Fate/No Heart
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, the Fate Series, or anything related. If you have ever paid to view this fan work, you've probably been scammed. If so, I would highly recommend getting your money back.
I watch the episode where Lancer died again and I gotta say, that was sad. I am glad I've killed off Lancer with some dignity. Keep it up, Xehanort, you S.O.B.
Chapter 5: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Lancer was surprised at the sudden appearance of the very large, very boisterous, red-haired man who identified himself as Rider. He was even more surprised when Rider, who proclaimed himself as Iskander, King of Conquerors, blatantly revealed his true identity to everyone at the warehouse district. It was such a surprise, that Lancer, the master of the spears, had trouble comprehending the sheer audacity of Rider and as such briefly forgot about Caster.
It proved to be his undoing.
'What the-?!'
"Lancer! Watch out!" Saber voice rang out. Unfortunately, before he could react to the warning Saber gave to him, he felt a cold metallic weapon cutting through his armor and slashing across his chest.
"Gah!"
Looking forward, he found that Caster, who was previously on the ground on his knees, was the one to inflict this attack. Blood quickly poured out the wound that Caster gave him. In agonizing pain, he dropped his spears and clutched his wound while attempting to maintain his balance. He finally took notice of Caster's aura and saw that it was flaring up. Taking that as a signal that Caster was going to unleash a devastating spell, he attempted to move out of the way, no matter how futile the action may be. However, he found that he was not moving. To be more specific, he found that he could not move.
'More magic?!' he thought. Seeing as he was nearly dead and unable to move, thoughts of defeat began creeping in. 'So this is how it ends, huh?' He closed his eyes. 'I apologize for failing you, Master.'
Caster launched the spell from his weapon. The dark ball of flame flew directly from the tip of the mage's weapon to the open wound where blood was still pouring out. Once the magical energy made contact with him, it consumed him in an explosion that enveloped his entire body. Lancer attempted to scream as the dark flames consumed him, but no sound could come out of his mouth. His body fell to the ground.
Soon, the light in Lancer's eyes went out.
Fate/No Heart
Lancer's body, riddled with burns, laid on the ground. Little by little, the prana that made up Lancer's body and his weapon waned and began to dissipate. After a minute of waiting, Lancer's body was no more and any chance of him coming back were nil.
"How pathetic," he said. "To have perished so easily..." He had expected more from Lancer. Though to be perfectly honest, he did just unload a very devastating spell at close range. "Perhaps that's just to be expected."
"You..." Saber said. Xehanort looked at her. He saw that her body was shaking. Was she shaking from sadness or rage? She stood up from the ground where Lancer's body once was. Her face has a look of hatred on it.
"YOU DISHONORABLE CRETIN!" She shouted.
'Definitely rage.' he thought.
"Dishonorable? Pray tell, Saber, what exactly is it that I did to warrant a reaction such as this?" Xehanort smiled, knowing full well what the blond knight was referring to.
She pointed her invisible sword at him.
"You know exactly what you did!" she snarled.
Xehanort laughed quietly.
"Ha, ha, ha. Perhaps you should explain, Saber. For the sake of proper understanding, you should identify what it is that I did that has upset you so much."
"You struck Lancer down when he wasn't looking!" Saber appeared to have gotten even angrier.
'Heh.'
"Oh, do you mean that? Maybe I should explain. You see, I was merely taking the initiative, Saber. Nothing more, nothing less." And it was true. Often times, the first to strike were the ones who won battles. Those who do not will often lose.
"Taking the initiative?!" Saber shouted. "What you did was dishonorable. Like a coward, You've took advantage of Lancer while he was distracted by Rider." She pointed at the big burly red head who merely rubbed the back of his head.
"All is fair in love and war, Saber." He rebutted. "And in case you have not noticed yet, this is war."
"There are standards that must be upheld even in a battlefield!" Saber retorted. "In a battle, the combatants are expected to fight with honor, to fight fairly and without deceit!"
'This must be what they call a knight's chivalry,' Xehanort thought. His brows narrowed, mildly annoyed at her personal code of conduct.
"Are those your beliefs?" he asked.
"Yes."
How pitiful.
"If that is what you truly believe, then I am afraid that you have already lost this war, Saber. For you see, your ideals mean nothing in this war."
Saber's eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock.
"Your code, your chivalry...it will only serve to hold you back, Saber. If you wish to stand a chance in winning, I would highly advised you abandon that line of thought. If you cannot, then your defeat will be certain."
Saber raised her blade.
"How dare you..." she said. "To insult chivalry, the code of honor which has guided me for so long..." her face contorted into a nasty expression, one of hatred. "I will put an end to you!"
'So she intends on continuing? If so, this is a good opportunity to show her the weakness of her ideals.'
Xehanort tossed his Keyblade at Saber's feet. Saber blinked in surprise. Xehanort spread out his arms outward in a half circle, palms open, as if daring her to attack.
"Go on, then, Saber. Attack me. That is, if your code will let you."
His Servant's voice, the true Caster, rang in his head.
"What are you doing?" she questioned him.
"What do you think it looks like?" he told her sarcastically. "I'm mocking her ideals."
"Really? Doesn't that seem a bit foolish?"
"Oh, please. Her 'chivalry' won't allow her to attack someone who is unarmed."
"What if she decides to conveniently break her code and attack you?"
"I am no fool. If she tries to attack me," He's planning on it, in fact. "Then she will die." Caster has no idea how many people kept falling for that particular trick.
Xehanort looked at the blue Servant in front of him. Though enraged, she seem to be having trouble deciding if she should attack him or not. Still, her hesitation to attack him told him all he needed to know.
"What's wrong, Saber?" he asked. "Weren't you just about to attack me?"
"You...You...You continue to mock me?!" Saber shouted.
"That is quite enough!" Rider interrupted. Both Xehanort and Saber quickly turned their attention to Rider. "You have made your point, Caster!" The red-haired man said. "Though I do not know who she is, I can see that Saber is a proud warrior who wishes to participate in a battle of honor and integrity. That is why, Caster, that I ask that you case this nonsense immediately."
Xehanort said nothing at first. He was particularly annoyed at Rider for interrupting him while he was goading Saber into attacking. He looked at Saber and he noted that she looks as though she wanted to say something but couldn't. He returned his attention to Rider and the dilemma at hand. Perhaps he could turn this into something else. Maybe another battle would suffice.
"...Very well." His Keyblade, which he had tossed at Saber's feet, vanished. "Since you are here..." he crossed his arms and turned his body to the huge Servant. "Then I suppose that means you wish to fight?"
"That is exactly right!" Rider was quick to respond. "However," he said. "When I came to this area in a hurry, I was hoping to fight more than just one Servant." He stroked his beard.
"Are you insinuating that I, alone, am not enough for you?" Xehanort questioned Rider.
"Oh, no. I am not saying that. I can tell from your battle with both Lancer and Saber that you are truly a formidable foe, indeed. What I had meant is that I was hoping to face off against all of the Servants of the Holy Grail War in a single battle!"
"Is this Servant mad or something?" Caster asked.
"No, that would be Berserker, Caster. The Servant in front of me is of the Rider class. Though I do admit, the prospect of defeating all of the competition at once does sound appealing."
"Well, sorry for disappointing you, Rider," Xehanort said. "But I'm afraid Lancer is already out of the war."
"Ah, yes, I know." He said this with a tone of disappointment before quickly switching to a more optimistic one. "But at the very least, I can fight most of them right here, right now!"
"What do you mean?" Saber interjected. She had a look of mild confusion on her face.
"What do you mean 'what do you mean,' Saber?" Rider began to explain. "An impressive battle that had started between two Servants before escalating into a greater one when Caster intervened. The clashing of weapons and the expulsion of magic, I would be surprised if there was a person involved in the War who didn't observed your battle!"
"Is this true, Caster?" Xehanort asked.
"Yes."
"Why did you not inform me of this?" He questioned.
"You did not ask. And besides, were you not the one who managed to detect Assassin first?"
"...I hate to admit a flaw, but it appear that I cannot detect invisible Servants." He quickly turned his attention back to the scene.
"Then...that means-!" Saber quickly put the pieces together.
"Yes, Saber! There are other Heroic Spirits here, hiding in the shadows to gleam information from those involved in the battle that had just taken place." He looked to the sky and raised his right hand upward in a open palm before clenching it into a fist before shouting in an energetic manner."Heroic Spirits, born again through the Holy Grail, gather here and now!" Xehanort swore the man got even louder. "Those too craven and cowardly to show themselves tonight will draw the scorn of Iskander, King of Conquerors!"
At first, nothing happened. But soon, particles of light appeared which, in the middle of the night, stood out and gained the eye of everyone present. The particles quickly congregated together, revealing the Servant that had swiftly 'slain' Assassin standing upon an outdoor light pole.
"So, a lesser being who dares name himself king, even in my presence."
The Servant clad in golden armor, Archer, appeared and looked none too happy.
"I fail to see where the problem lies," Rider responded. "After all, I am Iskander, the legendary King of Conquerors."
"What nonsense!" Archer quickly said in response. "You are deluding yourself. I am the one true king of this world. All others are merely pretenders."
"Oh?" Rider started. "If you're that insistent of your claim, then name yourself. No true king should ever have trouble with something as simple as giving his own name."
The light bulb that powered the pole that Archer is standing on began to flicker on and off.
"You would dare question me?" Archer said with venom in his voice. "Me, the one true king?!" The light bulb cracked. He glared at Rider before speaking again. "If you cannot discern my identity even in my magnificently glorious presence," an almost blinding bright light appeared behind Archer, the very same light that appeared at the manor. "Then your ignorance has sealed your doom!" Weapons of various types began to protrude out of the light. Spears, blades, anything that can be used to cut, stab, and maim.
Just as Archer, with a maniacal glee on his face, prepared to unleash a maelstrom of weapons onto Rider, everyone felt a presence of another Servant joining in. Appearing in a fashion similar to Xehanort's entrance, the Servant arrived in a twister of darkness that had erupted from the ground. As soon as it came, it disappeared. Emerging from the darkness, a Servant clad entirely in black metal armor that resembled those worn by medieval knights. Interestingly enough, a bright red light was coming out from his visor.
Xehanort quickly noted that the Servant has a dark fog surrounding the entirety of his body.
'This Servant...it must be Berserker.'
As if to confirm his thoughts, the armored Servant began to roar.
"Boy, how powerful is that Servant?" He heard Rider asked his young Master. The somewhat long black haired, pale-faced young man, who also has a terrified look on his face, responded by shaking his head.
"I don't know...I can't tell!" Rider's master said in a scared tone.
"What do you mean?" Rider questioned him. "Are you not a Master chosen by the Holy Grail? You 'can' sense their strengths and weaknesses, right?"
"I can't sense a thing! I can sense that 'thing' is definitely a Servant, but it's like Caster, I can't get a read on its status or anything else about it!"
'How interesting this situation has become.' Xehanort thought. He uncrossed his arms to stroke his chin. 'To send a Servant out in a hostile environment when tensions are high, I wonder what will happen next.'
The Black Knight did not anything and merely looked at Archer. Archer took notice of this.
"Who gave you permission to gaze upon me, you rabid dog?" The light behind Archer shifted and was no longer aimed at Rider. Now it is aimed at Berserker, instead. "May your death provide me with some modicum of entertainment, mongrel." he said with a tone of finality.
'This ought to be interesting.'
Archer launched two weapons at Berserker. The weapons flew at Berserker. Berserker, in response to the impending danger, retaliated by snatching the first blade that was about to hit him and using it to deflect the second weapon, a spear, creating an explosion in the process.
"How impressive." He said. For a Servant based on the attribute of insanity, such a display of dexterity was truly noteworthy.
"You dare lay your filthy hands on my treasures?" Archer, however, did not sound too pleased at all. In fact, he was rather angry. "You must long for a painful death, cur!"
The light behind Archer grew in both height and width. Ripples were made along the portal of light as Archer brought forth more and more weapons, intending to overwhelm Berserker with sheer firepower.
"Let us all see just how long those parlor tricks of yours..." Archer began. "Will keep you alive!"
Archer fired off a volley of weapons at once. Berserker reacted by grabbing one of the weapons that was flying at him, pushing him backwards a fair distance before stopping and using the newly obtained weapon along with the first weapon to block the incoming projectiles, creating explosions whenever he successfully did so. A projectile suddenly came from above and hit the ground in front of him, creating an explosion. Amidst the smoke, Berserker jumped and threw the sword he was using at the other blade that was flying at him. Both collided and instead of creating an explosion, they both bounced off of each other harmlessly. Berserker reached out and grabbed the very same weapon he had just thrown and used it to deflect another blade to the area behind him, creating another explosion.
While all of this occur, Xehanort watched the battle from the sidelines with a critical eye, intending to analyze how both Archer and Berserker fight. From what he can tell, Archer appears to be a one trick pony- capable of only firing projectiles from a distance. Given that he is Archer, a class specializing in long ranged combat, that is a given. However, what is concerning about Archer are the projectiles he uses. Instead of using arrows or the likes as projectiles, the golden Servant appears to be using weapons of varying types that can apparently explode. There appears to be no limits to the amount he can shoot out and these explosions are definitely no joke as evidenced by craters covering the area where Berserker stands. If he were to get hit by one of these directly or get caught in the explosion, he would be gone in a heartbeat. Clearly, a head on battle at this point would be suicide.
As for Berserker, what concerns him is his apparent skill despite being of the Berserker class. From what information he knows, the class that the Black Knight belongs to has a special ability. This ability is known as Mad Enchantment. Regardless of the rank, the parameters of the Servants under its effects are raised. However, in exchange for the boost in power, the mental facilities of the Servants are hindered. The higher the rank, the greater the retardation of mind undergoes. So it would stand to reason that Berserker, a Servant that trades one's own sanity for strength, would become less skilled in combat. From what he has seen in this battle, that is not the case.
Berserker is far too skilled. His ability to react is astonishingly high as he effortlessly dodges and uses the projectiles against Archer and his ability to use weaponry propelled from the portal of light is of great concern. It could be a simple case of Mad Enchantment not being activated, but the loud roar the Servant gave when he first appeared was evidenced enough to convince Xehanort that Berserker was under its effects from the very get go.
It appears Berserker is hiding something. He wanted to know.
Berserker threw the blade he gotten from Archer at the pole the Golden Servant's standing on. He was forced to jump off when the pole was cut horizontally in half.
"Fool...I belong among the heavens," Archer said in anger. "Yet you would have me trod the ground like you?!" The light behind Archer increased in size once again. Unlike last time, when it only grew considerably bigger, this time the difference in size was enormous. About as wide as a small field and as tall as a modern suburban house, countless weapons protrude out of every space of the bright portal. It was such a sight that Xehanort could not help but let something slip from his mouth.
"Oh my Kingdom Hearts, that's huge." he said. A direct confrontation, he'd decided then and there, was not a valid option for dealing with Archer.
"Mongrel! Nothing shall remain will remain of your body when I am through with you!" he shouted.
Right as Archer was about to unleash a hailstorm of explosive weaponry upon Berserker, he stopped.
"What?" The golden Servant said. It appears his Master is contacting him. "You dare order a King to withdraw? To leave the battle unfinished? You have much nerves, Tokiomi!
'So it would appear his master has called Archer back.' Xehanort thought. 'Hopefully, his Master, Tokiomi Tohsaka, had to use a Command Seal to do so.' Any advantage would be much appreciated against Archer.
The light behind Archer vanished and the scattered weapons among the wrecked environment that did not explode disappeared in a glow of golden light.
"You were fortunate, mad dog." Archer said. He turn to where the rest of the Servants and Xehanort are standing. "By our next meeting, see that you've culled your numbers. Only a true hero is worthy to gaze upon my glorious presence." He turned his back to them and promptly vanished.
"It would seem that Archer's master is not as stubborn or courageous as his Servant." Rider commented. "So...what now?" he asked.
Saber gripped her sword.
"Perhaps we should get back to what we were doing before we were so rudely interrupted," she said while getting in a battle ready position.
'She still wants to fight?' he thought. 'After what I have seen, I don't particularity want to fight right now.' He would much preferred to plan on how to deal with both Archer and Berserker later on.
"I'm afraid I'll have to decline your 'generous' offer, Saber." He said. "As of now, it's getting close to dawn, a time most people have to wake up. As much as I would like to eliminate you here and now, I fear risking the reveal of the Holy Grail War to the unknowing public. And that, as you should know, is something that must not happen, Saber."
"Tch...You!" Saber was barely holding it together.
Rider made a rather disappointing sigh. "Very well, I see your point, Caster. But when we meet again, I expect you to up a good fight."
"That is assuming we even meet again, Rider." He responded. "However, if we do meet again, I expect you to do the same."
"You have no need to worry, Caster. I'll be ready for you!"
He contacted Caster.
"Come, Caster. We must depart." He ordered.
"Very well."
Using the power of darkness, Xehanort opened a portal of darkness to his right.
"I bid you farewell." He turned to his right and entered, leaving behind two Servants and a mad dog at the warehouse district.
Fate/No Heart
This was a pain in the ass to get through. I have no genuine excuses unless you count me procrastinating by playing KH 2.5 HD remix as an proper excuse. Anyway, you should expect some eeeeevil shenanigans from Xehanort next chapter.
As usual, if there's something you like or disliked, leave a review (it's called 'review' for a reason). If you are reading this story and are enjoying this fan work thus far but have not Favorited or Follow, I strongly urge you to do so. Why? Cause I like it when people do that.
Thank you for reading and see you next time in the next chapter of Fate/No Heart.