The cold ice of Mother Russia was visible. A place where being a furry was the law, or you froze to death. You were only spared if you were a Servant or a Master, since mages, for some reason, had practically disappeared from all the Lostbelts; they only exist in Britannia, but even there there are exceptions, since they aren't mages but fairies.
"It's awful in here," I offered, noticing Koyanskaya already wearing a coat against the cold, something I don't know when she put on.
"Yeah, there's not much you can do about it, really. Follow me," the foxy woman ordered, walking to where I should go; from what I could barely make out, it was the castle of Sar, Ivan the Terrible, the king of the Russian Lostbelt.
...
As I walked through the silent corridors of this mansion/castle, I listened to the melody that echoed throughout the castle.
"I wonder what we're doing here?" I couldn't help but ask Koyanskaya, who was standing in front of me.
"Isn't it obvious? We're looking for information," she replied, glancing at me sideways with a smile that sent a shiver down my spine.
"Don't you know anything?" I challenged her.
"I know someone has been causing trouble here, that's all; in fact, it was my idea to do all this," she informed me.
"And was it really necessary for me to come?" I continued my questioning.
"You're already here; what's the harm in seeing what's going on?" she evaded the question, making me sigh slightly.
After walking a little further, we arrived at a room where I was able to see once again the Servant who had accompanied me to raid Chaldea two months ago.
I was standing behind a somewhat hunched man with a tired look and white hair, as if he were perpetually tormented and stressed.
"Oh, if those are just dark circles under his eyes," she greeted me amicably.
In response, the man glared at me before turning to Koyanskaya.
"What do you want, and why did you bring Wodine's Servant here?" he demanded immediately, without any decorum. In fact, he sounded annoyed and frustrated.
"I heard you were having trouble with a Servant that appeared in this Lostbelt and that you couldn't capture it," the foxy woman commented as she sat down.
I wasn't sure whether to do the same, since that would mean this woman could take advantage of me, and being behind her would make me look like I was following her or something.
So, without thinking much about it, I started pacing the room, looking around, and checking the drawers and windows to see if there was anything to keep me occupied while I listened to the conversation.
I could feel Kadoc's gaze on the back of my neck, but I ignored it. What was he going to do to me? Nothing.
"You're not needed; leave," he said directly, but his voice sounded somewhat hesitant, as if he couldn't quite bring himself to say those words authoritatively.
"Come on, don't be like that. We're already in this together. Why not look at it, knowing that you haven't even been able to figure out what this Servant looks like?" Koyanskaya added.
"You don't know anything about the enemy?" I couldn't help but ask curiously, since that might, with luck, reveal the class it is—it could be an Assassin.
"So far, none of the soldiers who have faced this being have survived, and when we go to confront it, it simply vanishes, as if it never existed. Its trail begins there and ends there; there's no way to track it," explained the servant behind Kadoc.
"Hey," Kadoc complained, looking disturbed, to which the servant simply covered his mouth with his clothing.
"Its feet may not have left a trace, but the fight certainly did," I said seriously, since someone capable of this isn't much, but with one whose presence is imperceptible, it's not good news.
"That doesn't matter; we can handle any problem that arises here, we don't need you. Anastasia is more than enough," Kadoc said, to which Koyanskaya and I exchanged a glance, both thinking the same thing: that's not true.
"If you had another Servant, then perhaps, but with the only two here—not counting the King of Lostbelt—both were occupied almost constantly. When do you plan to attack? Given the situation, the only thing I can think of is for you to go there alone and, when you see the enemy, summon your Servant, that is, if they don't cut off your head before you can use the Command Seals," I explained the situation as clearly as I could.
Kadoc didn't say anything, just stared at the floor, clenching his fists in anger.
Seeing this, I could only sigh.
I gestured to Koyanskaya, who understood and stood up.
"Well, I've already brought my guest, so I plan to stay with him for at least a while and then we'll leave. See you," the foxy woman said, leaving the room.
I also left, and before exiting the room, I waved goodbye to Annastasia, who only gave a small bow.
A long time ago, when the Lostbelts first appeared in the world, the seven Crypters gathered with the Servants they had each summoned. Because of this, I know each of them, and since Wodine has compiled the most information about what's happening with each of them, I have a pretty good idea of everything that goes on, not to mention my own knowledge of Fate/GO.
The moment we were outside the room, Koyanskaya stared at me.
"Humans, aren't they adorable?" she said with a malevolent smile, but with an attitude of complete contempt.
"Hmm, everyone is special in their own way," I replied simply, starting to walk toward the exit.
"Wait for me," the woman behind me complained, trying to catch up.
"Now that I think about it, don't you see me as human?" I asked, out of sheer curiosity.
"I see myself as human, and I'm not. That answers your question," she said, grabbing my arm like a lovesick schoolgirl. I simply pushed her away.
"Come on, don't be shy. I don't bite," she tried to flirt.
"That's a lie," I said without looking at her, to which she only laughed.
I see, she doesn't see me as human. My true body may be human, but my way of serving isn't, not because I'm a heroic spirit, but because I lack the trait of a human. In fact, none of my summons possess it; to the world and the throne of heroism, I've always been a demon.
In fact, my resurrection was as a demon, and for a time I remained one until I acquired the third magic, with which I was able to repair my body to a certain extent. Right now, I'm half-demon, half-human.
If I wanted, I could be a daemon for the rest of my life, but for the everyday life of the world I lived in, especially in the clock tower, it wasn't a very good idea. But since I wanted to be able to become a demon again so I could use all my power freely without the limitations of a normal human, I decided to be half and half.
This woman, who despises humans, doesn't reject me, since I never was one; At least that's my legend. Creation of chaos, the demon's body, human appearance, and inside, an uncontrolled void and destruction; that's what I am, or at least, that's how I'm portrayed in some Greek epics.
...
It's been two days since I arrived in the Russian Lotsbelt, and I haven't been able to sleep peacefully. I've had to sleep with one eye open, watching to see if that crazy woman was trying to do something to me.
Don't get me wrong, Koyanskaya has a killer body and would be many men's wet dream, and I'm not going to go anywhere else or anything like that.
But when you've lived as long as I have, and especially when you have Kenshin, Medusa, Aoko, and above all, Kiss-shot, who I feel are on par with me in terms of figure and sensuality, sex, sexual relations, or love, whatever you want to call it, it doesn't matter much anymore. Not to mention that when I traveled through different universes before meeting my first wife, I slept with countless women who I could physically compare to that vixen.
So the situation is that the physical aspect doesn't matter anymore, only the emotional one. I know that Koyanskaya just wants to take advantage of me, use me, and satisfy herself without thinking about my feelings or opinions; hence my rejection of her. In addition to this, there's the fact that my curse has taken effect on him, which is to charm women who aren't quite right in the head, and the other thing is that he could very well end up using me to get one or two of the tails he needs to become a complete Kyuubi.
Anyway, putting my current situation aside, the important thing about today is that the Servant we were looking for appeared and, just as suddenly, disappeared.
Right now, I was standing next to Koyanskaya, surveying the carnage. Multiple Chyornyj Oprichniki lay destroyed on the ground, revealing glimpses of what a battle might have looked like.
As I examined the traces on the ground and a bonfire that still held a few embers, Anastasia suddenly arrived, holding Viy very carefully.
"I see there's no trace," she said, looking around.
"No, you're wrong," I corrected her rather rudely, making her look at me. "The whole place is a trail."
"What do you mean? We can't know where he is," Koyanskaya said, sitting down and looking up from her manicured nails.
"There's no trace of where he is, but this battlefield is a place where he was, where he fought, and that's more than enough," I explained, looking at her as I pointed to the cuts on the ground. "You can see the weapon he used, along with a bit of his fighting style."
Without wasting much time, I started investigating, at least superficially. I didn't really care about any of this; there were still several days until Chaldea appeared and the plot began. I wasn't doing much in the Greek Lostbelt, so being here doing nothing or being there doing nothing, honestly, I don't know which is better, especially considering they didn't let me spend much time on Olympus.
"Do we know what weapon he uses?" Anastacia asked.
"No," I said simply, looking at the cuts on the ground, which mostly corresponded to the weapons the oprichniki carried. "But I sense a faint magical source. What do you think?" I asked Koyanskaya.
"Very subtle, but it's not something you notice, and you don't make an effort to look for it," she commented. "If you hadn't told me, I might never have noticed this."
"So, whoever attacked this place was a mage?" Kadoc's servant questioned.
"Most likely," she confirmed, brushing off my clothes. "There's no point in staying here; we should leave. There's nothing more to take from here."
"That's for the best. I was getting bored here," the fox woman replied, walking toward the cave where we were staying.
"If there's anything, I'd like to be notified. My master may not be very willing to do certain things, but I believe in him, and he can do something if necessary," Anastacia said, disappearing from the cave.
I watched as it disappeared, only to look up at a high place in the direction of a mountain.
There stood a man, dressed in a hood that covered his body, but some of his features were visible, like his white suit and his long pink hair.
This individual stared intently into my eyes, spoke briefly, and then began walking away, disappearing from view.
I simply frowned at this, especially at what he said.
"Keep looking, Dante. You might find something you shouldn't."
I don't know what he means by this, nor do I know if it was a good idea to leave him alone or if perhaps the three of us should have faced him. I don't know his current capabilities, so I don't want to take any risks.
With that, I followed Koyanskaya back to the base with one idea in mind: to find him and see what's going on, and if I could get some information out of him, since what happens after Lostbelt 7 is a mystery to me.
...
"Are you going to put that suit back on?" Koyanskaya asked, watching me put on the Oprichniki uniform.
"The mage is attacking these soldiers in the Sar's service while hiding from the Servants. The best thing to do is camouflage myself as his target. That way, I have a chance to find him face-to-face and at least learn who he is," I explained as I put on the mask.
"You don't know when he'll attack again; you'll be dressed as cannon fodder the whole time. Wouldn't it be better to use that time for something else, something more interesting?" she asked, adding the last part with a flirtatious smile.
"No," I said, simply leaving the base while I listened to Koyanskaya complain about my lack of masculinity and question my sexuality.
I just ignored her. I didn't need any validation from her, so I didn't really care about what she said. I only came for one thing, and that's what I'm going to do; work is my passion and the only thing I have.
...
"How boring," I said while standing in one of these bases, crowded with people who had evolved to survive in this dystopian world.
I surveyed the situation and how dire everything was. Something inside me told me I had to do something, but I held back. What's the point of doing anything if everything's going to disappear, especially since I'm an infiltrator?
My conscience might be kicking me in the gut, but the mission is more important, especially since my intervention in the future could change history. That's why I need to meet with that man so he can guide me through everything I don't yet know.
Suddenly, several Oprichniki soldiers began moving toward a specific point, a somewhat deactivated area of the forest.
The moment I activated my Haki, I sensed it: a Servant, or at least that's what it looked like at first glance, because it was something more than just a Servant. It resembled a Heroic Spirit, and yet it wasn't.
"What the hell is going on over there?" I wondered, grabbing the pistol and axe that all the soldiers carry and trotting toward the battle.
When I arrived, I couldn't help but freeze for a few moments as I watched a spachina effortlessly destroy the oprichniki.
A woman wielding a double-bladed sword, Japanese, with pink hair and an eye patch. I couldn't believe it, especially since this wasn't supposed to happen yet.
"She shouldn't be here yet, and I didn't do anything to make her appearance premature," I grumbled to myself.
But for some reason, the man I was looking for, the one who had threatened me, popped into my head. Maybe he had done something, and if so, why? Was it just because of me, or was there more to it?
My thoughts stopped when one of the oprichniki walked past me like a rag doll.
Oh well, it doesn't matter at this point.
I simply aimed my pistol and, using Haki, fired in the intruder's path.
She stopped dead in her tracks, easily destroying the bullets I fired, and changed direction from the other soldier to me.
"Damn it," I exclaimed mentally as I threw the pistol at her, seeing that the weapon was useless.
The samurai easily sliced through the weapon and made another consecutive cut toward my neck, but I drew my sword back, avoiding the fatal attack.
"Oh," the woman exclaimed in surprise when she saw me avoid her attack.
I quickly spun around and, coating my axe with Haki, launched my attack, which was intercepted, sending the woman stumbling back a few steps.
"Hmm, I see, hmm," she said thoughtfully, staring intently at me, while I watched her every move. "No doubt about it, you're the leader of these guys."
At her statement, I couldn't help but feel insulted.
"That's not true," I countered.
"You even speak, unlike the others, whom I tried to talk to, but they didn't respond." She became convinced of many more things as she nodded.
"That doesn't matter," I said, knowing that I might not be able to change her mind. "You're an intruder, so we'll have to take you into custody for questioning."
She paused for a few moments, considering it, before smiling.
"I refuse," and with that, she charged toward me at full speed, much faster than before.
I simply leaped forward to use Geppo and land on her, taking advantage of the laws of physics, using my weight along with gravity to generate more force in my attack, but I was simply blocked by her two katanas.
"What you did was kick the air; I wondered if I could do that too," she declared, swinging her katanas and assuming an attack stance. I tried to block it with my weapon, but using Haki, I realized it was a bad idea.
Taking a step back, I saw the axe sliced in two.
After creating some distance from my opponent, I saw my mask fall to the ground in two. If I hadn't jumped back, I would have died.
"Now I know what your face looks like, and from what you've shown, I see you're no ordinary enemy," the woman said, pointing her katana at me with a smile.
The clothing I had been using to cover my face had also been torn, so my face was now visible to this woman.
"Yes, and you're not your average Servant either, if you can even be called one, judging by your physique," I said, already starting to remove the unnecessary items from my outfit that bothered me, revealing my blond hair.
"Huh? You noticed?" he exclaimed, looking at his body. "Well, we're both out of the ordinary; if you're able to see that, it means I have to take you seriously from the start."
With that, he assumed a stance ready to attack.
Honestly, I felt the need to fight this woman, especially knowing who she was and her importance. Musashi Miyamoto, or at least one of the timelines fragmented by the world, an interdimensional wanderer, if you can call him that.
Truthfully, I could have just left and left this problem to someone else, but if I'm honest, I felt frustrated, angry, and stressed because of everything that had happened and everything I'd had to internalize.
Maybe a fight could exorcise all these inner demons and allow me to achieve inner peace so I wouldn't cause any destruction when I returned to Olympus.
Damn it, it had been a while since I'd faced someone strong in a weapons fight, so the adrenaline and knowing what my opponent was capable of made my blood boil and my thirst for battle intensified.
Above all, I had one question on my mind: who is stronger, this woman in front of me or me?
"Heh," I smiled, revealing my eagerness for battle and my Avenger-class Servant madness. So don't blame me for wanting to give it my all in this fight.
With that said, I summoned the Buster Sword in my right hand, coating it with advanced-level Haki.
-------------------------------------------------
Have you seen the designs in Marvel Tokon? Because every time Magik appears in a Marvel game, her design is better than the last; it makes me want to add her to my harem just on a whim.
Maybe I will, making up a lame excuse, but convincing enough so I don't get judged too harshly.