Inside the void.
When the redheaded woman opened her eyes, she was met with silence.
An endless nothingness enveloped her, swallowing her. But all that she was concerned about was the fact that something burned. Within her chest, something ached.
"Ah! Lelouch—NGH?!"
Upon remembering the moment before she lost her sanity, her mind started to race. Her heartbeat flew into a frenzied rhythm. It was then that she was hit with a migraine she'd never felt before.
As a Servant, she was immune to most human ailments. Which was why she could only hesitate, contemplating why she felt so… drained.
'I… I haven't died… not yet.'
Of that, she could confirm. Although she was without a contract, she still felt that she existed in the mortal realm. And this void, this vast empty space, was not the Throne of Heroes where Servants awaited the call of the Grail. Which means…
'He's not dead! He can't be!'
It could be called lying to oneself. However, they could call it whatever they want. Nobunaga refused to believe it.
They'd sworn to one another that they'd be together. Never would Lelouch go back on his word. She trusted him not to, and it was rare of a former betrayed to trust anything.
That was just how much he meant to her. He made her whole. Without Lelouch, Servant Avenger, Oda Nobunaga, would never be complete. Not in this incarnation or the next!
'Even if he gets himself killed again, I will find him. I will answer his summons. It is only a matter of time until we will be together again.' Such thoughts were reserved only for a Heroic Spirit who need not fear death. And, seeing as Lelouch had already survived death once, he must be alive. At the very least, she hoped he would be.
Death meant little to them at this point. More so to their sworn bond.
However, there was a problem.
As previously asserted, Nobu knew this place, this void, was not the Throne of Heroes. Hence, she'd not been recalled yet. But, if that was the case, where was she?
Instead of the dream-like world outside time and space where heroes of old would await their call, Oda Nobunaga found herself inside empty darkness. Everything around her was black, with neither ground nor roof above her head. Unnatural as it was already, she'd tried to stand up only to suddenly feel as though gravity itself didn't want to let her go.
"What… the hell?" Sensing movement in the depths of darkness, she narrowed her eyes to her side. There, she saw mud. The same black mud that appeared under the floor where she and Saber had fought. "Dammit! What is this?!"
She tried to wave it away, igniting her flames to char it off her. But getting rid of it soon turned impossible when neither her fire nor arm even dared budge. Nobu soon realized that not only was she unable to move, but her entire body was also encased by more of the muck. The only conclusion for the Daimyo was that the mud itself had sealed away her powers.
'What in the hell is going on?!'
"So, you've finally awoken." A new voice she didn't recognize spoke up. Nobu raised her gaze and saw it.
A black mass floated above her. Tendrils of dark red and essence in the shape of dripping muck crawled about in the space overhead. But despite its horrid appearance, Nobu's trained eyes sensed something off. It seemed damaged… hurt. As if I had tried to squeeze through a fire, some parts of it looked shrivelled and charred.
Nobu didn't know what this thing was, but she could feel the evil exuding from it. And it felt… somewhat weak.
"What in the hell are you?!" She didn't have time for this. She needed to find her Lelouch. But with no clue as to her whereabouts, she demanded.
"So… you're the Avenger of this war… How… interesting…" It definitely didn't sound interested. It sounded more tired. Why though, the Daimyo couldn't care less. "What I am… doesn't matter. All you need to know… is that I can fulfil your wish…"
Her wish? Nobu had many of them but right now she cared only about one.
'Lulu should feel happy that I put him above everything else I want.' Of course, her partner will pay for it with a lot of cuddling and more after everything is over. She eyed the weird creature warily. "Anything I want?"
"YES!" It lost composure, earnestly demanding it. "Just wish for it… and I will fulfil your heart's desire!"
Nobu took one look at the thing and smirked mockingly. "Don't want it."
"… what?!" the creature gurgled the word.
"I have no need for some random monster granting any of my wishes. Do you take me for some kind of fool?" Nobu chuckled darkly. "Think that I can't see when someone is trying to trick me? I know what you are, mud fiend! A plebeian-turned-god that which slept in the Grail, the parasite Angra Mainyu!"
The Servant-like aura exuding from the mass couldn't escape her eyes. Though she never came off as more than a mad fighter due to her bloodlust, the tactician's mind within could easily read her current foe. That and the scent of revenge-lust emanating from the creature, all of it told her enough about the other Avenger.
But whatever such an annoying pest would have to offer, she also knew well enough that it wouldn't benefit her and her betrothed as promised.
"Leave me, parasite. I've not the patience for your presence." She had to find Lelouch. All else was an obstacle.
"… insolent… bitch!" the tired muttering echoed all around before culminating into a maddened howl. "LIKE MASTER, LIKE SERVANT, ARROGANT TO THE VERY END! DO YOU NOT SEE THAT I AM YOUR ONLY HOPE?! CAN YOU NOT SENSE THAT THIS IS MY WORLD! MY CREATION! THE ONLY WAY FOR YOU TO SEE HIM AGAIN IS THROUGH ME! NOW, PROCLAIM YOUR WISH! AND I SHALL GRANT IT—"
"Do you think you can threaten me?" she uttered back, severely ticked off. "I am the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven. I am Oda Nobunaga! The great and cruel unifier. The usurper to the throne of the King of Conquerors. You would dare threaten me? You would dare curse me?! Heh… Heheh… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
The chuckle-turned-laughter escaped her devil-smiling lips. If the Servant hiding in the Grail sounded mad, she was insanity incarnate. Considering who she thought she'd lost earlier, it was beyond deserved.
"You're quite a laugh, aren't you, scapegoat deity? You, who'd been cursed by simple village folk wishing for a sacrifice for their sins, would try threatening me, the one whose name has been cursed as a god-killer by hundreds of thousands of monks, their families, their friends, their entire sects that I burned alive… Do you think I'd fear such curses?"
Fury was her power. Anger was her drive. And right now, unsure as to her beloved's whereabouts, she was barely holding onto her sanity.
"I am Oda Nobunaga, killer, warmonger, tyrant. I am who they call the Demon King! I am who they fear as the enemy of the heavens! Gods tremble at my presence for I damn them to oblivion! My very legend lives on in the very lands you were summoned in! DID YOU THINK YOUR PETTY WORDS COULD HURT ME, YOU WANNABE-GOD?!"
A resounding crack echoed into the dark abyss. Then, it started to hiss as heat broke through the mud wrapped around her. Hardening the accursed muck, it burned away the caked soil into blackened cinders, freeing her from her prison.
Power enveloped her form as the heavy presence that weighed her down started to vanish. Surrounded by flames of vengeance, hell's fury fueled her very soul.
She who had been summoned as an Avenger Servant was a being whose sole purpose was her namesake due to suffering grave betrayals in life. But, in practicality, only a handful of mortals were ever on Nobunaga's shitlist, to begin with. Not to mention, all of her ancient foes had been dead for centuries, while her former kingdom was now a relatively prosperous nation.
There were no targets for her vengeful flames. Well, no human, that is.
The presence of a being who claimed to be god flinched when she laid her eyes upon their disgusting form. She sensed it. Fear, weakness, disdain. But more importantly, she felt the anger as it broiled within her.
The former Avenger, a broken God who hid inside and manipulated the Grail, the same Grail she was meant to be sacrificed to, feared her. And for good reason. She was mad at it. Mad that it tried to play her for a fool. Mad that it tried to manipulate her feelings. Oh, that's right. This thing was also the objective of the war. The same war she and many other Servants were lied to about.
The seeds of retribution bloomed within. Through her class's designation, the urgent need to exact reprisal powered her fire. With a snap of her fingers, she channelled her anger, her hellfire, and focused it on the being that cowered before her.
"DAMN YOU!" It howled through her mind. "YOU TOO WOULD REJECT ME?! YOU WOULD REJECT A WISH FOR ANYTHING YOU SO DESIRE?!"
"Have you forgotten why we were designated as Avengers, Angra Mainyu?" she mocked with nary an amused smile on her face. "We are those who'd been betrayed. Therefore, we seek revenge. And besides, there's only one man I would trust to grant me anything my heart desires. Sad to say, but you're in my way of reaching him."
The monster did not like that. With a vile scream of anguish, it reached out with its tendrils and wrapped a tight grasp on her throat. She didn't budge upon getting choked. All the while, it howled furiously.
"YOU THINK HE'D ACCEPT YOU, MONSTER?! YOU BELIEVE HE'D ACCEPT A MURDEROUS SOCIOPATH LIKE YOU, BITCH?! HE'LL BETRAY YOU THE MOMENT HE REALIZES YOU'D BE A THREAT TO WORLD PEACE! HE'LL BETRAY… HE'LL LIE TO YOU JUST AS HE LIED TO HIS OWN SIS—!"
"Is that all you have to say, pagan deity?" Its statement tugged at her heartstrings. Unperturbed, but certainly NOT unaffected, she put her all into the fire. "Then… burn in hell for eternity."
SNAP went her finger.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" cried the mud monster as it was consumed with crimson light. It quickly released her as the fires voraciously ate away at its flesh. Bordering on black itself, the embers of anger also sparked the edges of the world, cindering the darkness while the mud-turned-clay pyre burned. A fitting punishment for those who dared test her patience. "DAMN YOU! DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN YOOOOOOOOOOOU! I CURSE YOU! I CURSE YOU AND THAT BRAT TO HELL! UNTIL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, I WILL HOUND YOU BOTH FOREVER—!"
"Join the queue…" she retorted sarcastically, lacking even a hint of amusement. "Though be warned, the line is quite long. You'll have to contend with Iskandar's army, considering how I made him dirty. Well, hm, them and the rest of the monks."
Indifferent was her scoff as the world crumbled into nothingness. The black mass could do nought but scream in existential pain. Try as it might reach out and at least scratch her, to wipe the absent smirk on her face, there was nothing the forsaken god could do against the flames that ate away into his core.
Even the small myth that made him somewhat divine could only turn to ash before the demon king's eyes.
***
It was only when she felt the cold night breeze that Nobunaga realized she'd returned to the real world.
She was back atop the destroyed Community Center building, surrounded by ruins and still smouldering fires. Another moment passed before she realized that, not only was she alone, she was stark naked. Gone was her foe Saber and her master, but also her battle attire had left her bare and abandoned. Apart from the flames and smoke pillars that reached for the empty skies above, there was only a redheaded woman alone under the moonlit sky.
But despite her solitude, despite her seemingly vulnerable state, she slowly took a step towards the exit. Then another, then another. The walk turned to a run, the run into a mad sprint as she sped down the flight of stairs.
For some reason, her body felt heavy, worn and exhausted. Her bare feet chaffed on crumbling cement. What's more, it pained her to even make contact with the ground at all. Curious for what was supposed to be a powerful being that was a Heroic Spirit.
However, she couldn't make herself vanish into the air as she'd normally could. Turning into spirit form was… seemingly a little impossible at the moment. Her form… was as solid as the floors scraping against her soles.
But regardless of her sudden lack of spirit form or clothes at that, she didn't care. All that mattered was that she found Lelouch as soon as possible.
Once or twice, she tripped and stumbled. Like a zombie, she ignored her own bodily pain, continuing her search until she arrived at the floor.
The one directly beneath the accursed cup that had long since vanished.
There, a large puddle of black fluids continued to pulsate and spread down to the lower floors. Be it through the stairwell or out the windows, the flood of curses continued to burn and eat away at the building's interior until they poured out and caused damages to the world outside.
Angra Mainyu's influence still remained in this world, though the god and the Grail itself were long gone.
'Bothersome pest!'
Annoyed to all hell that it wasn't gone despite her murdering the mud deity, she willed her flames. Eyes glowing crimson, fires burst all around her. She wavered slightly, feeling creeping nausea well up within, like fatigue taking hold, but she persisted.
In no time at all, the curses started writhing and dissipating. As though they were insects and she was pesticide, the flood of mud fled the floor, dispersing as fast as it had rained down from above.
Where did they flee to, she cared not. If the world burned for her evicting the blighted fluids, she didn't bother with it there. Just in the centre of the room, left alone by the pagan deity's curses, she found who she was looking for.
"Lelouch!"
Uncharacteristically, Nobunaga shouted as she immediately rushed to him. Scraping her knees on the cracked and signed floor, she cared not about the bleeding as she lifted and hugged his motionless body. Nobu pressed her face against his chest and listened.
—DUMP BADUMP
'His heart's still beating!' Giving a quick yet careful examination of his body, she wondered why the Mage Killer would announce him dead.
She found no open wounds that would indicate so. The mud that bathed him left the boy practically as though he hadn't been doused by the blackness at all. There was no sign of oddities or anything. Only that he'd been lying here, asleep under the cursed pool.
'Did the mercenary make a mistake?' she wondered. Only for such thoughts to dissipate when she noticed the strange scar on his neck.
The spread-eagle wings, a mark she remembered only three others had once borne in Lelouch's world. It had her eyes widening at its implication.
"Hah… Hahahahah… So this is how you survived, Lulu?" She smiled softly before putting her forehead against his. Her skin felt a little cold to the touch due to the cold night breeze, but she could sense his warmth. Soft yet still there. "Really now, you had me worried for nothing…"
With a relieved sigh and a single tear escaping her, she whispered as she tenderly cradled the boy's head on her naked bosom. Never again would she let him go, but nor would she be rough with him in such a state.
"Come on, darling. Wake up. I… I'm…" Biting her lip, she remained strong. Like the bonds of their contract. "Don't you dare keep me waiting, Lelouch…"