Chapter Six: Feel Invincible

"Who can touch me 'cause I'm, I'm made of fire. Who can stop me tonight, I'm hard wired. You make me feel invincible."

-Skillet Lyrics, Feel Invincible

I have poor luck with the people that summon me. Certainly I am glad to escape the void but must my 'Master' be so pathetic? In the past if I didn't like my 'Master' then I would manipulate myself someone more worthy, or at the least more entertaining. That wasn't an option this time, for someone so careless she could be frustratingly clever. Her use of her first Command Seal had stopped me from that option entirely. Then, it could be worse, at least she wasn't a carbon copy of Tokiomi.

Natsumi might be more interesting than her ancestor but she lacked his greater capacity for planning. Her actions were artless, I expected more personal security from a member of the Tohsaka family. Letting herself get poisoned by another participant in the war? Sloppy and weak. In any other war I probably would have let it kill her, but where I once would have returned to the Throne of Heroes…now I wasn't sure. Would I simply return to the void? I couldn't have that.

I'd given her one of my many treasures, likely worth more than her estate no matter how rich her family name. She'd owe me for the favor but I had a reason to win the war beyond returning the grail to my vault in this war. I had grown to enjoy having a physical body and I wanted it back. The swiftest way to assure that was to finish every other Servant and start to fill the cursed cup. There was one readily available to us, there was no reason to wait no matter the whines of my mongrel.

Gilgamesh –

It was simple enough. Relocating myself from one place to another, this classroom looked the same as any other in this modern world. It's placement on the top floor limited the chance of witnesses. The doors shut, my blades holding them tightly so there would be no flight for the enemy Master. He'd been at his desk, looking at papers. He wasn't impressive in appearance and I couldn't sense any great amount of mana from him. Hardly a worthy opponent, but all the same I wanted this battle over with sooner rather than later. Several more weapons shot toward him at a speed that distorted the air around me. He did look up, a fearful expression coming to his face a flicker before my weapons were deflected by small mystical shields, not large, but perfectly placed to block my weapons all the same.

I smirked at the Servant that materialized, he had a long beard and goatee and wore French clothing. Why was it the Caster's always came from France? For a country that had so abhorred the occult they seemed to have many famous users of it. Apparently, just pressing a kill on the mortal wasn't going to be as easy as I'd first told the mongrel it would be, but then I had learned a lot simply by observing the Caster protect his Master.

"Withdraw from here and cease targeting my Master, our battles are to occur at night. You risk dozens of innocent lives starting a battle here." The Servant stated calmly, not looking disturbed by my presence. The behavior of others to act as though they were my equal…as if they could command me…it was growing tedious. More gates opened around me, there were dozens and certainly the mortal Master didn't look comfortable. If he knew how few these were compared to the number I could call if I wished…he'd probably die of fright but I couldn't summon them all in this small space.

"You speak strongly of the regulations while you ignore them." I stated, my armor curled along my body, it was heavier than the casual clothing I preferred. Shimmering into plates along my arms and legs, curling up my torso and pausing after forming the shoulder blades…I preferred not to wear a helmet. The Master might be weak but I didn't know what this Caster was capable of even if I could make guesses. Many more gilded circular ripples appeared around the room. One specifically flew at the mortal but it was deflected as last time. The magic was almost instant…it didn't feel like a normal noble phantasm…

A new trick, but how long could he keep such well-placed parry's up against my power? Another few spears jutted toward the unimpressive Master that had started to run from his desk to duck behind his spirit, each deflected at the last moment with sparks of energy. I had thought my Master worthless, but this man was as unimpressive as they come. He looked at me from over his master's shoulder, staring at the growing number of gates appearing around the room. Unlike the Master, the Servant looked much more nervous about his position here. "Your poisoning, was it to happen in the night? If so, you used the wrong dosage."

"Why is he even here, you said her spirit would be gone once she was dead." The mediocre man hissed at his own Servant. His Servant looked annoyed at his master's own inability, I expect he had hoped to refuse any participation in such a breech. "You aren't doing a very good job for someone that can see the future."

My first impression was correct, my actions were being predicted. An interesting skill set, and certainly worthy of a Caster. Yet it gave away the Servant's identity to anyone that had taken a moment to study history at all. While I'd come across French Caster's before, there wasn't exactly a long list of French occultists that were also rumored to predict the future. The fire alarm blared a moment later and I grinned…perhaps my Servant was becoming more useful than I first gave her credit for. Dozens of swords shot at the pair of them then from a variety of angles, but still, a shield met every one.

"What are you doing? Attack him back." The man's voice went high-pitched, breaking with fear, for while he'd been safe enough, he had watched all the swords coming at him before they were paused by the shields of his Master.

"Can you appreciate my Noble Phantasms? Knowing the fate that awaits you? Able to see it many times before it claims you? A compliment for an undeserving subject, you should feel exalted." I remarked, smiling as the Caster jumped to catch one of the blades in his shoulder for his Master. "No matter how much you can see, eventually your power is still overwhelmed…you know they're coming but you still can't stop them all. Your Master doesn't have enough mana to do more, give up now. You can already see your fate can you not? My treasures ending your gambit for the grail."

Auric lines cut across the room in sparkling ribbons of power, my Phantasms beating down on the enemy. Had he thought this trick would be enough? I took a step forward, began to start backward but it was too late. A spell circle curled out from where I'd touched the ground for only a moment, the placement exactly where I would have needed to brush the floor if even only for a moment. Magic curled up from the floor, lines of white energy curling around my legs and arms like illuminated vines. Then the world shifted as well, the lit-up vines fading to real ones as the room changed to a forest clearing in the night.

"A reality bubble?" I laughed at their use of power. It was clever enough. The ability required me to step in the right position…but for someone that could see the future knowing where I'd put my foot was easy enough. I had to give him it was a useful skill, though I read patterns easily enough that I'd nearly avoided it. I had to give the Servant some small credit for capturing me even for a moment.

"Ha, get him while he's captured!" The Master called, suddenly more confident because of my temporary hold. I was instead looking at the magic circle, it remained even in the bubble, so likely had something to do with maintaining it, and indeed it had paralyzed my movement with the vines, but not for long enough as they were cut free by blades that shot from behind me and I shook my arms a moment to get the debris off my armor. Several small pieces of energy shot at me, I deflected many of them but one did catch my shoulder, another my opposite leg but they didn't tarnish my armor.

"It is not enough Gilgamesh of Babylon; I'm not certain how you ended up in this war but you won't last. Your vault isn't endless and I can block it all, what will you do when the weapons cease to flow?" The servant remarked, still unconcerned with me though I had already pressed through his defenses once. Then he was stronger and capable of making more shields in his reality? I glanced then to my mongrel as she ran out of the woods and into the clearing. I held up a hand to stop her. I could withstand whatever spell was in the circle Nostradamus had created but I doubted her frail body could handle it. He could control who entered or exited his reality once enacted?

"What?" My mongrel had paused at my motion but was looking around confused, she'd clearly not expected to end up here. Why had she run here regardless? She was a liability. I frowned at her as I paused in front of her to block one of the rays of energy shot at her chest. I would need to keep in mind her fragile nature…frustrating. She snapped back to the present at my defense however, barking as usual. "What are you doing? People are starting to gather on the west lawn but it won't last long, I bought us a few minutes' tops. Can't you hurry this up!?"

Must she be so needy?

"Where is your bravado, King of Heroes?" A hint of mockery had entered the enemy's voice, more magic pebbles shooting at me…one of them dented my armor. Someone was going to be gutted today, and for all her whining I couldn't make it my 'Master'.

"Stay down and behind me." I stated to my mongrel, turning to face the enemy Master and Servant.

I planned to destroy him shortly with or without her direction. His spells weren't extremely strong for a Caster but still more powerful than another class would be…and with his skill of reading the future if this was the extent of my skill I would have been pressed, even if slightly. Knowing where they needed to be placed, and having a read on the field of battle before anything occurred was his trump card. It was a notable ability, one that against any other Servant would have posed a much greater threat than it did for me.

This Servant, would have probably defeated many of the others…if they hadn't assassinated the many masters…but if all he could do was read patterns, it wouldn't be enough…perhaps he thought he knew it all, that everything was laid out before him neatly like a book. He probably could see himself winning right now. He was wrong.

My other Noble Phantasm, one that had waited too long to again be called into the world. It felt right to dust the blade off after these many years…I held my hand up, pulling the key like device from my vault. I turned it in the air, amused when the Servant's eyes widened. Again, as I knew it would be, for no Servant could have predicted Ea. Ea was out of time, a blade of utter creation and destruction. Brilliant neon energy blossomed upward, sending bursts of air out around me as the power gathered around the energy curling backward on itself to create the spinning crimson and sable blade. A beauty of weaponry that no other could hope to unlock or wield.

"Ea, awaken." I smiled at the way the power barraged outward at my command. Her baleful magic cutting through the forest around us and into the Master and Servant. Some of it was blocked to the Caster's credit, but that was just reaction not prediction. I had told him it wouldn't be enough, but most fools didn't learn until they were dead. Cracks began to form along the earth and sky… "I will make your deaths swift, as thanks for giving me reason to brandish Ea. An exquisite blade, one impossible even for the great Nostradamus to see. You should be grateful to fall by something so far from your reach."

"Enuma Elish!" I delighted in it, the raw dominance that curled from the tip of the spinning otherworldly weapon was a bright scarlet, blood set fire. It cut through the air like lightning, bursting from several points – more than the other Servant could hope to block even had he been able to predict them. It cut through both Master and Servant, as well as shattering the reality bubble and leaving lines of damage along the classroom we returned to. The building shook in reverence to Ea though I was already letting her fade back to her place as one of my highest treasures.

A short-lived battle but longer than I'd predicted. I hadn't had to go all out, but there was more effort involved than I would have liked for my first kill of the war. I'd wanted to see Ea again after my long absence, so I didn't have ill will for the dead. I'd drawn the weapon many times but it had felt right to have the hilt in my hand again, satisfying. To have it respond to me as only I could force it, the enemies may have been beneath Ea but it was done now. I expect I could have simply overwhelmed Nostradamus with more than he could defend no matter his hubris but I wanted to make this a curtain others could feel closing. Any that would stand against me in this war should beware.

"You destroyed almost the entire building!" I couldn't help but smirk despite her barking. I'd seen her staring in wonder moments ago, before she'd forced herself to get irritated. My Master was fickle and uncouth but I couldn't kill her so I might as well enjoy her. She seemed about ready to complain at me more when she heard someone down the hallway calling out to see if anyone needed help. Her eyes widened and she whispered a curse, clearly against being seen here. Lucky for her I was in high-spirits, I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her with me through reality back to the outside of her home. I couldn't teleport inside with the wards her family had put there, I'd need to walk inside but I could get close enough to make that convenient.

I had a stew to get to after all.

End Chapter

Heh, oh Gilgamesh…I hope the fight is worthy enough of the King of Heroes…I'm sure nothing I write is something he'd consider appropriate XD.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Not this time, maybe next chapter? Maybe I'm writing too quick to really get many reviews? ahahaha