FGO Specter of Glass

Xiatian la Vue Ch7

"Ma'am," Lucy sighed. "It's been a few days, shouldn't we do something about the church before they get any ideas?"

"Do you think it's easy..." the Platted Knight held out her hand. "Tell me what's missing."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"That damn Van Gogh, she sealed away my powers. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop the church."

"And what about Ophelia?"

"I don't care anymore."

A man's voice came from the computer room, "I think you bit off more than you could chew. I told you, didn't I? You didn't have a chance against them."

"I don't need a reminder," she sighed.

"Since you can't act as the Platted Knight, you might as well act as 'her'."

The Platted Knight set her mask on the table, "Fine."

"There she goes again," Lucy tapped her foot on the chair. "I'm going to keep an eye on her."

The man sighed, "I need you to do something else for me. Look into Miss Hinako Akuta."

"Hm? The girl in the church? Why her?"

"She doesn't have a history, and it wasn't us who cleared her files, so that means she's being protected by someone else."

The altar shimmered as sunlight passed through the stained-glass window and hit it. The church gathered as Manasseh and Ephraim dragged a ball of crystals to the stage, staring at the lifeless husk and wondering why it was the same as the previous body Manasseh had made for Q'yth-Az. The siblings left the stage once Philip entered and stood near Yu, who was surprised to see that they had attached themselves to her. The priest opened a book and began reading from an excerpt, praising the Holy God of Crystals for their years of peace. He gestured to the sky, and a light descended upon them.

The people prayed to their god as he greeted them. Yu noticed how tense it was when he hovered above the new body the siblings had made. Another light exited the dimly lit crystal ball and moved into the new one. The first body broke into clear shards, proving it was at its end. However, when things seemed to be going well, the second body crumbled. Without a way to return to the first, the church panicked. He was going to die if he didn't have a body. Philip held his hand to the crystal but was thrown back, rejected by Q'yth-Az's power. He asked for someone else to try. if they did nothing, they'd lose their god, and if that happened, King Zuriel would strip them of their power.

Ephraim ran to the altar. She heard about how her brother could become Q'yth-Az's vessel. If he could, then maybe it was possible with her. When Ephraim touched the crystal ball, time seemed to stop. Luckily, Yu turned on the camera hidden as a crystal ball in her book and caught Ephraim being thrown into Manasseh. The woman's body was covered in crystals and began to break. Manasseh held her, but he knew she was dead the second he caught her. He approached the altar next and touched the crystal ball, as his sister did. And time stopped.

He felt the world grow cold as Q'yth-Az stood over him. Meeting the god of crystals didn't scare him. He had seen the gods of Egypt long ago and knew what they were capable of. Even so, he never imagined Q'yth-Az's true form was so grotesque. The god wasn't just a ball of crystals. He had eyes that moved without meaning and long black tendrils that disappeared in the darkness, the further they got from him. Manasseh made a fist with his right hand and demanded to know what was going on. The church made God a holy figure with a beautiful appearance. The being that stood before him was a monster.

Q'yth-Az told Manasseh a little secret: the church lied whenever it benefited them. If people knew what he looked like, it would cause panic. They knew how Azhorra-Tha and Cthugha looked and feared those gods. The church wanted to keep its power over the people, and to do that, it kept important details a secret. Q'yth-Az stopped further questioning by giving one to Manasseh. He wanted to know if Manasseh was worthy and asked a simple question: what was Manasseh's wish? A silence filled the cold room. Manasseh didn't know what the god wanted to hear. He answered by saying, "Helping Xiatian", but the god laughed. That wasn't a good answer.