78- A troublesome and Divine 'rat'

To find Shishou, simply look for her inside her room, which she uses mainly as a lab.

At first, I thought her collecting beasts and turning this place into a Zoo was a silly idea, but the number of 'Animals' grows each time I pass through here.

An ugly and evil-looking Dragon, completely normal stuff, and not one of the nice ones, judging by the smell of blood coming from it

And now there's a lake and what appears to be a forest, where something resembling a deer looked at me before running

And now that I look at the side of the Dragon, there is also a tiger with... wings?

I thought it was a joke...

But the strangest thing here is how those two big monsters are left out in the open without a proper cage, the way in which they are immobilized seems to be… "Acupuncture?" I asked no one in particular, but soon enough she appeared near me already in her teaching mode.

"Correct. Is there anything else you notice?" She inquired, pointing to her spears which were impaled in them forming a specific pattern, almost cosplaying both beasts as a porcupine

I was surprised at the absurdity of it. "Damn. The curse from your spears prevents them from recovering on their own. " I expected her to struggle against huge enemies, but she once again proved me wrong; the poor things can't even move anything other than their eyes.

I may need to actually call this Mini-world a zoo rather than her room at this point.

Well, who cares? I believe in her, so I have no doubts that those here were doing something that they shouldn't.

She spent her entire life protecting humanity from the undead and ghosts that tried to escape the land of shadows, and she continued to do so even after losing her mortality for who knows how long.

Even if she wasn't one of my loved ones, I would give her my trust for that reason.

She earned at least that much trust from me.

She nodded and continued, "In time, I will be able to do the same with the soul and even the various types of energy inside our enemies... " She appeared to be back in her experimenting mode, so I decided to save the beasts who were trembling and sweating under her gaze by asking her about what she had previously told me during the morning.

"So… a Rat? " 

"A Divine Rat, to be more specific." She motioned for me to follow her, and soon we arrived at the alleged rat, and I couldn't help but ask.

Looking at how she was kept, I couldn't help but to ask "Will… she be a part of your Zoo?" Earning us a glare from Goddess in front of us.

What else is there to say? While the others are either moving around their own zone trying not to make too much noise or are filled with spears, she is the only 'specimen' being kept in an actual cage, there is even a food plate in there…

Not that I don't understand what the runes are for, but it's still...

Scathach chuckled, "A self-proclaimed Primordial Goddess would be a great exhibition, wouldn't it?"

This caused the caged to clench her teeth in rage, but she otherwise remained silent, knowing what situation she was in, she wasn't angry about the caged part, but about something else.

Nyx's only thought was, 'He is a damned Sacred Gear user!!'

After noticing the newcomers, she kept staring behind Ahm, as if there was something there.

Nyx can see it; as someone with a strong connection to Darkness, she can see the thing that is creeping her out of the person in front of her in the form of a humanoid shadow staring directly at her.

This similar feeling combined with her knowledge of these tools, caused the Goddess to associate two words with him in disgust.

Annihilation Maker!

What could be more humiliating for someone who despises Sacred Gears than being imprisoned by one?

Ignorant of the Goddess's inner feelings, Scathach used her 'intimidating' reaction to mock the Goddess. "Well, she's certainly doing a good job of it; look she is even showing her fangs~"

I moved my hands, and something began to form on one of her cage's sides "You might need that… We don't want accidents, do we?" A sign that says, 'Be careful, it bites.' in it.

We may joke but In truth, we both where quite annoyed at this bomb that was suddenly thrown at us.

Looking at Shishou, she seems to be a lot more approachable than one may think when learning about her, at least this earlier version of her.

No that's wrong, I do remember that her version in FGO did some things like editing others servant paragraphs to become summer versions including herself or her wearing a bunny suit where she added 'Pyonn' in her lines… 

So maybe she's always been this way with those she cares about?

"I'm curious what's going through your mind to give me such looks... " She said noticing the change in my expression

"Who knows~''.

Now, how much of FGO is genuine is debatable, but it's still something to consider.

To be honest, it's quite amusing to tease the Goddess but it's mostly due to my being mad at her and this whole situation.

At the very least, she appears to understand that she is more valuable alive, as evidenced by the lack of fear in her eyes.

In a way, that's true; killing her would earn us the wrath of an entire Pantheon and their allies, not to mention those who want to start a war and those who want to prevent the same thing from happening.

Possibly starting a war and becoming the eye of the storm is not something I intend to do anytime soon.

So, a Primordial Goddess with that distinctive appearance with the black hair, pointed ears and baby face combined with the fact that she is one of the few Goddesses who dresses like a Schoolgirl and her dark aura revealed who she is.

"Nyx… " I couldn't help but sigh at the possibility of her becoming a political bomb, even if we were to let her go as if nothing had happened "What a mess. Do you have any ideas of what to do with her?" I asked Shishou, not knowing what to expect out of this.

"Normally, I would conduct experiments and possibly extract her Divinity or obtain information, you know, the usual stuff..." Nyx did react to Scathach's comments, as ridiculous as they may appear, and something in her tone made the Goddess shudder "However, in this case, the losses outweigh the gains. What a waste"

That is, we wait. She came here for a reason, and that reason will try to contact her again, or at least find out what happened to her.

After that, we left, and Shishou asked me a question after we returned from the location where Nyx was being held.

"Was that all you wanted to discuss?" Am I that easy to read? She's smiling and giving me a knowing look, so that's a yes.

It seems that I'm quite bad at hiding things from her.

"I was curious if you girls wanted something so I was about to ask everyone" I replied honestly.

Her voice was soothing in her comment "You gave me everything I desired the moment you brought me here, without knowing it. Don't worry, finishing everything I want to do here will take a long time."

"Does that include what you've been up to with Artoria?" I questioned back with a smile

Scathach only smiled back, "Don't make it sound like you're against it."

Scathach's thoughts were straightforward; other girls might not accept such things, but Scathach had enough reasons to do so; she enjoys and welcomes the other girl's company.

"You may not have noticed, but we all have one thing in common: loneliness."

Kei, because of her race, environment, and circumstances, that child only knew how to fight, almost to the point of knowing nothing else.

Mordred, that toddler, was always missing her Father, lost in the pursuit of what she thought was right and schemes she was unaware of, fighting a battle that was already lost.

And... Artoria and Jeanne were a lot like me in that we focused on our assigned tasks until the very end, with the only difference being that they had some company.

And Jalter... someone who is drowning in self-hatred and distrust. Her only ally was her twisted creator, while those she remembered were at best strangers given her... circumstances and what she did. Thankfully she had two candles pulling her down a lighter path "

The fact that Jalter knew her original self better than anyone else meant that she knew Jeanne's chances of betraying her were zero from the moment she declared herself Jalter's ally, then came Ahm, who she trusted naturally after spending so much time together.

And finally there's Ahm, who, from what she knows, hasn't had much company in his two lives either.

Knowing Ahm's tendencies, Scathhach's next words were simple and to the point: "Stop worrying about them."

"... " She is right... But I'd like to ask about their future plans in case I can help them.

In any case I know she had things to do so it's time to take my leave.

"That was all I needed to know. I'll look for the girls, call if anything changes with... that." I started to think about what she said as I pointed at the caged girl.

I do overprotect them, perhaps because I feel responsible for bringing them into this mess of a world when they clearly do not feel that way.

But Shishou enjoyed delivering the finishing blow, so it wasn't the end.

Shishou's voice could be heard once again. "I didn't answer the question, did I?  Before I could even respond, she vanished to who knows where.

"Ahm, I'm happy."

But I didn't want it to end like this, so I left her with the good news I was saving just for this with a victorious smile on my face. "I'm trying to see if I can make something to contact other places using THAT thing, and I might need your help."

Two can play this game.

Her voice returned, now more playful, with a hint of eagerness and excitement mixed in. "My mistake, that IS something I am extremely interested in." The System was one of the few things about which she knew almost nothing, which only piqued her interest.

Uses that seductive voice is cheating! 

Sigh… As long as she is happy.

So we now have a prisoner Goddess to deal with.

For now Let's start with asking Artoria since she's the one I know the least about out of all the girls.

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End of chapter

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The chapter was supposed to be longer but I'm quite rusty and took it long to finish it. But anyway a talk with Artoria and then they will deal with this rat in a surprising and direct way.

Thanks like always. Next chapter should be tomorrow or the day after.