Chapter 22 - Why Do I Keep Getting Interrupted?!

Chapter 22 – Why Do I Keep Getting Interrupted?!

Just seconds after her true strength was unleashed, the battle was decided.

Both landed on the ground.

One was still shining with brilliant colours, whilst the other was terribly injured.

Cao Cao was actually preserved in a life and death state by the flames around him. Currently, he was just seriously injured and unconscious, but nothing life-threatening. However, with a mere thought the flames would erupt and totally engulf and destroy his body and soul.

The reason she didn't kill him straight up was due to the fact that she sensed something unusual.

A crack opened up next to his barely-surviving body. Out came a normal looking person, and another who looked suspiciously like a monkey.

They were Georg and the descendant of another legendary figure.

"Sorry, but please may I take him away?"

She gave them a death stare.

"Interrupting is not a wise decision."

"I know, but we sincerely apologise for his actions. It wasn't our intention, neither is it his to engage in this. It was to merely lure out a dragon in the dimensional gap. We will leave as soon as he is recovered."

It was Georg who did the speaking. He appeared calm and collected, but was secretly shocked and worried should the talks go wrong.

After all, he was very aware of the danger she posed. Chances are, if she became hostile no-one is going to escape.

And his worries came true, because her sword glowed again with the familiar aura of holiness.

"HEY HEY we didn't do anything."

"Interrupting a knights' duel is the worst treason one could commit, even if it is to save your friend."

With no pauses and no care for the consequences, she raised her arm into the air and did the motion that she used just seconds ago.

"Hey little girl. Mind letting this old guy take charge instead?"

An old an crooked sounding voice interrupted her yet again.

She then saw a what looked to be an older version of the person beside the one who talked.

Judging by how shocked he was, and how calm the new person was, she could deduce that they were somehow related, or had some sort of dealing before.

Moreover, the similarity was uncanny.

(Are they also inheritor and progenitor, despite the fact that the progenitor is alive?)

She kept her guard up but lowered her sword, and the energy dissipated into the surroundings, causing hundreds of small orbs of light to dance around her and her sword.

"Is he really that important?"

"Indeed. I assume that you are not quite caught up with the times, the true Pendragon, but he is the wielder of the true Longinus. It is vital that he doesn't die."

"Perhaps... what is your relationship with the people here?"

"Oh, haha how forgetful I am that I forgot to introduce myself. I am Sun Wukong, and these are my descendant's friends. The one over there is Cao Cao as you know, this is Georg and this is Bikou. I have only heard of him but never quite expected that we will meet today."

He pointed at them as he was talking.

So that's why he was shocked. Must be quite surprised to see your legend appear in front of you.

"Please, speak your price in order to take the body away."

"If you are so legendary, why don't you try by force?"

"Please, you flatter this pile of old bones. Even I can feel the sheer danger your flames possess, not to mention that you are here. I don't dare to do anything too drastic. Have I said by the way that it is an honour to meet the true Pendragon? Uhh..."

"Artoria."

"It is an honour to meet you, Artoria Pendragon. You are truly what the legend lives up to. Although I don't know how and when you appeared in modern day, I can already feel the wheels of fate changing."

"Flattery will get you nowhere."

"Of course, please, name your price."

(Sun Wukong. I heard he was once titled as the Great Sage who Equalled the Heavens. He must be strong and experienced. As expected of someone who lived before me.

As for the price... I don't really need anything.

I have strength, a (kind of?) family, and people that I care about. I really don't know... hmm. What about you?)

(...)

(Why do I have to repeat myself twice all the time. *Sigh)

"Information." She finally decided after having an internal argument with her other half. She was so stubborn that Artoria was inclined to believe that her corrupted half was a tsundere.

"Information? What sort?"

"Just anything about this world. What happened in the past, and other things that follow the flow."

"Hmm."

(Information? Interesting. It seems like she has lost her memories. Or that a supernatural force interfered and brainwashed her, although that seems unlikely, the former option should be correct.

But then the question of why and how she lost her memories arises. What ulterior motives does she have?)

If Artoria heard this, she would just probably give him a strange look, since she genuinely did not have any ulterior motives. Truth be told, she was kind of curious about what world her master pulled her to, and the fact that she now didn't want to kill the boy.

(If what Sun Wukong said is somewhat true, then killing him is definitely not the best option. This compensation that he suggested is quite satisfactory to be honest.

And plus, as a history teacher, not being knowledgeable of the world is kind of ironic.)

"Information huh. Very well. I would just assume that this is the story about the history of the world.

This planet, or realm rather, was created by the Biblical God countless years ago. He then created the angels, devils and other supernatural beings and creatures.

The realms are divided into different regions. There is the underworld, where the devils live, the main plane where the fallen angels live, and heaven where the angels live. These three are the three main factions, but there are others such as mythologies like Norse and Greek.

Outside of all realms hold the dimensional gap, where destruction and creation are prevalent. Normally, no one would be able to survive and just travelling there is a big hazard.

This place holds the two dragons known as Ophis and Great Red, the very one that Cao Cao tried to lure out from the leylines.

A couple thousand years ago, a great war mainly between the three great factions occurred, causing multiple leader-type people to die, including the biblical god. It is now Michael who is in charge with heaven.

The strength of Cao Cao and others come from the sacred gears of the sacred gear system that the biblical god managed to create before his death.

That is the general overview. Anything else you want to know?"

"The age of Gods didn't end?"

"Age of gods? I can assure you that lots of Gods are roaming about quite freely."

She as quite stunned, but she got what she wanted, at least enough to please her. Her brain then operated quickly to digest the new information before realising that there may be more to it than just the surface facts.

(There has to be corruption and conspiracies within the three factions, or with the various factions. There must be. There's no way that angels and devils would get along together well as they're the polar opposites. Discrimination is unavoidable. They just have to pray to get an unbiased leader who has a pure heart. *Sigh. It seems like the supernatural world is no different than the kingdom I once led as a human...)

Her inner turmoil was short lived however, as she waved her hand.

Cao Cao's body then began to hover into the air and propelled itself in the direction of Sun Wukong.

The flames gradually subsided, revealing a surprisingly intact body.

The sage thought that it would be at least split in half considering the force of the last strike.

"Thank you."

She nodded, "I honour promises."

"I can tell. This is where I bid you farewell. YU LONG come."

Sun WuKong actually came with his dragon Yu Long, but he went to deal with the wild Yasaka and to help the other one fighting against her.

Now that the matter was solved, it was time to leave.

"Hey-" Bikou reached out to him.

He chuckled, "I'm sure you have many things to say but now is not the time for it. For now, this is goodbye. Perhaps we will meet in the future." And with that he left, but without the body since it was intended for Bikou's group to take it back, he was just helping them get it off Artoria.

She stared at the remaining people. They shivered as her gaze passed over them but they were still professionals, and with quick work they dropped a couple phoenix tears on the body and exited the scene with him.

The place then returned to what it once was before the battle, and all traces of destruction – especially the destroyed mountain – vanished.

This was a sign that they were going to return back. She estimated there were ten minutes left, so with a strong kick of the ground, she crossed a hundred metres and arrived in front of the passed-out people.

Walking passed them, she stopped in front of Issei, who was genuinely still out cold, but for some reason she talked to him.

"Reveal yourself, I could feel your gaze miles away."

A couple seconds passed, before his right arm started to glow, and a red gauntlet appeared on it. The white orb implanted inside started to glow as a voice formed.

"*Sigh. It seems that even this cannot escape your senses."

"You underestimate me if you thing it would. Now, who are you? I sense that you are quite a strong dragon, and inside a gauntlet no less."

"Mm. I am one of the heavenly dragons Draig, whilst the other one is called Albion. You should've heard Sun Wukong mention the sacred gear system. I used to be a complete dragon, but was sealed inside this sacred gear and became a Longinus."

"A Longinus? Just like Cao Cao's?"

"Yes and no. His is a true Longinus. I have to admit that the true strength of that thing outclasses me, but I am still one of the strongest sacred gears out there."

After he said this, Artoria just carried on staring at him in silence. A minute passed and he couldn't take the stress he accumulated due to this.

"Hey hey what do you want. You've been staring at me without blinking for a minute now!"

"...if I should kill you or not."

"Ummm, well... even if you kill this host, I will not truly die as I will just incarnate into another's body."

"Really? Let's test that."

She begun to raise her sword and light began to condense before Draig desperately said, "wait! Wait! Aren't you a teacher? Why would you just kill your student like that!"

This made her falter and ponder.

(What he said makes sense. Issei is after all my student, and I can't kill him, otherwise it would be troublesome to explain... wait why am I thinking like this? Did Ciel have an effect on me? It's so annoying how she makes a bad role model. She literally doesn't have a care in the world about anything other than Rimuru...)

...

Somewhere is the distance, a red-eyed person sneezed whilst cooking, causing the entire kitchen to be blown into smithereens.

"CIEL!!!"

"SORRRRRYYYY" She first repaired the building, then got a beating afterwards.

...

Back to Artoria. After coming to an understanding inside her mind, her armour vanished and her old clothes replaced it.

Looking at her in this look, it was hard to believe that she was the king of Britain, but anyway, with a flick of her sword she sliced open the space, causing it to collapse and the familiar sight of real Japan descended.

Out of the peripheral corner of her vision, she saw Azazael and Serafall staring at her in quite shocked looks, but she ignored them as she headed back.

(I don't want to deal with the aftermath... I'll leave it to them since they didn't even contribute to the fighting.)

Justifying her actions, she met their eyes and shook her head in the fainted people's direction, which they immediately understood what it meant and rushed over to help.

"Hey, we need to have a chat after this." The girl, Serafall, said.

She nodded but just left quietly and blended in with the shadows.

Azazael looked at her with sparks in his eyes, like he just found a new toy to be played with, but he had to swallow those thoughts as his task in hand was more important.

He had enough time to get answers anyway, since the trip still had a couple days left, and she's not going anywhere.