Chapter 36: Total Conquest
The stillness of the first floor's vast expanse was deceptive.
Beneath the surface, under the flickering lights of ancient and crumbling corridors, a quiet storm was brewing.
Riya and Rin stood side by side at the center of their temporary command post — an old, rusted security room retrofitted with magical wards and glowing runes.
The map of the level, scrawled across a wall in chalk and projected with Rin's crystal magecraft, shimmered with locations marked in crimson and violet.
Rin leaned forward, one gloved hand resting on the table. "It's been two days since we started searching for Masters, but it seems we're still nowhere close."
Riya, arms crossed, gave a thoughtful hum. "We need something absolute. Something that will help us clear this floor in one fell swoop."
Their eyes met for a brief moment before Riya turned to his side.
With a subtle gesture, he summoned Richard and Leonidas.
Rin followed suit, calling forth Fergus, Cu Chulainn, and Darius.
That's when the idea clicked — for both of them at once.
Riya looked toward Leonidas. "Your Noble Phantasm. The Thermopylae Enomotia. You can summon the three hundred?"
Leonidas knelt slightly. "On your command, I can conjure the vanguard. They will shield, strike, and reconquer."
Rin, eyes brightening, turned sharply to Darius. "And your Athanaton Ten Thousand — we could use them to sweep everything behind enemy lines. No one could hide."
The room stilled.
It was as if a wire of tension had been snapped, and in its place came understanding.
"Together?" Riya said with a calm, amused grin.
Rin glanced at him, her cheeks coloring slightly. "If we coordinate the timing, they'll spread like wildfire. Nothing could survive the search."
She turned her face to the side, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear, pretending to study the map.
Riya chuckled softly, watching her with an unreadable expression. "Then let's do this"
Moments later, the call went out.
From every direction, Leonidas' 300 Spartans materialized in disciplined squads, taking formation at various chokepoints and blind corners.
Meanwhile, Darius raised his hand with a guttural incantation, and the floor beneath him cracked open as skeletal, armored soldiers — the immortal Athanatoi — rose in eerie silence.
They spread like a plague across the map, marching without breath or need for rest.
The scouts had been dispatched — and the hunt had begun.
Hours passed.
Reports flowed in steadily.
Eight isolated Masters were discovered — some of them were the same individuals that Riya and Rin had taken their servants from.
Others had surrendered their contracts after their Servants had fallen in battle.
But one anomaly drew attention: a soldier's report of a remaining Master-Servant pair holed up in a crumbling industrial building.
Surrounded. Cornered. Refusing to surrender.
The call was made.
Riya and Rin would confront them directly.
The building loomed like a carcass of metal and concrete.
Inside, they walked into silence — dust, broken glass, and the hum of tension.
Spartans and skeletal warriors held the perimeter, unmoving and ready.
The Master knelt in the shadows, arms raised as if in surrender.
Rin approached first, cautious.
Her boots echoed softly as she crossed the room. "You're the last. Make it easy for yourself—"
"Wait." Riya's voice was sharp.
In a fluid motion, he grabbed Rin's arm and pulled her back — just as the ground beneath where she would've stood ignited in a glyph.
A trap.
Explosive.
It detonated harmlessly, a plume of smoke and rubble washing over them.
Rin blinked in surprise, then looked at Riya.
Her expression softened as her face flushed once more. "Thanks...baka"
He simply grinned. "Can't lose the strategist."
The fake surrender broke.
The desperate Master cried out, "Kotarou — now!"
From the rafters, Fuuma Kotarou launched himself, silent as a wraith.
His eyes burned with desperation.
But Cu Chulainn was faster.
With a blur of motion and a crack of thunder, Gáe Bolg sank into Kotarou's leg, pinning him to the floor with brutal precision.
Cu stood over him, panting, his eyes full of fury.
"You almost killed Rin," he growled. "I don't forgive that."
With Kotarou immobilized, the Master tried to pull a dagger, scrambling backward.
But Riya stepped forward.
"Mordred," he said quietly.
Her sword — Clarent — gleamed red with gathering energy.
He stepped forward with deadly purpose.
Riya pointed toward the trembling Master.
"You're done," he said coldly. "Surrender your Command Seals. Or die."
Faced with the inevitable, the Master gave up.
Riya tore the Seals from his hand with a surge of magical pressure and took control of Kotarou.
Later, the defeated Master was thrown in with the others — a ring of defeated magi under the watch of Darius and his skeletal sentries.
Riya and Rin had done it.
They had conquered the floor — all Masters accounted for, every Servant claimed.
But now came the cost.
"To ascend," Rin said quietly, looking over the circle of Masters, "We need to kill at least one. That's the rule."
Rin turned toward the man who had set the trap.
Without hesitation, she extended her palm and let her crystal magecraft bloom.
A shard of violet light pierced his heart.
He slumped over.
The floor rumbled.
A single death would have sufficed — but Riya looked at the ring of defeated Masters and narrowed his eyes.
He held Clarent in both hands and channeled energy into its edge.
A beam of red lightning burst from the blade and arced across the chamber, vaporizing the circle of prisoners in a single instant.
The room fell silent.
Rin stared at him, stunned. "You didn't need to—"
"I don't leave witnesses," Riya said flatly. But his thoughts drifted elsewhere — to Francis Drake's words, her mission echoing in his mind.
Conquer the entire floor.
No loose ends.
No threats left behind.
From above, the sky cracked open as the ascension capsule descended.
This time, it was larger — grander.
It recognized their alliance.
The doors opened into a familiar but more luxurious space.
Steam drifted from the larger hot spring.
Beds were softer, rooms wider.
A gift for victors.
Rin stepped in with Cu, Fergus, and Darius.
Riya followed, now flanked by Richard, Leonidas, and Fuuma Kotarou.
The first floor was conquered.
But above — new enemies, new rules, and a higher battlefield awaited.