13The spiraling circle enclosed upon itself, manifesting within the summoning chamber a single coin.
Skyler went to pick up and looked it over, as it was often the case for him, he seldom understood the meaning of the conceptual image engraved on the Craft Coin, and opted to have his fellow master take a look at it. "This guy familiar to you?"
Gabby walked over to take a better look, and nearly tripped on her feet at the sight. "T-The Old Man of the Jewels?! Really?!"
Oh okay, so this was that super mage guy who was so (in)famous amongst the mages. Neat
"That Craft Coin is VERY rare. And VERY useful. Can nearly replenish a Servant's energy to full when used"
"Nice" Skyler grinned in approval as he flicked the coin in the air before catching it and storing it in his pocket. "Saves using a Command Seal when needed"
"Tell me about it…" The orange haired master moaned dejectedly. "Sometimes I feel it's everyone else who have all the luck when using this glorified slot machine…"
The soldier smiled sympathetically at her before looking at the small pile of coins and a few Mystic Codes that had been summoned from today's haul, neatly arranged close to the control center that was usually operated by either Tesla or BB, but the two were busy today with a few of the high priority projects going around in Chaldea.
Their situation, the Lostbelts they… were taking a lot out of them. The fate that had befallen the world, the unknown certainty if it could even be restored in the first place. The horrible decisions they had been forced to make all to preserve what they had left.
To say everyone was on edge was an understatement. He himself had nearly given in to his anger and shot that envious prick Kadoc, and most of Chaldea would have agreed it was called for but… that wasn't his orders, that wasn't how they did things.
He let out a soft sigh, trying to shake his head off such thoughts. A little distraction here and there necessary to keep themselves sane. So they were approved for this little summoning session to acquire a few more Craft Coins, and if possible, another Servant willing to help or a Memorial Essence that would be of assistance to an already summoned Heroic Spirit.
Gabby sure bemoaned her luck, it was a wide known fact that out of all the Masters in Chaldea, she was the one with the lowest summoning rate for Servants. Something that Anishka was quick to sheepishly say it meant nothing.
Skyler was pretty sure those words coming from the woman who constantly summoned a wide array of powerful Servants were not of much help to the 49th Master.
Letting out a long drawn out groan, Gabby placed the last three quartz of the day in the pedestals. "At least give me a cake or something, I'm getting hungry…" And proceeded to pull the lever.
The quartz were absorbed, and Gabby's eyes nearly bulged out the moment they took on a rainbow hue. Well how about that? Skyler thought bemused and a bit excited to see who would arrive.
Forming into three rings of pure energy, the room was flooded with light as the spiritrons coalesced to give form at the Servant who had answered their call from the Throne. Soon the light dimmed, and they were able to properly see the newcomer.
He was tall, really tall (not monstrously so as some of their other Heroic Spirits comrades), they wagered nearly two meters. With a broad heavily muscular build, his torso was mostly bare, with the exception of a type of collar around his neck, his forearms incased in heavy red plates with pieces of armor around his biceps, huge (rather impractical looking in Skyler's opinion, but Servants always defied logic) plates of red metal over his legs, ending in sharp points over his knees, the entirety of his legs were covered in multiple red and gold plates, all of his armor decorated with wavy engravings. His skin was a dark brown, his hair a flaming red with a patch of something yellow gently glowing underneath the locks. His piercing yellow eyes seemed locked in a permanent frown.
The Servant looked the two with an assessing look before resting his armored gauntlets on his hips. "Oi, which of you is my Master?"
Gabby let out a happy skip as the walked around the console panel and over the Servant. "We both are! And there's more actually. Welcome to Chaldea!"
"Chaldea?" The Servant tilted his head. "Well, the human order has gone to shit, ain't it?" He had answered the call for a reason, no doubt already aware of what had befallen the world.
"Um, yeah" The orange haired master said, her enthusiasm momentarily dimmed by the reminder. "We're fighting to bring it back" Gabby said with more fire to her words this time.
"Things are desperate for the World to have called me I bet" He grinned, the gesture so savage it would have made those with less strong hearts step back, as he seized up the smaller woman before him. "You're so scrawny, ain't look like much to me"
"Hmph!" Gabby crossed her arms, no doubt trying to look firm and intimidating. Not that the puff of her cheeks helped her any. "Well I'm not here to impress you. We saved the world before, and we're gonna do it again."
Skyler was considering calling for support the moment the Servant's look grew heated, a gesture that was soon replaced by a twitch of his lips into a wild smirk. He threw his head back, laughing so boisterously the sound reverberated from the walls.
"HAHAHAHAH! Okay, okay, you got spunk! That I like!" Gabby sputtered as he placed a large armored hand on her head, ruffling her hair roughly. "Gonna see what you people are about, but bit of advice, don't piss me off" He didn't seem to mean that jokingly, as there was a bit of a growl to his words. Gabby swatted his hand away and tried to arrange her hair with her hands. "You give orders, and I obey. I'm a soldier, I know how to follow them. Doesn't mean I'll listen if you tell me to do something stupid"
Huh, a soldier? That worked fine for Skyler. "Well, welcome I guess" The male master in the room said. "Name's Skyler, that's Gabby. You'll meet the others eventually. Who are you?"
"Class is Archer-"
"And I see no bow, what a surprise" Gabby droned. Although to be fair they had yet to see any weapon from him.
The Servant continued as though he wasn't interrupted. "-Name's Ashwatthama, warrior from India"
Gabby's deadpanning look quickly changed to one of excitement. "Ohhhh you're indian? Awesome! Can't wait to tell Annie! Hehehe, that means you're super strong I bet" She looked very pleased with herself that she summoned a hero from that country. And Skyler sort of understood, lot of powerhouses from Indian. "We have some Indian Servants too. Oh! Do you know Karna-?"
Ashwatthama let out a shout of such thrill that they swore their ears would pop. "KARNA'S HERE?!" The wild grin threatened to split his lips. "HAHAHA OF COURSE THAT ANNOYING ASSHOLE IS HERE!" He continued to laugh boisterously.
Gabby laughed a bit nervously at his exuberance. "Y-Yeah, we also have Rama, Sita, Arjuna-"
His laughter stopped, but the grin became even more savage. Skyler swore he saw the whites of his eyes turn red for a moment. "Ohhhh, Arjuna's here too?"
They couldn't quite place the tone in his voice. "Um, yes"
"Ahhhh… good" He said with palpable joy and anger in a strange and uncomfortable mix.
"You're" Skyler started with a serious frown, "not going to start anything are you?" He had no idea what was this guy's background with Arjuna, but his instincts were already telling him he would be trouble.
"Tsk, 'course not" He scoffed.
"Right…" Gabby said dubiously.
"I won't, I swear" He pumped his fist against his chest. "Warrior's honor" He said with a serious and solemn tone, his gaze softening slightly.
The two shared a look before turning back to the Servant in question. "Okay, we'll trust you. But we're wait till we get an escort just in case. It's protocol"
"Right, right" He looked around the summoning room, pursing his lips. "Say, this place warded or something? Can't feel the other Servants."
"Yeah the summoning room is built like that" Gabby explained. "Once outside you'll feel the rest. Fair warning, we have over a hundred Servants, so don't be alarmed"
"Good to know"
Then, in the blink of an eye, he crossed the distance between the spot where he was summoned to the doors, where he proceed to rip them apart effortlessly. Gabby and Skyler watched in growing terror as he stepped out of the room, and quickly began scanning through the different Servant signatures.
Ashwatthama's head darted from place to place, ignoring the overwhelming amount of signatures present and focusing on one in particular with all his attention. It called to him, like a lighthouse in the middle of a foggy harbor. He knew that energy, he was intimately familiar with it. So it did not take long for him to properly spot its location.
"Found ya…" Came the hissing words from his wild smirk.
Before Gabby could raise a hand to issue an order powered by a Command Seal, he was already gone, his body astralized and phasing down through the floors.
Gabby quickly sent a frantic warning through the telepathic link.
"Soooooo, how was your date~?" Came the teasing tone of Marie Antoinette as she absently moved the spoon inside her tea cup. The Cat Café was bustling with its usual level of activity. With multiple costumers taking their time to pet the many felines that wandered about freely. Marie's own sphinx kitten was spending time with the regular cats, if one were to scrutinize the scene, it looked like the infantile sphinx was a royal ordering a decree to its faithful subjects.
Anishka set down her cup, a bright smile on her lips. "It was wonderful. I will admit it was comforting to that Musashi was as nervous as I was" This wasn't their first date, but the two were still working through their own mutual nervousness regarding the people they liked. A fact that was utterly adorable in Marie's opinion.
"Ohhhhh that sounds just so cute! I should have sent d'Eon to get me the deeds!"
Annie took the reply good naturedly, "I'm surprised you didn't send them at all in the first place"
"I figured you deserved a private date after all the stress from last time. And I can always send my spy for all the future ones that'll come" The scandalous queen wiggled her eyebrows, to which Anishka just giggled.
Though Anishka was enjoying these small moments of peace, spending time with Musashi (when the swordswoman wasn't randomly traveling throughout the multitude of worlds), she knew it was just a momentary relief. The state of their planet was something that constantly weighted on their minds. Made worse by what they had to do to the Lostbelts in order to preserve their worlds.
Their compromise to save the survivors felt like a hollow victory to her at times, especially when they were willing to bring people like Kadoc here and-
No, no. Those thoughts led to dark places, places she was better avoiding.
For now, at this moment, she was enjoying tea with a friend. She a nice girlfriend(?), and she was taking her time to relax. That was all there was in her world right now, all in the worl-
"Emergency!" Gabby's voice in their minds came like a running person suddenly tackling them. "Potential hostile Servant summoned, he's now somewhere in Chaldea!"
Anishka shared a worried glance with Marie.
"Subject showed hostility regarding Arjuna when mentioned" Came Skyler's much composed, yet still alerted, voice. "He's probably heading to his location right now"
No doubt Arjuna too was receiving this message, Anishka racked her mind trying to recall where he'd be right now. If memory served, he was likely at the resort. What Servant that held a grudge to the third Pandava could have been summoned? The list was actually rather extensive and-
Once more came Gabby's voice; "Said his name was Ashva… Ashwassa… Ash-Something!"
The next words that came from Anishka's mouth made Marie gape, for the French queen seldom thought the kind and polite indian mage would even indulge in such language.
"Oh shit"