Jayr POV - Nasuverse, Moon, SE.RA.PH, Tsukumihara Academy - 2030 AD
Morning in SE.RA.PH never feels truly real. As usual, the light that spills through the window has no warmth; it's a perfect gradient copied from some archived sunrise.
Still, at this point, I've grown used to it. I wake early, let the silence linger a while longer before heading toward the bathroom for a quick shower.
Steam quickly fills the small area around me, fogging the nearby mirror. For a few minutes, I allow myself to pretend this place is a home and not the only safe place in a digital reality.
When I step out, Nero is already there, materialised and radiant as if she's been awake for hours and says, "Ah, my Praetor emerges reborn."
She is draped in a towel that's more theatre than necessity and makes sure to give me a good view of her magnificent body with a graceful twirl before asking, "Will today's conquest begin with breakfast or battle?"
I smile gently and reply, "Breakfast," before walking out of the bathroom, opening a portal to my Soulbound Territory and pulling out a few ingredients while continuing, "Even emperors need fuel."
She perches on a nearby chair, watching as I cook a simple plate of pancakes with strong coffee on the side.
I like doing this even if we don't actually need to consume anything to survive, the rhythm of it; it reminds me that something human still exists beneath all the insanity happening all around us.
While she eats with exaggerated delight, I pull out the portable terminal and our plan, "We've got the Primary Trigger, and we've dissected every Enemy Program the first floor of the Arena can throw at us. Still no confirmed identity for Helena's Servant. And until the second floor of the Arena opens and the Second Trigger is generated, we can't gain anything else from exploring the Arena. Rani offered to help if we could bring her a relic... something touched by Helena. But not any random object is fine; it must have some form of connection with her essence. Basically, it must be something she held for quite some time."
Nero hums thoughtfully while commenting, "A relic hunt. How deliciously mythic."
In response to that, I quickly say, "Or tedious... But it's our best lead. At this point, it is quite clear that Helena has no intention of confronting us directly until the day of the Elimination Battle. She will simply limit herself to harassing us with her powers and her Pokémon. And I'd like to avoid dealing with them as much as possible unless absolutely necessary. I find no pleasure in harming such loyal creatures..."
She raises her cup in mock salute and theatrically declares, "Then the Emperor and her Praetor shall scour the campus for treasure."
Having decided on a plan for the day, we finish breakfast and prepare before we step out of our Private Room into the hallway of the first floor of the Academy.
Naturally, Nero fades into her Spirit Form, leaving only the faint warmth of her presence at my side.
The corridors are quieter than ever; the few Masters we pass avoid meeting my eyes as usual. The second round has already started to feel like an extinction event.
As soon as we start our search, I open my senses to the maximum, and I even use my Cosmic Awareness, scanning for any kind of Earth-aligned signatures.
SE.RA.PH's ambient mana is a noisy, chaotic thing with countless currents of digital life, stray fragments of Codecasts from a hundred Masters, but somewhere inside it, there should be a pulse that belongs only to Helena; however, I find nothing.
We search the garden close to the Chapel first with rows of virtual flora swaying under artificial wind, but nothing stronger than standard plant and nature attuned energies and codes.
The library is our next destination with residual traces of knowledge programs, but no Earth energy resonance.
The Dormitory wing yields only mundane signatures from sleeping NPCs.
Hours pass, the system's false sun climbs to its peak only to fall again, and Nero's patience thins, making her voice murmur in my mind through our bond, [My Praetor, even the stones tyre of being questioned. Shall we interrogate the walls next?]
Hearing that, I almost let out a chuckle before holding back and replying in a half-humorous, half-resigned tone, [Maybe they'd answer. After all, from what I know, it is pretty common for walls to have ears... Maybe this time we are lucky and find one that also has a mouth and knows something useful. Anyway, one thing is sure, Helena might've covered her tracks too well.]
Nero then replies in a teasing tone, but I can still feel the edge of frustration beneath it, [Or we're searching in the wrong temple.]
At this point, I let out a sigh and say, [Let's check the courtyard, the playing field, and the swimming pool before calling it a day.]
The courtyard lies open beneath the eternal blue sky, a circle of stone walkways and fountains that never stop flowing, and again we have no luck.
So we head toward the playing field, and when we step onto the playing field, I notice that the sun is already sinking behind the gym roof.
The dirt crunches under my shoes, dry and cracked from days without rain, the air smells like dust and cut grass, almost perfectly real.
I scan the open field, the football goals, the baseball diamond, the chalked lines that the wind is already starting to erase, nothing. No trace of what we are looking for, only silence.
I walk the perimeter, running my fingers along the chain-link fence. It rattles faintly, metal on metal, like it resents my touch.
I crouch near the flowerbeds by the equipment shed, digging lightly into the soil. The dirt feels cold, rough, and completely ordinary: a few roots, a beetle, no trace of Earth-aligned energy.
The pool is my next destination; it sits behind a low concrete wall, water covered by a blue tarp that rippled in the breeze.
I slowly peel one corner back and see that the water is dark and still, faintly reflecting the orange sky.
I crouch, holding my breath; it is simply water, not the kind that hid secrets of earth, nothing stirs beneath the surface except a drifting leaf.
I check under the bleachers, along the storage shed, even beneath the cracked tiles near the locker room, but still nothing.
At this time, I decide to make it back toward the main building. I stop once, looking back at the empty grounds, listening for something, anything.
But the only sound present is the faint hum of the lights, the chattering of the few present NPCs, and the steady rhythm of my own footsteps as I turn toward the school doors, empty-handed.
As I head back toward our Private Room, I see the familiar figure of my friend and fellow Champion Aletha on the other side of the hallway, who is likely coming out of the Arena and about to return to her own Private Room.
Seeing that, I walk toward my friend while calling her out, "Aletha." She turns, smiling when she recognises me, "Jayr. Still alive, I see."
In response, I say, matching her tone, "Well enough," before asking, "How's your round going?"
Aletha's smile grows wider as she replies, "Manageable. My opponent's a regular Master, not a Champion, I'm certain. Weak, even. But his Servant…"
She pauses, searching for words before saying, "She is very powerful and, for lack of a better word... Holy."
Then Aletha starts to describe the appearance of her opponent's Servant, knowing that it is very likely that I can recognise the Servant's identity the more information she gives me, "That Servant seems... A perfect person, endowed with beauty and overflowing with charm. She is a beautiful saint with blue eyes and long purple hair, reaching below her waist, with a white, golden-frilled, short veil around her head. She wears a pair of blue earrings in each ear. A short, blue cloak draped over her shoulders is connected to a red collar. Her main piece of clothing is an unnatural one-piece, white dress with red trimmings, with wide sleeves, revealing its interior gray colors and rose-vine pattern. The dress is low cut, with an exposed trim-like section down the middle all the way down to her navel. In the skirt, it is split apart at two points, exposing her legs. A black belt is tied around her waist, connected to a golden ornament by the right hip, which drapes over the remainder of the belt all the way down to her ankles. In addition, she wears sexy blue stockings, a set of green and golden gauntlets and grieves, and high-heeled sandals."
After hearing Aletha's description, I already have an idea of the true identity of her opponent's Servant, which is further confirmed when she adds, "She holds in her right hand a lengthy cross-staff: a golden pole with pink strips tied around it and with a silver and purple cross at the very top. It is her main weapon, but she doesn't use it like a spear, but to perform distant attacks through her prayer-like magical attacks by praying on that lengthy cross-staff. This is not with something that causes an impact or violently explodes because of a fireball or an energy wave flying through the air, but an attack where, after the Servant's cross-staff starts to shine, the target will automatically emit a magical light and 'explode' or 'burst apart'."
That last description makes everything click instantly as I tell her, "It's Saint Martha... the Dragon Rider. She was a saint of the 1st Century who suppressed the evil dragon Tarasque. A holy maiden who made a terrible and grotesque monster fall madly in love."
Aletha blinks, then laughs, "Hehehe... You already figured out her identity... You'd make a terrifying detective, you know that?"
In response, I sigh dramatically and say in a mock lamenting tone, "It's the heavy curse of knowledge..."
Then I smile back and tell Aletha a bit more about Saint Martha's tale.
Guided by the words of Jesus, whom she warmly welcomed with her younger brother and sister, Martha became a person of faith.
She did not abandon her faith even later on, after Jesus was executed, further avoiding death as she was exiled by the Roman viceroy at the time and was placed in a boat with neither a paddle nor a sail to use, and drifted to southern France upon receiving the grace of God.
At the town of Nerluc, which was located ahead of her as she went north along the Rhône River, she ended up confronting the monster Tarasque, who was also called the child of Leviathan and was viewed as a tyrannical dragon tormenting the people.
Martha was not afraid of this monster and suppressed it with discipline carried out through her sacred powers.
Afterwards, Nerluc changed its name to Tarascon, and it is currently prospering as a city that enshrines Martha and Tarasque.
After briefly narrating Saint Martha's tale, I inform Aletha that Saint Martha should be a Rider Class Servant, and then, I continue by saying, "Since I'm very confident that your opponent is going to be Saint Martha, then I think it is useful to know a bit more about her personality."
Shortly after saying that, I explain, "To someone less familiar with Saint Martha, she seems like the prefect saint, being beautiful, chaste, gentle, and kind. Perhaps due to her younger sister, Mary, Martha frequently acts like an older sister. She is reliable and holds an indomitable spirit. If she can say, 'I'm okay', her companions will believe that, no matter what happens."
I pause for a moment, watching Aletha nod and follow with attention before I continue, "The companions she can particularly confide in, however, know a Martha who acts very much unlike a saint. When she sulks, gets angry, or irritated at an enemy, her words, gaze and facial expressions can suddenly turn sharp, the atmosphere around her becomes unyielding, and she becomes dynamic and determined right after. But she will always manage to keep herself from attacking the source of her ire, since she received her cross staff from Christ Himself. This side of her is the closest to what she was like when she was a town girl who lived together with her younger brother and sister before she received the staff and became a saint."
In the end, I conclude by saying, "But despite this extreme persona, she is still a real Saint. Even though it is a bit distant from the image of a perfect saint, her captivating charm, indomitable spirit, and belief that guides and protects every single person, her love for people, and so on, are all fundamentally consistent with her saintly essence. Which persona she takes on largely depends on whether her filter is on or off. Saint Martha has nothing to wish for on the Holy Grail that does not belong to the Messiah. Similarly, like the times before, she will live as a saint even after she has materialised as a Servant. Therefore, she will be cooperative with her Master. So long as the Master continues to walk on the right path."
Hearing that last part, Aletha nods and comments, "Indeed, I already noticed that she was very cooperative and patient with her Master... This is truly the kind of opponent I wish to avoid the most... The likeable and respectable one."
After agreeing with her, I move on and start informing her about the known Skills at her disposal.
Starting with the Class Skills: Magic Resistance (A Rank) and Riding (A++ Rank)
Magic Resistance (A Rank) grants protection against magical effects, and at this rank, it nullifies spells that are Rank A or below. Because of that, modern mages would not be able to wound her with magecraft, and even Aletha's weaker spells would be completely ineffective.
Riding (A++ Rank) is a Skill that denotes a Servant's ability to ride mounts and vehicles.
It is possible for Saint Martha, who materialised as a Rider, to operate all vehicles and beasts freely.
In addition, regarding the Dragon Species, it should originally not be possible for one to manage them with the Riding Skill, but it is exceptionally possible for Martha to ride them because of her legendary tale.
Then I move on and start to tell her about Saint Martha's Personal Skills: Divinity (C Rank), Protection of the Faith (A Rank), Miracle (D+ Rank), Holy Maiden of the Waterside (C Rank), and Jacob's Limbs (B Rank).
Divinity is a Skill that acts as the measure of whether one has Divine Spirit aptitude or not.
At high levels, one can be considered a Demigod, a mix between a human and a Divine Spirit.
Those who have an A rank Divinity or above have reached the Throne of Gods, although they are still just short of being a true God due to lacking a Divine Core.
This Skill has an effect which reduces special defensive values called "Purge Defence" in proportion to the Divinity's rank. It can break through Skills such as Protection of the Faith and Enlightenment of the Sacred Fig.
Protection of the Faith is a Skill possessed only by those who have sacrificed themselves for a religious view.
Despite being a form of divine protection, it is not a blessing from a higher existence.
It is the absoluteness of one's body and mind that was born from their beliefs.
Miracle is a Skill that can make a miracle, which occasionally makes the impossible possible.
Holy Maiden of the Waterside is a Skill representing Martha's deep connections to water, for having to drift on top of a boat and reined in the Tarasque at the Rhône's riverbank. Upon perceiving a waterside, Martha's attack power rises.
Lastly, Jacob's Limbs is an old method of hand-to-hand combat that was continuously inherited from Jacob, to Moses, and finally to Saint Martha. If one reached its limits, it could triumph even over an Archangel.
According to legends, a Saint who mastered this can surely beat to death an angel of destruction that leads 12,000 angels. It is specialised for use against a target with Divinity.
Saint Martha has mastered both Pacifying Raging Beasts and the Jacob's Perishing Fist.
The Pacifying Raging Beasts is a fighting style where Saint Martha focuses her strength to enhance her attacks, used primarily against raging beasts.
Meanwhile, Jacob's Perishing Fist, which is also called the "fist of justice", is Saint Martha's trump card that consists of Martha putting everything into an inverted thrust at the cost of leaving her stomach wide open.
In the end, I warn her about the two Noble Phantasms she is known to use.
The first one is: Tarasque: O' Dragon's Shield that Shall Not Let a Blade Pass. A Noble Phantasm of Martha that temporarily summons the shell of Tarasque, protecting her and her allies.
It can drastically increase the defensive power of a single ally or even nullify damage for a short duration.
The second one is: Tarasque: O' Tragic Drake Who Knew Naught of Love. A Noble Phantasm of Martha that summons Tarasque in its entirety.
Tarasque possesses great strength and the ability to breathe fire. He also possesses a powerful attack called the Giant Iron Armoured Dragon's Scorching Great Spin Attack, where Martha launches him at the enemy as he retreats back into his shell and breathes fire.
In the end, Aletha shakes her head and says, "She for sure is going to be a formidable opponent. At least now I know what I'm up against. Thanks."
Then she pouts a little and says with annoyance in her tone, "I'm very grateful for your help... But the next time, instead of flooding me with such a massive info dump, why do you not send me a data packet that I can calmly study later in the comfort of my Private Room?"
Hearing that, I scratch the back of my head in embarrassment and apologise, "Sorry, sorry... I just can't help myself at times. I love talking and teaching about such topics so much that at times I kind of lose myself. I promise the next time, I'll simply prepare a data packet to study."
We take a moment to exchange a look before we both start chuckling out loud, then we talk a little longer, always skirting around the unspoken truth that soon we might have to fight each other in the near future.
Then, when I mention Rani's request and our fruitless relic search, Aletha grows thoughtful for a few moments before she says, "I can't cast a spell strong enough to pierce another Champion's protections, even more so if you, with your immense powers, can't do it... But maybe I can help you cheat the odds instead."
Shortly after saying that, she reaches into her coat and pulls out a tiny vial filled with a curious and very unique liquid.
The liquid inside the vial greatly resembles molten gold, with droplets leaping out at intervals like goldfish soaring from their bowl.
The light catches it, scattering warm reflections across her fingers while she simply says, "Felix Felicis. Liquid luck."
I stare at the vial in her hands while thinking, 'Felix Felicis... Likely one of the most broken creations of the Harry Potter Universe.'
Felix Felicis, also called "Liquid Luck", is a potion that makes the drinker lucky for a period of time, during which everything they attempt would be successful. It turns an ordinary day into an extraordinary one.
It is very difficult to make, disastrous if made wrong, and requires six months to brew before it is ready to be consumed.
It is meant to be used sparingly, as it causes the drinker to succumb to giddiness, recklessness, and dangerous overconfidence if taken in excess. It is also highly toxic in large quantities.
Felix Felicis causes the drinker to have good luck for a limited period of time, during which they are likely to succeed in all endeavours in which success was possible.
The more of it the drinker ingested, the longer their good luck would last, and that one small vial in Aletha's hand would be about twelve hours' worth.
They had a strong perception of this effect, including a high level of confidence and a "sensation of infinite opportunity".
This is accomplished not through direct application of force or granting the drinker any extraordinary powers, but by inspiring the drinker with a favourable pathway through the circumstances.
It can be said that Felix Felicis allows the drinker to become somewhat in tune with their own fate, enlightening the user with the ability to intuitively tell what actions they need to take in order to lead to their desired consequences.
A person under the potion's inspiration would likely prove highly adaptable to any unexpected change in the circumstances.
There are always infinite possibilities in any situation, some of which doubtless lead to the desired outcome, and Felix could highlight them no matter what happened.
Though Felix Felicis confers no extra powers on the user, it seems capable of drawing out the best reserves of their ability if needed.
I clearly see that Harry was able to use Refilling Charms non-verbally, even though he had not yet managed it in his previous classroom practice in the books and movies.
Naturally, the Felix Felicis isn't omnipotent and has some clear limitations as it is not able to better the chances of the drinker against particularly powerful enchantments... but since I'm the one who will use it and just to find a simple item connected to Helene, it shouldn't be beyond its means.
While quickly going over everything I know about the Felix Felicis, I continue to stare at it and comment, "That's… rare. And very powerful..."
Aletha smirks and says, "Understatement of the century. Hermione brewed a batch for me before I left my world. I've got enough to share."
Hearing that, I shake my head and say, "I can't take this," but she presses the vial into my palm and insists, saying, while her expression softens, "You can and you will. Call it repayment for all the times you've saved my hide and dazed me with your endless but precious info dumps. Use it when you really need things to go right."
At the same time, I hear Nero's amused voice in my head as she comments through our bond, [A potion that commands fate. How delightfully decadent.]
Until now, she kept quiet, following our discussion without missing a beat to also ensure to keep her presence as concealed as possible, but the revelation of the vial of literally liquid luck is just too much.
As expected, Aletha glances around, likely sensing the very faint presence of the unseen Servant, and chuckles before she adds, "Tell your Servant to relax. It's just a bit of good luck, not divine intervention."
Hearing that, I smile wryly and say, "I'll try," tucking the vial safely into my jacket before adding, "Thank you."
She waves as she turns away while saying, "Don't mention it. And Jayr... Don't waste it on something small."
I stand there for a moment, watching her disappear around the corner.
The little sunlight still present, whatever passes for it, catches on the vial's surface, making the liquid inside glow like molten gold. Warm, alive, hopeful.
As soon as Aletha is gone, Nero once again speaks to me through our bond, [So fortune now marches under our banner.]
Hearing that, I smile a bit and reply, [Maybe. Or maybe it just agreed to walk beside us for a while.] Making Nero's joyful voice declare, [Then let us not trip.]
After that, we spend the rest of the day combing the remaining sectors of the campus, but luck, natural luck, stays silent.
As evening falls, we return to our Private Room mostly empty-handed, but the vial of Felix Felicis that sits on the desk beside the terminal with its soft glow lightens the heavy load I've felt since the start of the Second Selection by quite a bit.