Souls Of The Fateless (FGO x God's Wrath OC Series Story)

Harbinger Of The End: III

★ ★ Horizon between both battlegrounds ★ ★

"Have you eyed anything, Atalanta?"

"Negative. Nothing abnormal or resembling the orb has shown itself on the south, west, or east fronts."

I never would've believed the catastrophe a beast class threat could bring if it wasn't being displayed before my eyes...

The sea's influence has engulfed the entire scope of the battleground, and at this rate, the possibility it could swallow Earth isn't looking like a mere chance anymore. Everyone has no choice but to fight in the air now with Merlin's spell, I only pray master can reach the surface before it floods even the Underworld...

"-Atalante." A gentle call shook my thoughts, pulled from the recesses of my mind, my gaze drifted back to the saint whom I shared a wyvern with.

"Y-Yeah? Is there a problem, Ruler? Did we miss the orb unlike we originally thought?"

"Nothing quite that grave... just a question. You've been absent since you decided to take this task. You almost missed boarding the wyvern on our flight out of the forest, and you didn't say a word in the final strategy meeting. It's uncharacteristic for you to be so inattentive."

"...What's been causing you substantial worry, Atalante?"

"I... Is my face portraying how I'm feeling that clearly? I threw my hands to my face, astonished, running them all over to feel the expression I was making.

"A tad. It's more than the tepid expression normally seen on you, so it speaks volumes. What thoughts refuse to leave you at peace?"

"I see..." Striking in the momentary pause our talk turned to, a herald of light sparkled in the far distance, cleaving the melancholic atmosphere between Jeanne and me as from the scattering light emerged the rise of a dragon.

Watching the majestic purplish-white scales of the mythological creature Silva transformed into shimmer in the warm atmospheric light, the halfling took flight. Countless golden portals took place in the sky surrounding him, letting loose the weapons held within them as consecutive blasts violently echoed on the faraway warzone front.

Debris from the tremoring shockwaves blew in, flying past the heads of Ruler and me as coming up out of the smoke appeared Silva, the path of my eyes following wherever he went across the battlefield as the bleak words I'd been reigning in flowed out. "I guess you could say... my misdeeds of the past are... resurfacing... reminding me that they still refuse to let me break from them."

Noting my tail swishing around, unable to settle down from the nervousness I felt, I brushed my greenish-yellow hair in place, taking in a breath.

"I was... surprised Silva was happy with my being here when he first arrived. Our relationship didn't start with a particularly happy first exchange of words."

"The fire he caused in his desperation to save Kosmos, I blamed him for it. I couldn't- the part of me that adores children couldn't allow myself to forgive him for burning them to ashes. They were kids, one of life's most innocent wonders, and I clung to that hatred I felt for what he did. I berated him for it, chastised him at any moment I could remind him that if he had protected Kosmos better those kids could still be alive."

Thinking back on it now, however, even before we got over the hurdle and became friends, he never refuted anything I said or directed the slightest showing of anger at me. Silva only ever replied with a formal, "I know," or pat my head to my annoyance, as if me being friends with Kosmos was enough for him.

"Lost in my hate, I forgot he was a victim in it all too. I... failed to look at him that way, I... disregarded the pain he experienced. After all, Silva was no different from them when it happened, just a kid himself. I learned to accept and embrace that fact, thanks to Kosmos no less forcing me to talk with him while we were out hunting.