- Silas -
Over the next twenty minutes, the girl explained several things to us.
Magus, Servants, Masters, the Holy Grail War…
"So there is a supernatural tournament going on between seven magicians and their summoned servants, who are heroes from the past and the winner gets to have a wish of their choice?" Rimuru asked.
"Yes, although I would like to correct you. The seven masters are not magicians but Magus. A Magician is someone who uses True Magic, not Magecraft." She explained.
Great… more technical terms.
Still, that explained why she wasn't freaking out even after seeing Ainz in front of her. She was a magical too.
There is a chance that she could have seen something like this before.
"So Saitama, are you participating in the tournament?" Rimuru asked.
"Hmm. I have something I want."
"It's not a lifetime discount on groceries, right?" I asked, suspiciously.
Saitama… actually looked like he was considering it but then shook his head. "No no. Something more important."
"Eh, is there something you want, Saitama?" Rimuru asked.
"Hmm."
"What is it? Is it something we can help with?"
"Eh… dunno."
While we were confused about Saitama's wish, Ainz turned towards Medea, his gaze serious this time.
"You said the servants are summoned by their masters… then… how are you alone? How did Saitama become your master? He didn't summon you."
Suddenly, all three of us turned towards her.
Yes.
This is something we had all ignored.
"My previous master is dead. I severed my connection with him." She said in an even tone.
"Why?"
"I didn't like him."
"Any reasons for that?"
"He didn't comply with my moral code." She replied coolly.
"Oh? Please elaborate."
"He was planning to sacrifice children using me as a tool. It's not something I could allow so I killed him and freed the children. I was about to fade away when I was found by Saitama-san, who saved me from being attacked and I chose him as my master."
The words left us speechless.
"Is there any way you can prove your words?" Ainz asked.
"She is not lying." The answer came from an unexpected source.
Milim had somehow sneaked to our side when we weren't noticing and spoke. We turned towards her. "She is not lying. My Skill can tell when someone is lying. She isn't lying." Milim verified.
Well, there's the verification.
"Very well. I apologise for asking such rude questions. I just wanted to make sure our friend is not hurt."
"Don't worry. I understand." She replied. "Still, you are not worried that I might change my mind later and do something to hurt him?" She asked.
Ainz paused, the red in his eyes flickering once more. "If even a hair on Saitama's head… ughh… I mean if he gets even a scratch…then it would be the last thing you would do."
"Oi, why the hell did you change that? Why did you change that, you bastard!" Saitama roared, pointing a finger at Ainz.
"I am trying to make a point here."
"Then what was that about my hair?"
"I was speaking metaphorically."
"Meta what?"
"Ughh."
Surprisingly, this banter caused the woman to burst into a laugh.
"You all are funny. I can see why Saitama-san likes you all so much. Don't worry. I have no intention of harming Saitama-san in any way. I actually like him. It's rare to see a real hero. Most of them are just pompous fools who wave around their power for the sake of fame."
The tense atmosphere calmed down a bit after this and I took their orders and went back to the kitchen again.
Meanwhile, Caster, as she said, was talking with other members of the Restaurant.
She was quite interested in different types of magic in different worlds.
This continued until the door to the Restaurant opened again, this time revealing two faces, a familiar and an unfamiliar one.
Rin Tohsaka had arrived at the Restaurant followed by a blonde girl in armour.
- Ikki -
Ikki looked at the man in front of him, grinning like a savage beast, exuding a fighting spirit and killing intent so palpable that it was crushing the surroundings.
Even now, he couldn't believe Yoruichi's crazy idea of entering the Soul Society… being shot in as a firework…
Unfortunately, they were all separated while landing.
He had however managed to catch a glimpse of the figures of two of them before crashing and knew a general idea of where they could have crashed.
Following the general direction, he managed to meet Tatsuki who was beating up a member of the eleventh squad and joined her in searching for others.
They however encountered a freak with black face paint and clown-like makeup.
A Captain.
Yoruichi had expressly told them not to engage any captains so he was planning to flee with Tatsuki but was interrupted by the appearance of Uryu who seemed to have some kind of grudge against the man.
He told them to get away but Ikki and Tatsuki both agreed to wait in a distance to back him up if he needed to.
The fight which came after that was beyond their expectations and to everyone's surprise, it was Uryu who won, although at a very heavy price.
Unfortunately, it didn't look like the enemy captain died.
Ikki jumped in quickly to pick Uryu up and escape from there.
They still had to find the others.
Over the next day, they hid and sneaked around the Soul Society as the patrols of the shinigami increased as time passed. Several times they had to fight others, two of them actually being Vice Captains, one a blonde haired guy called Kira and another a black haired person with a sixty nine tattoo on his cheeks.
Ikki had managed to fight them off somehow, although the battle pushed him to his limits, even injuring him due to the wind attacks from the second vice captain.
But, despite all this,they had somehow managed to steal shinigami uniforms from the nearby squads and blended in with everyone.
Finding a clue of Ichigo and Chad was getting harder until he sensed it.
Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure along with the Spiritual Pressure of the same guy they had fought when trying to save Rukia.
They raced there just in time to see Ichigo defeat the red haired guy but falling due to his injuries, being healed by a shinigami boy.
They had managed to escape from there somehow before the arrival of the rest of the Shinigami and in the process met Hanataro, a shinigami from the fourth squad who was befriended by Ichigo.
From him, they learned the location of Rukia and planned to find a way to rescue her.
And that's where they met him… the Captain of the Eleventh Division, Kenpachi Zaraki.
With Uryu and Ichigo injured and Tatsuki being nowhere near qualified to fight him, Ikki stepped up.
"Are you the ryoka who defeated Ikkaku?" The man asked.
"Ikkaku? I am sorry but I don't know who you are talking about."
"Heh! Too bad. That said, you don't look half bad yourself. I have heard someone of your description beating up two vice captains. So, how about you give me some fun." With that said, he kicked the ground and attacked Ikki.
Ikki dodged, instinctively, the ground shattering where it was hit.
The fight began and very soon Ikki realised that Kenpachi Zaraki wasn't like other shinigami.
This man was a beast.
There was no solid technique in his attacks, just raw destructive power backed by animal-like instinct and a lust for battle.
His attacks weren't even able to cut his skin.
"Come on! Don't bore me with this. Show me what you've got! If you hold back, I will cut you down and then move on to the rats hiding in the sewers below." Zaraki grinned.
Ikki looked behind him.
With Ichigo still unconscious, Tatsuki would in no way be able to fight off this man.That means, he had to stop him by himself.
So he took a deep breath and looked at the man and spoke. "Speaking about holding back, you have been doing the same thing. The bells on your hair… are kinda insulting."
"Eh! Want me to go all out? Are you sure you can handle it?"
"I won't know until I see it." Ikki pushed, trying to buy as much time as he could.
"Ahahahaha that's the spirit. Good good good. In that case, I will see how far you go. Don't disappoint me or I will kill those rats after killing you." With that, he pulled off his eyepatch and just for that moment, Ikki regretted his earlier words.
The power pushed him back as the surrounding buildings started crumbling.
"Hahahaha you see, my fights ended too quickly as my enemies were all weak. That's why, to enjoy my fights more, I had the Twelfth Division design a special eyepatch for me. It restricts my power to twenty percent of its maximum. Now, I am going all out… so come on. Come on and give me your all."
Taking another deep breath Ikki braced himself.
Ittou Shura wouldn't work against this.
Had the man's full power been the one in his sealed state, there was a chance of it working but now it was just a fool's dream.
That's why… he had to push beyond.
If becoming a monster for one minute wouldn't work… then he would become a demon for just a moment.
With that in mind, he poured everything in his technique.
"Ittou Rasetsu!"
"Ahahahaha yes yes! That's it. Come one, let's kill each other!" The madman shouted as he rushed towards him but Ikki wasn't hearing anything.
He had just this one swing, one moment and he wasn't going to let it go to waste.
With that, both sides clashed.