A Nascent Kaleidoscope. Chapter 636:

Venelana Gremory POV

"Oh dear, there's quite a bit more coming out now, isn't there?"

I admit I wasn't very well versed on everything here, only knowing the barest details. But even I could tell that those things were bad news.

Compared to the vampires back ho…well, these felt much more wrong in comparison. It was like comparing genuine monsters to those who wore costus and masks and simply played the part for fun.

"Lady Salem, do you feel any strain or difficulties?" Waver asked her.

Salem gave him a glance. I could tell she felt contempt for the question but didn't say anything negative because he wasn't being insulting with the question. "There's no need to worry. When it cos to numbers, I won't lose."

She raised her hands, and many more of her own monsters flooded out from the shadows.

Those strange trees were producing the ghouls at increasing speed, but Salem now started matching it.

It was very impressive. I couldn't think of anyone off the top of my head who commanded minions in such vast numbers except for Okita, and even he would stand here in awe.

He's said plenty of tis that controlling the youkai he keeps in his body was tireso and difficult at the best of tis with the large numbers he has.

But this certainly eclipsed that by magnitudes.

"Amazing…" Olga whispered as she watched Salem. "She can control so many of those at once. And each of them is able to match one of those ghouls at the very least. I've never heard of this type of Magecraft before."

Salem smiled.

I saw it out of the corner of my eye.

She certainly did like her magic being praised by other magic users; I noticed that early on too.

I did my best to pick out the figures and put nas to them.

The half-person, half-horse monstrosity was a Nuckelavee, I believe. It was currently fighting an equally large tree monster. But it was winning quite clearly, which was impressive with the strength the ghoul showed.

A Grimm Griffon slamd down from the air, crushing a few ghouls as many more jumped on it. But it flung its wings open, knocking them away, and began tearing several more apart.

Quite a few of those boar-like ones—Boarbatusks—charged in unison, pushing through quite a bit before they finally were stopped and killed themselves.

Out of the shadows, a loud trumpeting sounded the arrival of an elephant visibly larger than the train car we were standing on. With it, a few more arrived, and they began to stampede into the heart of the forest.

"A natural counter." Waver comnted again. "Golems – Magical Constructs. They possess no innate life qualities, so the Ghoul's natural advantage of turning humans or other living beings into ghouls to bolster their numbers is negated."

"They're not Phantasmal Species, Professor?" Yvette asked.

Waver shook his head. "They seem to mimic many qualities of Phantasmal Species, but they're not truly living. If I didn't know any better, I may have thought of them as a species of faerie, but that's inaccurate as well. Most Dead Apostles are, ironically, a type of Nature Spirit. Ghouls, by extension, carry so qualities of their creator. They're much more degraded, but you can see how they are having trouble 'targeting' Lady Salem's creations. Dead Apostles require other 'lifeforms' to sustain them, a train carried by Ghouls to a much greater extent. They run almost entirely on instinct to 'survive'; thus, they seek out 'lifeforms.' As you can see, they don't imdiately target Lady Salem's creations outright; only when they're attacked or within the proximity of 'battle' can they recognize 'enemies.'"

Salem gave him a scrutinizing look. "You are well-learned." She gave him a rare word of praise.

"I thank you for your praise, Lady Salem." Waver accepted it graciously.

"If they're not 'living,' then why are so of them 'dying' when taking hits to 'vital' areas?" Olga asked, tilting her head. However, her eyes widened a mont later. "I don't an to pry into your Magecraft; please forgive ." She quickly corrected herself.

However, Salem just smiled a bit wider. "Because it's much harder to create Grimm that don't carry a facsimile of life. They're made entirely of 'magic'; to sustain a physical form, it needs shape and purpose."

Olga tilted her head again. "So they mimic the concept of a 'living being'?"

Salem looked rather pleased that she understood. "That's correct. It's not that they 'die' from being stabbed through their nonexistent heart or through their head. It's that the 'concept' of living gets disrupted and their form falls apart and the magic holding them together unravels. Of course, this primarily pertains to the more…physically expressive ones. I do have so that don't follow quite the sa line of thinking, but they exist in much fewer numbers and are significantly more difficult to create."

"Wouldn't that an that it's possible to make them 'living' through other ans? If the concept of 'life' is contained and acts as a pseudo core for the formation of a 'Golem,' then over ti, wouldn't they develop a sense of 'life' or 'self' and be no different from a living being?" Olga asked.

Salem looked genuinely surprised, but she wasn't caught off guard. "You're right; after a very long ti, it's possible for the older ones to gain 'intelligence.' However, their existence contains a certain flaw that doesn't allow them to properly beco 'life.' You are very intelligent for a young learner your age."

Olga perked up under the praise. "O-of course! I am the head of the Animusphere family; I have studied many branches of magecraft extensively!"

So very cute.

"Would you like a coat, sweetheart? You look very cold." Though, I already took out a coat and was putting it over her shoulders.

"T-thank you." She whispered, looking a little flushed as I did so.

Such a sweet girl. Well, now that her caretaker is going to be one of my peerage, I can set up so playdates with Millicas. I'm sure it would do her good to have so fun with soone her age without any worries.

I've seen it far too many tis, cases like hers. Children forced to grow up much too early at the behest of their parents. Thɪs chapter is updated by novelfire(.)net

"Mr. Waver, should I go down and help? I'm good at dealing with Ghouls." Gray asked.

Waver shook his head. "No need to get in the way, Gray. Your thod of fighting isn't particularly useful in this circumstance as it is."

"Then it's my turn to shine!" The young pink-haired girl declared. "My future husband, watch closely!" She removed her eyepatch, revealing that sa jeweled eye that we saw before. But with a swish of her hand, it turned into a ruby, and her fingers spread her eyelid wide. Spell Circles, or rather Spell Triangles in this scenario, lined up across many of the large trees visible from where we were. "Spark, Ignite, blaze." She chanted, and at each of her 'markers,' fire erupted.

Several large twisted trees imdiately caught fire and started burning.

She turned around, hands on her hips proudly, showing a smug expression. And she completely ignored the blood dripping from her jeweled eye.

"What do you think, Husband—"

"Yvette!"

I pulled Olga to the side and reached out to grab the vines that shot at our little group.

Gray had cut several apart with her scythe. Salem had also blocked them with a spell. And I had a few wiggling in my grasp.

"Automatic retaliation." Waver stated. "It traced back the source of magical energy used to attack it."

The fires on the trees began to dissipate before they could fully burn them down.

With a flash of my Power of Destruction, the vines in my grasp disintegrated easily enough.

"Well, that was quite rude." I humd. "Should I give it a go?"

"By all ans." Salem gestured for to go ahead.

It's been a while since I've shown off a bit. And I had shaken off my rust with sparring with the others too.

I gave Olga a little pat on the head and a wink as I began to release my Power of Destruction. Forming and condensing it without the need of a spell circle.

It only took a mont, as the Power of Destruction between my hands achieved what I wanted, and I pressed my two hands together as the two separate instances of Destruction rged and then expanded outwards.

It looked like I was holding a miniature galaxy in my hands made up of destruction.

It rotated within my grasp, and each 'star' within the galaxy shot off, growing larger as they accelerated outwards. Everything they touched was destroyed imdiately. Large swathes of the trees completely disappeared imdiately. So fell over because there were now large spherical holes all over. So were utterly annihilated, leaving nothing remaining.

And quite a few ghouls down below also t their end, reduced to nothing at a simple touch.

Not too bad if I do say so myself.

"How was that?" I asked with a chuckle.

"That was amazing!" Olga's eyes were wide with surprise. "What magecraft was that?!"

Well, I suppose I hadn't gotten to the point where I told her about my Bloodline ability yet, had I? It's not strange that she mistook it for magic.

Of course, I only destroyed the imdiate trees; there was still quite literally a forest surrounding us.

"It's my family's ability." I gently pat her head, enjoying seeing her like this. This cute side of her is much better than her reserved and quiet self that we had first t earlier.

"The parts struck aren't regenerating. Is it so type of anti-healing ability?" Waver asked casually.

"Well, to put it in terms you're familiar with, Wilhelm calls it Conceptual Destruction." I explained.

Waver seed to audibly swallow at that.

"I—I can help too." Olga offered. "I can cast a large destructive spell."

"There is no need." Salem rejected her.

Olga imdiately and quietly seed to retreat a step, and her shoulders lowered. Salem seed to notice too, because she seed to speak to correct herself.

"It's unneeded because it appears things are coming to a head now." She held up her finger, pointing towards the distance, towards Wilhelm at the front of the train.

Hmm, and that woman was there as well.

I was about to ask Salem what she ant, but that question quickly beca irrelevant as the train began to shake.

"W-what's happening!?" Olga stuttered, nearly falling over.

I made sure to help her stay steady. "Sothing's coming." I could more or less guess.

"Mmm." Salem just humd in agreent. "They're intentionally luring it out; space is warping ahead. I had been searching for the supposed 'core' of this forest for a while now, but I hadn't been able to find it. It makes sense now; it was never physically present to begin with."

"Ooh….oh sweet Jesus." Yvette whispered; her eye was a different color now, and she was looking in that direction. "I think I peed myself."

"Yvette…" Waver sighed. "What—"

The words died in his mouth because in the sky, a massive black hole appeared, and then the thing erged.

It was like a gigantic worm made of wood. It could quite easily devour this entire train in one gulp and still have room.

"Never mind." Waver's jaw clenched.

"I think I peed myself too." Kay spoke up.

"Um, Professor Waver, should we go back inside?" Caules asked. "I don't think we can do anything to help…"

Waver shook his head. "Inside or outside, it doesn't matter at this point." He took out a cigarette and lit it without his expression changing. "Take a good look at what high-level Magecraft looks like from start to finish. Lord Schweinorg and the woman with him are about to make a move."

"Quick, Gray, turn your scythe so I can see better." The weapon of hers spoke, and she just nodded, letting it get a better look.

I put a hand around Olga's shoulders; I could feel her trembling despite the brave face she was putting on.

I couldn't bla her; I don't think I've encountered anything that large before. It was certainly a terrifying sight, even if I don't think it was even Ultimate Class in strength. But its sheer size could make up for so deficiency in its power.

"One, two, four, five… Is that an eight? An eight-count aria? I'm not proficient in Japanese." Waver muttered.

Hmm, was he listening to Wilhelm's chant? I could hear it if I focused properly.

Wilhelm released a powerful blast of lightning, and that woman seed to use so type of fire spell.

Both of them together brought down the strange vampire tree creature with relative ease. Its massive body—what remained of it after the attack—fell to the ground, causing a tremor that shook the train again.

"...strong." Olga whispered.

"Of course. Soone capable of fighting Servants—this is nothing." Waver stated plainly. "There's a reason that magicians are feared, and it's not only because of their mastery of true magic."

"All passengers, please return to the train. We are about to activate the safety protocols and force a reconnection to the leylines." A loud voice overtook everything, and I recognized it as one of the train employees.

Well, this was a fun little interlude.

[Line Break]

Wilhelm POV

[So that's Morgan Le Fay.] Ddraig finally spoke up in my mind.

That would be the witch.

[I wondered why I felt like I knew her from sowhere, if vaguely. Like there so sort of invisible connection, but it didn't quite fit right.]

It's probably because she's currently a Servant. Her existence is more taphysical, in that her connections to the mythos surrounding herself and Artoria made a sort of vague connection to you by association.

Artoria's connection to Ddraig was rather obvious, and Morgan had a connection to Artoria, so that's probably why.

[Well, I don't like her.]

Welco to the club.

She quickly got back up on her feet after I knocked her off the train. She landed in a big pile of snow, obviously unhurt, but the glare she sent my way as I peered over the edge was rather scathing.

She absolutely looked like she wanted to strangle right about now.

No regrets.

She took a step and lightly landed on top of the train a few feet from . "Do you have sothing you want to say to ?" She hissed angrily.

I'm surprised she didn't attack .

Honestly, I don't think I would have started a proper fight with her at this point.

I'm just about at the threshold I feel is allowed for to be a petty asshole without stepping on Artoria's toes, as it were, and overstepping.

After what happened with Izzy and Susanoo, I didn't want to overstep again.

All my girls had so sort of 'history,' and it was important to be respectful towards that and how I handled the people in their lives. Not to say I have to play nice with them all, just respect her own right to make those decisions. Of course, fuck Morgan, but it's also Artoria's prerogative on how she's handled.

I'll need to call her right after this.

"The fuck are you even doing here?" I put my wand away. "Go back to your lake." I made a shooing motion.

Her eye twitched. "Where I go and what I do is of no concern of yours."

"If you ca for Gray, this isn't going to end with words." I warned her, as this was an exemption for trying to be respectful towards Artoria.

If Morgan ca to ss with Gray, then all bets were off.

Morgan scoffed. "I didn't co for that failed experint."

"I feel like you've had a distinct lack of people rightfully slapping you in your life when you run your mouth."

She rolled her eyes. "How comical, I was thinking a very similar train of thought about you."

Touché.

I do run my mouth a bit.

"The effort you must have put in to being here isn't insubstantial. And you're apparently the one supplying those Mystic Eyes. What's your ga exactly if you're not here for Gray?"

Actually, the fact that she's not here forGray…that was part of my reasoning as to why the 'mysterious person' was actually the Servant Morgan.

Did I accidentally into the correct answer by luck?

She scoffed, fixing her clothing, wiping off any remaining snow. "Why should I tell you anything?"

"You're not here for Gray. You're unlikely here for any of the others on the train, from what I've gathered. Despite the wide breadth of faces and people, there wouldn't be anyone that particularly stood out enough for you to put in the effort to…manifest." I was more than aware that she was technically a Great Faerie and couldn't just waltz on over to this side of the world whenever she wanted.

To beco a Servant, it was honestly rather clever considering she technically has human origins as well. The ans of how she did it—well, she's Morgan Le Fay. Despite my distaste for her, I couldn't deny her skills. So to take a page out of Waver's book, the how is more immaterial than the why.

". You're here because I am." I looked her in the eye to see if I was right.

It was difficult to get a read on her unless she let . I'm not so ancient and wise god like Odin who can read people to an absurd degree. However, I do like to think I'm sowhat clever; give clues, and I can normally connect the dots. But right now, I was rather confused because there seed to be big pieces missing from the picture.

She didn't respond, but I felt like I hit the mark.

She knew I was going to be here, sohow. She manifested because I would be here.

"No, that isn't right either. Partly right, but the fact that you brought Mystic Eyes is…odd, to say the least. Part because I'm here, part because of the Mystic Eyes themselves. Why are you selling Mystic Eyes to the auction?"

"Who knows?" She had a sly smile slowly forming at the corners of her lips.

She found it amusing that I couldn't figure it out.

"What if I just leave the train now and go ho?"

She snorted. "Do what you want; do I look like your mother?"

"Obviously not; my mother was actually a good mom."

There was the briefest mont of anger flashing in her eyes again. That one hit her right in a sore spot.

[I thought you said you weren't going to take shots at her anymore]

Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.

[Her attitude—why is she even sitting here talking with you if she's not going to answer your questions.] Ddraig asked. [I feel like she would have just ignored you and left already.]

Because she's trying to glean from just as I am from her.

She knew about , she knew I would be here, but she doesn't know .

Based on her earlier comnts about and regarding Artoria, she didn't know almost anything about beforehand.

"Soone told you I would be here. Soone asked you to auction off the Mystic Eyes in their place." I spoke out loud to see if she would react or give anything, but she didn't. However… "Was it rlin?"

Her nose scrunched, and her lips twisted back in a sneer. "Don't speak that bastard's na around . As if I would ever do his bidding, I would sooner drown myself in my lake."

"Not rlin. Soone capable of getting you to move on their behalf. Who exactly is capable of that?"

"Hmph."

She's being tight-lipped.

Was it fear or respect towards the one responsible? I'd imagine that either of those was in short supply when it ca to her.

I honestly have no clue, though.

Presumably, she's also acting as a bodyguard of sorts for the Eyes. With how valuable they are, whoever is behind her probably wanted soone 'strong' to protect them.

But why?

What is her plan? What's the plan of the one behind her?

Who would be able to predict that I would be here? That's just…absurd, considering who I am.

Too many questions, and another mystery I've found myself involved in.

I looked at her again, and there was a mocking humor readable on her face. She knew I wanted to know, and she wasn't going to tell , and she loved it.

You know what? Many people think that making a move or flipping the board are the only options when you're losing.

But there's a third.

I sat down, then lay back with my back against the train and just stared up at the sky.

You can just not play at all.

I just lay there for several monts in awkward silence.

"...What are you doing?" She finally asked.

"Looking at the sky, what does it look like?" I said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You can leave." I shooed her away, uncaring.

She seed taken aback.

"Do you not want to know who's behind ?" She asked incredulously. "Or why am I here?"

"Nope, I stopped caring."

I'll just stop playing with her since she obviously wants to play a ga. It's rather obvious that she was talking to intentionally, so if I can't get what I want, then fuck it.

She opened her mouth to say sothing but closed it again.

She stared at rather intently, like she was waiting for to say sothing else, or maybe even throw out another barb that she could latch onto and reel back into another argunt.

"...you are one of the most infuriating people I've ever t in my life." She took a deep breath. "I've known you for re hours, and I already despise you."

I wonder if I told this to Artoria if it would be considered foreplay?

"All passengers, please return to the train. We are about to activate the safety protocols and force a reconnection to the leylines."

I perked up as I heard the static-laden voice. It was the auctioneer from before who made the announcent.

Several more monts passed, and with a furious scowl, Morgan turned around on her heel and stomped away, going to the edge of the train and casually jumping off, leaving all alone.

Heh, I win again.

I don't think I'm smarter than Morgan, but I'm most certainly more shaless.

[I'm proud of you.] Ddraig praised .

Thanks, Ddraig.

The vampire forest around us was slowly starting to wither. And the 'core,' the actual vampire tree forest thing, well, it had been utterly demolished by both Morgan and . The danger of this thing was in its size, mostly. It lacked Magecraft skills that most high-level Dead Apostles would possess.

That and certain higher-level thinking skills, which are rather important.

Funny enough, if it was actually intelligent, things could have been very bad.

Regardless, trees in the distance were slowly falling down under their own weight. I couldn't see any more Ghouls being produced, and the others had gone back inside, but Salem's Grimm were still taking out so of the remaining strays.

What's left wouldn't last much longer. Without the 'core,' all these things would whittle away and die in hours.

Still though…

I took out a few handfuls of Talismans and threw them at the remaining corpse of the 'core.' The giant worm-tree thing that was being devoured by the remnants of Morgan's fire. I had my own; the Talisman burst into flas on impact and started burning away other parts, accelerating the removal of this thing.

Best not to let it linger or let soone stumble on it by accident.

Well, with that I sat back down and took out my Kaleidophone.

There's no point in putting this off.

After a few monts, Artoria answered, showing that beautiful smile of hers. "Wilhelm, is everything okay?"

"Well, see you now; even if it wasn't, it would be." I returned a smile to her.

Her cheeks puffed up cutely with just the slightest red to them.

"Oh my god, don't flirt with right here." I could hear Mordred behind her.

"You're with Mordred?"

Artoria nodded. "We were spending the evening together; we were just about to watch a movie, sothing I had wanted to do."

That's adorable. I knew they were doing things like this, making ti to spend together to do whatever random activity, but hearing it was just sothing else.

"Maybe this is a bad ti then; I don't want to spoil your day." I felt guilty now.

"Wilhelm, if it's sothing important, I would prefer you tell rather than keeping it reserved for later." Artoria replied.

"It concerns Mordred too."

"Mordred, co here." She turned, gesturing for Mordred and the two girls to push up together so I could see them both on the screen. "Wilhelm has sothing he needs to say, and he said it concerns both of us."

I wanted to handle this delicately…..

"I t soone just now, from your past." Neither of them is the type to want to beat around the bush. "Morgan, I t Morgan."

There was silence on the other end for several monts.

"Oh." Artoria's expression hardened.

"That's why I didn't want to say it and ruin your day."

"Wilhelm." Artoria punctuated. "I'm not so delicate that a re ntion of my sister's na and her presence near you is going to cause despair."

"You're not." I acknowledged. "But I can't help but worry about you regardless."

Her hardened expression softened as I said that. "Yes, I know. It's one of the reasons I love you."

Mordred made a face.

"I'm more concerned for you and the others, Wilhelm." Artoria added.

"I can take care of myself." I quickly responded.

"Yes, and I can't help but worry about you regardless." She repeated the sa thing to with a little smile on her face.

I would pull her cheeks right now if I were able.

"It's kind of a cluster here right now; lots of annoying things are happening back to back." I let out a sigh.

"Tell from the beginning." Artoria replied.

"Screw that, skip to the good parts. Did you kill the witch?" Mordred jumped in.

"Uh….no?"

"Well…. I guess you still have ti." Mordred grumbled.

Artoria let out her own sigh, rubbing her nose with her hand.

"I did push her off a train, though." I offered.

Mordred perked up. "Did you record it?"

I don't care what anyone says; I'm definitely her mom.

[Line Break]

A/N

Sotis, Mordred and Wilhelm share a brain cell. And Morgan has sothing secretive going on.

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