FGO Specter of Glass

Rome Ch2

The ship landed and the group had to hide before the soldiers found them. Nero guided them around the boxes, hiding behind each one so they weren't seen; she had practiced hiding from her father when she tried to sneak on cargo ships. She got them to the doorway and then stopped, there were soldiers standing guard and no way around them. Helena opened her book and cast a spell that landed away from them, allowing them to distract the soldiers so they could enter the city.

Rome was huge, with much more buildings and attractions than Russia. The houses were five stories tall, there were stone archways to the parks, and large statues of the gods were scattered around the area. The people were walking around without fear of the soldiers, they seemed happy in their day-to-day lives. However, some looked at the castle before running off back home. The castle's size made it feel like the King was watching over them at all times.

The people ran inside when a large black airship appeared in the sky, the barrier shook as a hole was opened to allow it inside before closing behind it. It was just as big as the castle and hovered over the coliseum before it went to the back of the castle. Helena looked at the device Probus gave her, the technology was the same as both the cargo ship and the one that entered Rome. Nero had seen it once before; it was a trade ship from another realm. It came by once a month and then left not long after.

"That ship..." Carmen said. "Where is it from?"

"I believe the realm is called Caligo," Nero answered.

"Caligo? What kind of place is that? And who lives there?"

"I don't know, and unless you're a member of the council, you don't get to see who's on board or travel to other realms."

"Then that should be our priority," Mitra said, standing tall. "Get a high rank in the coliseum and find out exactly what's going on."

"Is he serious? Getting a high rank isn't easy and if you're planning on becoming a council member, it's even harder."

"We're here to free Rome, and we're not going to do so by sitting here and doing nothing."

The Coliseum was huge, being able to hold thousands of people with a large fighting arena. The crowd cheered when they saw the challenger, a man with short red hair, golden eyes, and a black suit. He wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face and his gauntlets were bright gold. He was faced against a monster with six arms, three at each side, and a mechanical body. It held weapons in each hand and went after the man.

He dodged the attacks by quickly moving away from the weapons. He used flames to boost himself past the monster, then surrounded his gauntlets with fire to punch back. He fought similarly to Mitra, having the same movements and techniques. He distracted the monster as he slid under it, then took out the core on its back with a powerful strike. The crowd cheered, even more, they wanted more from him, wanting to see him fight stronger monsters.

Laverna arrived as the crowd stopped at the sight of him. He had a grey suit with a blue cape, a white shirt, and black pants. He sat on his throne and waited for the next challenger. The man with red hair left the arena as Carmen and her team entered; Carmen looked at Laverna, he was staring her down. He didn't like having her in his domain, but he wasn't going to kill her. Not when a crowd was watching and wanting to see her potential as a warrior.

He sent small monsters after them, testing their strength, and when they came out successful, he sent more. He wasn't happy to see them defeat every enemy he threw at them; however, the crowd was cheering. He clapped at their victory, even if he didn't want to, and pointed at the scoreboard. The name "Chaldea" ranked above average, meaning they had a high score. Laverna told them to move aside for the next challenger, he also said that he wanted to speak to them in private.