"So... Archetype: Earth? That's a really weird name..." Rei muttered.
But the woman remained silent, staring at Rei as if she was processing what she saw in front of her.
"Hello?" Rei was confused, noticing how she continued to stare at him without blinking, not answering his questions.
"You... What kind of creature are you?" she suddenly asked after an awkwardly long pause.
"Me? I'm an Astral."
"Astral? I've never heard of it... When are you going to leave this world?"
"Are you like an agent of Gaia or Alaya or something? Like I said, I'm here until I deal with my own problems."
"Can you leave now? My sleep was interrupted because Gaia kept nagging me to wake up and watch over you."
"...No. So you're Gaia's agent? Is that what she did earlier when I sensed her doing something? Waking you up?"
"..."
She didn't answer again, just continuing to stare at him.
"When your problem is solved? Can you solve it right now and then leave?" She tilted her head slightly as she asked.
"No."
"Leave."
"No."
"Leave."
And they kept bickering like that for several minutes, neither of them willing to back down.
Until finally, she decided to stop. "If you don't leave, I'm going to make you," she said in her emotionless tone.
"Make me then," Rei responded, now looking serious, ready to unleash his power.
She stared at him with her red ruby eyes, and soon her body tensed, as if she was preparing to do something.
Rei mirrored her actions, getting ready to intercept whatever she was about to do with his own power.
"I'm going to make you uncomfortable by following you everywhere."
"...What?"
Rei blinked, genuinely caught off guard. "You're going to follow me everywhere?"
"Yes," she replied flatly.
"For what reason?"
"To make you uncomfortable enough that you leave."
"That's your plan?" Rei sighed, rubbing his temples. "I'm not leaving until I'm done with what I need to do."
"Then I'll keep following you," she said, her tone as emotionless as before.
"You think that'll bother me?"
"Yes."
"It won't."
"It will."
"It won't."
"Leave."
"No."
"Leave."
"No."
They stared at each other, locked in this strange verbal stalemate. Rei crossed his arms, now visibly annoyed. "I'm not going to be forced out by you shadowing me."
"I can do more than shadow you," she said, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Like what?"
"Be irritating."
Rei gave her a flat look. "I deal with my friend named Vyrn all the time. Trust me, you can't be more irritating than him."
"I can," she replied, as if it were a factual statement.
"Are you always this stubborn?" Rei muttered, his patience thinning.
"Are you?" she shot back without missing a beat.
"Yes."
"Then we're in agreement."
"No, we're not!"
"Leave."
"No!"
"Leave."
"No!"
The tension between them thickened, neither willing to give an inch. They kept bickering, voices calm but relentless, both locked in their determination.
Finally, Rei groaned in frustration. "You're not going to stop, are you?"
"No."
"Fine, follow me then," Rei snapped, turning on his heel. "But you're going to get bored."
"I don't get bored."
"We'll see about that."
And so, they continued this strange standoff, neither conceding, neither backing down.
After all of that Rei sighed after a long back-and-forth and decided to give up, starting his walk back to the Emiya residence. Unlike his usual method of flying or jumping through the air, he opted for walking this time—hoping to stretch out the journey and gather more information from the strange girl, Archetype: Earth.
the atmosphere growing increasingly awkward with each passing second. The air felt heavy, and the silence only amplified the bizarre situation he was in. It really did remind him of his encounter with Niyon, the Eternal member who would just stare at him, listening to the *sound* of his soul without saying much.
He glanced back at Archetype: Earth, who was still following him closely, her unblinking ruby-red eyes fixated on him as if she doesn't want to lose sight of him. Her intensity was unnerving, but at this point, Rei already accepted her behavior.
"So... your job is basically to watch over me?" Rei asked, trying to break the silence with small talk.
"Yes," she replied, her tone as flat as ever.
Rei rolled his eyes. "If I decided to... how can I say it... use my full power, what would you do?"
"I'm going to bind you with my chains," she answered, with the same unemotional certainty.
Rei raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. "Do you really think your chains are strong enough to bind me?"
"Yes," she said without hesitation.
"I'm pretty sure they're not," Rei countered, almost amused by her unwavering confidence.
"They will be," she responded, her voice as calm and certain as before.
Rei chuckled under his breath. "You sound pretty confident. What makes you so sure?"
"Gaia's will," she stated simply.
Rei looked back at her, shaking his head. "That doesn't mean your chains are going to work on me."
"They will," she insisted, still watching him like a hawk.
This back-and-forth, though repetitive, somehow felt like a challenge neither of them wanted to lose. Rei could feel her persistence matching his own stubbornness, and it was becoming clear that neither was willing to back down anytime soon.
He sighed again, realizing how long this could drag on. "You're really not going to drop this, are you?"
"No."
The simple response made him smile, just a little. "You're exhausting."
"....."
They kept walking, Archetype: Earth trailing behind him like a puppy. Even though he was trying to make small talk, the conversation felt like a drawn-out stalemate, much like everything else with her. But maybe, just maybe, Rei was starting to find it a little amusing.
Now, Rei began to think that maybe talking to her was a bad idea... It would be better if he just returned to the others and got some rest.
"By the way, you still haven't answered my question. What's your name?" Rei asked again.
"Archetype: Earth or Original One," she answered, repeating the same thing as before.
"Is that your actual name or something?" Rei pressed further.
"Yes, that's what they call me."
Rei didn't know who "they" referred to, but whoever it was, they had terrible naming sense.
"Do you have a shorter name instead of that Archetype: Earth or Chosen One?"
"No."
"…Well, I'm definitely not going to call you that."
That *Chosen One* name really reminded him of his dark past when he used to read Chinese novels about young master villains and chosen ones...
"Call me whatever name you want," she responded flatly.
Hearing that, Rei stopped walking, causing Archetype: Earth to halt as well, since she was right behind him.
"A name, huh..." Rei began to seriously think about a suitable name for this woman.
And he wasn't just thinking; he immediately used his power to speed up his thought process. Although only five seconds passed in real time, he had thought through hours' worth of ideas.
"I'm going to call you Echidna. Echidna is the name of someone really important to me in my world, and seeing your personality really reminds me of her. So, are you fine with that?" Rei turned to face the long-haired blonde woman.
"Echidna?" She tilted her head at the mention of the name.
"Yeah, let me show it to you." Rei raised his right hand and began writing something in the air.
He wrote the name *Echidna* in the Sky Realm language, followed by *Echidna* in Japanese, the language of this country.
"What is that?" Archetype: Earth pointed at the unfamiliar language.
"This is my world's language. Looks like your ability to understand any language doesn't work on my language too, huh?"
Afterward, Rei explained more about the name, and she just listened to him intently.
"I see, so that name is really important to you?" Archtype: Earth—or Echidna—asked after a brief pause.
"Yeah, she's like... You could say my mother from that world," Rei replied, recalling his experiences with Echidna, the Primal Beast of Motherhood.
Echidna appeared to contemplate something for a moment before finally saying, "Sure, you can call me that."
"I see... Well, I'm definitely going to call you that," Rei smiled, glad that Echidna accepted the name. At least now he wouldn't have to call her "Chosen One" or anything strange like that.
"Let's go. I want to go back home and sleep," Rei said as he resumed walking, and as before, she silently followed him closely, her gaze never leaving him.