First Day 11

To her credit, Rider was indeed true to her word and could easily keep with your bike, even while jumping up into the air and dashing across buildings to keep out of sight.

A minute into your drive home, a light rain started to fall, wetting your hair and uniform. You could easily conjure a gust of wind around you to keep you dry, but going through town, it would be far too noticeable.

You made a note to add a Bounded Field to your motorcycle to keep normal humans from paying too much attention to it. And a weather warding Bounded Field while you were at it. That would stop rain from falling on you and the bike itself in the first place.

As you were driving though and were about to pass by the road leading up to Ryudo Temple, a familiar feeling washed over you. Mana, powerful thick and dense mana, similar to the feeling Rider gave off, though much much weaker.

You skidded to a stop and looked up at the temple gates in the distance, "Hoh?" your eyebrows rose in interest.

A moment later, Rider gently landed on the ground beside your bike, nary a sound from her feet colliding with the ground and the purple haired girl sleeping within her arms not jostled at all, "I sense a servant," Rider stated, pursing her lips, "I can't feel any tether to our faction, but they feel weakened, on the edge of death."

"Is that so?" you grinned, dismounting your bike.

Truly what luck you had. This was quite the opportunity. A possible opposing teams servant, pitifully weakened and like a lamb to the slaughter, just up for grabs.

"I will not approach them," Rider seemed to predict your thoughts, "Not when master is so vulnerable right now, even a servant with one foot in the grave is dangerous."

Cautious of her. Not that you didn't approve. You couldn't have any risk to your woman now could you?

You waved the purple haired beauty off, "That's fine, it's not like I need your help for just one servant, never mind one as weakened as this." you replied.

After all, as you told Rin earlier, the only true threat you saw in a servant was their Noble Phantasms after all. One with so little energy, well, it was unlikely they could use their Noble Phantasm and you could easily crush them with your strength.

That said, you gave her a nod and began making your way up along the path towards where you could feel the mana coming from.

As you did, you snorted in amusement when you felt Rider approach you from a ways back, keeping an eye on you.

For all her tough talk, it seemed she didn't want you dead at all. Or at the very least, she wanted you to save Sakura.

You'd show her she needn't worry about you. It was an amusing thought that any had to worry about you at all really.

Unless a god or high ranking phantasmal beast was spontaneously summoned into this age, what could truly challenge you on their own?

You made your way up the path to just before the stairs, but instead of going up them towards the temple, you made a sharp turn right and walked into the forest.

It didn't take you long to find the one you sensed, pausing at the tree line of the clearing they lay in.

It was a woman, laying on her back in the rain, her luxurious and finely crafted robes of purple blooded and ripped and stained with the mud of the ground.

'A Caster perhaps?' you mused, idly flooding your eyes with prana and taking in her abilities.

[Strength: E-]

[Endurance: E-]

[Agility: D-]

[Mana: A+]

[Luck: B]

Compared to Rider, her stats were pitiful in everything but Mana capacity and Luck. But then, from weak she was and considering you couldn't see them anywhere in sight, it was highly possible she had no Master.

She struggled as you entered the clearing, sensing your prana, and you saw muddied pale porcelain skin, and plump luscious blue lipstick clad lips grimace, "A...M-magus?" she gasped.

"Spellcaster actually," you corrected instinctually, "I don't have the time to waste on nonsense like searching for the stupid Root."

Seriously, who wanted to get to the sum of all creation, just for knowledge? What a pathetic reason to go after the Root.

You paused, tapping your chin and then grinned as a thought came to mind, "Though I suppose Muscle Wizard fits as well," you mused, lifting your hand and allowing green light to illuminate your veins as you reinforced your body, "My favourite spell to cast is fist after all." you laughed.

Sure, thanks to your element and origin you could conjure massive fire storms, wind blasts, gouts of water and such, but there was nothing quite as satisfying as feeling the raw strength of your own body.

"I.....what?" the servant stared at you, befuddled. Or, you assumed at least, it was hard to tell with that hood over her head.

You shook your head, lowering your fist and allowing your reinforcement to fade, "Nothing important, just a little joke," you shrugged, walking your way over to the downed servant, "So tell me Caster, how did you end up in this sorry state? Alone, no master in sight and looking horribly beaten."

"...I killed my insect of a master, Spellcaster," she replied after a moment of silence, "Then....Assassin of Black attacked me and I barely escaped with my life...for all the good it'll do me. I am destined to fade without gaining anything, as always."

No denial that she was Caster. And by the looks of it, she was either part of the Red Faction, or was chased out of the Black Faction after killing her master by the Assassin of Black.

Either way, she was without a master now, and an opportunity was to be bad here.

Still even with that, you found yourself shaking your head at her words, "Fate, what a useless concept," you snorted, before sitting down with your legs crossed beside the robe clad woman, "Though, your words have caught my interest. Why did you kill your master? And what do you mean you've never gained anything, care to explain?"

Having a great enough legend to become a servant, having carved her name into the annals of history, yet never gaining anything? What a true waste of time that would be. What an utter waste of potential.

A sardonic laugh left those plump blue clad lips, "It is because...it is my nature," she snorted, "What else can you except of Medea of Colchis, even my own master called me a witch in our very first meeting."

"Medea of Colchis huh?" your eyebrows rose. One of the greatest magi in all of history, and a tragic figure, "You Greeks really do have shitty luck Caster, how many of you legends from Greece actually got a happy ending I wonder?" you chortled a bit yourself.

Medea of Colchis was perhaps one of the more tragic figures herself. Just a few steps below that of Medusa. Cursed by the goddess Aphrodite to fall in love, a curse that led to the once princess killing her younger brother for the Argonaut Jason and sailing off with him, only to be left behind by him after giving birth to multiple children of his for another woman and revered as nothing but a traitorous sow that was torn apart by the masses in the end.

If you remembered right, it was one of her own children that had her killed did he not? After she helped secure his rule as a King of...somewhere. Honestly, you couldn't remember. She left the island of Circe to go help the boy if you remembered right though.

How pitiful.

"'Shitty Luck!'" she snorted in amusement herself, "How crass, yet so apt." her snort turned into chortling, before hull out laughter again, that turned into sobs.

And as she did, you felt the energy within her dwindle and dwindle. She wasn't long for this world.

'So, so pitiful.' you shook your head. But, despite that, you found yourself rising to your feet again, hooking your arms under the robed woman as you did.

"W-what are you doing?" Medea sputtered as you lifted her, struggling in your grip, but you were easily able to keep hold of her with your sublime strength.

You looked down at her, her cheeks stained with tears and rain drops, and despite the great legend she had, she felt so light in your grip. Hardly what you would expect of a legendary magic user from the Age of Gods.

"It would be a waste to leave someone like you here to fade away." you declared and shook your head.

Her lips twisted into a scowl, "Leave me be Spellcaster, leave me to fade," strength flared into her words as she bit out at you, "I have no interest in being used by another, every time it turns out the same, I'm...tired of it."

You snorted, "No," you denied her, "You and those fools of your past clearly have no concept of sense, unable to grasp your worth. I'm not so pitiful though."

She gaped at you for a moment, lips going wide before she snarled, "I-I'll betray you like all the rest in the end, I will kill you!" she promised.

You laughed, "You aren't capable of killing me," you denied her words again easily, "It doesn't matter whether from the front or the back from betrayal, I have nothing to fear for you, because I'm the one who will surpass all others in this world, even the pitiful gods that faded away with their age."

"...You're a madman." she gaped at you once more.

You chuckled again, "There's a fine line between madness and genius you know," you retorted, "It is that inherent madness though that has allowed humans to outlive even the gods and the phantasmal creatures and reach into this age, the age of man as the dominant species, the will to survive and grow, the will to evolve and stay and reach for the stars. The mases just don't want to admit it."

Humans after all, were the most greedy race of all you had found. After all, you were a human and none could compete with your greed and desire. There was no species in history that had grown like humans had.

How could you not love your race for the simple fact that humans embodied growth? Not the stagnating gods or phantasmal beasts, it was always humans that reached new heights and desired more and more.

That was why, with your being an Incarnation of Growth you were perhaps, the most human of all humans.

You smirked at the woman in your arms, "That's why I'm telling you, come with me, become my servant, and I'll show you your true worth in this world, none but me can truly appreciate you," you declared confidently, "And if I fail to live up to this promise, then you can feel free to betray me, I'll deserve it like that fool Jason."

Medea was silent, her lips trembling and lithe body beginning to shake in your grasp, "....Just like that, you are so uncaring of my reputation as a witch who will betray even her brother? A witch so hated even her own children would put her to death?"

"I couldn't care less," you nodded your head proudly, "This world is a beautiful place, it's tragic that a woman of your stature and potential had her growth cut so short by the shenanigans of the trash around her and the pitiful useless gods."

And you meant that. The gods, what had they ever truly done for humanity? They caused more problems than they ever did give benefits.

For instance, if not for Aphrodite's stupidity, the woman in your arms would have been free to research and grow her magic without interruption and would have either become a queen, or the beloved advisor of her brother who ascended to the crown.

Instead, she was forced to labour away as the love addled chit of the Argonaut Jason, a useless piece of trash if there ever was one going by the stories of him. A fool who could never accomplish anything on his own and only got by with the help of all the other astounding people around him like Medea herself, Herakles and Atlanta.

And he only got that far because of blessings from the useless gods. Truly, he was pitiful useless trash.

"Ah...Heh," a half laugh, half sob left Medea's lovely blue painted lips, "How amusing...heh, at the very end, as I accept my fate to fade away, a mad young lad like you appears before me, how astounding. The gods work in mysterious ways."

You laughed harshly at her words, "The gods are gone from this world Medea," you rebuked her, the only 'gods' still around were Alaya and Gaia, but they weren't of the same class, "They're trash that have nothing to do with this. Don't forget, those pitiful spirits will be old news compared to me one day in the future."

A sigh left her and she relaxed into your arms, "...Very well...just this once, I'll...I'll believe in the words of a muscle headed buffoon one last time." she said softly.

"Wise decision, one you won't regret," you grinned at her, baring your teeth excitedly. You pinched your thumb with your index finger nail, drawing blood and before Medea could say anything, you stuffed your bleeding finger into her mouth.

She gasped and gagged around your finger, "W-what are you doing!?" she spluttered.

"I've not summoned my actual servant yet," you shrugged, dropping your blood into her mouth to supply her with mana and stop her from fading, "I've got an abundance of prana, so my blood should keep you from fading long enough to summon my own servant and then I can contract with you."

"Ack, stop you buffoon!" she pulled your thumb from her mouth, spitting your blood away, "How inefficient! I can easily keep myself from fading away by drawing from the ley lines even from here!"

You shrugged, "Do that then." you ordered, turning on your feet while carrying her and making your way back where you came from, back towards your motorcycle.