Artoria's Journey

Heaven Bolt Mountain Range (Three Days Later) (Artoria P.O.V.)

Pulling her spear out of another thunder tiger corpse, Artoria sighed.

'This is starting to get really tedious.' She thought as she pierced forward sending a ray of divine light forward, slaughtering the rest of the pack.

'She didn't mention the number of beasts I'd find here that'd want to tear me apart.'

She had reached this mountain range the previous day and was certainly impressed with what she saw. Calling it a mountain range wasn't exactly accurate. It was more of a massive range of pillars the height of skyscrapers. There were an uncountable number and they seemed to be made of a strange metal that was super charged with the divine lightning that seemed to rain down from the heavens. Wondering where to go from here, she pulled small directional hints from the knowledge transfer coming from Rias's power of prophecy.

The farther she got, the stronger the monsters became. What started as mid-level threats, quickly escalated to low ultimate class. Considering that she was high ultimate class at her current level of mastery of her lance, she was slightly concerned; she had only made it half way into the range. Based on her predictions, it would take another 24 hours to reach the center, the location Rias's power was stating her new partner was likely to be.

An hour later, she came across her first problem. A high ultimate class divine thunder ogre. It stood at a massive fifteen feat, had golden skin, beady red eyes, and had arms the size of SUVs. From its massive muscular build, it was clear that any hit from this thing would hurt a lot.

This was another reason why the sin lands weren't settled by the Ars Goetia proper. There were Ultimate and Satan class beasts everywhere. They were extremely powerful and could cause untold destruction. The price for their power though was their intelligence. While beasts like this ogre had intelligence equivalent to a caveman, it would never progress beyond that unless they achieved transcendence. This was a state that would allow them to become earth-bound immortals, beings that could devastate entire mythologies; their strength can range anywhere from dragon king to heavenly dragon level. In the past, there was even one who progressed even further and became a being on the same level as the dragon gods. It only fell due to a sneak attack by the biblical god that destroyed its intelligence. Its sentient husk became what's known today as Trihexa, which was sealed behind countless seals at the end of the world. Ironically, the husk is what ended up dealing the damage that the Satans needed to kill the man, so in a way revenge was served.

Seeing the ogre, Artoria readied her lance. However, before she could react, she was swatted away like an insect. Her body smashing into one of the metal pillars. It was testament to the hardness of the metal for her not to borrow through it like clay.

Before, she could regain her bearings, another strike slammed into her like a freight train, sending her through the pillar and toward another. Just before she hit it though, she pierced her lance toward the ground and used it to redirect her toward an open clearing.

'If I get hit into another pillar, I won't be able to escape its fist in time.' She thought as she quickly gathered energy into her lance and struck forward, hitting the ogre's incoming fist. As expected, the lance pierced into the ogre's fist and even deeper into its hand. The trade-off though was that her arm was now useless until she could regenerate the damage. It wouldn't take more than a few moments, but that was time she didn't have.

Roaring in frustration and agony, the ogre jumped up onto a pillar and raised its intact hand. From the heavens, a bolt of lightning descended and struck him causing a small dust cloud to conceal its form. Once it cleared, Artoria's hair stood on end. The previously powerful ogre stood there with a coat of shining golden lightning. Its muscles started to expand, primarily in its legs. She didn't need an analyst to tell her that this ogre just got even faster.

Feeling the need to take a risk, she started to pull as much divine energy as she could handle from the lance. What was once a gold energy, now had grains of cerulean mixed in. It was apparent that her new master had influenced this power. What was good about this altered power was that it no longer stole her emotions from her; instead, it seemed to bring Rias's influence closer to the core of her spirit, which was expected to an extent. She would debate the pros and cons after the battle, but she would be temporarily content with the fact that Rias has been a kind master and friend to her and her cousin so far.

From her body, the divine energy of the lance began to empower it, bringing her closer to the divine. She needed to meet the ogre's attack head-on to win. She couldn't out maneuver it and she couldn't let it hit her. It was definitely going to attack at any moment, so she had to meet that attack with her full power. Make no mistake, either side had enough power to seriously injure the other by bypassing most of their defenses. As long as she didn't have Avalon, she was vulnerable. Therefore, they were really competing in how much damage could be put in a single strike. While she was charging the attack, she also channeled another spell on her lance as insurance.

Suddenly, the ogre pushed forward. Its hand pulled back for the fastest punch it could muster. Once it closed in on Artoria, it threw its fist forward. It was extremely confident in its power. No matter how powerful that lance is, the little demon's arms weren't nearly comparable. He just needed to break her hands. Even if he lost his, they would regenerate with time, especially if he ate her and consumed her power; it was clearly compatible with his.

Just when he was about to make contact, her lance flashed forward; it was an extremely short distance teleport. Artoria sent her lance with all the energy charged into it, right into the ogre's guard. An instant later, the ogre's entire chest cavity was a memory. The last thing in its mind was 'how?'. It wished it had some time to understand how it died.

Panting, Artoria looked at her kill with respect. That was the first real challenge she'd had since becoming a pillar. Her power raised so much that she almost forgot that she wasn't invincible. She would need to take additional precautions before stepping into the center of the mountain range.

Heaven Bolt Mountain Range (1 Day Later) (Artoria P.O.V.)

She was almost there. It had taken her a couple of hours to get back in complete shape. Once she was in working order, she continued her journey. Luckily for her, the other beasts in this range decided to leave her alone and she only had to fight off the occasional pack of low-Ultimate class wolves. They may be the same tier as the ogre, but they were much weaker. The spectrum in the Ultimate class is as vast as an ocean. She was only high-ultimate due to her lance's power and King Arthur's battle experience that had been merged into her.

As she neared the center, she saw something that stunned her. There was a large circular clearing surrounded by golden metal pillars mixed with void black stripes. From the skies, black lightning could be seen descending to hit them. In the circle stood a being radiating immeasurable power. It had the body of a horse with silvery white scales covering its body. It had a pair of large antlers and the mane of a horse and a lion shining in a similar color to the scales, but with a shining light blueish tint; it's eyes glowed in a sapphire blue. The beast radiated so much power, even Sirzechs would have trouble fighting this thing.

Slowly, it turned toward her direction and a feminine voice rang in her mind.

'Young lady, what brings you to this place?' it asked.

Her heart beat with terror at the powerlessness she felt. She was extremely glad that this divine beast was being cordial.

'Ma'am, I've been looking for a mount to match my lance. Once I told my master this, she told me that her power over prophecy said that this range would have my answers. When using a derived version of the same power through our connection, it pointed me to this clearing.' She thought back.

'Indeed, I sense no falsehood in you. Only terror and respect. I also sense a great kindness and senses of duty and justice in you that are extremely rare among humans. Very well, you will stay here and I will take your measure. I happen to have been blessed with four eggs this season and that's one more than I have the resources for. Qilin children require an excessive amount of energy to grow; I only have enough to raise three without lowering my own battle power and endangering them. I was planning to make the sacrifice, but I don't mind giving that child a different destiny. Seeing as how fate drew you to this place, you will stay here and prove your worth to me. If I find you fitting, you will be allowed to make this child your familiar. Let your master know that you will be here for at least two weeks. My answer will be known to me by then.'

Artoria had to stop herself from jumping in joy. This would be perfect. She was just glad it wasn't a death match with this majestic beast. On one hand, she wasn't sure she could win. On the other, it had four babies that needed caring for and she didn't know how to do It. If she could get its blessing, she would have knowledge of how to raise the one she received. Quickly sending the information to Rias through the link, Artoria walked toward the now identified mother to begin her trials.