Aspertia City, Unova Region
Rosa POV
She remembered the first time she logged onto Gudao's twitch stream. It was on a lazy weekend evening when she had been scrolling Twitter and saw Iono post a shout out to a tiny twitch streamer she found that she thought was cool and was playing a never before seen game.
She didn't really have much to do that day since she had already sat down to scroll, and the way Iono sold that channel made her curious enough to click on the link she provided.
Her first thought when she saw him for the first time was: "oh wow… he's cute~" so she stuck around to see what he was like. She was a simple woman of simple interests, so a cute guy streaming was totally up her alley. Looks alone was one thing, but the main reason that kept her from clicking off his channel was just the vibe of it.
Gudao was a really chill guy and knew how to keep an audience engaged given how his stream's viewers and subscribers kept expanding even after Iono had long logged off her computer that day. How Gudao only had a handful of viewers at the time, she will never know but it was then that she became one of his regulars.
She even recommended the stream to her friends, and while not everyone was interested in distracting themselves with watching a livestream, a few of them did and they also loved watching him.
That changed when he decided to play Pokemon white on his stream. When she realized what he was doing, she didn't care about his looks or personality anymore. She was extremely upset with him for playing this game, since it revealed the start of Hilda, Bianca, and Cheren's journey without their consent.
It was a massive breach of privacy and a security risk for all of them, because vengeful remnants of Neo Team Plasma still lurked in some places even after Ghetsis's arrest.
Having someone blatantly reveal their house's location pretty much violated the witness protection program their families had been signed up for. It would have been easy for all of them to have stopped watching him after that and take legal action against him, but that never happened due to the rather extraordinary circumstances of their meeting.
After all, it's not everyday you find out that the guy who accidentally doxxed you was from another world where Pokemon are not real and are actually a game franchise.
To be honest, it was hard to stay mad at Gudao for a simple mistake, especially since he respected their wishes to not play those games anymore and overhauled his channel's content to accommodate them.
In hindsight, it was unfair how they had been angry at him for showing a very, very simplified snippet of their lives when now they were the ones watching nearly each and every moment of his life in 4k resolution.
Team Plasma was brutal, and she had the face scars as a reminder of how cruel humans could be. Yet, people who know her and knew what happened to her are always confused as to why she doesn't shy away from the violent parts of Gudao's stream when they show up.
The truth was, she was actually more enraptured by the violence and brutality than anyone else in their friend group.
That didn't mean she was immune from getting triggered by certain moments.
One such moment was when she saw Spartacus physically brutalize Martha. She had to step back for a moment then because of the flashbacks.
But usually she can handle the violence if it doesn't get too one sided in fisticuffs.
Yet, despite this weird fixation she had, Gudao's stream was not all doom and gloom.
Sadly, the days of simple nature streams were over, but now it was filled with tons of funny and goofy hijinks, romance, tragedy and adorable moments! But through it all, the best part about his streams were the awesome moments of true heroism that Gudao and the servants performed that were hard to capture even in movies.
Gudao's stream had come a long way, and it's hardly the same channel it was when she first joined.
That being said, this Moon Dumpling incident had set a new precedent for this livestream due to the sheer absurdity of what she was witnessing.
"WAAARGGHH! FATSO!"
"I am not fat! I am plump!"
She never in a million light years thought she would ever see Caligula of all people acting in such a silly way while stuffing his face with dumplings.
He did not make the best of impressions during his debut in Septem.
[Umu_Emperor: Uncle!! Do not speak ill of the great Caesar!!]
[Lol FATSO. Hearing that come from Caligula's mouth just makes it even funnier. ]
[ThunderCles: Hey now, you can call out Caesar as a lot of things. A bloodthirsty conqueror, a scumbag cheating husband, but fatso is a step too far. ]
[GroundHippowdon: Caligula is just calling it how he sees it. And there's a lot to see. ]
The camera panned out to show Mash, Gudao, and Artemis in the guise of Orion spying on the two Roman servants.
They were trying to come up with the best way to approach the two emperors, who were stuffing their faces with dumplings.
"Are we going in guns blazing then, Senpai?" Mash asked with an eager and bloodthirsty tone.
"Considering how talking has been failing us a lot recently, we should, but I still want to give them the benefit of the doubt. If our former allies like Marie and Martha attacked us, it's possible the opposite could happen."
Gudao's reasoning was sound. If nearly every answer was the letter "C" in an exam, it would be suspicious and therefore the next answer should be anything else even if the answer clearly points to the letter C again. Then again, it's also possible the teacher intentionally made every answer "C" just to mess with their students. Arceus knows Cheren is the type of dick to do that sometimes.
"If they still decide to attack us and act unreasonable, then we fight back."
Mash approved of Gudao's plan, "I agree with your brave approach Senpai, as it won't be a violation of the laws of chivalry."
"It's fine by me, just say the word and I'll skewer that fatso like a meatball!!" Artemis declared.
The three nodded and rushed at the two servants, who immediately caught onto their presence.
"Stop acting like a food processor and put the dumplings down!! Those provisions belong to Chaldea, not Rome!" Mash declared while pointing her finger at the dumplings in Caesar's hands.
Caligula meanwhile stopped in place and looked down at the dumpling in his hand with furrowed, inquisitive brows, "...? Not...Rome? Rome...isn't...a dumpling…"
Caligula then looked to Caesar, or more specifically, his large belly, and his brows furrowed lower, "But great Caesar is...round…"
He looked back at his dumpling and stared at it the same way the main character of a romance film would to a close friend after they caught them in bed with his girlfriend, "What is...the meaning...of this?"
[Rome = Caesar = Round = Dumpling
Haha!! I love his logic!]
[Junior_Researcher: Oh wow, he looks like he's having an existential crisis about the true meaning of Rome. ]
[Ms.Roxanne: Don't fat shame people. It's not nice.]
[Maybe if he wasn't inhaling dumplings like a snorlax then I would say otherwise.]
Caesar looked back at the man with a tired yet hurt expression, "Stop comparing me to things that are round!"
Caesar sighed when he remembered who he was talking to and brought his attention back to the group, "Well, I suppose you are here for these Moon Festival dumplings, right?"
"Yes we are, kindly hand them over to us. We are on a tight schedule, and would appreciate not having to go through another pointless battle with you, Julius Caesar."
Caesar became exacerbated by Mash's declaration, "Ah, you know my true name… that is quite troublesome. May I inquire how you knew? This appearance of mine doesn't really match my true appearance in life."
"You told us the last time we met. Back in Septem, we met you and your partner Cleopatra," Gudao explained, and at the mention of 'Cleopatra' Caesar's eyes lit up.
"You don't say? Ah, how nice that a version of me manifested with my beloved Cleopatra after death. Though based on the looks on your faces, it did not go well for us… did it?"
"No. You were both summoned by someone who was trying to destroy Rome and you refused to be reasoned with… and it led to you getting stabbed to death in front of Cleopatra." Mash told Caesar which made the man look down in shame.
Caligula froze and stared at Caesar again, this time with disbelief in his face, "...Great Caesar… destroy Rome… impossible."
"Oh… I see… and I remember." Caesar let out another sigh while scratching the back of his head. Before sighing once again.
"What happened to my Cleopatra?" Caesar's request made her wince as the image of Lev snapping the pharaoh's neck was still fresh in her mind.
Mash frowned and responded in a much gentler tone than she had when the confrontation started, "Lev or rather, the self proclaimed Demon God Flauros killed her when she berated him for arriving late."
Caesar's face went through many emotions, something resembling pride briefly showed up but after that, it was mostly anger, grief, and like he showed before, shame.
"I see… well, since you two are here then I can safely assume that you managed to kill him. No doubt that man would have refused to allow such insolence to go unpunished." Caesar said.
"Yeah, if not for the help of Romulus, we wouldn't have survived."
Caligula took a step back, shocked at what Gudao had said. Despite his madness, it seemed like he was completely aware of who Gudao and Mash were talking about.
Caesar's eyes widened, before he started to smile, but the smile was not a happy one. Rather, it was a mocking one.
"So, even our Divine Father had come to the aid of Rome… I was such a fool." Caesar grit his teeth, cutting off his emotions before he could shed a tear and show weakness. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, then sent a deadpan stare at Caligula.
"Give them back their dumplings." Caesar demanded which made Caligula look at him in confusion.
"No… fight?" Caligula asked and Caesar shook his head.
"I never planned to fight in the first place. I was going to give these two a speech about how I embezzled these dumplings away from that Rider woman and was going to offer them a great business deal. …But after those memories hit me, I am far too depressed to do that anymore."
He gestured at Caligula, "I am sure you feel the same way, do you not?"
Caligula grunted before he nodded and went back to grab the dumpling sack.
He came back shortly after and handed the sack over to Mash, who was still shocked by what she was seeing, "Huh, you were rather quick to give up the bag of dumplings."
Caligula nodded, "Glory is given… to the victors… It is not good...to deny them...that…"
[Kream: I see, so he's treating the dumpling as a reward for defeating him last time. ]
[Wide_OpenSky-la: Sooo… Does that mean Caligula is redeemed?]
[Meh, he still brutally murdered that purple chick, but I guess it's fine since he was even less sound of mind back then.]
[Guy_1n_Desert: He's surprisingly noble for someone with such madness.]
[Umu_emperor: Umu!! Now THAT is my uncle! Nothing like the mad dog that showed up to destroy my Rome!! ]
Mash kindly accepted the bag, "Thank you so much, Caesar and Caligula. You have been the most reasonable people we have met so far-Huh?"
Mash's arm trembled as she held the bag in her hand,"It's so...heavy? I was able to carry it before, but… wah!?"
In the blink of an eye, Caligula turned into a blur and took the bag away from Mash and threw it away. For a moment, she thought that Caligula and Caesar had set a trap for them, but she threw that notion away when a rainbow sword cut open the bag from the inside.
Had Caligula been any slower, Mash would have been stabbed.
The bag's contents spilled out midair and over two tons worth of dumplings rained from above. To Mash's horror, many of the pastries were contaminated when they touched the filthy ground,
[I spoke too soon. He's redeemed now.]
[GARcher: Dammit. Perfectly good dumplings, gone to waste. ]
[SmolTera: Nooo!! My dumplings!! (っ◞‸◟ c)]
Dumplings were not the only thing that emerged from the bag, as a familiar looking woman came out of the sack holding a familiar looking rainbow sword. She was also
eating a dumpling while making aggressive "nom" noises.
Oh no, it's an adult Altera, and she isn't theirs. Why does she know this? Because SmolTera was still in chat.
[SmolTera: Oh no!! It's an Adult me!! Father is in trouble!! ]
"...Nom nom...nom nom…" the dark skinned woman froze when she noticed everyone staring at her. Then she looked at the dumplings on the ground before she slowly stood back up.
Altera swallowed the dumpling that was still in her mouth, and let out a sigh of satisfaction "It seems that I have cut the bag by accident, forgive me. It was not my intention to waste such good civilization."
Before Mash or Gudao could start communicating with the woman, Artemis suddenly drew her bow back, an arrow already formed and ready to fire.
"No way...Altera?! What's she doing here?!" It looked like Artemis had not expected the adult woman to appear at all. Also, how did Artemis know Altera? Attila the Hun never interacted with the Greeks as far as she can remember.
[ZaWarudo: Oh god now there's two of them! ]
[HeavelyDivinePearl: Tis the nature of pests brother, they multiply when you don't actively eradicate their entire bloodline. ]
Altera's red eyes regarded Artemis rather coolly, "Why are you surprised, woman? Wherever there is civilization, I appear."
A bead of sweat fell from Artemis's temple upon hearing Altera's answer.
Meanwhile, Caesar's face was a shade paler than before, "Oh… Oh that is not good. Without Boudica to reign her in, conflict is unavoidable… But how did she get here? And how exactly did she get inside that bag?!"
Altera's attention shifted to Caesar, who took a step back in fear under her robotic-like gaze.
"I walked here, basically. Rayshifting is bad civilization, so I do not use it." Altera explained like it was the most normal thing in the world, nevermind the fact she performed a difficult/impossible feat like it was nothing.
"...Mash, Ritsuka, I know she looks calm, but don't underestimate that woman. She's a walking calamity who tramples and destroys everything around her just by walking." Artemis's tone made her warnings seem like something she had personally experienced herself.
"That is a misunderstanding. I do make distinctions. In the end, it comes to feelings…. I've realized there are different types of civilization." Altera bent down to pick up a dumpling from the now opened sack, dusted the dirt off it and began to nom on it.
"Basically…. Nom nom nom… there are both good and bad civilizations… nom nom nom…. Dumplings are good civilization….. nom nom nom… Moon Festival is bad civilization… nom nom nom…. So I am taking these dumplings nom nom nom…. and destroying you for having Moon Festivals, nom nom nom…" Altera pointed her Photon Ray at Gudao and their group.
[SmolTera: Ah!! She's eating my portion of dumplings!! That is bad civilization!! ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)]
[Ma'am, it is not good civ to eat while speaking! You'll choke!! ]
The tricolored rainbow was starting to spin,"If you get in my way, nom nom nom… I will show no mercy and… nom nom nom… I will use this War God's sword I happened to find on the ground to… nom nom nom… destroy you."
"What do you mean 'happened to find?' Anything you use turns into that thing!" Artemis said while not taking her eyes off of Altera.
[Altera has that power?]
[SmolTera: Yes, it's due to my skill: Civilization Erosion. I can make anything I touch a Photon Ray if I want to… though I can only access it after I transform into my adult self.]
[IliekQTthings: A very scary and broken ability, but its cute when you do it SmolTera! ]
"And here I thought we had managed to avoid a physical confrontation, alas, I had spoken too soon." Caesar turned to Gudao and Mash.
"You two, Caligula and I shall help you fight against this threat." Caesar said while getting in a battle ready stance.
"Raaah!!" Caligula yelled in agreement.
"If you want to help, we won't say no." Gudao raised his hand and called forth his first shadow servant.
The servant that emerged gave the two men pause as they immediately recognized the servant's identity.
"NEEERO!!" Caligula was the first to speak, or shout, his niece's name.
Caesar hummed as he beheld Nero's presence, "Indeed it is, though I can tell this is a mere shadow, it is in no way weaker than Nero herself."
Shadow Nero, hearing her predecessor's words, nodded enthusiastically, "UMU. It is I, my Uncle and great Caesar. The great child of Roma, Nero Claudius!!"
Nero drew her cool, wavy and pointy red sword and pointed it at Altera, "Now prepare yourself Altera, for you are about to witness the GREATEST of all civilizations unite against you!! Come Uncle and Great Caesar, let us show this woman the wrath of our Roma!!"
"ROMA!!!" Caligula cried out in support of Nero.
"Heh. You might be a shadow, but you still carry the bright spirit of Rome, it's got me all fired up!!" Caesar pointed his sword at Altera.
"Come forth Atilla the Hun, come have a taste of my Crocea Mors!"
Altera scoffed at the lineup, "Rome? The greatest civilization? No. An empire that is bound to conquer and impose its moon festivals on others is bad civilization, and I shall destroy you."
Gudao looked back and forth between Altera and the Emperors then he suddenly got a look on his face. That look usually meant he was going to do something stupid.
Gudao stepped forth and crossed his arms while narrowing his eyes at Altera.
"Young lady, put those dumplings down this instant." Gudao demanded, which drew the woman's stare.
"What are you talking about? Did you not hear me? I will destroy anyone who gets in my way of the dumplings."
"Yes, I heard you and I am telling you that you need to stop. You had your share, let everyone else have theirs too, young lady."
Altera narrowed her eyes, "who are you to order me around, human?"
Gudao stared at Altera before he smirked and manifested another servant. A smaller, much cuter Altera now stood in front of the taller one.
Artemis looked at the tiny Altera and gasped in surprise, "Another Altera?!!"
The goddess looked back and forth between the two and could not help but coo at the girl, "aww but she's just a baby-no!! You can't fool me!! No matter how cute and pinchable your cheeks are, I will not be fooled!! You are still Altera!!"
Although Artemis said that, she looked like she was struggling to stop herself from running up to the girl and scooping her up in her arms.
Altera, meanwhile, looked at her smaller version with a bewildered expression, "You've formed a contract with another version of me?"
"Yes, but it goes further than that. For you see Altera…" Suddenly, the smaller Altera rushed to Gudao's side and jumped into his waiting arms.
After that, Gudao brought out a dumpling and gave it to SmolTera, then began to pat her on the head.
The action caused the older Altera to look at the scene in shock, a shock which only amped up when Gudao dropped the next lore bomb on the so-called "scion of destruction."
"...I am also your Father."
Altera took a step back, her eyes wide but her irises had shrunk into trembling pinpricks.
"That… can't be true… That's impossible!! I am not the historical son of Mundzuk! I am the scion of destruction!! The doom of bad civilization!! There's no way you could be my father!!"
Gudao stretched out his hand in open invitation, an action mirrored by SmolTera, "Search your feelings Altera, for you know them to be true."
"Nooo!!" Altera shouted before she leveled her spinning blade at Gudao.
SmolTera saw this and decided she was done playing the role of a sweet, innocent daughter and went on "protect papa" mode by brandishing her own spinning blade at her older self.
Altera pursed her lips at SmolTera before looking at Gudao, "I do not know how you obtained that contract of mine, but it does not matter. I am still Altera, and I shall not let you take my dumplings away!! HYAH!!"
Altera dashed forward, her blade spinning with barely contained destruction, and before anyone could react, SmolTera had already met her older self midway.
"Hyaaa!!"
✦✧✦
"...To think I would lose to a child version of myself," Altera coughed and a viscous glob of red came out of her mouth and stained her chin.
".... have I truly sunk so low?" Altera lamented as she laid on the ground, defeated while looking to the full moon with a pained expression.
Artemis calmly walked over to Altera and looked down at her with pity in her eyes, "You may be the scion of destruction, but the reason you lost is not because you were physically weaker."
The Saber regarded the goddess and asked a question laced with desperation, "It's not? Then… why?"
"It was because you are by yourself. You lost the bonds between father and daughter that Ritsuka and your cute version share. While Rome and moon festivals are bad civilizations in your eyes, the love between family is undeniably good civilization." Artemis said while nodding her head.
Caesar furrowed his brows, "I thought she lost because she got smacked around by her child self when she started choking on a dumpling mid battle-oof!!"
Caesar held his stomach in pain when Caligula not so gently elbowed him in the gut.
Uncaring for the gagging and heaving of Caesar in the background, Altera responded to Artemis with an: "I see…"
Altera turned to Gudao and SmolTera who stood together in victory.
"Apologies, I underestimated your bonds and it cost me my life. The dumplings were good, though, so worth it." Altera said with a smile, which forced Gudao to come closer and squat near the older Altera
He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the red bean paste from Altera's mouth.
"Geez, if you wanted dumplings that badly, we would have invited you to the Moon Festival. Silly girl."
It was times like these that made her wish she had met Gudao in real life. They guy is a hell of a catch, and grade A hubby material. Whoever ends up with him is going to be one lucky woman.
Altera stared at Gudao for a moment before a smile crossed her face, "you're right, I am a silly girl… I'll be seeing you on the other side… Father."
Altera dissipated into motes of light and scattered into the howling wind.
Oh my, Gudao got adopted again. Hehehe.
Suddenly, the bag of dumplings vanished, which caused them all to look at the empty field of grass where the dumplings were in surprise.
"A rayshift? Then that means!-"
A beeping noise interrupted Mash's realization and Dr. Roman's voice came from Gudao's wrist.
""Ritsuka? Mash? Hello? We finally reestablished communications!! Are you two okay? Your servants said you were fighting an adult Altera and we were worried!!" "
Mash was quick to recover and responded, "Ah, Doctor. Yes, we defeated Altera and we got all the dumplings back but it seems you rayshifted them back."
""Yeah, I detected the provisions near you and activated the Rayshift. Well, since you defeated Altera, that means you have nothing else left to do, right? Then hurry and come back to Chaldea. The Moon Festival party will be waiting for you." " Romani said, clearly wanting Mash and Gudao to get back as soon as possible.
"Yes...That's right. We did achieve our goals. Oh!! We should probably invite Miss Orion to come with us…. Oh."
""What is it Mash?"" Romani asked.
"Miss Orion is gone." Mash admitted with a sad tone.
"It seems so. Honestly, I am surprised she didn't just reveal herself as the final boss of the singularity and the true instigator of the dumpling theft." Gudao said.
"So you noticed too, Senpai?" Mash asked and Gudao nodded.
"Yeah, I did. I kind of didn't want to believe it but it was obvious. Still, I kind of wish she stuck around so we could ask her why she did it."
Gudao then looked towards Caesar and Caligula, "Thanks again for being so cool about giving back the dumplings, do you guys want to join us at the moon festival? I'm sure Nero would love to have you both."
Caesar shook his head, "I appreciate the offer, but I will have to decline. I have eaten enough of your pastries, to take more would be rude of me. However, I will not say no to forming a contract with you. I believe joining you is the only way I can make amends to Nero and your organization."
Caesar walked up and gave his hand to Gudao, who firmly shook it. He furrowed his brow for a moment before he let out a hum, "It seems like I am still attached to this singularity. No matter, a temporary contract will suffice. Still, try to summon me in Chaldea and I shall answer."
Gudao then turned to Caligula who merely shook his head, "I… am… unworthy to see…. Nero… After everything I… did…. Sorry."
Caligula vanished into motes of light.
Mash's expression turned somber, "So he feels bad for what he said to Nero in Septem."
Caesar sighed at the empty space Caligula left, "It cannot be helped, Caligula was very fond of his niece in life. There is no doubt that the guilt for the horrendous things he said will shame him enough to prevent him from joining you. Perhaps your paths shall cross over once again at a later date."
Caesar cleared his throat, "Well, in any case, it seems like you two had it rough. Dealing with the whims of a goddess is never easy. Though a piece of advice, do not assume she isn't watching us. Gods have a reputation for eavesdropping on mortals. Be prepared because you are bound to meet her again sooner rather than later."
"Thank you for the advice Caesar, we'll see you later at Chaldea." Mash said with a kind smile, a smile which soured into a frown when Caesar decided to ruin the moment with his lechery.
"It is no problem, girl with the buxom of a soft dumpling. Now I must be going, you two enjoy your moon festival. Summon me after it's over." Caesar said before he vanished.
Mash frowned while shouting at the place where Caesar once stood, "I-I take back my thank you! I think Rome is a bad civilization!"
✦✧✦
Unknown location somewhere in France, After the Moon Festival Party
Ritsuka POV
"Ah, we're back in France, Senpai."
"That seems to be the case Mash."
Mash sighed while looking out at the rolling hills of green with exhaustion, "I could have sworn we just came back from the Moon festival party after all we went through."
"Yeah, I do too. I remember closing my eyes and going to bed, and now we are here." He took a moment to look at where his chat window was and sure enough, it was there.
Everyone seemed to be equally as confused as to how they were back in France again since he had fallen asleep in bed just a minute ago.
"Silly Ritsuka, that's because you are in bed!! This is a dream!!"
The voice of the goddess Artemis drew their attention, and when they looked to where the voice came from… there she was, standing in front of them like she always had since they had first met.
She was smiling brightly at them, "Good evening you two, and thank you so much for all you've done for me and my darling Orion!!"
It seemed like even Artemis had tired of the charade, so he asked her bluntly, "Are you finally going to stop pretending to be Orion?"
Artemis pointed a finger at herself, "Technically, I wasn't lying when I said I am Orion. This is his servant container I am currently living in."
"So you're… wearing your lover's skin?" Mash asked, a bit horrified but also fascinated by the idea.
Artemis blinked before she made a face, "I mean, sure if you want to look at it that way, yeah… but that is kind of unromantic and very morbid. I prefer to see it as me and Orion joining our saint graphs and becoming one."
"If what you are saying is true, then that means we were also not wrong by calling you Goddess Artemis earlier." He asked and Artemis responded with another nod.
"Yup!! You got it! Though I was a bit surprised you figured me out so fast. We hadn't even met yet!!" Artemis said while looking a bit miffed about that fact.
"Yes, well if we're talking in technicalities, we technically cheated since Chat told us what you look like from before we met. They saw a video of you and Orion declaring your love for each other under the moonlight." Mash said which caused Artemis to blush and clasp her hands on her cheeks.
"Kyaa! How embarrassing! To snoop into such an intimate moment in a goddess's life, how barbaric of you children."
"So, why did you do it then, why did you steal our food storage?" He asked and the woman straightened up.
"Ah, I can tell you, but don't you first want to hear what lengths I went to retrieve them from Chaldea? Of the booby traps that I had to endure to get close to my prize or of the violent woman that caught me in the act?!"
Ah, so that's how Martha ended up in the singularity. Still, while he was curious, felt more pressed to ask for motivation than the tale, "At this point I don't think so. You came and you went, all we want to know is why."
Artemis's face fell and she made an "Aw…" sound before she perked up again.
"Ehem, why, you ask? Well, if you must know… " She looked to the sky and spread out her arms in a "T-Pose."
"it was for the glory of the dumplings, of course!!"
She read the confusion on his and Mash's faces and continued, "The dumplings are a manifestation of faith, created for the moon. Even if Chaldea didn't intend for it to happen, you ended up creating a ritual to favor the gods to bring them closer to the world.
Doing such a ritual in a place with a summoning system was enough for me to awaken."
She held her stomach while making an exaggerated pose reminiscent of a starving child, "But when I woke up, I was starving. I didn't have nearly enough magical energy. So I wanted dumplings… Ah!! That reminds me!!"
She looked at him, "I really appreciate that other pastry you offered me Ritsuka. It gave me as much magical energy as the dumplings you all gave me, if not a bit more. I could tell it was also meant to be an offering for the moon, so thank you!"
[MalasadaMayhem: Ha!! See? Even the goddess admits Malasada is better!! ]
[Dude… no one cares.]
[The Lunala themed Malasada are moon goddess approved. I can already see the influx of profits they are gonna be rolling in. ]
"Then all this time, Senpai and I have been running around to try and revive you?" Mash asked, already dreading the answer.
"That's right♡ But please don't treat me as evil or anything. I'm on your side… probably. Honestly, it depends if my darling is on your side, and if he is, then I'm willing to be too."
Artemis cleared her throat, "Sorry, I had so many dumplings I am filled to the brim with magical energy and I rambled there for a moment. So once again, thanks to all the rare dumplings that Ritsuka found, I can now join your other Servants… All that's left is to wait for you to summon me."
Mash's eyes lit up, "Ah, so you called us here so we could have you make a contract with Senpai?"
Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed when Artemis started to laugh.
"No silly! I brought you here for one reason and one reason only." Artemis continued to make her closed eye smile but simultaneously she punched the palm of one of her hands with her fist.
"I brought you here because I wanted to test your skills in a fight."
"...Can we just talk instead of fighting?" It was starting to become a pattern now, and he hoped it wouldn't get worse. Sadly, Artemis refused his polite request.
"Impossible. I don't like humans to start with…"
Artemis's closed eyes opened slightly. From far away, she was still smiling but up close, you could see the disdain in her eyes. It was strong enough to make both him and Mash shiver in fear.
"And I dislike the weak ones the most. So prove to me that you're strong enough to beat the selfish, unreasonable, and inhuman old me. If you fail, then that just means you were a waste of my time."
Mash gulped, "Well, I guess we have no choice then. If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get. Mash Kyrielight Ready to go, Master!"
"Right! Let's beat this goddess, Mash!" He said while readying himself for battle.
"That's the spirit! You already know who I am, but let me reintroduce myself properly this time!" Artemis frowned, and the moon shone brighter, and with it the heavy weight of her divinity fell on both their shoulders as the goddess announced herself.
"I am the deity of moonlight, the elegant representation of purity, virginity, hunting, and eternity. One of the ancient gods of Mt. Olympus! I am the Moon Goddess Artemis!"
A playful smirk crossed the goddess's features, "Do try your best, I would hate to see you fail my assessment after all we went through, so do your best!~"
Well, if she was insisting… then he isn't going to hold back!
He willed the next shadow servant into existence, and what appeared was a very pissed off Stheno who was sending a death glare at Artemis.
Artemis herself looked at Stheno briefly in surprise before it morphed to pity, "Another goddess? Wha… you poor thing, what happened to your divine core!?"
Stheno did not answer, instead her outfit shifted into a dazzling white dress that was very reminiscent of a long ball gown. Then she rose to the sky while pointing her ballistas at her fellow goddess.
Next, a pale skinned and haired woman in an erotic red dress stepped forward. She was licking her luscious red lips as she stared at Artemis with hungry eyes.
Artemis instinctively took a step back in fear.
"Carmilla, Stheno, you can go all out. Fight until the end no matter what!!" His command was sent and received.
Shadow Carmilla's shoulders started to move up and down as she cackled like a maniac. "To bathe the blood of such a pure,virgin goddess… ah! What a once in a lifetime opportunity!!"
Suddenly, a giant iron maiden appeared behind Artemis, its door open and showing its inside filled with razor sharp spikes.
Artemis did not move, she just stared at the noble phantasm like she was a deer in headlights.
Oh wait, nevermind, that was Stheno charging up her own noble phantasm.
"PHANTOM MAIDEN!!!"
"DIVINE TRIUMPH!"
"Kyaaa!!" Screamed as she was devoured by the metal contraption only to be later engulfed by many large scale explosions.
✦✧✦
"I…snifff… told you to fight hard… sniff… but you didn't have to hit THAT hard...!" Artemis sobbed while kneeling on the ground, her beautiful white dress now in tatters, stained with dirt and a few red splotches of blood here and there.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his dry throat closed up. He gulped like a fish for a moment before finally taking in a deep breath of air, letting the cool night air to fill his lungs with oxygen before he spoke again.
"S-Sorry, but I did tell you we were going to go all out didn't we? Besides, it's not like you were helpless." He gestured to the wasteland around them.
The once verdant green earth had been scorched to charcoal in some places.
Arrows were buried everywhere, and all of them were serving as tombstones for the many, many shadow servants he had sent to their deaths.
Artemis might have been a silly servant and a great companion, but she was ridiculous OP. In the brief but brutal fight they had just endured, he had used up nearly all his shadow servant summons.
Stheno and Carmilla's noble phantasms did hurt Artemis, but Artemis hit them back harder. By the end of the endless barrage of arrows, Stheno had been pinned to a rock like a butterfly being put on display and Carmilla had been reduced to an unresponsive pincushion laying on the ground.
Kiyohime and Chiyome did not fare better, as they both ended up skewered together by several arrows and died while exchanging each other's blood.
The list was longer, but by the end of it, only Martha and Lord Vlad managed to survive and that was mostly due in part to everyone else chipping away at Artemis's stamina.
"True, you did tell me that…" Suddenly, Artemis's body started to dissipate.
"Ah, it looks like causality has been established. Oh well, It wasn't very long, but I enjoyed our Moon Festival night adventure!"
Mash's expression became downcast when she saw what was happening to Artemis, "Goddess Artemis, you're disappearing…"
"No need for formalities silly, just call me Artemis. You two earned it, and don't worry, this is just a temporary goodbye for now. I'm sure that before long...we'll see each other again on those familiar seas. Though I cannot guarantee I will recognize you when the time comes for our reunion, so please forgive me."
"It's alright Artemis, we forgive you. Despite how stressful the situation was, we had fun." He admitted.
Artemis smiled at that. A genuine, sincere smile that made his heart and stomach twist.
"Until next time then! Goodbye!" Artemis said as she vanished, her motes of light swirling upward into the sky, coincidentally drifting towards the moon.
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AN: And here is the chapter of the week. Sorry for the delay, I lost control of my time management this week.
We are now officially done with the Moon Goddess event, Two or three more before we finally sail the high seas of Okeanos.
I'll see you next update.