A/N: To those who are wanting this Arc to be over with and get back to the original course of the story: this Arc was always meant to be 7 chapters in total. It wasn't meant to be more than that and even then I was thinking of cutting it to 6 but I didn't want to rush it.
This Arc ends after the next chapter but, if you want, you can ignore this and the next update and the chapter after that will be from Zack's POV. You won't miss much of the actual plot.
I could end it in this chapter, but that would be rushing things, and I don't wanna do that to those who actually want this Arc. I'm sorry and I hope you understand.)
Third POV:
"Alright, everyone ready?" Ritsuka asked and the group nodded. "Go ahead, Zaraka."
They were all standing in front of the village's fields, where the first attack happened. Zaraka raised his spear, turned it around and stabbed it on the ground. The wooden pole of the spear glowed green and a wave of green energy spread through the area.
A collection of green glowing footprints appeared on the ground.
"Alright, let's go," Ritsuka said and they began moving.
"This is a great ability," Svend commented looking at the green glowing tracks. "I can only imagine how many hunts from my day would have been easier because of this."
Zaraka chuckled. "Honestly, it's not that impressive. It's pretty useless in a fight."
"Servants are powerful, but they don't necessarily fight head on," Scathach commented. "You're ability can be used to track the enemy's Master during a Holy Grail war, for example. If you take out the Master, the Servant will no longer be a threat since they'll vanish soon without an anchor."
"Uh... I never thought of it that way," Zaraka confessed, looking bewildered. He then looked at the others hesitantly. "So... Uhmm, what can you tell me about Great Zack personally?"
Everyone but Drasil looked confused. "Aren't you one of Zack's... tribe?" Ritsuka asked, his question hesitant to use a term he wasn't sure was correct.
"Zaraka was too young to remember much about Zack when he left Uruk," Drasil commented, drawing everyone's attention. "If you want personal details on how he was like, you should ask Gilgamesh or Enkidu." "Hmm, I guess we'll ask them when we get back," Ritsuka commented looking to be in thought.
"Wait, you have his majesty and Enkidu at this Chaldea place?" Zaraka asked surprised.
Ritsuka gave a strained smile. "We have two versions of Gilgamesh, one a child and another in his teens, and yeah Enkidu is there, too."
Zaraka began scratching the back of his head. "Oh... uh... While I personally never saw him when he was like that, I heard many stories of his majesty in his youth being... impulsive."
"That's definitely one way to put it," Ritsuka sighed.
"If you want to know about Zack personally, Zaraka," Drasil began, drawing the attention back to her. "I suggest asking Medusa. She knew him a great deal."
The youngest Gorgon sister rolled her eyes. She could ignore the question, but she definitely didn't want to be stared at the whole way. Scathach was already doing that a lot.
"Zack was... something," Medusa couldn't stop a small smile from gracing her lips. "He easily got bored despite not liking unnecessary work. He liked to tell stories, talk about how big the world is, and he definitely enjoyed messing with people when given the chance."
"That's Meistari, alright," Svend chuckled.
"Hmm... I heard stories from my mother about Great Zack but, as Drasil said, I was too young to remember," Zaraka sighed. "I've always wanted to meet him. Do you think he could show up?" "Hopefully, he won't," Everyone turned to stare at Drasil in surprise as she said that. "Why don't you want Zack to show up?" Ritsuka asked.
Drasil looked at the ground and held her staff tightly with both hands. "The last time I saw Zack... I forced him to make a decision he hated dearly. I... I don't believe I have the courage or right to see him after that," images flashed in Drasil's head. Images of fire, destruction, death, and someone holding her arm.
"Knowing Zack, I'm sure he'd love to see you again if your separation was that hard," Medusa stated, trying to sound supportive.
Scathach suddenly tensed and raised her hand, stopping everyone. "I sense Undead... and a large number of them."
The group was now at the entrance of a valley surrounded by rocks. Moving to the side to not be spotted, they looked inside and saw the entire road filled with ghouls.
"This is troubling," Scathach commented. "This is no mere hoard. Whoever is doing this is preparing an actual army."
"The signal goes to show that they go all the way to the other side of the valley," Roman's face appeared.
"Their numbers are in the hundreds. Maybe even thousands. How are you going to get across."
"We can power through them, but their numbers create a problem," Scathach stated, seeing the waves of Undead.
"We could... trap them," Ritsuka suddenly said before looking at Zaraka. "The valley looks like it can be used in our advantage, but I'm not sure how."
"Oh, don't worry, I have an idea already," Zaraka commented, looking at both stone walls. He then turned his gaze to Drasil. "How versatile are those 'Runes' of yours?"
(~X~)
The army of ghouls stood still in the valley, all of which awaiting orders. Suddenly, something large crashed down in the middle of their ranks, causing more than a few ghouls to be sent away flying.
The dust settled to reveal Medusa riding a wooden steed. Using her chains as a lead line, Medusa snapped the chains and the horse began moving forward at great speed.
The ghouls all raised various weapons while attempting to stab at Medusa, none of them noticing Drasil floating in the air and waving her staff, causing runes to cover both sides of the valley.
Medusa rode the steed while dodging the weapons and attempts to stab her. After receiving a few scratches, she clicked her tongue and looked upwards. "Hurry!"
"I'm done! Get out of there!" At Drasil's shout, Medusa immediately jumped off the horse and threw her chains at the top of one of the valley sides, where Svend was waiting.
Grabbing the chains, Svend pulled Medusa out of the valley and yelled. "Now!"
The runes Drasil created all lit up, and the walls on the sides of the valley all turned to lava, pouring down on the ghouls. With the narrow path that the valley was made of and the fact they all had gathered to try taking down Medusa, all the ghouls were swept away easily.
When they were all consumed by the lava, Drasil waved her staff and new runes appeared above the lava. Ice and cold wind began raining on it, causing the lava to soon enough freeze over and turn solid.
"That went a lot better than I expected," Zaraka commented as he came out from his hiding spot with Ritsuka, Mash, and Scathach waiting there with him. When Medusa and Svend approached them, he looked at the former. "How did you know they would only focus on you?"
"I have an idea of what's going on here, but what just happened confirmed that," Medusa stated before motioning to the now frozen path. "For now, we should keep going. I believe we're getting close."
"Alright, let's go," Ritsuka nodded.
(~X~)
As soon as they crossed the valley, they came across a large circular clearing. The edges of the clearing had statues of warriors in armour and in the middle was a throne with a figure covered in black smoke. "Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Where is he?" The figure mumbled again and again, not even noticing the group.
"So, it IS you," Medusa gave a firm glare to the figure on the throne. "... Athena."
"WHERE ARE YOU, ARCHTYPE EARTH!?!?"
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Stones and Reviews please