Hero VS Monster (1)

Seth observed the marine beast in front of him, focusing on it and nothing else. Up until now, they have had a relationship of 'business partners'. So, it was not reasonable to do something as troublesome as saving it. Thinking logically, it could be controlled once again, making his efforts go to waste. There was also the incessant complaining of the other him. He has had some... story with the Leviathan, so he wasn't keen to help. Seth wondered why he acted like that if he was the one to face it, not him. Leaving that aside, and finally, there was also the risk of facing the monster for more time than necessary. The more they fought, the higher the chances of an accident happening to those behind him.

Indeed, killing it would be the best option. However... as a Hero, he would be egoistic. He would not worry about their relationship, about possible outcomes, about what that stupid side of his felt, and above all, he would not worry about failure.

If he didn't have trust in his own abilities, then he might as well go home. Besides, it was not like he didn't have an advantage—quite the contrary. Fighting a serpentkind on top of a vessel gave him an enormous boost, and it was precisely where his new Noble Phantasm shined.

It was still a nameless one. That made it so that its capacities were not completed. Even the ones it had, he didn't know all of them. As for why the name was not revealed to him... he had a pretty good idea. It was not something like Mash, where she didn't know the name of the Heroic Spirits whose powers she was using. His case was more akin to a contraction. A consequence due to 'failing' on his job. After all, a Hero who abandons what he is supposed to protect isn't much of a Hero...

Until that situation was resolved, the Noble Phantasm would remain nameless. It was a hard reality, but one he had come to accept as natural. Nevertheless, what he had available was enough. That said, he would need a little help for this.

'Let's see if I am still on Gaia's good side. A little payment in advance wouldn't hurt her, I suppose.' Slowly and little by little, Seth let go of his restrains, getting him closer to full Divinity with each passing moment. His hair also turned redder with it, returning to its original color.

The amount of Divinity he could reach was not even close to the original he had as a God, but it did surpass what the World allowed him. That's why he had to take it slow and not make a mistake by trying to force things.

Of course, there was no way the Leviathan would wait. The moment it sensed Seth's threat level increasing inside its mind, it released a booming roar that made the ocean quake as if it was the earth.

The Egyptian God saw how water started congregating around its mouth at a fast pace in the shape of a ball. Judging by the size, it was enough to blow the whole ship without any trouble, and Dr. Roman, who was checking the energy reading, knew exactly that.

"Be careful! If you get hit by that, you are done for. Hurry up and take cover!" Naturally, his warning was not for Seth but everyone else. He knew it would take more than that to kill him. However, the same could not be said about the rest. Some might end up more injured than others, but no human would survive, including their human Master.

Needless to say, the people in question didn't need to be warned. It was not like they would wait and let themselves be hit by that.

'Shut up for a second, Romani. I told you I was going to take care of it, and that includes protecting the ones behind me.' Before the Servants could attack the mythological beast to attempt to disrupt his incoming assault, Seth pointed his free palm at it. Immediately, a wave of red fire, different from the usual black, shot toward the Leviathan just as it released its attack.

Looking at the sizes, it was like seeing a bullet going against a cannonball. Logically, there was no way that Seth's attack could win, more so with this Singularity restricting his Fire Authority. When you paired that with the Leviathan being in their domain, then the battle seemed to be a lost one before it even began.

And yet... that was what it meant to be a Hero. To go against impossible odds and still come out victorious. Besides, it wouldn't do for the bane of every serpent in the world to lose against one.

Same as with every Servant who received a rank up when they were in their native land, some also received a boost when they did something similar to what their legend told.

Seth was not a Servant, despite possessing Skills and Noble Phantasms, so he didn't get any of those boosts to his overall strength. But, it was precisely because he possessed Noble Phantasms that he could overcome an originally bad situation. Particularly his new one.

Its first effect took action instantly. When the attacks clashed, they created a sound wave that traveled in every direction. The impact soon generated steam due to the collision between fire and water, but as the Leviathan's attack had a bigger area, it bypassed Seth's.

To the rest present, it looked as if water meteorites were raining down upon them, ready to sink the Golden Hind and them with it. It surely looked like they would have no choice but to fight as well.

As Archers and those who could eliminate the threat before it landed, EMIYA, Atalanta, Euryale, and Artemis readied their bow to shoot the falling assault before it could harm the ship. Despite their situation, the Goddess also turned her gaze toward Seth's direction for a second. He was still on a standstill against the Leviathan's attack. However, even though she only saw his back, he didn't give her the impression that he was worried about them, much less panicked. She didn't expect him to, but that indifference was strange.

It was then that it clicked to her. Although she didn't know him personally, his feats were not unknown to beings like her. Every night, for who knows how many years, he had been doing something like this. The confidence of having done so repeatedly was what brought forth that sense of detachment to others.

She seemed to have forgotten who he was. Seth was not the type of Hero who would smile reassuringly at you and tell you that everything would be okay. No, quite the contrary. He would only show his back to you and let his actions speak for themselves. He was not someone acclaimed by the masses. He was that silent-type whose actions were only known by few, and so he faded in the background without any importance to mortals outside of his own Pantheon.

Her theory was proven correct when the remains of the Leviathan's first attack suddenly turned toward Seth as if they were mentally controlled.

Everything, absolutely everything with the intention of harming what he was protecting, would be redirected to him. Additionally, if his object of protection was harmed in some way even a millisecond after the Noble Phantasm's activation, then the damage is transferred to Seth instead, although that damage would be lower due to its second effect. Furthermore, if someone is killed, he can give up one of his Authorities to turn back time and negate it. That was only the beginning of his new Noble Phantasm, one that he considered the most powerful in his repertory, even if it was incomplete.

Heroes always had unreasonable powers, so it didn't come as a surprise that only its first effect would be this monstrous. If he were to be summoned as a Rider, his Hero aspect, then this would be one of the only two Noble Phantasms available to him, and the one representing him at his strongest.

Even Seth believed that it was too much. 'Like Student, like Teacher.' He thought the first time he noticed its effects. Nevertheless, it was also true that the demerits were quite high to balance it a bit.

Now, though, the demerits didn't matter. What mattered was its handy first effect to redirect everything back to him. That way, he would not need to split his attention to see that no one was harmed.

Still keeping sending fire with his free palm to his opponent's ceaseless attack, Seth used his other hand to deflect the incoming attacks from his back with his spear. Some managed to slip by him simply due to the angle they were coming from, hitting on his back. Even so, the red-haired man didn't even utter a grunt of pain. The second effect of greatly increasing his resistance as long as he was on a vessel was doing a great job minimizing the damage.

To him, it might not look like much, but to others, it was a motive to frown. Defending them to the point of harming himself in their stead didn't suit with the Servants present. Call it the pride of a Heroic Spirit or whatever, but they still didn't like it. However, if there was one that liked it less than everyone else here, it would be EMIYA. The Red Bowman couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance. Right now, Seth's actions reminded him too much of his former self, just that without the "I want to be a Hero of Justice" dream.

They didn't understand. What was the reason to want to do all of this on his own? Was it to show off? Or was it his way of saying they were weak to face an enemy of this caliber, perhaps? Or maybe he just lost all the trust he had in them for their previous defeat. Be that as it may, they were not happy at all. The worst of all was this sense of security taking root and growing steadily and slowly inside their minds and hearts. It was like a mental corruption Skill that took all of their desire to fight, only leaving a desire to be protected instead.

It was then that it happened. As if the beast itself heard their dissatisfaction, it stopped with its attack and submerged under the water, leaving Seth's attack to hit empty air.

The Egyptian God frowned, not understanding what the Leviathan was trying to do. A few seconds passed, then a minute when finally something happened. Giant whales, island turtles, and many weird creatures that were a mix between mammals and fish emerged from the ocean together with their King. They were surrounding the ship from all sides, leaving no escape route.

On normal circumstances, the Leviathan would keep pushing his attack until it came out winning the confrontation or would use the rest of his body to destroy the ship while Seth was busy countering his water attack. Now, however, his mindless state of fury didn't allow for rational thinking, leaving only instinct to go by. And when a beast without intelligence is frustrated at not winning a fight, it would call for backup if possible. As one of the Rulers of this ocean, it was only natural to have other weaker marine monsters at his beck and call.

'Fire won't work against this many. I will have to use lightning, but my spear is necessary to point the direction, so it will leave me wide-open... It works, I guess. As long as the others are risk-free.' Just as Seth was preparing to summon a big enough thundercloud to roast every monster except the Leviathan, a sudden voice caught his attention.

"Stop right there!" Atalanta's shout echoed throughout the ship. Oddly enough, they showed no surprise, as if it was something agreed on beforehand.

Seth didn't turn his head, but Atalanta knew he was listening. Her shout had been pretty loud, after all. "I sympathize and even admire thy courage and will to protect us at all costs. However, as Heroes ourselves, we cannot merely stand and do nothing."

"..."

No answer came from Seth. His only reaction was to keep using his Authority to increase the stormcloud size.

Artemis gazed with a little sadness at her Huntress. She was using the wrong approach. Although history tried to paint it as if sometimes he was helped by other Gods against Apophis, the truth was that at the moment of facing the World-Eater, they all cowered without a second thought, leaving him to do all the job in repelling the serpent as always. It was not that Seth didn't trust them; it was just that he had bad experiences with 'helpers' before. To him, this was a job only he could do, and nothing was going to change his mind. Yet, that stubbornness didn't mean he wasn't right with that self-assumption. The Goddess caught on quickly that Seth was not planning on killing the Leviathan. There were many ways to go about killing it in a more efficient way than he was doing, and she was sure that he knew it too, so that meant it was not his objective.

Precisely because she understood this, that she understood this was more than a simple 'job' to him, Artemis decided to help her Huntress, as well as the others that shared her thoughts. "Seth, listen to me. You go and fight the Leviathan until it comes to its senses. We will take care of the other monsters. Your only task is to defend us from it and no one else. Can you do that?"

"You want me... to only focus on the Leviathan?" Seth stopped what he was doing, turning his face to Artemis. His voice sounded... strange. Almost as if he could not understand what she was saying.

'As I thought. The more he is in that state; the more his desire to protect gets to the point of making him similar to us Greeks.' Artemis frowned internally but outwardly nodded. "That's right. You have fun protecting us against it, mkay? Leave the rest to us."

Seth stared at her for a few seconds, his lackluster eyes barely blinking. However, in the end, he nodded, accepting her request. "I understand. I will protect you against it."

The red-haired man stopped using his Authority but still kept the stormcloud just in case. He then returned his attention to the Leviathan, who seemed to be patiently waiting for him. 'You... want to be rescued, don't you? Leave it to me.'

Amidst the rage, amidst the pain. It was clear that the marine creature was still struggling to break free from Theseus' mind control. It instinctively knew Seth was its ticket to safety, so there was some reluctance to harm him. However, that would not last long, not as the battle continued.

Meanwhile, Artemis happily smiled while doing a victory sign to the others. Inwardly, though, she sighed. 'Yep, he didn't even comment on us taking care of the small fry. He is definitely only focused on his duty.'

The others smiled back at her. They had to admit it; she was useful when she wanted to be.

Every Servant got ready to fight the underlings of the Leviathan with all their might. After all, as Heroic Spirit themselves, they didn't want to lose on this thing of being a Hero.