisty to deploy herself in the form of a thousand wood-clones. As Neji rained down towards the white and blue city, Sisty spread from his back and rushed towards the civilians in the outer city of Jerusalem.
"We are entering."
Neji muttered softly, but the voice was heard in everyone's heads. Merlin, the mage, had cast a spell that worked like an earpiece walkie-talkie for all here.
The Camelot city was protected by tall walls circling it, but from above it didn't have any protection. Countless houses, workshops, restaurants, and so many more were present in the city. They were all empty, though, and only the castle that was high up in the middle was occupied by people.
From above, the castle appeared to be a clear path. But then…
– Thud!
Neji's face hit an invisible wall, and the impact caused a blue bubble to become visible around the castle.
– Thud! Thud! Thud!
One by one, others also hit the barrier, and only the very last ones managed to hold their flight and avoid a crash.
"Ugh…"
Neji stood back up, and his telekinesis gently wrapped around his soldiers to hold them safe in the air.
Not all could fly, and they were flying until now thanks to Merlin's spells. But it seemed the barrier was anti-magic, so their flight spell was broken.
"Bothersome."
"They saw our attack coming."
"It seems that way. The… third party is actually inside the castle, right now."
The third party. Neji's Jōgan activated and he saw that the Eastern Mountain Village people were inside the castle. But it's not that they were captured or anything of that sort.
They were scattered around the huge area that the castle was made over, large enough to house multiple football fields. Scattered in a formation that said they were expecting an enemy attack.
"They have already teamed up with the Lion King."
Of course, it would be weird if they had attacked Camelot city at the exact same moment as Neji did. Neji would also not want that to happen, since fighting in that state would be a mess.
From the looks of it, they attacked the place a day or two ago. Now, they were ready to fight against Neji and his team.
* * *
The Hassans.
Hassan-i-Sabbah was a title shared by nineteen assassins who were the best in their class. Amongst them, five Hassans were currently present in this timeline, including the strongest—
The First Hassan.
The true Old Man of the Mountain.
Under his leadership, the other four Hassans –and their teams– came to attack Camelot a day ago.
They were - Hassan of the Cursed Arm, Hassan of Intoxicated Smoke, Hassan of the Hundred Faces, and finally, Hassan of Serenity.
The First Hassan, a being of monstrous aptitude, was a grand servant. He was the only Grand in his class of assassins. That was why he could kill Ozymandias without her even noticing him.
Yet, he couldn't defeat the Lion King. He met a one-sided defeat against that woman who showed no emotion.
It was purely the words of that Knight, Agravain, that they were still alive, as he advised the Lion King to make use of the Assassins. As Assassins, they would rather die than change teams, but this was a different matter.
The truth of this world seemed to have changed recently. The first Hassan has made note of that already, but he wasn't exactly sure. However, when Agravain explained the situation, the Hassans didn't doubt him. It easily matched their previous hypothesis.
"It seems they are here."
The First Hassan muttered to himself as he stood straight, his hands resting on the hilt of his large sword, as he sensed the presence of a group up in the sky.
"Gilgamesh… He brought bothersome companies."
As one of the forms of "Death", the old man easily sensed three beings who wielded the power of death.
However, that didn't matter. As long as they wished for the end of the world, it wasn't an issue what affiliation they were from. Since they truly wanted to bring Tiamat to this world, they will meet their end here. Today.
After joining forces with the Lion King, he scouted New Egypt to check for any variables. Obviously, none noticed his presence there.
There, he learned how Ozymandias was about to wage war on the Lion King, with the help of an outer force. That's how they had prepared to match the surprise attack and end them so that they couldn't continue with their mad ambitions.
– Swooosh!
The Old Man of the Mountain let out a gentle wave of death aura to warn his subordinates about the arrival of the enemy.
The barrier was anti-magic, but he didn't doubt that the group would be held off by that for long.
And he was right.
* * *
"Output 100 — Surge."
His quirk Surge from back when he was in U.A was nothing compared to what he could do now. Even with the debuff, as he pushed his palms against the barrier and activated the quirk, the result was devastating.
– Crack!
The barrier took on the superpower to its head, and since it didn't have mana, the barrier couldn't shake it off.
In mere seconds, the bubble started to shake violently and cracks started to form all over it. Five seconds later, the barrier burst out of reality like a soap bubble.
"Clear. Continue rushing."
Neji ordered and flared up his buffs once again. He turned them off earlier since being in that state imbued all of his attacks with mana regardless.
"Everyone, follow him!!"
Rumi yelled from behind and rushed after Neji, followed by the entire group.
Neji's [Mana Mode] flared up, as did his [Lightning Armor]. He didn't yet enter Eight Gates, and just continued forward as he was.
The group landed on the ground after long, and Neji kicked a huge door open that led to the inside of the castle. It burst out of the frame and flew inwards, as the group followed behind it.
….
After rushing for thirty seconds, the large group of fifteen found themselves before their first hurdle.
The three Chaldean girls, two Aztec Goddesses, two Sumerian Goddesses, two Ozymandias' court warriors, three Round Table Knights, Merlin and Ana, Kurai, Rumi, and finally Neji all came to a stop in front of the first hurdle of the group.
Sir Gawain, led a group of soldiers that filled all of the hallways. There were two paths behind him, and all were filled with hollow soldiers.
"It's a dead end. You all will face your end here."
[Sir Gawain – Mid Tier 14]
The Tier 9 was now Tier 14. Neji knew the reason, though. Gawain's powers were sun related, and one of his perks was that he gained a lot more power in the daytime than at night. The last time he fought Gawain, it was nighttime.
Soon, Gawain's eyes widened. "Wait… Mordred? Tristan? Lancelot?! Why are you with them? What's the meaning of this!"
"You guys continue moving. I have some things to make even with him."
It was Mordred who said that, wearing an evil grin.
They have always had arguments, so now that she had the chance, she didn't want to miss it.
"Good luck. But Jaguarman, you stay with her. Take care of the soldiers."
Neji said, and rushed towards one of the paths. He activated Kamui, easily clearing the path as the rest of the group followed behind him.
Why was Neji in a hurry? It's because the Lion King might step in herself if the group delayed too much in one spot. That wouldn't just be bad, that would be horrendous since Neji had zero ideas on how to keep the weaker members of his group unharmed from her powers.
"Neji, I see some other bastards ahead of us."
Rumi commented from the side, with her Byakugan activated, as the group continued forward.
….
After that, the group came across one of the Hassans. Hassan of the Cursed Arm waited for them, as the group took a pause.
"I'll take care of him."
"You alone won't be enough."
When Tristan said he would take care of the Cursed Arm, Neji disagreed.
[Cursed Arm – Peak Tier 15]
"Lancelot, you join Tristan."
Neji ordered him and picked one of the three paths behind Cursed Arm. As the group followed behind him, while he erased the soldiers with Kamui, something odd happened.
Darkness.
One moment Neji was rushing forward through the zillions of soldiers, the next moment it was all dark.
He had been… teleported. It was a trap. It was like the floor breaking and him falling, except it was magical.
He was sure the group would continue to move without any issues, so he focused on breaking free from there.
* * *
"Where's Papa?"
"Teleported, it seems."
Kurai jumped from Ereshkigal's head and ran in the air beside Rumi.
"He should be out in a few minutes. It would have been faster if the enemies he was about to face weren't girls. Tch."
Rumi explained further while the group continued running.
Then, the group came across another enemy. No, it was two enemies this time.
The Hassan of the Hundred Faces, along with the archer, Arash. Just like before, soldiers were filling the four roads behind them.
"I didn't expect to see a few of you pleasant faces amidst this bad crowd."
Arash the Archer said, looking at a few of the more famous servants.
"Haha, that's true. Seems like we have a little misunderstanding right here."
One of Ozymandias' people, Sanzang, said with a soft smile. As a kind soul, she could see what a hero Arash was. It was a sad fate that they had to fight here.
"I'll take care of them."
"There are two of them. Erm, Vinci, and Ana, you two help her out."
Since there was a large number of soldiers too, three people should suffice.
The girls didn't question Rumi and nodded, rushing at the main enemies.
Rumi rushed forward at one of the four paths, using her Byakugan to determine the correct one, as Kurai, Merlin, Ishtar, Ereshkigal, Quetzalcoatl, Nitocris, and the Chaldean girls followed behind.
….
A minute later, they came across a truly dangerous being. Even Rumi felt some chills standing before the ghostly creature who wielded a large sword.
The Old Man of the Mountain. It made things all the more menacing that no hollow soldiers were behind him. It was as if he alone was enough.
"...As planned, Kurai, Ereshkigal, and Nitocris, you take care of him. Will you join then, Ishtar? Your powers might come to help them."
Rumi made a last-minute adjustment to the original plan, feeling that this being was just too strong for it to work.
As if finding their words mocking, the serious old man scoffed.
"I will not let any of you pass. There is no point in planning."
Rumi shrugged her shoulders.
"Yeah, no. That's not gonna happen. Oi, Quetzalcoatl, try to keep up."
Rumi grabbed Mash and Fujimaru in her arms. Then, she kicked the ground at the speed of lightning. A delayed shockwave made the floor burst, as the blonde dragon rushed behind her too.
Old Man of the Mountain could try to stop them, but he had been attacked at the same time, so he didn't have any choice but to let them pass.
* * *
In the meantime, Neji was suddenly attacked within the darkness.
Well, it wasn't exactly dark to his eyes. The attackers were taking advantage of the dark in the common royal room, but Neji could see them easily with Jōgan.
Threads and strings were all over the area, and currently, one string was right up his throat, while his ankles were also caught in it.
"Do not move."
Gently, a form walked behind him and wrapped her arms around him. The soft wrap turned tight, and Neji felt that could have killed most people.
"You know, I find something odd."
As if nothing mattered, Neji spoke very casually. It would be rather weird if he was intimidated by this. It was true that the strings could harm him, however.
"The Hassan of Intoxicated Smoke is the one who can become immune to all attacks. While the Hassan of Serenity is the one who has a Poison Body. Why are your names switched up?"
"Wha-"
"No, think about it."
Neji's body moved through the strings. His body passed through and appeared to wrap around her body instead. It all happened so quickly and smoothly that Intoxicated Smoke didn't notice it until it was done.
She went silent, her body tensing. At the same time, Neji's body divided and made an Omni-Copy which appeared from behind Hassan of Serenity who was hiding behind a table.
"Akh- d-don't touch me!"
Serenity panicked. Not that she hated being touched but that whenever a person would touch her too much that person would die. Her Poison Body was like that. That's why she was sent with Intoxicated Smoke, so that if Neji wasn't taken out by her, Serenity could do it.
That didn't mean Serenity liked doing it. Still, despite her complaint, it was out of instinct, she realized they couldn't win against him and then bit his hand. Even though touching her skin didn't guarantee death, her bodily fluid was too much to ignore.
Sadly,
[The –Will of the Omniverse's Blessing– has detected a debuff, 'Poison of Death', and negated it.]
Neji had more than one protection against poison.
"No, try not to cancel it. I want to feel her poison."
Neji said out loud and then grabbed Serenity by her waist. He was saddened by her story the first time he saw it. For a girl this pretty, she had too much of a sad fate.
While one of his copies was taking care of the Intoxicated Smoke in the side, he wrapped his hand around Serenity. His telekinesis moved the vein of her mouth to the side, and he leaned over to kiss her deeply.
Serenity acted like a fish out of the water. She may have killed lots with her power, but it felt wrong to kill one by an intimate gesture like kissing. So she struggled not to kiss… but when he kissed her and she realized he wasn't dying, she slowed down.
For a moment, all the desire to kill him vanished from her head. No, it wasn't intentional that she started to kiss him back, feeling what it felt like to kiss for the first time in her life, both her living life and servant life together.
When Neji had felt her enough, her poison feeling like a tasty salt on his tongue, his body easily shaking it off, he decided to end her.
Using all his pleasure techniques on his touches, he overwhelmed her senses and let her drop to the floor.
On the side, something similar had happened to Intoxicated Smoke. For she who was immune to all 'attacks', it was easier to overwhelm her with pleasure instead.
Neji called his [Void Sealing] powers to make thick black chains, and they wrapped around the two girls to lock them up in the corner.
Now done, Neji started moving again.
* * *
Neji walked out of the mage that he had been teleported into, ignoring all the hollow soldiers and choosing to move through them using Kamui, and finally made it out.
– Creak
He gently pushed the large door open, and it parted to reveal a grand throne room.
There, he saw her again. This time with his eyes closed up.
[Ryuko Tatsuma – Dragon Goddess – Peak Tier 25]
Sitting on her throne, her once bright blonde hair was now ash-like. Her arms rested on the armrest of her throne, and she faced him straight on.
Beside her, stood Agravain on the left, and Bedeviere, on the right. One was the smart knight, and the other was the Knight of Loyalty, the current wielder of Excalibur.
[Agravain – Heroic Spirit – Mid Tier 12]
[Bedeviere – Mid Tier 20]
Bedeviere was just a human, not even a heroic spirit. He who has been walking for 1,500 years, finally found his King, and was now serving under her again.
"Neji!"
Footsteps came from far, and another door opened to let Rumi, Quetzalcoatl, and the two Chaldean girls inside.
Rumi too paused before the unknown Ryukyu.
"...."
For a moment, they all stared at one another.
After that moment passed… the battle began.
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