"And.. you are?" Medaka found herself a bit flustered at the sudden appearance of the blonde woman and asked.
"That's my dear sister, Artoria!" Tearwyn explained before launching herself into her sister's embrace.
"Yes, as it turned out, I found some time to properly assess my sister's.. recruit. In fact, I have one of my own. I brought her with me to come see." Artoria explained while cradling Tearwyn in her arms.
Medaka noted the pale skinned, black haired girl in a black and red sailor uniform famous in Japan. She nodded toward Medaka, a bit awkwardly and stood off to the side, beneath a sakura tree.
"She seems shy! If I didn't know what you tossed her into, I'd even say she was innocent~" Tearwyn chuckled.
Artoria simply smirked and gave her little sister a pat on the head before holding her up and asking, "You don't mind if I'm a little rough with her, no?"
"Hmmm~ I like her. Start off easy, please?" Tearwyn answered with a question of her own.
"If that's what my precious Tearwyn desires~" Artoria answered as a pair of fluffy pink and brown tails scrooped Tearwyn off her hand and brought her onto the treebranch.
Medaka looked up at the sakura tree Artoria's tagalong stood under and noticed a group of women had arrived without her even noticing their presence. A tri-colored fox girl in form fitting white and pink robes, a pale woman with black hair and strange red eyes in black robes, red skirt and long black boots, a girl with brown and white hair, red sneakers, black martial artist pants, a red turtle neck sweater, bandaged arms, and a yellow furred black jacket.
"You don't need to concern yourself with them. All eyes on me. I'm going to test your body and spirit." Artoria declared, balling her fists up as a dark blue/black dress replaced har armor.
Medaka took a step back and warily asked, "What sort of test did you have in mind..?"
Artoria simply gave her a disarming smirk, and before Medaka knew it, she felt a heavy impact hit her face, followed by a weightlessness and a sudden, violent plummet into the black liquid surrounding the garden.
*SPLASH!*
Medaka coughed, picking her head out of the black waters as her head pulsed in pain. Her body automatically went to stand up before her mind even registered what had happened. Though it was already too late to react to the kick that impacted her ribs and made her body fly once more, soaring through the air like a cannonball.
"Guah..!" Medaka felt her blood eject from her throat. Every natural instinct to touch the area where pain was radiating from was ignored and she quickly corrected herself before her body could slam back into the water.
*Splish!*
Just in time too, as she spotted Artoria coming in fast and lunged away, strafing off to the side and avoiding another blow. Though she still felt her brain rattling in her skull and the pain in her ribs. Thankfully, they weren't broken.
"About time you acted. Your reaction time is lacking. You have a body forged in the blood of your enemies, just as I do. Use it." Artoria demanded as she strode forward.
Medaka felt irritated, though she knew what she said was true. Her body reacted before her mind could catch up, blocking an incoming fist. It was quick, sloppy and Medaka was still sent flying from the extreme force.
*SPLASH!*
Once again, she picked herself up with a grunt of exertion.
"Why?" Medaka asked, regaining her breath and preparing for another hit.
"You want to be Tearwyn's agent. Her protector. You have potential, but your inexperience is showing. Though I admit, your body is resilient. I may not be going all out but my fists can pierce and crush titanium. Your body is the one good thing you have going for you." Artoria replied before crossing the dozen or so meters instantaneously and striking again.
This time, Medaka moved away, but was struck three more times in the stomach and face. Artoria then grabbed her arm and threw her into the black water. Her eyes narrowed in an emotion Medaka had seen in her brief periods of consciousness.
"Not.. what I meant." Medaka grunted as she rolled away from a powerful stomp that made the black liquid erupt.
"I'd say you hate me, but I'd say it was more like disdain." Medaka stated, ducking a swing and taking a few quick steps away, avoiding Artoria's attempt to Spartan kick her.
At her words, Artoria smirked. "Of course. I find you very displeasing to be around. To think you're good enough to be around Tearwyn despite being so.. moral. It irritates me."
"Moral..? I'd hardly consider myself moral after all I've done." Medaka huffed, seeing the irritation in Artoria grow.
"See, that right there. How you take responsibility and feel remorse after being forced to kill against your will. Self interested people, I can work with. Even twisted ones, like my sister Raven, whose hate I could feel even after just meeting her. But you? I feel this sense of restraint. This nobless oblige, responsibility and principles you hold yourself to. Even after all that." The more she talked, the fiercer the disdain in her voice became.
"Are you going to spout 'with great power comes great responsibility' when working under a Dark Goddess? Or are you so broken you've become a fool like Emiya Shirou? Either way, I think I'd rather just put you out of your misery before you disappoint her." Artoria said before cocking her fist back and appearing in front of Medaka again and striking out with a blow far stronger than the ones before.
*BANG!*
This time, Medaka met her fist with her own. Her own strike countering Artoria's fist and making a violent expulsion of black corrupted water erupt across the garden's massive expanse.
"You don't know me.." Artoria heard Medaka mumble before continuing her attack, raining powerful strikes onto Medaka. Though Medaka began to adapt, blocking and avoiding the flurry of powerful hits. She was still backpedaling, due to Artoria's sheer aggression but it wasn't as one sided as before.
"My principles? That's all I have left from my first life. So many years of killing against my will.." Medaka caught a hold of her fist and drove her elbow at Artoria's face. Though she caught it before she could be hit.
Medaka glared at Artoria in frustration, both caught in a grapple that fiercely churned the black liquid beneath them.
"So many memories faded away. All I clung to, was how I wasn't truly the murderous monster those I killed saw me as. How I would do things differently.." They broke the grapple and Artoria kicked Medaka back, her foot smashing into Medaka's arms as she guarded.
"It's all I had left. Until Tearwyn." Medaka's eyes focused intently on Artoria's footwork. There was no real fighting style, but she knew how to move.
And so, she perfectly replicated it and hit Artoria with a fist to her gut after ducking a swing.
*SPLISH!*
Artoria's feet dragged across the water before she thrust out her fist once more, intercepting Medaka's punch.
"I was pulled out of an abyss. She talked to me. Actually talked. We talked about everything and nothing. I may hold onto my values and principles but I'm determined to stay and help Tearwyn. The one who pulled me out of darkness, listened to me, let me cry and let me stay with her." Medaka stated as the two exhanged several dozen punches, kicks and knee strikes.
"And you think you can actually do that? Hold onto it while doing the bidding of a Dark Goddess? You know what that means. Killing. Not just one or two." Artoria took a punch to the face, then her body erupted with a dark red/black and deep violet color.
Medaka felt a heavy pressure slam into her body from all sides. The waters below them roiled and churned. And all over the garden, water spouts rose into the sky, radiating a feeling of malice.
"You'll kill hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions? Maybe even billions? Her enemies are every other Dark Gods, Goddesses and every Light God and Goddesses. They have servants. Are you prepared to kill them?" Artoria asked.
Medaka looked blankly at her for a moment. She had thought about it before, during her talks with Tearwyn. But now, she needed to truly decide. Could she willingly go back to doing what her body had been commanded to do for all those years? She hesitated for a moment. A moment was all Artoria needed, however.
*BAM!!*
Medaka felt her eyes sting as everything became a blur. A sense of weightlessness overcame her before her body plummeted into the black liquid. Her face and entire head felt as it had been hit by a speeding truck. Her brain rattled around in her head and by the time she picked herself up from the corrupted waters, she realized she had been punched. Far harder than she had ever been hit before. It was a strike that would and could kill even a few low ranking Gods.
Medaka regained focus and set her nose straight. She set her sight on Artoria, her body blazing as she accelerated towards her like a ballistic missile. The longer she looked at it, the more the power she was displaying made sense.
No, it was more than that. She not only understood it, she could utilize it.
'Mana Burst..' Medaka stood up and unleashed the same power and pressure Artoria had. Though hers was a solid, deep blue and golden color.
The two met in a titanic collision that shook the garden. Even the sakura trees swayed, scattering Sakura blossoms as the two punched the other in the face.
"I want to help Tearwyn..! But I'll adhere to my principles as well. If anyone threatens her? I'll kill them-" Medaka intercepted a powerful kick and struck Artoria in the gut, gaining some space.
"If Gods send their lackeys to work against her? I'll kill them. If some get in the way but don't deserve death? I'll spare them. I'm not going ever going to return to being a slave who only slaughters people." With clear eyes, Medaka stated resolutely.
"Haaa.." Artoria wiped a small drop of blood from her lips before smirking at Medaka sardonically. "You irritate me to no end. You resist corruption, reflect a 'pure' image of my mana back at me and spout this drivel about holding onto your principals while not even knowing what sort of bloodbath is ahead of you. I suppose all that's left is this."
Artoria held her hand out to her side and summoned a black and red blade. Medaka instantly felt the pressure on her increase a hundred fold. She found herself wobbling as a murderous aura focused onto her being. Her eyes focused on the blade, but there was nothing that could be done. Nothing to understand, nothing to copy and adapt to. The threat of death was very real, and it was closing in on her as Artoria raised her blade. Mana gathered around it, somehow making the garden darker.
Medaka backed up, but instinctively knew it to be a useless effort. She knew what was coming. Annihilation. It was suffocating, terror inducing and erased all hopes of her actually winning or living past the next few seconds.
It was the looming, incoming absolute feeling of incoming death that made her look within. To dig something- anything out from within her to survive.
That's when she felt it. Something cold, in the farthest, deepest part of her being. Words. A chant. Something to summon so she could face this threat.
"....O, Death. Become my blade once more." The words, an aria, practically growled out, held a certain power to them as the air around the garden cooled.
Artoria watched as Medaka's hair went from a blue, to a bone white. Wolf-like ears and a tail emerged from her head and lower back. And a sword emerged, a large blade radiating a black and red color that somehow gave off a holy feeling.
Medaka looked back at Artoria, with calm yet dead serious red eyes. Prepared to use all means to defend herself.
Meanwhile, Tearwyn, sitting on the laps of her other sisters, made a very interested humming noise.
"Mmm! Mm! We fit so well together, it's uncanny!" Tearwyn exclaimed while kicking her feet.
The other fox Goddess in pink, brown and white snorted in amusement. "Destined Death. What luck you have, Tearwyn."
The others seemed a little confused, not knowing what they were referring to.
"I wanna fight the new girl. But after she learns how to actually fist fight. Artoria's strong ..but my heart cried when I saw them use no techniques!" The brown haired muscular woman groaned.
Tearwyn then stood up and yelled out to Artoria.
"I think that's enough, sister Artoriaaa! If you don't stop bullying my new friend... I won't let you hug me!" The threat instantly evaporated all the built up tension. Though Artoria put her hands up and made her blade disappear.
"Hehe~ Works like a charm.."