Chapter 4: a terrible sight

At myoki high school

"Hey do you know where Mr. Melliore is today?" Tadase asked Crystal casually having his hands in his pockets

"I'm not sure.." Crystal said, obviously still not wanting to talk to him much, she looked at her substitute, she was curious as to where he was also

"Crystal…what are those marks on your arms from "Tadase asked looking away with a serious tone, which surprised Crystal as she was not used to him being serious

"There…I tripped and fell down a flight of stairs the other night by accident" Crystal said looking at him gingerly without bothering about her work, without talking anymore through class, she began to walk home, but sudden Crystal was pulled out of the path into a back ally

"Crystal…" Tadase said holding her arm "what really happened?"

"Ah! Tadase!" she whined pulling away from him "what are you talking about?" she yelled, suddenly feeling foolish about yelling, she had already realized he was a master the other day but left it alone without hesitation

"Listen Crystal , I know there was a servant fight the other day, and I know…you're a master" tadase said grabbing and turning her hand to reveal her command seals

"Let go!" Crystal said ripping away and hitting him on the arm, she then sighed and turned slightly holding her shoulders "and so are you…"

"Yes, I am, but…." Tadase said hesitantly, then looking at her with a serious concern "I do not want to fight you!" he said shaking his head

"Enough." A person said as he manifested behind Tadase, holding a spear on his shoulder "we have been over this tadase, you cannot simply ignore the rules of the Holy Grail." He said, looking at Crystal "if we are to win we must either defeat her or kill her servant so she cannot participate"

"Enough lancer" Tadase said looking behind him " we have discussed this and I refuse to be forced to kill Crystal, if we can we will only kill her servant "

"No…" Crystal whispered "no I can't let you kill Archer" she said looking at lancer who was smiling, she thought back to the other night and how Archer had saved her life from Assassin and that Inyatei person, how he was so badly wounded in the fight as it was

" I'm afraid it's not as easy as saying no, girl" lancer said, lifting and driving his spear down into the ground, this is the Grail War, we cannot simply allow people against us to walk freely as you and anyone else are our enemies.

Crystal looked at him in more focus now, seeing that he was wearing dark blue hunting equipment and had spiky silver hair, he had a slightly shadowed beard and pale orange eyes, though in the end he was not much taller than Tadase " you may be right…but for now, I refuse to fight the two of you" she said as she looked at Tadase " I'm sorry, if possible we should discuss this another time"

she said and began to run out of the ally before she felt a pulse in her head, what was that? She wondered, she quickly looked back to see tadase and Lancer, to her surprise Tadase was quickly talking with Lancer and he bowed, jumping up the sides of the buildings onto the roof

"For now then, we should call a cease fire" Tadase said running to her "there is another servant here and we should leave while Lancer distracts him

"Alright" Crystal said as they began to run towards her home

On the path to Crystals home inside the forest

Crystal was panting from constantly running, right now all she wanted was to sit at home with her mother watching a movie like they used to before any of this

"are you alright Crystal?" tadase asked running beside her, he seemed to be fine from running, she figured he knew about the Holy Grail war beforehand and was readying himself

"yeah, im fine" she said, she didn't really want to be worried about at the time, she knew she was strong and right now she actually wanted to light him on fire for being rude to her earlier that day, she lit her hand on fire while running and Tadase stopped and was looking around

"Do you sense the enemy is near?" he said pulling out a stick from his pocket, it launched out into a staff about 6 feet long, Crystal looked at him like he was crazy

"uhm, no sorry, I was just….practising" she said slightly red from it she was somewhat embarrassed about raising the alarm without anything to be worried about at the moment

"I see, well be more careful about that" Tadase said putting his staff back into the short stick, suddenly out of nowhere, as if at one second everything was peaceful and then mayhem

Crystal looked at Tadase with a face of pure shock, as Tadase turned slightly after hearing a sound from behind, he was hit with a full sized tree flying at insane speeds, it hit him the shoulder and kept going knocking him over off of his feet, as he rolled on the ground he went limp and layed there, the tree hitting another tree, breaking it in half and coming to a rest

"Tadase!" Crystal screamed, she ran to him and dropped to her knees, he was not moving at all sand his arm was bleeding insanely, Crystal was only able to watch him limply, she was hoping that Lancer would come back as soon as possible and take him to safety, and then

"oh my! That was fun! Hehe" a little girls voice came out harmonising as she skipped out into the open where they were, she had red hair and a hot pink dress on, she looked at the two of them with a smile " oh, was it your friend that berserker killed?"

Killed, that put a shiver through Crystals back, she looked down at Tadase and her hands began to shake, was Tadase actually dead? He was hit by a tree, but did that actually do so much damage? She asked in her head, her head began to race, she looked up at the little girl with a sign of pure rage "you…you did this to Tadase!" she yelled, holding her hand out, she launched a long flame at the girl, this time, she knew who her enemy was and wanted to destroy the girl no matter her age

" oh my, you're a scary person" the little girl said, though she did not move as the flame came up to her, a large figure cracked the earth then, landing in front of the girl, holding a massive shield and jagged sword, he stood shield ready and destroyed the flames as they came towards him, he did not waver and stood perfectly still as a soldier, the flames dissipated and he stood up straight looking at Crystal with a deathly glare

" are you alright mistress" berserker asked not looking at the little girl, but easing up his body and standing casually

" of course! You're here berserker so im safe" she said with a smile

This little girl is a master? Crystal asked herself, and looked at the servant under her control, he was a mighty soldier in size and agility, he stopped her fire without hesitation, she thought back to the other night, when she was inside she was talking to her mother about what had happened, and her mother told her about the Assassin class, how they were stealthy and able to move without being discovered easily and had great agility, and told her about the other classes as well

"What are your orders" berserker asked his master, he held his sword towards Crystal and readied himself

"She isn't fun, kill her immediately" the girl said with a dull tone

The berserker class is strong and brutish, knowing force and no mercy, being able to fight with incredible skill…Crystal thought, looking at him suddenly realizing what the girl said " get away!" she yelled holding out her hands and lighting them on fire

" yes mistress" berserker said, as he lunged towards Crystal at speeds that surprised Crystal, as he covered the distance between them within seconds, she launched her fire but to no effect, as he moved out of the way and got behind her, bringing his blade up Crystal heard a slight sound, and thought it was berserker apologizing to her as he brought his blade down

Suddenly Crystal felt a wave come over her, was she hit? She thought suddenly turning around she looked up to another soldier standing behind her, his spear holding back the sword, Lancer.

"berserker…what have you down?" he said, his arms shaking trying to hold him back from Crystal " you injured my master, and I will not allow you to get away with that, he said, sliding the blade down the spear, berserker followed with it as it went into the ground, Lancer spun around and attempted to drive his spear into berserkers back, berserker brought his shield around onto his back as the spear hit it it hit the edge and slide of the side landing close to Crystal, suddenly berserker let go of his blade andelbowed lancer in the stomach, launching him backwards into a tree, grabbing his blade he followed through lunging at him, landing a blow in the area Crystal could not see, creating a large column of dust and smoke

"L…lancer" Crystal heard a voice and reared around looking at Tadase, who was coughing trying to move

"Tadase! Don't move!" Crystal yelled at him holding his other shoulder, she got him to lay down, looking at him she realize it was not as bad as she had thought

"you lied…" Tadase said looking at her dazedly " berserker was just in the bush behind us..i only managed to evade a fatal hit by bringing my staff out, it shattered with the impact of the tree but it consumed most of the blow

Crystal looked back into her memory and realized he was right, as the tree hit him she saw a shining object appear in front of Tadase, so he saved himself at the last second "you idiot…" she said looking at him "don't talk, your injured too much" she said checking his wound " I on the other hand….should really learn healing magic" she stated with a sigh, even with everything going on she felt stupid for having this happen twice

"Lancer…use your noble phantasm on berserker, either finish him or get him to leave!" he yelled, coughing up blood with the last word

"Alright!" lancer said jumping out of the smoke he held up his spear he began to spin it in his hands, the end going bright red, berserker lunged out towards him, coming within 8 feet of lancer, lancer put out his spear towards him " final arc" he yelled, at the end extended towards berserker, he held up his shield but the side of it was pierced by the blade, sending him flying backwards, directly from the extended part of the spear, flames launched out in all directions but from the back, scorching everything nearly instantly, berserker was launched out of sight into the forest, after as moment of silence and flames everywhere in front of them they heard a crash I the distance and saw smoke rising, as the spear returned to normal lancer smiled " easier then he appeared" he said running to his master

"that was incredible…" Crystal said looking at him with amazement, her fire was nothing like what they had just seen, she then looked towards the little girl as lancer attended to Tadase

"that was fun!" she yelled looking at them with a smile, such an innocent smile on her made Crystal feel angry, the smoke around the girl vanished and Crystal noticed that berserker was standing beside her, smoke running off of him and scorch marks across him armor " but that won't be able to beat my berserker! You see! He is the roman hero Perseus!" she yelled with a smile towards him

This sent a shiver down crystals back again " Achilles…the roman hero who assisted in bringing down the city of Troy" she whispered, thinking of how a little girl like her could have summoned someone who was so strong and was remembered through history as someone terrifying

"Mistress, was it wise to say my identity?" he asked sheathing his weapon and standing beside her

" of course! It doesn't matter who it is, no one can beat you berserker!" she said spinning around without a care in the world, suddenly, having an arrow flying towards her at hi speeds berserker brought up his shield and hit the arrow on the side, snapping it and making it fly in pieces

" we should leave mistress, I have taken a considerable amount of damage for the time" berserker said looking into the trees where the arrow came from " Archer!" he called out " you're head, along with the head of every other servant and master, shall be mine, and I shall obtain the grail!" he yelled

" alright berserker, let's go now" the little girl said turning and walking away as if they were on a leisurely walk

" yumi…" Tadase whispered looking at her for the first time, as Archer jumped down from a tree and ran to them

" I am sorry Crystal, I should have reached here much faster" he said looking at lancer " lancer…" he began

" do not bother" lancer stated putting his spear on his shoulder " todays battle is over, the two of us can fight another time" he said helping Tadase up " let us be off " he said finally

" yes…Crystal , be ready, there are still a few masters and servants out there and they may be just as powerful, and we have not seen there full power as it is" he said, nodding at lancer as lancer lifted him and began to run off

Crystal stood there looking, then looked at Archer " Archer." She said firmly

"yes?" he said looking around the area, but stopped and looked at Crystal as she had something important to say it seemed

She lowered he head " I need to learn healing magic, now." She said with a sigh looking up at him " I cant deal with this crap anymore, if one more of you get hurt and I cant do anything I am going to kill you personally just so its easier on me!" she said pouting childishly

Archer tilted his head and scratched it with his hand " y-yes of course Crystal" he said Waverly, worried about what would happen if she failed to learn " lets have your mother show you some magic then" he said as they began to walk to her house

In an ally in the lower east side of the city

"Go, go!" inyatei yelled at assassin as he carried his master through the allies as fast as he could

" I am trying!" assassin yelled back at him, clearly irritated with his behavior about the subject, he turned sharply towards the main road where there would be more safety for them, but ice suddenly formed in front of them, creating a large wall in front of them blocking off the road

" foolish assassin, you cannot escape me while carrying that dead weight you call a master" caster said standing behind them a few yards at the area assassin turned " its sort of pitiful" he said holding his hand up towards them while he held a book in the other that was glowing

"Assassin! Put me down and kill caster!" inyatei yelled, assassin nodded and dropped him, gently and lunged towards caster with his blades out

" do not allow him a chance to attack caster" Melliore said on the other side of the wall out of sight

" whatever you say" caster said slamming his hand on the ground, from his hand ice spread across the ground all the way to inyatei, under assassins feet assassin was stopped dead a few feet in font of caster, as ice began to form up his legs

"Dammit!" assassin yelled slashing at the ice with his blades, looking up at caster he scowled him and whispered "duple ganger" shattering the ice he used his noble phantasm to separate into multiple assassins that covered the streets and the walls in the ally " your through " assassin said with a smile, lunging towards them once more

" I do not think so" caster said with a smile, raising his hand, a large beam of light shot up from the ally, it was blinding, as the assassins above were caught in it and blinded, falling onto the ones below

"damn it all to hell!" assassin yelled, as he turned back into one once more, he attempted to look at his opponent but his eyes burned from the light " what sort of sorcery it this? " he yelled

"it is a simple light spell" caster said laughing, then holding his hand up to assassin once more " now vanish into the darkness where you belong" he said, launching a large ice shard at him, piercing his chest and launching him beside his master

"Assassin!" inyatei yelled, looking at caster he attempted to move, but winced in the pain of the wound he had gotten from Archer " damn…" he whispered " have mercy…" he said looking at caster

"I'm sorry inyatei, but I cannot allow there to be another master by chance" Melliore said walking past caster " so for my chances of winning, you must die now"

Before there could be anything else said, caster held up his hand, and launched a massive flame at inyatei and assassin, inyatei yet out a small sound before being engulfed in the flames.